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What’s Next For Your Micro-Business
Cater To College Kids By Going Green
It’s back to class time for university students. For small businesses that sell to the college crowd, it’s a great time to sell them on your products, your services and even your efforts to be socially responsible.
Many college students are not only avid volunteers and socially responsible, but many also put a high premium on products and services from companies that demonstrate a healthy respect for Mother Nature.
That’s the finding from Alloy Media + Marketing, a national marketing services agency that recently released its 5th Annual College Explorer Study. The study found that college students ages 18 to 30 are directing much of their spending toward brands and businesses that they perceive to be socially responsible.
And that discretionary spending power is immense – about $46 billion, reports Alloy Media + Marketing.
When asked about factors that drive their purchase decisions, 33 percent of the study’s respondents said that they prefer brands that give back to the community, are environmentally safe, or that are connected to a cause. About one in four students (24 percent) has purchased a product this year specifically because it was socially responsible.
“We are seeing that today’s young people expect corporations to be socially responsible and that students prefer to associate with brands that they perceive to be positive contributors to the community”, says Samantha Skey of Marketing, Alloy Media + Marketing.
What You Can Do
Adding muscle to the weight students are throwing behind social responsibility is the fact that this year’s college enrollment is the largest on record. Market research firm Harris Interactive reports that the college student market is well over 17 million strong.
To tap into that socially-conscious college market, try some of these ideas:
If you sell recycled products, promote that fact. Give recycled products prominent displays in your brick-and-mortar store and on your Web site. Make sure college-age consumers can quickly identify those recycled products. Host food drives for your local food bank. Provide a bin where customers and employees can drop off canned goods. Once a week or once a month, deliver those goods to the food bank. Keep count of the number of cans or pounds of food you deliver. Display the latest count in your store. If you’re a service provider, offer pro bono work to a local charity. Tie yourself and your business to a worthy cause. Place an ad in the college newspaper encouraging students to also donate time to the charity. Alloy Media + Marketing reports that 45 percent of students are active volunteers. Promote any activities that your small business undertakes for environmental protection. Laundromats and car washes that conserve or recycle water could tout that fact. Dry cleaners that use nontoxic chemicals could promote their environmental friendliness to clients. Even storefronts that opt for low water-use landscaping could let customers know that they’re doing their part to be environmentally conscious.
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(Posted September 2006) |
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