Here is Expert Yvonne Buchanan's advice:

Dear Otto:

Not knowing what your gadget is limits my comments somewhat, but let's assume it's a study aid. If your primary market will be universities, you should approach each one directly. Find out who manages the student store for the university. Once you've identified this person, you'll want to send him or her a free sample of the product, and a marketing letter detailing your proposal.

If you can gather a good list from the Internet, fine, but you've probably noticed that a lot of web sites are not kept up to date (shame on their owners). The information you get may be out of date, and you could waste a lot of time and effort contacting the wrong people. Your best bet is to telephone each university directly and get a name and address.

Don't send broadcast e-mail to anyone, ever. It's call spamming, and people hate it. Unless they've specifically given you permission to contact them by e-mail, don't push that "send" button.

If you get nowhere with the student stores, you may want to consider marketing to the students directly by advertising in the student newspapers. The cost is minimal and you get good exposure. You might also consider selling the products from your web site and placing small ads on sites frequented by students to generate traffic to your site.

Good luck, Otto. Let us know if we can help you further.

Yvonne

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If you have the chance, you can buy the book called "Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, and Friends into Customers" by Seth Godin, Don Peppers at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684856360/powerhomebizguid 

Here is the brief review of the book which I believe is exactly what you need:

Amazon.com Seth Godin, one of the world's foremost online promoters, offers his best advice for advertising in Permission Marketing. Godin argues that businesses can no longer rely solely on traditional forms of "interruption advertising" in magazines, mailings, or radio and television commercials. He writes that today consumers are bombarded by marketing messages almost everywhere they go. If you want to grab someone's attention, you first need to get his or her permission with some kind of bait--a free sample, a big discount, a contest, an 800 number, or even just an opinion survey. Once a customer volunteers his or her time, you're on your way to establishing a long-term relationship and making a sale. "By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message," he writes. "It serves both customers and marketers in a symbiotic exchange."

Godin knows his stuff. He created Internet marketer Yoyodyne and sold it in 1998 to Yahoo!, where he is a vice president. Godin delves into the strategies of several companies that successfully practice permission marketing, including Amazon.com, American Airlines, Bell Atlantic, and American Express. Permission marketing works best on the Internet, he writes, because the medium eliminates costs such as envelopes, printing, and stamps. Instead of advertising with a plain banner ad on the Internet, you should focus on discovering the customer's problem and getting permission to follow up with e-mail, he writes. Permission Marketing is an important and valuable book for businesses seeking better results from their advertising. --Dan Ring

Good Luck.

Yvonne Buchanan has been a public relations writer, editor and freelancer for more than 20 years. She is an instructor at The PR Academy www.learnpr.com , a professional development institution that provides public relations instruction and information. She enjoys teaching people how to use low-cost public relations methods to increase the market visibility for their businesses