College Goal Sunday, an annual event held at nearly 40 sites around the state of Indiana, provides vital assistance to college-bound high school seniors and their families applying for financial aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). When the event’s leadership team brought MillerWhite Marketing on board to assist with promotions, College Goal Sunday was in need of a new look and a fresh approach to reach the youngest portion of its targeted market.

In addition to more youth-oriented branding materials, MillerWhite brought College Goal Sunday in to the mobile age, where its primary market resides. According to Pew Internet research, 72% of all teens are text-messagers, a sharp rise from the 51% of teens who were texters in 2006. Among all teens, the daily use of texting has overtaken the frequency of every other common form of interaction with their friends. For teens, texting is like breathing, with more than 40% being able to text with their eyes closed, according to a Harris Interactive study.

MillerWhite’s Ann Marie Foote, who consults with College Goal Sunday on its marketing, said, “We knew we needed to capitalize on this technology to reach our audience of high school students. We set up an opt-in number, which we publicized on all of our communications including the College Goal website and social media sites. Students texting “Cash4College” to 41411 received alerts and reminders about filing the FAFSA and the College Goal Sunday event.