9 best giveaways for college students and how to use them

Welcome new students to your campus and encourage them to stay with unique promotional giveaways.

Incoming and prospective students will immediately feel at home with gifts featuring your college logo or slogan. Everyone wants to belong so start each students’ college life with an inviting gift that immediately draws them in.

College marketing is big business

With nearly 18 million U.S. students enrolling in college each year, the competition to lure them to your campus is huge. Reaching out to college-bound freshmen early puts you in the driver’s seat to build trust and loyalty to your brand.

Colleges around the world spend billions marketing themselves to new students, according to The Hechinger Report. Higher education institutions now pay up to $623 per student each year for branding. With student decline in the last 10 years, it’s financially essential for colleges to do everything they can to recruit candidates.

Promotional products are a valuable marketing tool for colleges in three ways:

First, customized college giveaways are historically effective for drawing students. Secondly, they help foster unity across campus. Lastly, college promotional items, which are often kept for years, turn students into lifelong ambassadors for their alma mater. This can boost alumni donations, entice even more students and build prestige for your university.

A study by education consultant Ruffalo Noel Levitz revealed that direct marketing, such as the use of promotional items, is more effective than content marketing, online ads and billboard advertising. To put it simply, a young adult might forget something he/she reads online or while driving down the road, but not the name printed on a useful product seen and used nearly every day.

When to hand out giveaways for college students

One of the first things you must do is develop a plan to hand out your branded college giveaways. This will help you decide how many items you’ll need for a successful marketing campaign.

Keep in mind the main goal of giveaways is to entice new students and keep those already enrolled. However, promotional giveaways also can be used as incentives for achievements and gifts for your teaching staff.

Here are just a few ideas for distributing college swag:

Include them in college visit packets
Pass them out during student orientation
Use them as rewards for top student achievement
Distribute them during sporting events, art shows and job fairs
Give them away to enhance fundraisers
Use them as Christmas gifts for your staff
Designate them as prizes for student contests

What do you put in goodie bags for college students?

Impress your new recruits by giving them practical gifts. Small, customized giveaway items are most popular since students typically have limited space for personal items in dorms or shared apartments. Avoid cheap knick-knacks that will almost certainly end up in the trash.

Top 9 promotional giveaways for college students

1. Logo T-shirts

2. Custom can coolers & Koozies®

3. Customizable phone chargers & power banks

custom tech items for schools and colleges

4. Branded notebooks & journals

5. Promotional pens

Most popular giveaways:
Bex Click Pen
Rudy Click Pen
Ledwedge Pen
Translucent Hand Sanitizer Pen

6. Bulk drawstring bags

7. Custom printed hats

8. Custom water bottles

9. Personalized lanyards

Customization options for college swag

Totally Promotional can print just about anything you want on your giveaways for college students. We can place your college logo or mascot on most items if we receive written permission to use your licensed trademarks.

Please read our policy on trademarks. We can also print your college motto or inspirational messages such as “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Every item we offer has its own unique product and imprint colors, size and style selection. You’ll find all that information and much more as you browse our great promotional product selection online. Many of our products include free standard delivery and options for rush production and delivery.

Special product or printing requests can be submitted during the online ordering process or by using our Live Chat service. If you have further questions you can contact us at 1-866-795-4657.