Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 31st, 2023

Higher ed digital marketing trends to watch in 2023

At GPRS, we are continuously tracking trends in both higher education and digital marketing so we can bring our clients the most updated recommendations to help meet their enrollment goals.

As you are planning to seat your next class, we can help you identify ways to use new and trending techniques to ensure you stay relevant and top-of-mind with your prospect pool. Below are our top 3 higher ed digital marketing trends to watch (and try) in the coming year.

Video marketing

Whether in short form or long form, be sure you harness the power of video in your ongoing marketing strategy this year. As your marketing team may already know, storytelling is one of the most important ways that schools are connecting with prospective students. And what better way to do that than to capture a slice of life, a real student’s perspective or a faculty member in action? Once you’ve determined how video fits into your strategy and how you will use it to tell your school’s story, there are multiple channels you can use to get as much mileage as possible out of your content. You can display your videos in their entirety on your website, post snippets to social media and even include links in your email campaigns.

Conversational marketing

According to HubSpot, conversational marketing is changing the way organizations speak with their customers by making interactions seamless and quick. Additionally, these conversations happen on the prospect’s timetable and can be personal regardless of the scale at which they are happening. In other words, in the age of “live chat”, customers expect to be communicated with how, when and where they prefer – and they want information right away. If you have the technology to conduct a live chat, that’s great, however, many schools aren’t there yet. That’s ok. You can use LinkedIn to communicate with prospects via direct messaging or other live messaging apps, according to Harvard Business Review.

Highlighting career outcomes

Recently, we discussed why employment data matters in your marketing. During a time of market uncertainty, your prospects may be looking to advance or switch industries altogether, and they may (or may not) see an advanced degree as the key that can open the door to their next career move. Finding a way to position your program as a trusted partner along the journey to a rewarding promotion or management role is critical. Showcase the value of your program through the lens of career growth by sharing alumni testimonials, including promotion data, and reinforcing how a broadened perspective can help students speak the language of business.

As your strategic goals and tactics to support them fall into place, ensure that you have a partner that can keep you top of mind with your prospects. GPRS has worked with over 150 graduate programs and analyzes benchmark data to determine the best ways to market and meet enrollment goals. Need some help in your upcoming recruiting year? Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 17th, 2023

New year, new focus on enrollment goals

As the beginning of any new year presents itself, we are often faced with setting new goals. While New Year’s resolutions may tend more toward personal aspirations, it may be helpful for your team to revisit your enrollment goals, see how you’re tracking against your objectives, and renew your focus. You may even find that some adjustments are needed to make the next part of your recruiting cycle as productive as possible.

Since it can be difficult to gather the troops when recruiting events and planning are in full swing, we’ve included a few resources here to help you begin your year with a focused, strategic mindset.

Go back to the basics

When planning for the future, you can easily become overwhelmed with a long list of to-dos and intended outcomes. As you sort through your goals and the strategies and tactics to achieve them, remember to start with the most important piece of the puzzle – your audience. Digging deep into your prospective students’ motivations can help you choose the right platforms, create messaging that will resonate and determine the best strategy for tackling the upcoming year.

Dislodge your stalled leads

If you’re like many schools, you’ve got a group of stalled leads that need a little “push” to make it to the next stage of the funnel. You may be wondering if they decided to pursue another program or school, or if they are facing a barrier. Either way, re-engaging those stagnant prospects that were once interested in your school can be a critical step in rounding out your class.

Fine-tune your website

Your school’s website is your first touchpoint and most critical vehicle of communication for prospective students. It can act as an extension of your recruiting team, giving your prospects the additional information they need to make a decision. It’s important to enter the new year with content that is fresh and targeted to accomplish the task at hand — landing your next seated class. Be sure that you find time to audit your key pages so you are presenting your brand in the best light possible.

As you head into the new year, we can help you hone your marketing and enrollment strategies. Whether it’s developing personas, strategizing on digital marketing or creating a dashboard to track your progress, GPRS can help. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | December 21st, 2022

Construct an actionable dashboard to fill your funnel

To fill your funnel with qualified leads, you need both a solid strategy and a way to track performance. Not only will metrics help you optimize your campaign throughout the year, but they can also help you determine which tactics worked and tie your spending back to ROI so you can justify your budget. But where to start? To construct a comprehensive, actionable dashboard, include the elements below.

Digital Advertising

First and foremost, it’s important to create a tracking system (prior to beginning your campaign) to capture activity in 3 key ways:

Cost per Click (CPC)
Cost per Lead (CPL)
Cost per Acquisition (CPA) – or seated student

In higher ed digital advertising, you often can’t get a true CPA until you have your final seated class. At that point, you can do a match-back process to see how many seated students came from your marketing and how much each lead cost. But since that may happen at the end of the year, the CPC and CPL are what you should be measuring and optimizing throughout your recruiting season.

Year-Over-Year Application Activity

While capturing started and submitted applications is critical, the total number only tells part of the story. Many admissions teams tend to focus solely on the finish line number needed to hit enrollment goals. However, it’s important to assess data based on certain benchmarks throughout the year. Try creating a 3-year snapshot of quarterly numbers. For example, where do started/completed apps stand:

By season
Monthly
After major yearly events (for example after the first large admissions event of the year)
After application pushes

Be sure to factor in changes to event schedules and any additional items that couple impact numbers – for example, moving admissions events online, having an event canceled due to weather, etc. This will give you the closest YOY snapshot possible.

Email Engagement

The true value of using a CRM to nurture leads comes in tracking, measuring, and analyzing your data so you can act on your findings for better results. You’ll want to consider tracking general communications flows, event registration emails, and application emails.

A CRM gives you all of the data you need to make decisions on how to nurture your leads:

Engagement level
Subject line performance
Clicks within the email
Filters

Website Activity

Whether you use Google Analytics or another software platform to track your website activity, it’s important to stay on top of this data because it can signal when it’s time for a change. Try looking for data on:

Where your traffic came from, organic vs. paid
Any landing pages set up for specific campaigns
Bounce rates

When you have data, you can pivot your plan in real-time to increase or decrease your spending in certain areas and ramp up or pull back based on interactions. It is recommended that you use a firm that is skilled in tracking ROI and building dashboards so that you can focus your time and effort on marketing and recruiting. Our experienced team can help you create a tracking dashboard that will inform your decision-making for future campaigns. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | December 13th, 2022

Are your enrollment numbers where they need to be? Don’t panic!

As the year winds down, admissions and marketing staff at many schools are busy analyzing funnel activity and determining what’s next. Do you have enough leads? How many applications are started vs. completed? What are your attendance numbers for upcoming events? What needs to be done to ensure you hit your enrollment goals?

While it can be tempting to make a split decision to try something new if your numbers aren’t where you want them to be, it may be more advantageous to first re-examine your strategy and find ways to make minor tweaks to the plan you’ve already put in place.

Consider these key questions prior to making major shifts to your marketing or recruiting plans:

Does your strategy have these key elements?

Every good recruiting and marketing strategy has key elements that make them more likely to succeed.

Audience segmentation based on prospective students’ needs
Accurate positioning of your school and programs based on audience
Tactics organized by channel
Plan for monitoring

If you have these pieces in place, you can rest assured that you have a solid foundation to build from when planning ways to fill your funnel.

Did you document key performance indicators (KPI’s)?

For admissions teams, it’s easy to focus only on the end goal of seated students. But it’s likely that you have historical data at your disposal that can help you determine Year-Over-Year (YOY) numbers so you can track progress during the recruiting cycle. If your KPI’s don’t currently align with key dates throughout the year, this is an excellent place to begin charting a path toward analysis.

For example, you can start by examining event attendance for Fall, Winter and Spring events and comparing them to the current recruiting year. Are you on track? You can also look at application data to determine when a majority of your applications were started and completed over the last 2-3 years. You may be surprised to find out that you are in alignment with previous years and closer than you thought to your target.

What are the levers you can pull to optimize your marketing?

In your marketing and communications plan, you may use several tactics to communicate with leads and encourage action. Some are easier to increase than others depending on effort, resources, and budget. For example, for your unpaid tactics, consider optimizing your website, increasing emails, social posts or adding an admissions webinar. For paid tactics, does it make sense to shift a portion of your digital advertising budget from an area that isn’t working to a tactic that is performing well? Or to try a new channel or media product?

If you are looking for ways to determine whether your marketing and recruiting strategy will hit your target enrollment goals, GPRS can help. Our experienced team can evaluate where your strategy stands, how to enhance your tactics, and ways to increase enrollment through digital advertising. We can also help you create a tracking dashboard that will inform your decision-making for future campaigns. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | November 29th, 2022

Develop a strategy to reach prospects looking to upskill

Now more than ever, people are upskilling to keep up with the demands and pressures of the continually evolving economic landscape. To position your school as a partner along your prospects’ career paths, you will need a clearly defined strategy with multiple touchpoints showing how your program can help develop their talents and skills to succeed in the business world today and in the future.

Define your audience

To create a strategy that is aimed at reaching prospective “upskillers”, start with defining your audience. Think about constructing mini-personas and matching them to the programs you offer. For example, an IT professional that aims to manage a team may need to layer strategic leadership training on top of their deep technical background. For this learner, you may focus on a certificate program or management class within your Executive Education department. For a nonprofit professional seeking a corporate job, you may recommend an MBA to give them a deep dive in finance and operations.

Hone your strategy

A majority of professionals who are seeking to upskill may not see the value in a full-time degree, or even paying out-of-pocket for a program that may be less expensive online or have been previously offered in-house at their company. Your communications strategy can show them how your programs can contribute to their long-term career goals. Try highlighting alumni stories, reinforcing ROI and defining the exact path and time commitment. Focus on outcomes to address barriers in your prospects’ decision-making process.

Emphasize soft skills

Today, some of the most in-demand skills are related to how individuals present themselves and manage interpersonal relationships. Alongside your program positioning, be sure to emphasize the soft skills that will take any employee the distance, including:

Strategic management
Complex problem-solving and reasoning
Sphere of influence
Leadership
Emotional intelligence
Creativity
Analytics

With a few small updates to your marketing strategy, you can reach the upskillers who are seeking a new path.

If your team needs help, GPRS can help you construct a strategy, develop personas and create communications to meet your prospects where they are in their journey. We have worked with over 60 colleges and universities and have insights into digital marketing strategies and how to leverage your school’s unique selling points. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | November 15th, 2022

Take pressure off your marketing and admissions teams

If your marketing and admissions teams are currently trying to do more with less budget, staff, and time, you are not alone. Many schools right now are facing budget cuts and resourcing issues that can make it difficult to create and maintain enrollment momentum. Taking pressure off your marketing and admissions teams could be the answer.

A lot has changed (and continues to change) for the teams responsible for enrollment over the last couple of years. Some of your staff may still be working remotely. Your recruiting team may be smaller with more work to do. Your marketing budget may be lower than in previous years. Even if your entire staff isn’t waving the white flag, it’s likely that you are feeling the strains of a post-pandemic environment where there is still a bit of uncertainty and constant change.

If you’re struggling to create new leads, keep up with your funnel or strategize new innovative ways to do more with less, we have some ideas to help. By working with an experienced digital agency like GPRS, you will benefit from our over 20 years of experience in helping higher ed institutions just like yours.

Recruiting assistance

Many schools are starting to realize that depending solely on traditional recruitment methods to meet the 24/7 demands of today’s prospects is unrealistic. To connect with prospects on their terms, and within their timeframe, you need more scale. This is where a centralized contact center can become your support system. At GPRS, we can provide inbound or outbound support that is in alignment with your brand. We can also help pre-qualify leads so your staff can be more effective with their time.

Email nurture campaigns through your CRM

Although personal follow-up is extremely valuable, communicating individually with every prospect can eat away at your recruiting team’s time. When you create nurture campaigns that send automated emails through your CRM, you are ensuring a continuous flow of valuable information so you can stay top-of-mind with prospects while also relieving the pressure on your team. There are several ways you can create an email campaign that works for your team, starting with the segmentation of your audience and a targeted build of information with an automated schedule. By doing the work upfront, you can create an “easy button” for communicating with prospects and reduce the stress on your team to be constantly available.

Get strategic help from a qualified firm

Industry and strategic enrollment experience, mastery of lead generation, and technical measurement platforms for optimization and ROI tracking are some of the most important factors you should consider when hiring a firm to support your recruiting and marketing teams. If you’re looking for a firm that has higher ed strategic experience, can prove their results, and has worked with your peers, GPRS can be a great partner to help you.

If you need help taking the pressure off your marketing and admissions teams, GPRS can be an extension of your recruiting and marketing staff. We can assess your needs, fill the gaps and find ways to bolster your team so they can do what they do best – find and connect with students. We have worked with over 60 schools nationwide, and have insights into digital marketing strategies and how to leverage your school’s unique selling points to enhance communications with prospects. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | October 27th, 2022

Why employment data matters in your marketing

In a recent survey conducted by GMAC, it was reported that 86 percent of 2022 U.S. business school students were employed immediately after graduation, which is up from 80 percent the previous year. This rising employment rate for graduates is promising for higher education as a whole, even as we enter a recession because it showcases the sustained value of the skillsets a business degree offers.

In addition to employment data, it was also reported that for students seeking a career change or promotion as part of their degree plan, a majority (57 percent) achieved this goal post graduation. So what does this mean for business and graduate program marketing? In addition to a closer focus on career data, schools can also highlight their career coaching and placement services, student testimonials, and corporate partnerships.

Here are a few ways your program can amplify its messaging surrounding employment and career data to help you stand out from the competition.

Showcasing promotion and career advancement

Whether prospects are looking to move up the corporate ladder, or they’re looking to switch industries all together, they may see an MBA as the key that can open the door to their next career move. Finding a way to position your program as a trusted partner along the journey to a rewarding promotion or management role is critical. You can showcase the value of your program through the lens of career growth by sharing alumni testimonials, including promotion data, and reinforcing how a broadened perspective can help students speak the language of business.

Career Services

Allowing your students the opportunities to explore career options while in school and ultimately set goals that are the right fit for them requires coaching and guidance. If your school offers career services, now is the time to highlight the process so it can help prospects understand how you’ll help them compete in the business world and forge their unique path.

Consider pulling together data for the past 2-3 years that showcase the industries, firms, and titles of students hired from your school. You can include metrics such as internships, job offers post-graduation, salary, firms, locations, and job types. This gives a well-rounded view of the results of your program as it relates to the end goal – a job that will provide a solid return on investment and pay dividends for the future.

In addition, try highlighting other key aspects of your career services including corporate partners, leadership development, and even employer and alumni profiles to highlight success stories.

If you need help determining how well your marketing plan covers the career and employment aspects of your program, GPRS can help. We have worked with over 120 schools and have insights into digital marketing strategies and how to leverage your school’s unique selling points to enhance communications with prospects. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | October 24th, 2022

Nurture Campaigns Fuel Enrollment Success at Auburn

Challenge

Like many graduate business programs, the Harbert College of Business at Auburn University faced challenges in maintaining enrollment. With three distinct graduate programs— Real Estate Development, Executive MBA, and Physician Executive MBA — it was crucial to keep prospective students engaged and informed.

Solution

To address these challenges, Auburn University turned to our curated library of Nurture Campaigns. These campaigns are designed to keep prospective students engaged throughout the application process by providing valuable information and support. Here’s how they make a difference:

Consistent Communication: Our Nurture Campaigns ensure that leads receive timely updates about program details, campus news, and success stories, keeping their interest alive.
Personalized Engagement: By tailoring messages to meet the specific needs of prospective students, we help Auburn foster meaningful connections that encourage application completion.
Enhanced Admissions Strategy: These campaigns allow the admissions team to reach and connect with more leads without requiring additional time and resources.

Results

By implementing Nurture Campaigns, Auburn has not only maintained contact with potential students but has also significantly improved the recruitment experience. This proactive approach positions prospective students to feel informed and supported, ultimately leading to higher enrollment rates.

Three Distinct Graduate Programs

Nurture Campaign Leading to Higher Enrollment Rates

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | October 18th, 2022

How well is your website equipped for helping your school meet enrollment goals?

Your website is your number one vehicle of communication with prospective students. It’s the first place they land when starting their research and it’s the last stop on their journey toward creating and submitting an application. Although there are many other touchpoints throughout the admissions process — personal conversations, campus tours, events, etc. — your website is the key to communicating your brand and helping you meet enrollment goals. As a result, it’s important to treat your site as a critical team member and make sure it has all of the resources it needs to accomplish the task at hand — landing your next seated class.

Within your website, the active enrollment pages that contribute to your prospects’ decision making-processes need to be top performers. Here we will examine the ways that you can evaluate and optimize them (at least on a monthly basis) so they can help you achieve your goals.

Engagement

The true test of how well a page is performing is related to user engagement. The longer a prospect stays on your page, the better because this means they are engaging with the content. In addition, you’ll want to track how many (and which) links they click on and their scroll rate if your analytics allow it. Some platforms even give you the ability to apply a heat map to a page so you can see which areas, sections, and menus are the most used.

Another test of engagement is bounce rate which is defined as the percentage of people that visit your page without taking an action or entering your site and then immediately leave. Often this is measured on the site’s main entry points like the home page or admissions page, however, you can also track your pages that are intended to spur action. If you see a high bounce rate, for example, on your application page, it could signal that people need more information from the previous page before making that decision.

Traffic

Traffic to your site can be deceiving. In addition to ensuring that your reporting dashboards are set up to capture accurate information, you always want to evaluate the data you receive in the context of your marketing campaigns, your spending, your recent optimizations, and market trends.

Daily, you’ll want to capture page views so that you can view your trend line over weeks and months and also capture any spikes that may be related to campaigns. Be sure that you’re examining your total page views, unique visitors, and new visitors. You’ll also want to review the data on how people came to your site – organically (through search-optimized content), or through paid media, email campaigns, digital marketing, referrals, or direct links.

Functionality

Just like you might tidy up your house before inviting your friends over for a dinner party, the same applies to your website. Although this may seem obvious, it’s not always a step that schools take before launching a large campaign or creating an email flow that links to your site. It’s a good practice to review your site’s functionality reports at least monthly to ensure there aren’t major 404 errors or problems with load time that could be easily fixed by cleaning up backlinks or reducing photo sizes.

If you need help determining how well your website is optimized to help you meet enrollment goals, or need assistance with SEO, GPRS can help. We have worked with over 60 colleges and universities and have insights into site functionality and how to leverage your site’s data and analytics to ensure peak performance. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | September 29th, 2022

Leveraging storytelling to enhance your school’s digital online presence

Lately, it may seem as if the term “storytelling” is everywhere. Influencers are using it to showcase their glamorous lives while selling products, and brands are using it to create a connection with potential customers. So how can your school make the most of this marketing tactic to boost your content’s value?

In a recent blog post, we discussed using your school’s blog to tell your story and increase traffic. Here, we’ll dive into why storytelling is relevant in higher education and different ways to use it (beyond your blog) to highlight your school’s key differentiators.

Defining storytelling

Storytelling in marketing quite simply means developing a deeper connection with your audience. A recent Forbes article outlines three reasons that marketers should prioritize storytelling:

Stories unite humans through authenticity and relatability.
Storytelling is a powerful tool that enables brands to teach and prospects to learn through shared experiences.
Stories can cut through the clutter and engage consumers in a fragmented world.

When you are considering utilizing this method, you can think of it as using stories to help prospects see themselves at your school while connecting their personal and professional journey to your program’s offerings.

Who can be a storyteller?

When creating your strategy, be sure to select the right representatives of your brand so they can accurately convey your key messages. Although anyone can be a storyteller, it’s important to lean on your marketing and admissions department to identify what stories need to be told and by whom. Your greatest impact can be found with authentic, original content that conveys realistic perspectives and often vulnerability.

Here are a few methods to incorporate storytelling into your marketing strategy:

Student stories – these can either be formal write-ups or pieces of content created directly by students discussing what it’s like to participate in classes and clubs and be part of your school’s community.
Faculty stories – these can chronicle a class project, discuss recent research or highlight a philanthropic venture.
Alumni stories – these can showcase success stories as told by alumni themselves.
Other content creators – try tapping your admissions or marketing team members to create stories as they are likely in tune with what prospects are looking for.

How to showcase your stories

Regardless of what story you’re telling, or who you’re using to communicate your key messages, there are multiple ways to showcase your final product. You can post them on your website, utilize them in social media or include them on your blog. You can also include snippets in email campaigns and marketing materials. Additionally, don’t forget about the value of video storytelling for its emotional connection and relatability.

If you need help determining how to create rich content and utilize stories to enhance your school’s online presence, GPRS can help. We have worked with over 60 graduate schools and have insights into program branding and how competitive schools are using digital advertising to position themselves in the market. Contact us today to start the conversation.