Branded merch choice matters for collegiate recruitment
Remember going to the dentist as a child and choosing the toy of your choice after the cleaning (and hopefully no cavities)? By choosing the item, it increased your excitement and the value that you put on the item. When product choice is part of the college search experience for potential students, it similarly raises the bar.
When navigating the college search process, students have a lot of choices. From large to small, private to public, local to distant, urban to rural, students have plenty of choices to make. During the recruitment process, students receive branded merch to influence, excite and create long-lasting memories. Most often branded merch is integrated without any options for students to choose from. I want to challenge that strategy and strongly encourage, whenever possible, integrating branded merch choice in student recruitment campaigns.
Through thoughtful integration, choice can be offered in person for on-campus events or through online campaigns and mailings. Branded online merch stores can easily be created to allow students to select their item(s) of choice and provide their mailing address.
When a collegiate recruitment strategy incorporates branded merch choice, the benefits include:
- Buy In – When choosing an item, there is ownership over their decision.
- Excitement – The recipient is even more likely to be excited about their choice, resulting in an increased affinity towards the college.
- Extended Impact – When choosing the product, it is more likely to be used long term, thus extending the impact.
- Sustainability – Instead of everyone receiving the same item or a one-size fits all approach, providing choice is a more sustainable option. Some may not choose to take advantage, thus saving resources, and the ones that do select the product, they will be more likely to use the product.
- Surprise and Delight – When executed effectively, the selection of options can evoke a sense of surprise and delight!
When ready to integrate branded merch choice in your strategy, the next step is to choose the type of product options. There are three common directions:
- Niche Products – Choice opens up the possibility for more niche items to be included as part of the overall set of options. These are products that would have not been included if the merch was using a one size fits all approach. The power of this strategy is that it can create even more excitement among segmented audiences as they did not expect to receive this type of product at the event. A few product examples of this strategy include croc charms and hair scrunchies.
- Product color and/or logo design – Choice can be integrated into a campaign that has the same product, offering variety in product color and/or logo design. For example, I recently learned about a campaign that included nine choices of the same t-shirt. This was achieved by offering the t-shirt in three colors with three different logo designs. The t-shirts were printed on demand, allowing incredible flexibility for students to showcase their personality and what resonated with their personal tastes.
- Range of Products – Select a range of products that are similarly priced but hit different preferences or tastes. For example, at an admitted student day, a college could offer three different types of drinkware, including a water bottle, coffee tumbler and ceramic mug.
Choice Success Story
To show how the power of choice creates success, Missouri S&T University recently engaged admitted students with a choice strategy in the admit stage. The campaign exceeded expectations with record deposits and early action engagement. Get full details in this project story.
We believe that branded merch choice will continue to grow as a recruitment implementation strategy because of the many benefits. Embrace the power of choice! merch choice matters for collegiate recruitment
