Marketing a career fair doesn’t have to be stressful! Keep reading as we brainstorm new marketing strategies. Like all productive and high-energy brainstorming sessions, we’re throwing out ideas in any order and without analysis. The essential reviews to consider budget, staffing, and timing come later.

First, inventory your marketing ideas and options. What are your standard promotional activities? What’s something you’ve been wanting to try? If your school mandates specific marketing, move those to the top of your list. Relatedly, if certain types of promotions are prohibited, highlight those requirements, too. 

Social Media and Student Clubs

Consider tag teaming with campus organizations to design social media posts to attract their membership to your career fair. Personalize the content with topical buzzwords and help club members connect their particular interests to potential employers. 

Partner with popular student-athletes or campus influencers to create promotional videos for their social media and yours! Consider showcasing them as they register for the career fair, then schedule a mock interview with career services as part of their preparation. 

Also, tag and mention registered companies to thank them for participating and ask them to reshare with brand hashtags across their recruiting channels. After all, getting your students to the career fair is in their best interest, too.

Print micro-billboards (a.k.a., business cards)

Business cards might seem old-fashioned in our digital age of tapping phones to share contact information, so change your POV.

Consider these super portable, easily seen rectangles as micro billboards with core information and a QR registration code. Place them around career services, common campus areas, dorm lobbies, and local businesses where students hang out. 

Shared calendars and websites

Sometimes, we overlook what’s right in front of us. Remember to post your career fair on the university’s shared event sites, distribute via listservs, and include a downloadable calendar invite and the registration link. 

Newspapers, Radio Stations, and Podcasts

Ask student publications, radio stations, and podcasts to promote your career fair. Depending on the size of your school and local community, contact local newspapers and media outlets to reach off-campus students and area alums.

“Tell a friend!”

College students love free food! When they register for the career fair and/or share the hashtag #itoldafriendabout[eventname], automatically enter them into an online contest.

Moving QR Codes 

There’s an old marketing adage about meeting the customer where they are. So…, how about printing or ironing a QR code onto T-shirts along with event information? Invite students to register for the event on the spot. If your budget allows, consider hats or drawstring bags for staff and student leaders to wear around campus. 

Try New Words

Unusual subject lines stand out in overcrowded inboxes. For example, the typical subject line, “Our recruiting event is almost here!” is, well, typical. And often easily ignored. 

However, students might stop scrolling for a slightly different turn of phrase like, “What’s that sneaking up behind you?” 

Email (is still a thing) 

Career Fair Plus (CF+) suggests sending weekly emails to job seekers starting three weeks before the event. Send a follow-up email two weeks prior and a final reminder three days before the event. If you’re a CF+ customer, we have email templates to save you time on this marketing task. 

Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

So, let’s get started. 

Career Fair Plus lets you build in-person, virtual, and hybrid career fairs with innovative features like Booth Check-in, Resume Drop, Next-Day Interviews, and Interactive Maps.