American Campus, one of a handful of marketing companies that produce and place posters on campuses, has a Website that describes college “postering” as a means to market events and deals and advertise job openings to more than 14 million U.S. college students.
One of American Campus’ competitors, Campus Promotions of Fayetteville, Tenn., describes college students as ideal potential part-time employees, especially for adding to staff during busy holiday periods. Graduating seniors are also a great source of new full-time workers as well.
With more than 1,400 four-year college campuses in the U.S., eye-catching posters with dynamic, persuasive messages placed in the high-visibility areas of the student center, libraries and cafeteria can be very effective. These marketing companies research the four- and two-year schools within reasonable drive time of a resort and design postering programs that usually run no longer than a month at a time.
Marc Sorel, national marketing director for New Age Marketing, Inc. of Providence, R.I., says, “on-campus marketing . . . is an effective medium and more resorts should be doing it.” Sorel’s agency services between four and seven ski resorts each fall.
Sorel’s company also advertises in college newspapers, alternative magazines and online, but “everything stems from the posters,” he says. Generally, agencies place one poster for every 90 to 150 students on campus, with a minimum of between 15 and 25 posters for a population of up to 3,000.
Crystal Stokarski, Okemo’s director of human resources, says her resort has contracted with agencies for about four years and has no plans to stop using posters and fliers. “We cover the major colleges in the New England states,” she says. “We will continue to advertise to this group because they are available to help us during our busier holiday periods and weekends.” Stokarski also attends career fairs to recruit employees and places print ads.
On Campus Promotions says that using inexperienced personnel (such as other students or resort staff) to maintain and update on-campus posters “is wasteful and potentially disastrous.”
Professionals, the agencies say, time the placement of materials to the client’s activity or services. They also make sure posters, brochures and fliers are always on display, don’t get crowded out by other materials and are replaced when necessary to ensure maximum exposure.
The charge for running a college postering campaign is based on the number of posters—the more you order, the less per poster it costs. Size and type of poster (using tear-off tags, full color, glossy or matte paper), specialized instructions and the geographic range a company representative must cover are also factors.
A Massachusetts resort, for example, might have six four-year colleges within its range representing 32,400 students. American Campus suggests 167 posters should be placed around those campuses and estimates the cost at about $245 for the project. Another hypothetical plan targets 17 four-year schools within an hour’s drive of Chicago. There are a combined 171,000 students in the region, requiring 816 posters. Total cost: $1,020.
According to New Age Marketing, postering projects get between a 1 percent and 25 percent response rate, depending on how many posters are distributed. To confirm that, New Age sometimes relies on a phrase on the poster, such as, “mention this poster and receive a free. . .” or has the client ask prospects how they learned about job openings.
For attracting student workers, postering can be the smartest choice. New students just arriving on campus are generally not yet tuned in to college placement offices, job banks or the local print media, so the walls and bulletin boards around campus become primary tools for disseminating information. And the best designed and most noticeable messages will produce lasting impressions; perhaps making the difference in being able to choose from among five or 50 prospective employees.
Kay Rooff-Steffen teaches college in the Midwest and writes about HR issues, communications and professional development.
Campus Poster Companies
- American Campus: www.americancampus.com
- Campus HQ: www.campushq.com
- Campus Promotions: www.campuspromotions.com
- New Age Marketing, Inc: www.newagemarketing-univ.com
- On Campus Promotions: http://ocp.campus.net
