Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 30th, 2024

Paid Search Best Practices and Strategies for Grad Schools

Paid search ads (also known as pay-per-click, or PPC ads) can be a powerful marketing tool for graduate schools for many reasons. How so? Paid search best practices and strategies for grad schools allow for specific demographic targeting based on specific criteria, can be turned on to generate leads almost instantly, and offer a lot of flexibility when it comes to crafting your messaging and marketing goals, such as boosting brand awareness, generating demand, or bringing in more qualified leads.

All of that being said, it’s important to have a strong grasp of how paid search marketing works in order to use it the most effectively. Below, we’ll examine a few strategies and best practices in detail so you know how to effectively leverage it. Let’s take a look.

Research and understand your audience very carefully

Before actually launching any paid search campaigns, always conduct thorough research of your target audience and understand their goals, demographics, and pain points.

This may seem obvious, but all too often paid search campaigns are launched by schools, businesses, and organizations without a clear understanding of who exactly they’re targeting. As a result, many of them waste their time and money on ineffective campaigns. To avoid this, have a strong grasp of who you want to target and for what reasons before budgeting for any paid search campaigns.

Conduct thorough keyword research

Conducting extensive keyword research is also crucial.

Focus on high-volume, relevant keywords with user intent in mind. For example, focusing on a general keyword like “MBA” is too vague and will likely result in squandering your budget, but targeting keywords like “best schools for an EMBA” are much more likely to connect you to the right target audience that’s seeking the programs you’re offering.

By targeting these longtail keywords based on user intent, your campaign will more effectively target the right audience and more effectively funnel leads directly into your specific programs.

A/B test consistently and for many variables

A/B testing is a great way to determine what’s working most effectively in your campaigns and help you optimize them by leveraging this information.

When A/B testing, focus on variables like ad copy, keywords, landing pages, calls-to-action (CTAs), and visuals in both the ad if applicable and landing page. The more information you can glean from A/B testing, the better optimized your campaigns will be, leading to higher conversions without wasting precious dollars.

Determine your goals and KPIs

Setting up specific goals and KPIs early on is critical too.

Without a clear goal and KPIs to track in mind, your campaign will be aimless and end up wasting a lot of time and money. Instead, map out what your specific goals are and the metrics needed to track them before launching a campaign. For example, you may want to set a goal of increasing leads 25% before the start of the next semester. Whatever your goals and KPIs are, be sure that everyone on your team is aware of them and is working towards them with the correct metrics and timelines in mind.

Avoid contact forms that are too long and complex

Finally, avoid contact forms that are too long and complex for your ad landing pages.

While paid ads are great for generating leads and increasing conversions, your efforts may go to waste if your landing page contact forms are too long, overly complex, and invasive in terms of privacy. Instead, keep your contact forms simple, concise, and avoid asking for too much personal information, as many people may be reluctant to give that out early on.

Leverage paid search best practices and strategies for success

By keeping these paid search best practices and strategies for grad schools in mind, you can better optimize your paid search campaigns for your grad school programs. Whatever your goals are, paid search can be a powerful tool when it comes to accomplishing them – if you do it well!

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 17th, 2024

Effective Grad School Email Marketing

Although social media has been all the rage over the past few years when it comes to marketing to prospective graduate school students, email remains a very cost-effective and reliable method for communicating with prospects. As with all forms of marketing, email marketing has changed a lot over the years, meaning that higher education institutions need to know the current best practices and strategies to ensure that they’re using it effectively for grad school email marketing.

So, let’s examine some email marketing tips for higher education institutions to help supercharge your marketing campaigns!

Segmentation and automation are key

When email marketing to prospects, be sure to segment your campaigns based on factors like funnel stage, anticipated start date, and persona match. This way, you can better tailor your messaging and content to the right audience simply and effectively. Using automation tools like HubSpot or Constant Contact is something else to keep in mind, allowing you to fully automate your campaigns so you can focus on strategy, creating content, and other more productive tasks as opposed to time-consuming manual work.

Personalization is a must in grad school email marketing

Likewise, personalization is key nowadays too.

A mass email addressed to prospects is unlikely to get their attention, but including the specific names of individual recipients in the subject line and body is a simple yet effective way to increase open rates and conversions. Similarly, including the signature of an actual staff member, such as the Dean or Director of Recruitment, can add an additional personalized touch to each email, creating a human connection with prospects.

Optimize for all devices

When email marketing first started in the 1990s, marketers only had to worry about how their emails looked on desktops. Today, the media landscape is much more diverse, with recipients regularly checking emails on their smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices.

To that end, make sure that your emails are fully optimized for all devices, especially mobile. This can be done with thorough testing to ensure that your content reaches its recipients visually represented like you wanted it to.

Ensure brand consistency in email marketing

Consistent branding and imagery is important when designing your emails so that the recipient can identify your institution quickly and easily. Including your logo, branding colors, and a consistent voice can build trust and a stronger connection with your prospects more effectively.

Convey engaging stories to your prospects

Finally, use email marketing as a storytelling medium to boost engagement with your prospects.

Email can be used to convey student and alumni success stories, testimonials, interviews, and other forms of content that focus on personal stories. Doing so is a great way to add a personalized, human touch to your program, boosting engagement and conversion rates in the process.

Use grad school email marketing to reach and engage prospects

Indeed, email marketing may not be new or flashy, but it’s a tried-and-true marketing channel that continues to pay off today – and for years to come. By using these grad school email marketing strategies and best practices, you’ll be able to better reach and engage prospects with valuable and useful content, boosting your recruitment efforts over the long term.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | October 31st, 2023

Grad school demand generation best practices and strategies

You’ve launched brand awareness and lead generation marketing campaigns in the past for your institution, but something still seems a bit off in your marketing strategy. Are you taking grad school demand generation best practices and strategies into account?

As graduate schools face an increasingly complex marketing landscape trying to reach, engage, and ultimately recruit prospective students, it’s important to take demand generation into account, not just traditional metrics like brand awareness and lead generation. Let’s examine what demand generation is and take a closer look at some demand strategies and best practices to keep in mind for your recruitment marketing campaigns.

What is demand generation?

Demand generation is a marketing strategy that educates and informs consumers about products and services with the ultimate goal of creating demand for them.

It’s similar to both brand awareness and lead generation, but differs in some key ways. While brand awareness focuses on establishing a brand’s presence and lead generation attracts prospects, demand generation centers on creating measurable demand. You might want to think of it as filling in the gap between brand awareness and lead generation, serving as a bridge to generate demand for products and services that consumers are aware of. Ultimately, using all three approaches for an integrated marketing strategy is typically your best bet for success.

Boosting grad school demand: Focus on the “why?”

At the core of demand generation is answering “why?”

Why should consumers buy a product, use a service or, in this case, attend your graduate school? To determine this, take a step back and ask some high-level questions about your institution itself. What are the main reasons why a prospect would want to attend? How would attending your institution advance the career of a prospect? What’s its history and culture?

Once you have the answers to these questions and can better articulate your value proposition to prospects, you’ll be in a better position to create demand generation content.

Create educational content that engages

Educational content to spark consumer demand is a key pillar of any demand generation strategy. Specifically, the content you produce should focus on conveying your value proposition clearly and concisely to educate consumers about your institution’s selling points and ultimately turn them into leads.

Many formats are effective at doing this, including blog posts, videos, case studies, landing pages, newsletters, and more. Be sure to also leverage email marketing and social media channels, especially LinkedIn, to distribute your educational content quickly and effectively to your target audience.

Personalizing communications is an important demand generation strategy

Personalized communications are another important demand generation strategy to keep in mind. Make sure that all of your email communications, newsletters, flyers, and other marketing collateral address prospects by their first name to create a more humanized, personal touch.

Create lead scoring models to boost grad school demand

Creating a lead scoring model can be an effective way to gauge where prospects are in your sales and marketing cycle and tailor the next phase of your messaging and marketing channels specifically to them. For demand generation specifically, they’re often a great way to measure the success of your efforts so far, gauge what’s working and what’s not, and craft a more personalized, bespoke form of messaging for individuals in your funnel.

Use these grad school demand generation best practices today for success

Understanding what demand generation is and some strategies to employ it can help supercharge your recruitment marketing efforts, filling in the missing link between brand awareness and lead generation.

Are you looking to boost your demand generation efforts and overall recruitment marketing strategy? Contact GPRS today to leverage our expertise for your institution!

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | August 30th, 2023

Proven Graduate School Engagement Tactics

The competition for graduate school program and MBA recruits has always been tough. Many times, higher education institutions focus on building awareness and generating leads first and foremost – and rightfully so. However, there’s more to it than just that if you want to convert these leads into actual graduate students. Our proven graduate school engagement tactics can help.

Generating inquiries is key, but keeping leads engaged and interested is even more important. By failing to do this, your marketing funnel campaigns will fall flat, with very few leads ultimately becoming students. However, many prospect engagement strategies exist to keep your grad school and MBA programs front and center, boosting the chances that they’ll stay interested and ultimately convert. Let’s take a look at some proven graduate school engagement tactics.

Focusing on value is one of the proven graduate school engagement tactics

First and foremost, prioritize bringing valuable content to your target audience. By showing your program’s value with engaging and informative content, you can better convey your unique value props to prospects and keep them interested. This can be done in a number of ways, including blog posts, whitepapers, social media, videos, infographics, and more.

That being said, it’s important to focus not just on your own program, but the benefits for your prospective students. How will your programs help change the trajectory of their careers? Will they make connections? What will be their long-term benefits financially? By answering these questions in your content, you can convey value and entice your prospects to learn more.

Interact on social media to engage with graduate prospects

Engaging with prospects on social media is another crucial strategy to use. Sure, social media is a great way to bring valuable content to your audience quickly and efficiently, but don’t forget to engage and interact with them too!

Answer their questions and comments, hold Q&A sessions, conduct polls, and try to interact as much as possible with your audience as opposed to just posting content. This way, you can convey a more human touch and improve engagement with your prospects in real time.

Personalize your marketing efforts to engage your audience

Personalization is key in marketing today, but all too often, some higher education institutions may forget this. Generic content to a mass audience just doesn’t cut it anymore – instead, personalize your email marketing campaigns, newsletters, direct mailers, and as many other forms of communication as possible to let your prospects know you understand them on a more personal level.

Understanding your audience is another one of the proven graduate school engagement tactics

Finally, make sure you understand your prospects so you can better craft your messaging to them. Conduct polls and focus groups, research extensively, and talk to them on a one-on-one basis in order to ascertain their pain points, goals, challenges, and other views in order to tell your story and serve them the most engaging and valuable content possible.

Improve prospect engagement today

Boosting engagement with prospects can seem difficult, but with these proven graduate school engagement tactics, you stand a much better chance at success. If you need help building a pipeline of leads and prospects for your grad school and MBA programs, contact GPRS today to see how you can leverage our experience and expertise as trusted higher education marketing experts.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | August 16th, 2023

Graduate School Lead Generation Strategies For Your Programs

Graduate school lead generation strategies are always at the top of the mind for higher education institutions – and for good reason too. Without a steady stream of leads, enrollment is sure to dry up.

But just what is the best way to go about this, particularly for graduate school and MBA programs? The good news is that plenty of strategies and best practices are readily available to help your institution generate new leads. Here’s a quick look at just a few of them.

Optimize your email workflows

Email marketing can be an excellent way to generate leads, but it’s important to do it effectively for the best results.

That means creating and optimizing email workflows that are triggered based on the actions taken by the recipient. For example, if you’re marketing an upcoming informational webinar, a workflow could include two or three follow-up emails to recipients who don’t sign up after the first email as reminders to them.

This is a great way to not only guide your leads along the marketing funnel automatically, but do it in a personalized and segmented way for maximum impact. By shifting from generic email content to personalized workflows, you can much more easily keep your leads warm and ultimately convert them.

Leverage LinkedIn to its full potential

LinkedIn is another great tool to use when it comes to graduate school lead generation strategies.

While posting informational content and enrollment deadlines are always good ideas, try to go beyond that for the best results. Position your institution as a thought leader and showcase the specifics of what’s happening at the school, such as guest speakers, alumni meetups, special events, and more. Message Ads and Sponsored Updates are especially useful features for getting quality content in front of leads quickly and effectively.

Invest in social media ads for graduate school lead generation

Similarly, paid social media advertising is yet another tested and proven strategy at your disposal.

By investing in paid ads on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and especially LinkedIn, you can get your most valuable content in front of users most likely to become inquiries, growing your lead pipeline with minimal cost and time. From promoting informational webinars and open house events to building an audience for your grad school’s blog, paid social media ads are an effective tool with lots of flexibility when it comes to graduate school lead generation.

Host virtual events

Nowadays, virtual events are widely accessible to just about anyone and offer a great alternative for prospective students who can’t attend in-person events. Just a few ideas include informational webinars, virtual open houses, conversations with current students and alumni, faculty meet-and-greets, and more. Given their low cost, wide reach, and many uses, virtual events should always be a lead generation strategy to keep in mind.

Implement graduate school lead generation strategies today for success tomorrow

With these graduate school lead generation strategies, your program can usher in a new generation of prospects and ultimately, grad school students. From higher education email marketing to higher education social media advertising, there’s a wide array of great tools readily available to bring in fresh leads on a daily basis. Need help with your grad school lead generation efforts? GPRS has the expertise you need to succeed. Contact us today to learn more.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | July 31st, 2023

Optimizing Your Top of the Funnel Recruitment Marketing Strategy

As an institution of higher education, attracting and recruiting new prospects is always top of mind. To do this, you first need to build awareness for your graduate school and MBA programs in a way that reaches your target audience efficiently and effectively. But what’s the best way to do just that?

Fortunately, there are many top of the funnel (TOFU) marketing channels and strategies at your disposal, each of which offers its own unique advantages and niche. With these strategies, your graduate program can generate awareness, provide information to your target audience, and bring in leads to nurture. Let’s examine a few of them in detail and learn more.

Increase your blog output and take search engine optimization (SEO) into account

First and foremost, your blog is a great tool when it comes to boosting your TOFU marketing strategy to build awareness and pique the interest of prospects. By blogging consistently and frequently, you can boost awareness for your graduate programs in search engines, convey valuable information to your audience, and boost your school’s authority and brand recognition.

As you ramp up blog post output, remember to keep SEO front and center as a way to optimize your content for search. That means researching and incorporating keywords into your blog posts, optimizing each blog post’s metatags, breaking up the content into brief paragraphs, bullet points, and numbered lists, and the like. By incorporating SEO best practices into your blog posts, you can supercharge your SEO and increase your grad program’s brand awareness very effectively.

Get active on social media

Social media is an outstanding tool for building brand awareness and engaging with potential prospects.

As today’s prospective grad school students are more digitally-engaged than ever, social media has become one of the most effective ways to reach them quickly and cost-effectively. When using social media marketing, it’s important to use an omnichannel approach that reaches as many social platforms as possible in order to reach your target audience. In other words, don’t just rely on LinkedIn, for example. Instead, leverage not only LinkedIn, but Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and more to maximize your reach.

That being said, altering your messaging and content can also be very useful based on which channel you’re using. For example, video platforms like YouTube and TikTok can be great for testimonials and alumni stories given their visual format, while Instagram and Facebook are more often effective when it comes to conveying more general information about campus activities and events, career fairs, and the like.

Leverage video marketing effectively

Video marketing is a powerful but sometimes-underutilized tool for higher education institutions when it comes to TOFU marketing. Video is an excellent channel to communicate with your audience, especially on social media, and can be used to convey information about campus events, alumni testimonials, your institution’s recruitment process, and much more in an engaging way.

Optimize your top of the funnel strategy to build awareness

From blogging to videos, there’s plenty of great ways to build up your top of the funnel marketing channels and increase awareness for your graduate school programs. Interested in optimizing your marketing funnel and boosting recruitment? GPRS has the resources to do all that and more. Contact us today to learn more.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | July 20th, 2023

How to Convey Value to Prospects

When prospective students start looking at graduate schools, they’re not just seeking any place to further their education. They’re seeking an experience that they hope will further their educational, career, and financial goals in life. So, how do you convey value to prospects to make your program stand out as an attractive place for them?

The key is to convey your value clearly. By effectively communicating what sets your program apart from so many others and what it has to offer prospective students, you can increase engagement and ultimately boost recruitment.

Here are a few ways to communicate value to prospects more effectively for your graduate school program.

Clearly convey what sets you apart

Every graduate school has its own unique value props – don’t shy away from using them as a key selling point!

Prospective students always want to see what makes your program unique. To that end, clearly describe what your program has to offer that others don’t, how it can help them achieve their career goals, how flexible it is, and how financially attainable it is. Be sure to highlight any unique learning opportunities, specialized areas, and important partnerships that can help convey its value and stand out above the rest.

Tell your story in a unique way

While communicating your unique value proposition is crucial, telling your story in an engaging way is also important as a way to set your program apart.

In simplest terms, that means focusing on your graduate school’s history, culture, and lifestyle to pique prospects’ interests. Just saying your program offers a good way to advance your career in a certain field isn’t enough to successfully engage prospects. Instead, focus on creating a captivating narrative, not just a laundry list of selling points. In particular, alumni success stories are a great way to do just that, as it humanizes your program and allows prospects to imagine themselves achieving the same success as your alumni have.

Use digital media and marketing

Finally, make a point to utilize your digital media and marketing resources effectively when communicating your value to prospects. It’s no secret that today’s prospective grad school students are the most digitally connected in human history. That means you need to reach them with digital media and marketing first and foremost.

Social media, email, blog posts, and your website itself are all effective channels to communicate with prospective grad school students these days and can also be used to host Q&A sessions, informational webinars, recruitment events, and much more. They’re also a great way to communicate alumni stories and student testimonials, campus events, and local career fairs to prospects.

However, paying attention to emerging trends and what works best for specific platforms is key. For example, video-based social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube are typically best suited to feature alumni stories and student testimonials, while email newsletters and blog posts would probably be a better way to communicate an extensive roundup of campus news and events.

Convey value to boost enrollment today

Need help conveying your grad school’s value to prospects? GPRS has the experience and tools you need to do just that. We can help convey your unique value proposition, craft your story in an engaging way and leverage your digital resources to reach prospects quickly and effectively. Contact us today to kick off the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | June 27th, 2023

Drive Success for Your Graduate Program: Consistent Marketing Strategies

Unlock the full potential of your graduate program by implementing consistent marketing strategies that yield impressive results. Discover how to establish a strong foundation with a consistent marketing plan, optimize your platform selection for maximum impact, and avoid reactive mistakes that can undermine your efforts. With these powerful techniques, you’ll attract more leads, achieve higher conversions, and secure the success of your graduate program.

Develop a Solid Foundation with a Consistent Marketing Plan

Create a comprehensive marketing plan at the beginning of each academic year, well before the semester starts. Emphasize the importance of consistency and utilize a marketing and social media calendar. By planning your posts at least a month in advance, you ensure a steady and engaging online presence. Incorporate targeted marketing efforts, such as events, networking opportunities, newsletters, speaking engagements, and deadlines, into your plan. This proactive approach creates a sense of immediacy, attracting leads and driving conversions. Don’t delay; include upcoming events in your marketing plan as soon as they’re scheduled.

Focus Your Efforts on the Right Platforms for Maximum Impact

Avoid the common trap of spreading your efforts too thin across multiple social media platforms. Instead, adopt a focused approach that maximizes impact. Start with one platform and gradually expand your presence. Consider your audience personas and choose platforms that align with the preferences of your prospective students. Keep these widely accepted guidelines in mind:

Facebook: Raise awareness effectively
LinkedIn: Build valuable professional connections
Twitter: Quickly spread the word to a wide audience
Instagram: The majority of users are 18-44 years old
TikTok: Users are primarily under 25 years old

By directing your efforts to platforms that resonate with your target audience, you can optimize engagement and achieve better results.

Avoid Reactive Mistakes and Maintain a Strong Marketing Strategy

Don’t fall into the trap of knee-jerk posting. Reactive posting can be detrimental to your marketing plans. Be aware of these common pitfalls:

Don’t neglect ongoing marketing efforts when faced with a surge in inquiries. Sustained marketing is essential for consistent results.
Avoid random posting across various platforms if you’re not achieving the expected ROI. Maintaining consistency is crucial, and haphazard actions confuse your audience.
Plan ahead for upcoming events and deadlines to avoid last-minute, scattered postings aimed at increasing exposure. These reactive measures undermine your overall marketing strategy.

Value your meticulously crafted marketing plan and stay committed to it. By avoiding knee-jerk reactions, you establish trust and reliability with your audience.

Thrive with Consistent Marketing Strategies

Inconsistent marketing can frustrate and confuse your audience, potentially eroding trust in your graduate program. To overcome this challenge, implement a well-structured and consistently executed marketing plan. Focus on the right platforms that align with your target audience, and avoid reactionary mistakes. By embracing these optimized marketing approaches, you’ll attract more leads, achieve higher conversions, and ensure the ongoing success of your graduate program. Drive your program forward with confidence and watch it thrive under the power of consistent marketing strategies.

If you need help developing consistent marketing strategies to drive success for your graduate program, GPRS can help. Our strategy team has worked with many schools to develop solutions to increase lead activity and grow enrollment. Start the conversation today.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | June 15th, 2023

Unleashing the Unique Selling Proposition of Your EMBA Program

Are you looking to make your Executive MBA (EMBA) program truly stand out from the competition? While many EMBA programs may share similar attributes, it’s crucial to identify the unique selling proposition (USP) of your EMBA program to attract prospective students. This blog post will guide you through effective strategies to differentiate your program and capture the attention of potential candidates.

Key strategies to highlight your EMBA

Exceptional ROI: Achieving Maximum Value
- Highlight the exceptional return on investment (ROI) offered by your EMBA program. Showcase its affordability compared to other programs in your city, region, state, or even nationwide. Emphasize the long-term career and financial benefits students gain from investing in your program, making it a highly attractive choice.

Renowned Faculty: Learning from the Best
- Distinguish your EMBA program by showcasing your faculty’s notable research, publications, awards, and industry experience. Students seek to learn from experts who possess practical knowledge and insights. By featuring renowned faculty members, you enhance the reputation and appeal of your program.

Innovative Curriculum: Empowering Future Leaders
- Go beyond business fundamentals and highlight your EMBA program’s innovative curriculum. Showcase diverse elective courses and specializations that cater to student’s specific areas of interest. Demonstrate your program’s commitment to providing a comprehensive and tailored educational experience that equips students with the skills needed to thrive as leaders.

Impressive Cohorts: Learning from Peers
- Highlight the exceptional caliber of your EMBA cohorts. Emphasize the opportunity for students to learn from each other, as well as from their professors. Fostering a diverse and high-achieving cohort creates a unique and enriching learning environment, setting your program apart from others.

Brand Equity: Partnering with Excellence
- Leverage the reputation and brand equity of your program’s parent organization. Highlight any rankings, exclusive accreditations, etc., within the school and college or university. The achievements enhance the perceived value and prestige of your EMBA program.

Flexible Program Formats: Adapting to Professionals’ Needs
- Tailor your program schedules to meet the needs of working professionals. Highlight any unique features, such as hybrid learning environments or formats that allow students to balance their professional commitments with their education. Emphasize the convenience and flexibility of your program, catering to the busy schedules of potential students.

Leadership Development: Nurturing Exceptional Leaders
- Differentiate your EMBA program by going beyond basic executive coaching. Showcase how you provide extensive support in career development, placement opportunities, and comprehensive leadership development programs. Highlight any distinctive initiatives or resources that take leadership development to the next level, attracting ambitious individuals seeking growth.

Global Reach: Expanding Horizons
- Highlight any international components within your EMBA program that differentiate it from others. Showcase unique opportunities such as global study trips, international residencies, or collaborations with renowned institutions worldwide. Emphasize the advantages of gaining a global perspective and cross-cultural experiences for future business leaders.

Influential Alumni Network: Extending Value Beyond Graduation
- Demonstrate the value of your EMBA program beyond graduation through a strong and influential alumni network. Highlight the achievements and positions held by your alumni, both geographically and within their respective industries. Capitalize on success stories within specific industries to showcase the potential for career advancement and industry-specific connections.

Your USP will differentiate your EMBA

To make your EMBA program more enticing to prospective students, unleash the power of your unique selling proposition. By highlighting exceptional ROI, renowned faculty, innovative curriculum, impressive cohorts, brand equity, flexible program formats, leadership development, global reach, and influential alumni network, you will effectively differentiate your program and attract ambitious professionals ready to excel in their careers.

If you need help unleashing the unique selling proposition of your EMBA program, GPRS can help. Our strategy team has worked with many schools to develop solutions to increase lead activity and grow enrollment. Start the conversation today.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | May 31st, 2023

Questions to ask about your funnel

At any point in your admissions process, you may need to examine your funnel to determine the best path toward finalizing your class enrollment. Are your marketing efforts balanced to ensure that top, middle, and bottom funnel leads are getting the proper attention? As your prospects enter into the information-gathering phase and continue their decision-making process, your team’s efforts are pivotal in converting them.

Here are a few ways to think about your funnel and questions to ask as you hone your marketing strategy to address leads at all stages.

Do you have the right people in your funnel?

Perhaps one of the most challenging questions regarding enrollment is in regard to how you fill your funnel and what you do with the leads once they enter. Any solid marketing strategy will include elements that address your leads at the top of the funnel, the prospects in the middle, and the seated students that end up enrolling. To ensure that you’re meeting each segment with the information they need to make a decision, there are many tactics you can use to strengthen the likelihood that they select your school. Learn more about questions you can ask about your prospect pool.

Is your funnel top-heavy?

Did you ever think it would be a problem if you had too many leads? If you have generated a large number of leads but your enrollments haven’t caught up, your funnel may be top-heavy. As you are thinking about ways to maximize your marketing efforts to target qualified candidates, consider a strategy to dislodge your stalled leads, move them through the process and refill your funnel with qualified prospects for the upcoming admissions cycle. Find out what could be causing the backup and some solutions for ensuring an easier flow toward enrollment.

Have the leads in your funnel stalled out?

If you’re like many schools, you’ve got a group of stagnant leads that you’re wondering about. Did they decide to pursue another program and forgot to let you know? Did they decide to delay their degree due to career progression or life circumstances? Or is it possible that they may show up at the last minute to enroll? Stagnant leads are tricky for many reasons. Here are a few ideas on dislodging stalled leads through a re-engagement campaign.

If you need help evaluating the quality of your leads, the effectiveness of your current marketing campaign, or ways to dislodge stalled leads, GPRS can help. Our strategy team has worked with many schools to develop solutions to increase lead activity and grow enrollment. Start the conversation today.