Higher education institutions are making leaps and bounds with adopting mobile solutions for a wide variety of purposes. For example, University Business just recently published a feature on the ways that a number of universities are incorporating mobile for retail transactions, parking, tuition payments and more. It makes perfect sense – today, students might not always have their wallets on hand, but they’re almost guaranteed to have their smartphones.
In my previous blog post, I discussed the ways that campus life is becoming cashless and mobile with platforms such as AprivaLife™, including marketing opportunities for local businesses and payment options for students. But one additional way that universities are embracing the mobile trend is through their campus organizations.
Campus organizations are a vital part of a school’s culture. They offer opportunities for students to meet new people, connect over shared interests and develop skills. They also help to strengthen the collegiate community, whether through fundraisers and volunteering or organized events for the student body to attend. Mobile enables these groups to promote their meetings and the work that they do, generating additional interest by using the devices that students always carry.
Perhaps the school’s theatre group is starting work on its next big production. Using a school-branded mobile solution like AprivaLife, the group can let students (who have previously expressed interest in the arts via the app) know about an open call for auditions. They can invite students to volunteer as ushers. The student body can be alerted when will call tickets go on sale, along with a special early bird discount. When a show is coming up, the application can push notifications to students’ phones in case they’d like to purchase tickets at the door, then students can use that same mobile application to pay.
Other organizations, such as campus athletics, can leverage the benefits of mobile marketing too. The mobile application can notify students when pep rallies and games are coming up; remind them about student discounts and ticket sales, purchased in-person using the application’s mobile payments feature); and promote alumni/booster programs.
Mobile is just one additional way that student organizations can reach intended audiences to increase interest and attendance in their activities. Also, as mobile continues to proliferate, the know-how to capitalize on this marketing resource is great for these students to have as they graduate and enter the workforce. Businesses of all sizes are looking to mobile as a means of internal communications and advertising, so new graduates who have a mobile advertising background will have the upper hand in their job searches.
How might your school experience have been different if you had mobile marketing resources on hand?
– Karen Coblentz, Senior Director of Product Management
