7 Ways to Market Your Bail Agency to College Students

• August 09, 2010
• by Collateral Staff
• Marketing

[caption id="attachment_237" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Marketing Your Bail Business to College Students"][/caption]

Every fall, a new batch of wide-eyed college freshmen enters dormitories or fraternity or sorority houses. Gone are the days when their parents are down the hall to monitor their activities. For some students, those days have been replaced by alcohol-fueled parties, rowdy collegiate sporting events, everything-goes spring break vacations and (when they're 21 or if they get a fake ID) an assortment of bars with ultra-cheap drink specials. It's a college student's delight and a parent's worst nightmare.

Unfortunately, this new-found freedom sometimes leads college kids to make questionable decisions that land them in jail and in need of a bail-out. If you operate a bail agency near a college town or spring break destination, you can be the business these kids rely on when they're in a pinch. The trick, as we'll explain, is marketing your business to college students and their parents so that you are the first bail agent they call.
If you're looking for some tried-and-true methods of marketing to college students, plus some creative new ideas, AboutBail.com has you covered.

1. Give away free stuff
College students, much like the rest of the world, love free stuff. If you provide them with something they'll use and keep around, there's a good chance they'll remember your business. These giveaways should have key information such as your business name and/or logo, business phone number and website address. Ideas for branded marketing collateral that you can give to students include:

• Shirts

• Reusable plastic or metal water bottles

• Pens

• Frisbees

• Key chains

• Koozies (foam beer holders)

• Prophylactics

• A cold bottle of water (especially effective in hot spring break destinations or warm-weather campuses

2. Advertise in campus media
Advertising in college media outlets is reasonably inexpensive. College radio stations usually feature youth-oriented music and content that attracts college-age listeners, and even people in town who aren't in college. Placing an occasional advertisement on the radio station is a great way to let students know about your business. University television stations, newspapers and magazines are also good places to advertise.

Keep in mind that college students will probably more easily remember a funny or clever ad, so be sure to spend time thinking about how you want to grab their attention.

3. Sponsor events
Show a college student a good time and they might just remember your company's name. In this case, since you're marketing to college students, you can sponsor events such as collegiate athletic events, parties at bars and events at fraternity houses. Costs to sponsor events vary, but it's an effective way to have your company logo displayed to your target market. Benefits of sponsorship can include:

• Your logo displayed prominently throughout the event

• Your company name announced by the event MC if there is one

• Your presence at the event, which is your chance to talk to college kids and hand out promotional items

• Your company name in the event's printed collateral if applicable

4. Refocus your website
Your website, in addition to being one of your most valuable marketing tools, is a great way to attract college students and their parents. By employing search engine optimization (SEO) tactics, you can optimize your website so that people quickly find your website when searching for bail agents. For example, you can optimize your website for keyword phrases such as "University of Florida Bail Bonds" or "UCLA Bail Bonds." Click here for more advice on building a better bail website.

If you have a blog section or place where you feature bail information, you can offer parents information and advice about bail. You can tell them how bail works and what steps they should take to bail out their child. Providing this critical information to parents could be the gesture that encourages them to hire you to write their bail bonds.

5. Make friends using social media
Even if you're not a big user of social media such as Facebook or Twitter, your typical college student is. Marketing on Facebook is not only effective, it's free. You can even probably find a local college student to start a Facebook account for you and mold your profile into something that would interest other college students.

The trick to successful social media marketing is consistently updating the posts and information on your profile, keeping it fresh with intriguing content so students have a reason to keep visiting. And if they become "friends" or "fans" of your company, it's likely that they'll call or tell their parents to call you if a tough situation arises.

Click here for more information about social media marketing.

6. Advertise at bars
Considering that college bars are where many nights in jail have their roots, it makes sense for you to do some creative marketing there. It's not a sneaky tactic and it doesn't condone bad decisions by college students, it's just common sense. There are plenty of possibilities for how you can market your bail agency at bars, but here are a few that we came up with:

• Sponsor an event at a bar. Try to arrange it so that when students enter the bar, they get a stamp on their hand that says something like "Get Out of Jail With Bob's Bail Bonds. Call 555-1234." You can also have bar entrants be outfitted with removable plastic or paper bracelets with your company's name and contact information.

• If possible, park a vehicle sporting your company's logo and contact information near the town's bar district. A flashy paint job will draw people's eyes to the vehicle as they pass, or while they're waiting in line to enter the bar.

• Have someone circulating around the bar and taking group photos. When the person takes a photo, your employee can hand out numbered cards and tell people to contact you so you can e-mail them the photo. You can even digitally include your company logo in the corner of the photo.

7. Contact the legal services office on campus
Many college campuses have student legal services offices, where college students go to get legal advice. If you can establish a relationship with these offices, they may recommend your bail agency or at least let you leave some promotional materials in the office.

With some creativity and your target audience firmly in mind, you can increase the amount of business at your bail agency while providing a valuable service for college students and their families.

To learn more about becoming a member of AboutBail.com's trusted network of local bail professionals, contact us online.

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