College Advertising?

[gbonilla]

I'm going to be transferring from a Community/Junior college to a University over the summer and as a means of making some extra money I've been tinkering with the idea of starting up a tech company.

There are about 4 colleges within a 15 mile radius of where I will be living with the one I will be attending just a block away from my residence.

The questions: Do you feel that advertising to all four colleges would be a viable source of income? If so, what sort of advertising would you suggest?

I feel that passing out flyers on campus is a common practice used by other organizations and I was thinking of using this to my advantage. Would passing out flyers hurt my professionalism?

Should I cater specifically to college students? Would doing so close me off to potential clients or would it make me more specialized and attract college students?

These are all questions I have been answering to myself in my head and it sounds like a good plan but I'd like to hear from more seasoned techies with startup experience.

I would very much appreciate any input.

 

[ComputerClinic]

I think that college students are great for business. When their computer breaks they need it fixed and fast. I wouldn't hand out any fliers personally. If you want college students, focus on your web presence. I had zero money when I started my business (about 1 year ago) so I focused heavily on my website, google local, etc.. I ended up being #1 for "computer repair [city] [state]" and similar search terms as well as having more reviews than anyone on google local. I always ask my clients where they heard about me and anytime its a college student I don't really need to ask...they googled computer repair.

That's just the mentality of my generation I guess. I got zero college students from the phone book or newspaper. And now that schools out for summer, I've noticed a significant drop in my business. It might not be a bad idea to offer 10% off for students either.

 

[Xander]

We've got a university in the town and, in 9 years, I've only had a handful of calls from students. I've done a little advertising there with no results.
I think most students have a friend or two who know enough about computers that they don't feel the need to call someone in.

 

[Crgky127]

I have no experience with this, but I would assume that your mileage may vary based on whether the colleges offer degrees in liberal arts stuff vs technical stuff. Also, facebook/twitter/whatever-the-kids-are-using-nowadays and traditional word of mouth will probably be really effective in that kind of environment.

 

[geekhelp4u]

I would also ask a few students what kind of support the colleges have. Around here - all of the colleges have free tech support for their students.

 

[gbonilla]

We've got a university in the town and, in 9 years, I've only had a handful of calls from students. I've done a little advertising there with no results.
I think most students have a friend or two who know enough about computers that they don't feel the need to call someone in.

What type of advertising have you tried?

I'm also afraid of this but from what I've noticed a lot of my friends aren't the most tech savvy people but then again I've always been the friend that they have gone to. I've contemplated this issue quite frequently, as it seems to be the main barrier. I've come to the conclusion that if I make tech support readily available at decent prices I will attract a market. Then again this could just be wishful thinking...

As far as I know two of the four colleges don't offer any on-campus services and the third offers tech support for prices comparable to Geek Squad.

 

[Xander]

I'd tried running a couple of ads in their university paper and a month of ads on their campus radio station. Nada.

 

[vapctech]

My primary marketing plan has been geared towards college students, as I am also in school and I live near a college campus. They are great clients, they want it fixed fast (as someone mentioned above). The only thing, they often are short on cash, so a discount for them is a very attractive selling point.

 

[gbonilla]

My primary marketing plan has been geared towards college students, as I am also in school and I leave near a college campus. They are great clients, they want it fixed fast (as someone mentioned above). The only thing, they often are short on cash, so a discount for them is a very attractive selling point.

This has put me a bit at ease, what type of marketing have you engaged in? In addition, what type of repairs/fixes do you commonly find yourself doing? Mostly hardware or software?

 

[vapctech]

I have handed out fliers in the communities surrounding the campus, posted fliers on campus in various areas frequented by students, and also in a community lounge in campus housing (had to get permission). The primary issue (90%) has been virus/spyware issues. The rest are minor hardware issues (replace fan, power supply, etc.)

Best Wishes to you..this is a ripe market as long as you're fair and do good work, you should be ok.

 

[gbonilla]

I have handed out fliers in the communities surrounding the campus, posted fliers on campus in various areas frequented by students, and also in a community lounge in campus housing (had to get permission). The primary issue (90%) has been virus/spyware issues. The rest are minor hardware issues (replace fan, power supply, etc.)

Best Wishes to you..this is a ripe market as long as you're fair and do good work, you should be ok.

Thanks a lot for the advice.

Did you pursue a particular marketing strategy, such as a gimmick of sorts? Did you appeal to the student's in a certain fashion? As in, did you advertise that you were a student as well?

Thanks again.

P.S. Sorry about all of the questions, heh.

 

[vapctech]

Sorry for the late response..been busy busy!

Yes, for the school I attend, I let them know I was a student as well.
For the others, I just advertise a student discount. I also have coupons on my fliers. I haven't had any giveaways yet but I will soon.

I also think social networking is critical in appealing to students. Facebook and Twitter can go a long way. I have received a number of clients via Facebook alone. Also, when a person posts something like "Eeek! my computer just crashed and I have a paper due!" I will immediately send them an inbox message letting them know I do computer repair and would be happy to help them. This has been quite successful.

Something someone else suggested I do, is send email to all of my classmates every semester letting them know I do computer repair, and at a discount. I will start doing this in the fall.

 

[Thedog]

Students are probably the worst segment for any type of business. Like someone said, most students know someone that can fix it for free/cheap etc. Although my response is only based on bias, no real experience trying to cater to college kids

 

[Redtech1]

keep in mind college students aren't broke (they will say they are but they are not) they will find the money to do what is important to them.

With that said college students are a double edge sword. You will deal with ALOT of piracy and virus because of it. You will also get some really joke problems in (where is the anykey????) I would institute a rule that they must pay in full (cash/credit/check) before they can pick up their computer. Also be weary of your prices pizza tech's abound on college campus's and some of them are actually good (doing it part time/ for fun/experience or free pizza while working on their degrees).

I would also try reaching out to the local area more than the campuses. Just me personally, i dont want to deal with a bunch of punk college kids who pirate (which can come back to bite you if you aren't careful).

 

[bagellad]

I have good luck with the student population, having a website placement is key. Often times the parents will be the ones searching for their kid who calls the parent for help first. Although I also thought everyone knew a "computer guy" this doesn't seem to be true. Infact in university I knew many CS majors who couldn't even fix their own computer.

 

[kagman]

You know I never really thought about hitting any of the colleges. But I guess if things are done right you can make some money. Good price, fast service, a social network presence, etc etc.. I think we should keep talking about this and see who among us is having success with this.. Now I am very interested..

 

[kagman]

Just had an excellent idea. Put an ad out for the parents of college students. Sell prepaid service to the parents, so that the kids don't have to pay. Mom and dad pay you upfront for like 1 or 2 hours of service, or for any other type of service. When the college kid has a computer problem, he or she calls you, you take care of the problem and the college kid does not owe you anything since Mom and Dad prepaid for the service upfront before hand. What you guys think.. Call it a gift card or something..

 

[StringTech]

Higher Education Computer Services

I work at a university that offers computer services to student's personal computers. We do not issue laptops to incoming students.

You have to find out if the school provides laptops to freshmen as they enter college. They usually get to use it for the duration of their stay and have an option to keep it afterwards. These type of schools wil definitely have their own computer services within. Some partners with Dell or HP and even have Apple Certified Technicians on staff.

Having said that, you might want to check out the scope of what kind of tech support they provide to students. Most do not do LCD replacement, DC Jack repair or advanced Data Recovery. On school issued computers, once it is out of warranty the students are on their own.

If you're going to make flyers or printout business cards make sure you drop some off at the school's student services helpdesk (or whatever they call it). Have them refer you if they get jobs that they can not provide or if a student doesn't want to wait for the work order queue. Hope this helps.