I wrote this blog post in December 2011, I thought I knew a lot about college students and how to reach them. In the last seven months, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned so much, and this original blog post was so popular, that I decided it was worth updating. While it doesn’t have 30% less calories, this post does have tons of new stats from multiple surveys SheerID has conducted this year. So buckle-up, this is the new and improved list of how NOT to reach college students.
College students spent $16 billion online last year, that’s billion with a “B.” College students 
are everything a business is looking for in a new customer: the whole world in front of them, great potential, cinder-block and milk-crate furniture…picture of perfection. They are all gathered in one place, on campus, in classrooms, this should be easy, right? To use a saying I have never understood and is oddly violent, like shooting fish in a barrel.
The truth is though, most companies are either downright failing at reaching college students, or are doing it so inefficiently that it’s a terrible experience for the student, and a worse ROI on their marketing efforts. So how do you do it?
Imitation is the best form of flattery, so let’s start there. Who is doing a great job at reaching college students? Its ok, I’ll wait. Think of who is doing an amazing job at specifically developing loyal customers among college students. Anyone?
Now that may sound silly. Really, we need to conduct a survey to ask college students what they think about student discounts? Isn’t that kind of like the study done on rats to determine if they prefer a diet of only dark chocolate over electric shock? But actually, it was extremely informative. So sit back with your box of dark chocolates (or your taser if you prefer) and be prepared to be astounded.