When brands think of connecting with Gen Z students, the go-to solution is often discounts.
And while discounts certainly can help your brand to resonate with young people as they look to make their money go further, offering added value like useful resources, education or networking opportunities can promote a healthier, long-term brand relationship.
Here are actionable ways to resonate with students and offer genuine value beyond cutting prices:
Know your audience to give the right advice
Avoid falling into the trap of making assumptions. Instead, take the time to access audience insights, to understand who you’ll be speaking to and offer the value they really need.
Today’s students value brands that acknowledge their challenges and offer genuine support. With many balancing the cost-of-living financial pressures alongside the emotions of their transition to university, your messaging and how you deliver it matters.
Empower them with life skills
For many students, starting university is a huge leap into the unknown as they look for ways to help them thrive through this new transition. There are many new challenges to overcome, both academically and personally, and most will be seeking tips and information on how to navigate this next step in their lives.
It’s not just about offering cheaper products and to spend unnecessarily — they want tools and services that genuinely enhance their lives. Think discounts paired with free guides, webinars, or access to valuable resources that help develop core lifeskills. Some examples could include:
- tech brands offering tutorials and workshops with device purchases, or enhancing purchases with additional software/services
- supermarket retailers offering advice on healthy meal planning on a budget with recipe cards or cooking classes
- banks offering webinars or conducting campus roadshows offering budget management support
Take cues from Barclays LifeSkills, which offers free employability and financial education tailored to different age groups. It’s not just that the advice is pitched for people at different life stages – it also means those who are more or less knowledgeable at those stages can still benefit from the programme.
Offer long-term support with loyalty programmes
Compared to the short-term gain of student discounts, loyalty programmes are strategic assets that can create and encourage lasting relationships– think Tesco Clubcard, the Boots app, and so on.
The price reductions offered by these schemes can make a real difference to students on tight budgets – and for brands, generate a wealth of incredibly valuable data about how customers engage and shop with them.
The most effective schemes, like Tesco’s Clubcard personalise offers to the user’s buying habits. For Gen Z, it means receiving offers and information personalised to their spending habits and needs, making them even more useful and helping Gen Z consumers to feel seen and valued.
They’ll also provide an incentive to keep returning to your brand and foster long-term loyalty, which could translate to further spending later on.
Support the whole journey
When the academic year is about to start, a huge number of brands will be trying to make connections with the university audience and offering similar discounts to encourage excessive spending.
Student life doesn’t begin on move-in day. From post-16 education to graduation, there are multiple touchpoints where brands can step in and add value.
It shouldn’t be about chasing sales, but showing up authentically for a demographic navigating one of the most important transitions in their lives. Building relationships throughout this journey enables brands to establish themselves as trusted voices long before the term starts.
Be there in the moments that matter
The journey to becoming a university student is an emotional and transformative time. For Gen Z, this milestone is filled with decisions and experiences that shape their future—and the brands that connect authentically during these moments are the ones they’ll remember and trust.
At UCAS, we’ve engineered a unique media ecosystem built around the student application journey. Our in-house insights team and digital marketing strategists specialise in helping brands engage meaningfully with students at critical points in their journey. By understanding their needs and speaking to their values, your campaigns can resonate in ways that build trust and loyalty.