Back in December, the Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce held a special forum to share the results and recommendations from a new study titled “Marketing to BYU-Idaho Students.”

The study was commissioned by the chamber and conducted by the Eastern Idaho Entrepreneurial Center.  It was also a culmination of the work the chamber put forth to reach its top goal in 2011, which was to discover new ideas and approaches to help our members become more successful at marketing to BYU-Idaho students. 

At the forum, Marc LeFevre, who led the E-Center’s research team, outlined the different elements of the study.  He shared best practices from other similar-sized college towns the team contacted.  He talked about the importance of using the Internet and social media and text messaging to reach students.  He discussed creating a shopping environment that appeals to students.  And he emphasized the benefits of offering students money-saving deals to drive traffic and build loyalty.

In addition, he played clips from a DVD the team produced that contains recommendations for marketing to BYU-Idaho students by BYU-Idaho students.  The recommendations are broken into 12 sections, one for every significant segment of the Rexburg market.  For example, there are specific sections for restaurants, apparel, banking, jewelry, etc.

While Marc shared a lot of valuable information during his presentation, he could only impart a fraction of the study’s contents in the time allotted.  Therefore, a CD with the study’s written material and the DVD of the student focus groups were sold after the forum for a minimal cost (and they sold out).

We were pleased that roughly 75 local businesspeople showed up for the forum, which is two to three times the number of folks who usually attend these monthly gatherings.  And judging from the positive comments I heard, I believe everyone came away from the presentation with new ideas and a new level of enthusiasm for marketing to the students.

Still, 75 people do not represent the majority of the chamber’s membership.  For the study’s true value to be realized, it must be disseminated to many more local business owners and managers. We strongly encourage all members to contact the chamber office at 356-5700 or info@rexcc.comto order the CD and DVD.  The charge is only $1 per disc, which simply covers our costs.  We can even e-mail you the written material at no charge.

Once you get the CD and DVD, please remember this was an independent study.  We felt it was important to present the research to our members just as its creators presented it to us, pure and unedited.  Further, Marc emphasized during the forum that the data is not a guarantee for success.  However, the ideas in the study were suggested by what I believe was an acceptable sample of BYU-Idaho students and/or have been used with winning results in other markets.

Whatever ideas you choose to incorporate into your business plan, we hope you’ll follow the one overarching theme from the study:  “Get in the sandbox and play with the students.”

You need to learn to think like students think.  You need a regularly-updated strategy for marketing to students.  You need to talk to students to find out how your business can better fulfill their needs. You need to stay on top of the latest technologies students are using. You need to enlist the help of local professionals from both traditional and emerging media outlets to help you reach the students.  Finally, you need to look to the chamber, which will continue to give its members tools for success.

Conversely, the one thing you must not do is ignore the students.  BYU-Idaho has experienced incredible growth over the past decade, and more growth is on the horizon.  As a Rexburg business community, we must curtail the amount of student income currently flowing down Highway 20.  On so many levels, we need that money to stay local!

Finally, the chamber would like to express its sincere appreciation to the E-Center for conducting this study, especially to its director, Elder Robert Pothier.  We’d also like to thank Marc and his research team of Elaine May, Robbie Wood and Robert Gist.  These young people were as passionate about this project as they were capable.  It was an honor for me to work with them and I have no doubt they are all going to make their future employers very happy.