A campus rep completes many activities for brands, both online and offline, that are intended to influence their peers. Activities are broken out into three categories – market research, recruitment and marketing activities. Here are four of the most common activities performed by a campus rep.
- Market Research
Get students’ opinions on your marketing plan before you finalize it. For example, let’s say you manage a movie company and want to learn what other events are happening on campus on a particular day, so that you increase traffic to your movie’s pre-screening. Campus reps can review academic calendars and social media groups to pick the perfect date on their campus.
Other market research ideas include:
Get students’ opinions on what product in your portfolio should be included in your sampling program
Create a student-based focus group
Select beta testers for your new app
Find out who the decision maker on your campus is for reserving space for a pop up shop
Learn the answers to questions such as: What is the hottest spring break destination? Most popular bar? What does a day in the life of a student look like?
Gather hundreds, thousands of responses by having your campus rep’s peers answer these sets of questions
2. Recruit More Campus Reps
Long running campus rep programs have a recruitment function built in that allows existing campus reps to recruit new ones. This allows the campus rep program to assist with its own recruitment, freeing time for corporate HR departments.
For example, your current campus rep could schedule time to talk in front of relevant student organizations on campus to discuss your business’s opportunity. If your brand would prefer to maintain more control over the message, – have your rep play a video on the day in the life of a campus rep instead.
Other recruitment activities your campus rep could perform include:
Ask professors to post information about the campus rep openings
Collect email addresses of students who are interested in applying
Introduce themselves to Career Services on campus
Post the opportunity on their school’s online job board
Post the opportunity on their personal social media pages
3. Marketing Activities, Both Online and Offline
You have determined what campus reps should talk about from your market research and found campus reps to execute. Here are 37 more common activities we see on college campuses that campus reps could be doing to market your product / service:
Hand out samples of product to their peers
Speak about your product/brand in front of a class
Speak about your product/brand in front of a student organization
Reserve space on campus for your tour vehicle
Get their peers to download your app
Host an event in a sorority or fraternity house
Share an article you just posted on their social media accounts
Go on your website and post their favorite product to their social media account
Take a picture of your display in the store to ensure the image you want to portray is being met
Put up flyers about your upcoming event
Stencil sidewalk chalkings with #stencilmania
Impromptu fashion show runway in the Union
Get front row of your football student section and hold up this poster
Pass out branded moving boxes during move out week
Give parents water during move in and tell them about the nearest location to buy what they forgot
Participate in a classroom competition with a capstone course on campus
Gather the mailing addresses of Greek Houses then send the houses a surprise package
Amplify one of your social media posts with more likes, comments, shares
Reserve a table on campus and have students spin to win swag
Create custom frisbees and tape gift cards to the bottom of them, then have your reps throw them around campus
Create a student organization on campus
Demo your product
Pass out popcorn and our new beverage before the campus movies on the weekends
Write on classroom whiteboard / chalkboard a specific message
Pass out noise canceling headphones in library to promote our new technology
Branded static clings in all dorm bathrooms prior to move in
Stock dorm room fridges prior to move in
Have students change their social media profile and banner images to ones provided by you
Weekly coupon distribution
Order pizza to be delivered by students who are wearing your branding in a surprise and delight fashion on campus
Give students a link to your website with a unique coupon code
Create bookmarks with your brand’s information and have students drop them off to their peers studying at the library
Create a bean bag toss game that includes the brand’s product and set it up for people on campus to play
Walk around campus with a sandwich board sign
Create an intramural sports team and give samples to each opposing team played
Share your song list on Spotify
Get your brand involved in the largest event on campus
Talk to student organizations about how to put their best suit forward before a career fair Now that you understand what types of activities are appropriate for a Campus Rep to complete, contact Campus Commandos to help create a personalized college marketing plan for your brand.
