When picking where to go for college, most people don’t make that a spur of the moment decision.
That’s why places of higher education like Lexington’s Bluegrass Community and Technical College see transit advertising as a smart marketing decision, and have loved the medium for years.
“Having an annual contract with Adsposure is fantastic because our message keeps reappearing and it keeps reappearing, and sometimes we think that it’s fate that something keeps reappearing. But a lot of times, that’s just good marketing planning,” Michelle Sjogren, Associate VP of Strategic Communications at Bluegrass Community and Technical College said.
Lexington's Community and Technical College
BCTC started as Lexington Community College 75 years ago and according to Sjogren their main goal is making sure that everyone has access to education.
“The way we do that is by getting the message out, we’re open access, which means that if you have a high school diploma, we’re going to figure out a way to get you into classes here,” Sjogren said.
However, getting that message out is easier said than done.
Their students range from 17 to 70, so there’s no one form of advertising that works across the spectrum – That is, aside from the bus ads that that they run on the LexTran buses in their area.
“The way we do that is by getting the message out, we’re open access, which means that if you have a high school diploma, we’re going to figure out a way to get you into classes here,” Sjogren said.
Bringing in Adsposure's Expertise
Sjogren and BCTC have been partners with Adsposure for years and she’s learned the tricks to make their campaigns successful, and part of that comes from their design choices.
“We always use campaigns that promote current students. You see your brother or your brother's girlfriend or the guy that used to work with you know, on a bus ad,” she said. “Getting our messaging around town that these are students who have been successful, and you can be successful just like them.” Not only that, you get a good bang for your buck.
Transit Advertising Campaigns Get Impressions
Transit Advertising has the lowest CPM of most any other form of advertising, especially traditional forms like TV, Radio and Digital.
They all continue to become more fragmented as audiences continue to go different sources for information and entertainment.
But through all that diversification, transit advertising remains eye-level and attention grabbing all over the market.
“It’s a great investment,” Sjogren said. “It’s not inexpensive, but what you get is a great ROI, because it is in front of people constantly, and not in one part of town all over town, and so you really are hitting a lot of targets for a very reasonable price, I think.”
A Medium That gives Back
The most important part, especially for a local community college like BCTC is how Adsposure gives back to the community.
Half of every dollar spent goes to Adsposure’s transit authority partner for that market, in this case LexTran. The funds are often one of the largest non-ticket revenue sources that fund public transportation initiatives in the nine markets that Adsposure serves, a medium that directly benefitting the community.
“Our students are often students who need a little bit of help with their education and receiving funding,” Sjogren said. “So, if we’re making life better for them and making it easier for them to get to us, then that makes it all the better.”
BCTC is not the only place of higher learning that we work with.
Time after time colleges and universities partner with us because they know that transit advertising works at reaching a wide audience, and continues to build impressions day in and day out, across the market.
If you want to reap the same rewards while helping your local community and your students, reach out to our representatives in your area!