Should You “Tailor” Your Freshmen Contacts?

 Some College Ministers are fortunate enough to get some sort of  "Religious Preference List" or "Interested in Clubs" list to mail to and contact prior to school starting.  The obvious thing is to send all of them the same material or information.

A friend of mine says, "For every difficult question, there is an obvious and easy answer....that is usually wrong!"  I think that is a quote from H. L Mencken.  I just quote my friend.

Should every incoming freshmen get the same info?  Obviously YES!  But wait.  If you are fortunate enough to get a large number of names and contact info, I would suggest what may seem a strange idea.  In my experience at Arkansas State, we learned that the first and second Freshmen Orientations were usually made up of your "leader types".  They were the ones excited about coming to college.  They were the ones that really wanted to make connections and be involved.  We also learned that those that came to the August Freshmen Orientation were mostly those that had been told, "Get a job, join the Army, or go to college."  My favorite Baptist preference email address given to us at one of those was, beerboy@____.

So, here is the thing.  Of course, make contact with every name that you can get.  But, if you get a bunch of names and resources are limited, I would suggest do some sort of extra or different contacts with those in that first and second Orientation list. Or, have you identified an Orientation or two that are different from all the rest?

Some ministries give away a tee shirt or other gift to those that indicate an interest.  But, that would be way out of the budget range for some.  What if you mailed a gift to those from that first Orientation? 

If you know me, you know I am high on personal handwritten notes.  If writing each contact a personal handwritten note is impossible, what about doing it to those from the first Orientation?  What about sending each one of them an Application for Freshmen Leadership Team?

Or, here is another thought:  What about those names that are given to you by pastors or alums, etc?  Maybe those are ones that should get some sort of "Tailored contact".

Getting names and contact info in advance is precious!  Make the most of it.  One More Thought:  Many years ago I attended a seminar on fund raising.  It was quite fascinating.  One gem the leader shared was that they had found when mailing out something that had a "Return Card" in it, they got a larger response when the card had one corner (either top right or left) clipped off.  I have clipped a bunch of corners off the top of return cards.  I asked "Why?" and he said they did not know, just that mailing people try all sorts of different things.

Yes, do everything you can to reach out and connect to every name you get, but should you tailor your contacts in some way or other according to where they came from or how you got them????

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades is available at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9 and A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV.