Why creative is so important: Unlocking the potential of effective marketing campaigns

The student experience is distinct, even between year groups. For first-years who are anticipating moving away from home, connecting with like-minded individuals and learning to live and budget independently will be front of mind.

For third-years and postgraduates who are thinking about life after university, securing a graduate job and potentially moving to another new place are the top priority.    

It's crucial that brands understand whose needs they are meeting, and that their creative approach and messaging address these nuances. And this is important for campaigns too. Consider the style of content that your target students consume, and ensure what you create is optimised for that platform to get the best returns. 

For example, while short-form videos created for TikTok can be posted on Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, the content that performs best on the latter two tends to be more polished than the authentic videos that do well on TikTok. 

The visuals that accompany your copy go a long way towards influencing the overall tone of the creative. A serious sentence with a playful image, for example, could convey a mixed message and make customers feel uneasy if it’s not a carefully considered part of the campaign.

This generation of students value authenticity above everything else, so polished visuals and formal copy will only alienate them, even if the goal was to appear aspirational.  

Instead, aim to convey this authenticity. If possible, invest in quality photography with the brand’s own products and hand-selected models that

Many brands are taking this brand storytelling a step further by fostering their own communities, Gymshark excels at this; it holds workout classes at its biggest stores every week, alongside regular high-profile Gymshark Lift events in cities around the world to 'bring a generation of lifters together'.

Impactful copy is central to any marketing campaign, and one targeting students is no exception. 

In the era of 8-second marketing, social captions, email subject lines and campaign headlines could be your only chance to get your audience’s attention. Remember, Gen Z students have a sophisticated filter for marketing tactics, so avoid anything too sales-y. 

Instead, make it interesting, evoke curiosity, and tell them why they are going to get value out of whatever action you want them to take.  

Speaking of taking action…

Calls to action (CTAs) are the bridge between capturing attention and the reader doing whatever it is you want them to do next – sign up to your emails, click download, make a purchase and so on.   

Avoid the common but very uninteresting CTAs you see everywhere: ‘buy now’, ‘book a table’, ‘download here’. Taking the opportunity to inject some brand personality, and nurturing a relationship between brand and customer instead of just pushing for sales, is a quick win for standing out against those who don’t bother.  

So, instead of ‘book now’, could it be ‘join us’, or ‘be there’? Could ‘see for yourself’ or ‘try it out’ be more interesting than ‘buy today’? 

When you’re measuring the value of your optimised creative and clever new CTAs, don’t make the mistake of measuring just your click-through rate (CTR). A high CTR is a great sign – but what happens after they click? If you’re still not getting conversions, something else might be hindering the user journey.