July 18, 2013

4 Quick Wins for Revitalizing Your Student Recruitment Communication Plan

Jul. 18, 2013 at 08:00 AM | By Erin Brown | Comment Count

Many institutions struggle with getting noticed and capturing student attention in today’s extremely competitive recruiting environment. In fact, prospective students are now receiving a record number of written contacts from institutions, with 26 mailers, emails and/or texts as the median number received from private four-year institutions. But even more importantly, students have access to so many online resources for college research, that they’ve become savvier with their search process. This means that students are often forgoing university websites for other research tools like social media, information aggregators, and student discussion and review sites to get the information they want.

Since prospective students are being inundated with messages from multiple institutions, and relying more on outside resources for information, institutions need a more sophisticated communication strategy to attract and enroll the right students. But getting there is easier said than done. Here are 4 quick wins for revitalizing your communication plan to help you get started:

WIN #1: Use the data you have in more powerful ways

Technology, like Education CRM’s, allows us to pull data to personalize communications. For example, you can address prospective students by their first name within materials and copy. However, a good communications plan will take data to the next level.

Don’t stop at a student name or location – incorporate other data points that you might be collecting. For instance, you can use dynamic imagery show in the examples below that connect to a prospect’s intended major or extracurricular interests:

To learn more about this example and see how Nova Southeastern University’s strategy is right on target, watch this short video.

Higher Education Digital Marketing

WIN #2: Use CRM attributes to track source codes

It’s always nice to know when your marketing efforts are paying off and proving ROI, not to mention the fact that lead sources can help you make better decisions about where to spend money down the road. Make sure each record in your CRM system is tied to an original and most recent lead source. You can easily do this by creating attribute fields, and setting it up to populate with the original and/or most recent inquiry point. It’s an easy and quick “win” when you are able to measure the success and popularity of your campaigns.

WIN #3: Capture the DNA of your campus

To decide if you’re accurately capturing your campus DNA (academics, athletics, campus life, surrounding community) in materials, start by evaluating what you’re leading with in your pieces. It’s not always best to lead with standard information about academics and programs. Yes, majors and academics are important, but prospective students are also thinking about campus life, surrounding areas, condition of the dorms and dining halls, and whether they envision themselves as a student there. Try leading with content like this that illustrates your campus story and value proposition in a holistic way, then follow up with your mission statement, academic information, and other important values that round out your message.

If you’re not sure what types of things you should be leading with, ask yourself the following questions to help uncover your differentiating factors:

Do we have a unique tradition or campus ritual that students would connect with?
Are activities like Greek life or sporting events a huge part of campus life?
Are we located in a unique geographic area that almost sells itself?
Do we have award-winning housing and dining options?

*Tip: Ask your students to get involved. Al Nunez, Cal Poly – San Obispo, collaborated with student ambassadors to create weekly web shows and provide a firsthand account of what attending Cal Poly is all about.

WIN #4: Optimize for mobile

Many institutions have the mobile bug – with a recent report indicating that almost 60% of institutions plan to implement a mobile solution for their website within one year. This is welcomed news, considering recent reports that 70% of prospective students search for institutions on their cell phones. Clearly, institutions are on board with delivering an exceptional mobile experience, but there are several ways to deliver this experience, whether it’s through a separate mobile site, responsive site, specially built application, etc. Regardless of your strategy moving forward, be sure you’re delivering what students expect: quick load times, minimal scrolling and panning, and concise, digestible content that can scale to any device.

Check out our latest blog on responsive web design to learn more.

Get the edge you need to make an impact

The bottom line: To meet the needs of today’s student, institutions can stand out from the competition by diversifying their message and leveraging multiple communication channels, including print, e-mail, social media, mobile-friendly applications, and more. Not sure where to start? Hobsons' custom communication experts can help you develop performance-driven strategies that will get your school noticed and give you the edge you need to make an impact.