View Full Version : Promotions in college town
Has anyone had any experience in what types of promotions might be successful aimed at college students?? Back to school next week (new faces) and I was thinking of a WDF or mid-week self-serve promo of some kind. We are a newer card store with free wi-fi, sat TV, etc.
Sure could use some creative help on this one.
Thanks!
Brett
08-08-2008, 11:44 AM
In our college town a mat close to campus has a large sign that shows a monthly rate for student laundry. I guess u would have to make sure you are only laundering one size/gender of clothing to make it work...
Duane
08-08-2008, 04:06 PM
Nice ads in the local college newspaper works well for me.
bodman
08-08-2008, 05:09 PM
free beer with every wash. college newspaper. go to dorms and offer resident mgr a free wash to promote pick-up wdf. service. accept debit cards only keep on file and debit after each wash. ; If you have a van or large truck park it near the curb in front of store with sign , welcome back students and promo or hire a good looking girl in a 2 piece swimware and give her the sign. offer her a bonus of some kind for all the students she gets in store. plus hourly.
Thanks all. I'll give the newspaper a try. Going to do a 2 day back to school event (Tues-Wed) with free pizza, sodas, soap, prize drawings and a $1.00 card to get them started. I'll report back on the outcome.
Duane
08-14-2008, 02:38 PM
Lman,
Careful on your timing. College kids may come back one week, but it may be a week or two before they need to do wash (most kids come back with clean clothes).
You want to get them when they need to do laundry, my business starts to pick up 7-10 days after the first day of school.
With good timing they will come to you during your special and then hopefully keep coming back.
I always give new customers a $5 bonus.
I do discount during early hours during the week. It has helped out with making more room during the weekend for full paying customers. My store sales graph shows that my prime time totals have stayed the same, and the week day totals have gone up. I wouldn't discount unless you don't have the capacity during your prime times. Discounting just to get people in the door doesn't make you more money, but discounting to make room for more full paying customers does.
Plus it is always nice to have someone in the store during the night to deter any undesirables to come in when the store is empty.
Duane.
Our first year we put an ad/coupon in the desk calendar that gets delivered to all the dorm rooms. Didn't continue that b/c got no return on it. This year we put an ad in the booklet that goes out to all the parents during the summer, advertising our university laundry service. We also have a vendor's table during the orientation/move-in weekend where we can advertise and sign up students for our service. We've had a great response to that.