It's the glorious days of summer now. The sun beats down upon my head as I wake up for my morning run. The birds wait anxiously to soil my freshly-waxed car. The only song worth listening to on the radio is "Boom Boom Pow". And plans to make money from the unsuspecting, naive college crowd storm into my head with each and every passing minute. I know spamming is a taboo topic here on Digital Point. But this is offline, rather than online. And call it advertising instead. For those entering college or already attending, looking to get the word out about your email submits or your website or your affiliate link, the following is a nice, creative list that I have compiled over two and a half months of brainstorming, writing, and plotting. 1. Bathroom Stall Graffiti | Need: 1 assistant of the opposite sex, 4 thick Sharpies | Best done: early in the morning, when the bathrooms have just been cleaned :: Put Sharpie(s) in pockets. I will be using one black and one red. Check bathrooms beforehand to ensure that the stalls are not the write-proof stainless steel. Sit down on the toilet. Write your advertisement down legible at eye level on the door, as well as directly above the toilet paper dispensary. If creativity is the name of the game for you, unroll some toilet paper and write it down on there vertically. I'll be writing in red and outlining in black. 2. Less Illegal Bathroom Advertising | Need: 1 assistant of the opposite sex, 50 heavy-duty notecards with your advertisement printed on them, 10 rolls of clear masking tape :: Do your research and make this one count. I get free printing at the Honors College office, so I will be using my own photo paper and print out 50-plus advertisements in full color. They will be taped liberally (ergo: all over several layers) to the bathroom walls in strategic locations. Examples are eye level at the toilet and/or urinals, over the paper towel dispenser and hand dryer, to the back of the door, on the ceiling, and on the mirror. 3. Kiosk Takeover | Need: Several dozen full-page advertisements, hundreds of pushpins, and darkness :: This is best done in the middle of the night, when foot traffic is at its slowest. Spam the kiosks, pinning your ad up everywhere you can think of on the boards. Cover others' ads, turn them over, do whatever necessary before people show up. Contrary to popular belief, people do read these. And when they catch a glimpse of a semi-hostile advertising takeover, the masses will come. 4. Chalk Is Your Friend | Need: A few artistic helpers, sidewalk chalk, darkness, and time :: This advertising method is quite aged, and works perfectly if executed in busy spots. At least until it rains. Check the weather. Find a time when there is a lull in storm activity for a week or so, and gather your crew. Wait until midnight rolls around, and graffiti the sidewalks, brick walls, stairs, anything you can think of. College students spend a lot of time looking down as they walk, so target the ground, even though it is the first to sustain damage in case of bad weather. 5. Professional Carding Campaign | Need: 500 business cards, a few friends/employees/associates with carding talents :: Carding is something I saw frequently in high school. Someone would walk around and slip business cards with simply the worlds "I carded you!" on them to people. Some got them in the water bottle pocket of their backpack, others in the hood of their sweatshirt. Some were lucky enough to get it right in their pocket. And everyone got one through the slats in their locker door. Give this a try discreetly in crowds going to and from classes. The results from this could be legendary. 6. Dry-Erasing | Need: Access to the residence halls, possibly an associate of the opposite sex :: I like this one quite a bit. Most dorm rooms on campus have white boards stuck to the door. They usually have little tidbits of information on them. It's simple. Go up to every single one, write your advertisement, and on to the next one. Then disappear. No money required, no start-up, and not much planning on the part of the advertiser. 7. Sign Slipping | Need: 1,000+ advertisements on paper promoting your product/site, permission from the residential director (or not), and a few helpers :: This, like the chalk idea, is an aged one. Just slip advertisements underneath doorjams. Quick and easy way to get your point across in the bluntest way possible. Plus, again, free printing is always nice. Just go print 100 copies at a time as not to make the secretary suspicious. 8. Shout-Out To The World | Need: upper-floor dorm room with big window, permission or good standing with those directly below, old white sheets, lots of paint :: This one is a nice touch for a dorm room facing the action. I took three old white sheets and sewed them together (did this already, preplanning is key). I'm going to paint my advertisement on the sheet and hang it out the window for everyone to see. I live in room 323, and I am good friends with the occupants of 223 and 123. Should be a nice, simple way to get the word out to the masses. It goes beyond placing a few dozen business cards on a table hoping to get passers by to stop and take one. It goes beyond selling bumper stickers and T-shirts. It goes beyond the typical kiosk tearaway strip ads. It goes beyond fliers and beyond banners. This is creativity. This where the true, dedicated, curious, lasting traffic comes from. The methods can go on and on. I'll post more as they come to me. But imagine the possibilities of an iframed email submit for something college-related, or even an un-iframed CPA offer promoting your college or university-style apparel in general. The profit potential could be through the roof. Get good enough at this advertising thing, and start advertising your services as a creative campus advertiser. Then watch as even more money comes pouring in. Get going, students! RAZORLOQ
Nope, sorry but I've checked thoroughly. None of these are illegal. I challenge you to find how any one of these is illegal.
The money comes rolling in when you take risks. Give "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" a read and you'll see where I'm coming from. wealth is hidden in the creativity. How else would I have a sweet RV at 20?
1. Bathroom Stall Graffiti | Need: 1 assistant of the opposite sex, 4 thick Sharpies | Best done: early in the morning, when the bathrooms have just been cleaned :: Put Sharpie(s) in pockets. I will be using one black and one red. Check bathrooms beforehand to ensure that the stalls are not the write-proof stainless steel. Sit down on the toilet. Write your advertisement down legible at eye level on the door, as well as directly above the toilet paper dispensary. If creativity is the name of the game for you, unroll some toilet paper and write it down on there vertically. I'll be writing in red and outlining in black. You then call #2 "Less Illegal Bathroom Advertising" Did you seriously just namedrop "Rich Dad"? What a clown...
I understand your need to be heard, but there is no need to start name-calling. I thought we were all adults on here. My apologies, the first is vandalism, the others are perfectly fine. Nobody said that you have to do these things.
My personal favorite is the dry-erasing one, as it will be/is quick and easy, especially when you know the person is in class or asleep.
This would be great for joining an affiliate such as Amazon Affiliate and promoting their products as products geared simply towards "college students" and offering flyers with tearaways on the kiosks. Nowhere near as risky as the other methods if that is a concern to you. Sadly, I will be attending college in North Carolina, and the Amazon Associate affiliate program is not valid in North Carolina, California, and Alaska (I think Alaska).
If you used your methods to advertise the Amazon affiliate program, I can guarantee you would make less than $5 per hour. The amount of time required to do these ad campaigns is substantial...and Amazon pays poor commissions...and students are generally quite poor anyway. You may as well just work at McDonald's for minimum wage.
Do you think students will do it for free?It's a good idea that they have past time for summers like those involve with money making but how many students you need for this?how much would you pay for every student?
I don't think that there are many students needed for this at all. I actually plan to do this by myself, maybe with some help from my girlfriend when the time comes for the bathrooms. But it doesn't seem too difficult. And there are definitely more options than the Amazon Associates program, dlm. For example, be an affiliate for Apple or Overstock or Best Buy or some electronics seller, and when the next generation iPod or Macbook hits the shelves, get ready for some big commissions.
How many times have you bought, or even looked up a product because you saw it advertised in a public toilet? No, me neither - it's not really a location you want associated with many products or services :-(
Yeah, and how many products do you see advertised in the bathroom. It's something new that people are scared of trying because they don't wish to take the time out to test out and see if they get any conversions. Ever been an Immodium affiliate?
I figure that I'm going to turn this into a frequently updated thread. Why? I keep coming up with new ideas and possibilities for making some serious money for 1) other college students like myself, and 2) those who wish to enter a college-related niche and excel at the advertising offline, or 3) both 1 and 2. When the semester begins on August 21st (I will be a sophomore), I will begin my campaigns. They will last through August and September. My main idea is to remain covert and anonymous. Very few will know who is behind my advertising methods or how to reach me to get me to advertise for them. Perhaps eventually I can expand this to other universities around the area I will be attending. I know that none of the ideas that I have mentioned previously are new. Most are old hat when it comes to offline advertising, spun at most. However, I wish to make this my target audience. Who knows, maybe a T-shirt affiliate will let me design shirts for very low prices based on the college colors and motto and whatnot. RAZORLOQ
Please don't. I understand you're trying to be unique and all that. But maybe you should focus on studying or partying while at college, as opposed to making a few bucks a week with these incredibly inefficient strategies.
Whoah.. that is quite horrible... Actually I have not seen any of that kind of advertisement.. its not proper.... They must make sure they choose the right place for the product advertisements