Marketing to college and high school students

[cafeizzi]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.