Target the Freshers market
Win over new student customers and turn them into loyal brand champions.
Why target Freshers?
Can your brand help Freshers fit in at university? University is an important milestone and a chance for students to experiment with how they express themselves. It may be the first time they've had autonomy over their spending choices, so earn their brand loyalty now.
Freshers have long shopping lists because they need everything from clothing, stationery and laptops, to bank accounts and kitchenware. They are likely to do their shopping one to four weeks before starting university, so August and September are key months to promote your brand.
Why The Student Room?
The Student Room is a trusted peer-to-peer community where young people can research their purchases. When we asked students in our Big Autumn Survey (October 2022), which sources students went to for advice on what to purchase for university 66% said they visit The Student Room.
We have rich first-party data about students aged 14 - 24, so your campaign can be highly targeted. Of the many data points we can target, some of the key ones for Freshers campaigns include: age, location, interests, onsite behaviour (indicating what products they may be interested in) and whether or not they are likely to start university this cycle.
Exceptional brand awareness
"The team was responsive and reactive through-out the campaign, and played a huge role in helping us to beat target reach by over 25%"
Digital Manager, Wavemaker (Nationwide campaign)
Brand awareness
Brand awareness can make or break your youth marketing strategy because those initial upper funnel touchpoints build a sense of trust and familiarity at a time when students are still forming brand preferences.
47% of students we surveyed said the top way they discover new brands was through online advertising, and a further 7% said talking with people they meet online. We can help you cut through the noise of your competitors by maximising your brand exposure to students who align with your brand and are indicating a high propensity to spend. In the past year, The Student Room site attracted 19 million Year 13 users.
Recommended: Display, Freshers Hub sponsorship, Content (article) partnership.
Direct response
Need to boost acquisition in the youth market?
Using our knowledge of the student journey, we ensure your message reaches your target audience and lands at the ideal time to maximise conversions.
Students trust The Student Room as a source of useful, relevant information, which means you can enjoy well above-average response rates from onsite activity, email and retargeting campaigns.
Recommended: Targeted email and our brand-safe, industry-leading retargeting (Ada programmatic advertising).
Youth research
With twenty years' experience in the youth market, we understand what motivates youth spending behaviour.
Our in-house market research consultancy, TSR Insight, can find out whatever you need to know about your target audience, using a variety of methods from online focus groups to UX testing.
Who we've worked with
