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If you’re missing one of these core products in your advertising offerings, you’ve got an opportunity to increase revenue.
For student media organizations hoping to generate more advertising revenue, evaluating existing products and inventory can be a smart place to get started. While there are many ways to generate advertising revenue, we recommend starting with the “Core 5” products of student media.
Those products are:
In the following guide, we’ll provide some starter information for each of the Core 5 products.
Out-of-home (OOH) products are focused on marketing to consumers when they are "on the go" or in other places “outside of the home.” This looks like newsracks, newsstands, and screens and can be in physical or digital formats.
National buyers frequently ask for OOH products, but OOH can also be a strong offering for a local advertiser, allowing them to penetrate areas on campus with high foot traffic for a relatively low cost.
If you already have newsracks on your campus, you may be able to slide posters or ads into the windows. Provide your local advertisers with a map of locations, and suggest they purchase a few at a time for a bundled cost.
If you don’t have any newsracks or stands, reach out to Flytedesk about the Newsracks program.
Street teams include the distribution of materials (flyers, posters, stickers, etc...) on campus. For both national and local buyers, street teams are a great way to reach a large subset of your campus in a short amount of time.
If you have a central area of campus and a few members of your team willing to participate, street teams can be activated on almost every campus.
[READ MORE: Our comprehensive guide to street teams]
It’s very easy to start a street team initiative. We recommend pricing by “event” or “activation” — a set period of time in which you will distribute street team materials — and encourage advertisers to provide their own material.
You can book a table or a booth on campus, but on many campuses, that isn’t necessary to get started.
If you have a website, you can likely activate digital ads. You can have as many or as few ad spots on your website as you’d like and can adjust it to fit the layout and design of your website. Local clients appreciate digital ads because of the trackable metrics and reach, and national clients are almost always looking for digital, too.
Reach out to your Flytedesk account manager today to get set up with the Flytedesk Premium Digital script tag. That makes you eligible for national campaigns right away.
While a regular print product isn’t a fit for everyone, it is still in high demand for national buyers and can be a good add-on for local buyers, too.
If a regular print product isn’t an option, consider producing just special targeted editions, including editions targeted to orientation, back-to-school, graduation, and elections. Sports-focused special editions are also popular.
Create premium ad placements, including a full back page, a front page banner, and a placement on page 2 or 3.
Email newsletters are the fastest growing product for college media, and a guaranteed way to integrate your brand into a college student’s daily routine. Almost 60% of Generation Z say they check their email multiple times a day and 23% say they check their email at least once a day, according to Campaign Monitor.
If you already have an active email newsletter, it’s as easy as adding one or two banner ads to your product. We recommend offering a premium masthead that runs at the top of your email as well as two to three additional banners that can be distributed at the top, middle or bottom of your newsletter template.
The best thing about email newsletters is that if you sell out your available inventory, it’s easy to add more.
The Core 5 products are proven revenue streams that successful student media organizations rely on. Start where you are — activate digital ads if you have a website, launch an email newsletter if you publish regularly or organize street teams if you have eager team members. It’s OK to focus on doing a few products really well before expanding.
Missing any of these core products means leaving money on the table. National buyers especially look for campuses who offer multi-channel, surround sound campaigns that reach students where they are.
We’re here to help with whatever you need, from navigating our resource hub to unlocking more training and support for your student media organization. Reach out to us via email, or set up a 1:1 coaching session.
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