By now, you’ve probably researched scholarships as a way to get new customers and spread the word about your business. We’ve written about some of the many ways that you can leverage them to not only help students in need but also do something amazing for your company.
However, you may be concerned that scholarships aren’t really all that great of a marketing tool. Indeed, there are some misconceptions about scholarships out there. Here are a few of them and we’ll show you exactly why they’re not true.
Misconception 1: there aren’t too many scholarships out there
As a business owner, chances are that you haven’t applied for a scholarship in a while. You may be afraid that scholarships aren’t that popular anymore and that people aren’t too willing to donate money to help someone in need. You could not be more wrong.
The truth: Scholarships have blown up so much that nowadays there are websites like ScholarshipOwl that help students find their best opportunities to apply. There are countless new scholarships popping up every day, from general to highly specialized for a specific student group. Unlike the decades behind us, there are now scholarships for students that don’t have the best GPA and who aren’t in the top 1% in their field.
The truth is that there is a vast number of scholarships launched every day, and we know this first-hand. You may think of this as a negative (with so much competition), but the truth is that there are plenty of scholarship aggregator websites that make sure your scholarship is seen by the right people. In other words, more is better.
Misconception 2: we should make the application process thorough to get the best candidates
Here’s the thing – everyone wants their scholarship to go to the best applicant. You’re giving away your hard-earned money and you want the student who wins to meet all of your requirements. So, you set up quite a few requirements and an application form that takes 3 hours to complete. Major mistake.
The truth: Just like I mentioned earlier, there are now countless scholarships launched every day. If it takes a student several hours to complete an application, they will move on to the next scholarship. Nowadays, they can choose from a variety of scholarships and if it’s too difficult to apply to yours, they will have no problems moving on to the next one. Make sure that you only ask what’s really necessary and that your application forms are as simple as possible.
Misconception 3: scholarships are for freshmen only
It’s no secret that freshmen are the group of students who are the most interested in new scholarship opportunities. If you want to target the broadest possible group, perhaps this is the kind of scholarship you want to set up.
The truth: There are just as many scholarships for upper-year students. If you want to have maximum reach for your scholarship, you can keep the requirements open so that everyone can apply. You are in no way limited to one group of students only.
Misconception 4: you need a team of people to set up and manage a scholarship
It takes a lot more than goodwill to give someone some money if you want to set up a scholarship. You need an application page, a plan for marketing and promotion, specific requirements, someone to go through the applications, someone to read the essays and someone to decide on who actually gets the scholarship reward. In the old days, doing something like this would have taken a team of people with some very advanced skills.
The truth: Nowadays, platforms like ScholarshipApp make it easy to create and manage a scholarship and pick your winner(s), all of it from a single app. You don’t need someone to design an application page, someone to monitor the applications that come in and someone to choose your winner – the app does it all for you. However, you will have to do something to promote your scholarship and ensure you get as much exposure as you can. Don’t worry though, we have plenty of content to help you cover that part.
The bottom line is, it’s now easier than ever to create a scholarship. In fact, you could even do it with just one person. If you want to find out how, you can book a demo today – our team will be happy to show you how you can get a scholarship launched within just 15 minutes.
