With school back in session for the fall semester, college students are again an important demographic to email marketers and entrepreneurs. College students pose a special set of challenges because they are often transient and cash-strapped, making their market unusually difficult to penetrate. They’re part of the coveted 18 to 30-year-old demographic and receive hundreds of emails, challenging marketers to find a way to effectively reach them despite all the noise from other social media avenues. So how does a business make sure an email resonates with this audience? The following are 5 tips for email marketing to college students. 1. Develop a sexy subject line Give your email better visibility in a crowded inbox by developing a subject line that is clear and compelling yet, sexy and seductive. You need to write in a style that will motivate your recipients to take action. A generic subject line like “New Content†does not offer a compelling enough reason to open your message, especially when it’s lined up against all the other noise in their inbox. Counter low open rates with highly attractive adjectives and develop a sexy subject line that will appeal to your audience. 2. Be mobile friendly Almost everyone has a smart phone now and the student population is no different. In fact, for many students, their smart phone is their only phone line and the most common method for them to instigate dialogue online. Being aware of that, it may be a good idea to test your emails to ensure they display properly on the most prominent devices and that the links in your message direct students to a mobile-friendly site. These minor adjustments to your campaign are truly the aspects that are necessary to maintain relevancy with this target audience. 3. Use a multi-channel approach The frequency at which you distribute your content is key. Simply sending your message through email will not be sufficient. When email marketing to college students, it is crucial that you make attempts to reach them through more than one channel. Utilize the most prominent social media avenues like Facebook that will instigate conversation around your brand. Add any updates you may have on your main website, blog, or products and services to automatically be added to the newsfeeds of your followers. 4. Get to the point College students are young adults going through a time of upheaval. They’re taking complicated classes with complicated schedules running complicated lives. Make it easier on them to accept your content into their lives by writing simple copy to snag their attention. Not to say there isn’t room for creativity. Create your copy with the same wit, sarcasm, and humor you use to market to other age groups. Just make sure to get to the point, fast! 5. Win over the rents Your marketing efforts to college students as a demographic may prove to be fruitful but individually, these students don’t have a lot of cash to throw around. Even if they aren’t tied down to tuition debts, many students are on a limited budget. It is crucial that you strategize the prices to be affordable yet remain conscious of the need to clear overhead. Always keep in mind that you’re dealing with an incredibly price sensitive demographic and in fact, are marketing to both the student, as well as the parents, otherwise known as the income. College students, with the help of their parents, are gearing up for the fall semester and if your product has a shelf life after college, you’re in luck. Catch them in their purchasing power formative years by following these tips and effectively reaching this profitable market.
In order to send out mass emails and avoid spam, you would need to go through a proper email marketing provider. If you go through gmail or hotmail, sending out mass emails often trigger spam blockers.
All this stuff is pretty good. Make sure you offer something really valuable for free in exchange for the opt-in though. Otherwise you've got no one to email.