Marketing to college and high school students

cafeizzi

New member
Oct 4, 2006
10
0
Douglas GA/Jesup GA
Visit site
I'm new here. I own two coffee shops in two different towns. One is a college town (two year college) and I'm needing some input on how to market to students in college & high school. My daughter is constantly on myspace.com and I read hers and others & so many times I see kids saying "I love Starbucks and/or Starbucks is my favorite!" We have no Starbucks in either town (thank goodness), but how can I attract them to my Cafes?

All help will be greatly appreciated! :)

Donna
 

momof3qc

New member
Sep 7, 2006
18
0
Montreal, Canada
Visit site
How about having your daughter start the ball rolling with putting something on her myspace.com like FORGET Starbucks, you gotta try "XXX"!? Teens are such copy-cats! And then make an offer good for college students only.

Kim
 

StarBuffs

New member
Sep 26, 2006
7
0
Lancaster, Ohio
Visit site
most of my customers are in this range. we used the peer to peer push to get our sales. this age group tends to enjoy iced, frozen, or cold drinks. Coffee free options are also popular...if you get them in then they will buy something. Provide a fun and relaxing place that has an open mic night regularly. You can even have a simple "unplugged" band come in.

If you want some more info feel free to email me!

BUFF
 

coffeed

New member
Oct 12, 2006
1
0
Huntington IN
Visit site
College tie in

We have had success with linking up with the Food Service vendor at the local university to accept the student meal card. We upcharge the student to cover the food service fee but that doesn't appear to be an issue.
 

jmeiss

New member
Dec 5, 2005
65
0
Lenexa, Kansas
Visit site
There are a number of ways to market to college and high school students:

1) Happy Hour - set aside one day/week where certain (or all) drinks are like 25% off (anyone in economics will tell you selling more at a reduced price than at regular price will bring in more $$) when they buy the drink "for here". Offer one free refill of a latte or mocha with drip coffee. The longer someone stays at a shop the more likely they are to purchase something else.

2) Discounts for school ID cards - show your student ID and receive certain % off your drink.

3) Grade card rewards - give a certain percentage off for an A on a grade card, and if they have straight A's then they get a free drink.


Those are just a few that come to mind.... Anything a bar does for driving traffic to their location you can conceivably do, just modified for your environment.
 
Top