Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 28th, 2021

The power of personal connection for recruiters

In a previous post, we explored how schools can alter admissions criteria to focus more on personal stories while typical screening methods are being challenged. As a second installment in this series on personal connection, we’ll examine how recruiting staff can use relationship building in different ways to pull prospects through the funnel.

While in-person events are suspended or re-invented, campus tours are altered based on states’ gathering requirements and safety restrictions are limiting travel that would have normally been key to recruiting, admissions staff are having to get creative. Are you searching for ways to connect with leads and prospects, but you can’t employ your usual tactics? Here are a few successful strategies we’ve seen from working with different graduate and undergrad institutions.

Pick up the phone

You may be thinking that listing phone calls as a top strategy would be obvious. But when was the last time you talked to a good friend – instead of texting or posting on social media? While many people consider themselves to be “connected” 24/7, a constant stream of emails and texts can be lonely and often overwhelming. If your prospects have signed up to take an admissions test, or started researching schools, their inboxes are full. A personal phone call or voicemail can cut through that clutter. Hearing from a real human being can make a huge difference to prospects who may be on the fence. You can be there to answer questions in real time and also provide a window into the personal side your program offers, and find ways to forge a connection with them. Tips for a successful conversation:

Keep it brief. You don’t have to discuss anyone’s life story, but you can stick to a few talking points and ask them if they have any questions.
Take notes. You’ll want to show you’ve taken a personal interest in them so you can bring it up in future communications. It can be a note about their current employer, or even their dog’s name.
Follow up in a timely fashion. Send answers to their questions right after your chat and take this opportunity to engage them in your CRM.
Focus on the real leads. Be sure to dig through your list of leads and prioritize the ones that are the most likely to be interested in your program. You can also create a re-engagement strategy for stagnant leads.

Use video to your advantage

While many videos you may be using are pre-recorded, they are still personal and can strike a chord with prospects. You can try producing video ads as well as longer-form videos for your YouTube channel. Topics can range from campus tours, student testimonials or even a look inside the classroom. To be more socially aware and relevant to today’s educational landscape, you may consider altering current videos with new footage that reflects social distancing. Or you may even post a Q+A with current students about how school is going with safety standards in place.

Webinars, podcasts and live events

You don’t have the be intimidated by podcasts, webinars and live events. In fact, creating them and leveraging them may be easier than you think. Try these tips for finding the tools you need, developing content ideas and using these digital assets in your marketing.

Be sure to engage a variety of thought leaders throughout your school’s community. Since these events are a relatively low time commitment, you can interview faculty, create a student panel, or hear from admissions directors. You can even broadcast live from a favorite campus spot to give prospects a view of the surroundings.

If you’re looking for ways to integrate new recruitment strategies into your enrollment plan, GPRS can help. With years of experience working in the higher education industry, we are skilled at customizing your message for your unique audience to increase enrollment. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 13th, 2021

New year. New strategy. Go back to the basics.

A new year often comes with a new energy, new goals and a new mindset. While many of us eagerly awaited the end of 2020 and a fresh start, we also knew that we would likely still be contending with a complex landscape (especially in education) that would require flexibility, creativity and resilience.

Although there is still much uncertainty surrounding the virus, the market and the state of the country, there is one thing that remains steady – the need to educate the next generation and create stable leaders who can address challenges like these head on.

Armed with the learnings of the past several months, your recruiting team can begin to plan for the future, however fragmented it may appear. You may be wondering how you will generate new leads and how you will seat your classes. Although so much has changed, our perspective is to go back to the basics.

What is important to your target audience?

One of the most important pieces of any strategy, after identifying your target, is to focus on what is important to them. What makes them tick? What are they looking to achieve? How do they view their career path? By doing research and creating personas for your prospects, you may find that although their values may have stayed the same, the way they pursue their goals has changed. Although you may have created personas in the past, it might be time to update them given the current state of the job market. Since your target’s career stage, ambitions and mindset on advancement may have shifted drastically in the past year, it’s important to address these alterations by shifting your communications.

How will you find your target audience?

A qualified firm can help you determine the right strategy to uncover quality leads for your school. Right now, your prospects are spending an inordinate amount of time online—couple that with a constantly shifting digital advertising landscape and it’s hard to know where to start. Choosing the right platform is key, and it helps to start here:

Talk to current students – they can give you an insight into what their like-minded counterparts are thinking and where they’re spending their time online.
Do some research into digital trends. Find out what platforms and social media are trending for students in your demographic and decide if they are right for your programs.
Always buy media through reputable sources.

How will you communicate with your leads?

At the moment, your message is competing with a constant stream of news and your prospects are being barraged with 24/7 advertising and social media. While many are still working from home, they may be burnt out by the end of the day, so making sure your message cuts through the clutter is imperative. How can you focus your communications so that your target will tune in?

Be transparent and authentic. In the age of mis-information, your prospects want to know they can trust you to have their best interests at heart.
Focus on the benefits. Alter your messaging to be direct and “cut to the chase.” Showcase the strength of your programs with specific success metrics.
Give them something to look forward to. While the market is shifting, your target can quietly be positioning themselves for career advancement and leadership to prepare for the future.

How will you nurture your leads?

Once your leads are in the funnel, the real work begins. How you walk them through the process of applying and becoming a student may take more work this year. They may need more reassurance than in years’ past. Although your CRM can do a lot of the work for you, don’t underestimate the power of personal connection during this time. Your prospects need to know you are watching out for them, you are cheering them on and that your program will offer them hope for their future career ambitions. Utilizing a nurture strategy can help you keep tabs on your prospects, track their activity within the funnel and follow up with them if they become stagnant.

If you need more ideas on generating leads, selecting the right digital advertising channels for your target and personalizing communication for your prospects, contact GPRS today. We can help you develop a plan to fit within your strategy and budget.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | December 17th, 2020

Highlight the value of your MBA specializations

Specializations within an MBA program offer a deeper dive into a core business area or industry. Although an MBA can prepare students for working in any industry, specializations help improve their career prospects if they’re targeting a certain type of business or role such as cybersecurity, healthcare or HR. In the past, specializations may have been seen as pigeonholing. Yet, in the current business environment where degree stacking and “up-credentialing” are becoming trends, they can offer greater professional opportunities. A commitment to a certain skillset or industry is being seen as invaluable to employers at the moment and may make candidates even more desirable. Some schools are offering the opportunity to gain more than one specialization during an MBA program.

According to the Princeton Review, the most in-demand MBA specializations are:

General management
International business
Strategy
Consulting
Finance
Entrepreneurship
Marketing
Operations
Information technology

In an uncertain economy, anything candidates can do to make themselves stand out is important. It shows ambition, commitment and the desire to go beyond what is required for their employers.

Communication about specializations

For higher education institutions, communications around specializations are tricky. The goal is to seem intentional about the specializations offered and transparent regarding the benefits.

Specializations are a bit of a catch 22. Your school wants to be seen as innovative and poised to respond to the needs of the market yet be wary of appearing to chase trends. Your marketing needs to follow suit. Here are some tips on communications about specializations:

Give background on why your school is qualified to offer certain specializations. Cite faculty expertise and research to give credibility.
Use identified industry trends. Make a case for why a specialization will be valuable both now and in the future.
Know your audience. Based on your key demographic, be sure to tap into what’s important to them.
Use your geography wisely. If you’re in an area where entrepreneurship is booming, focus on metrics that show how they could enter the start-up market successfully. If your area is a healthcare hub, a healthcare management specialization could be extremely relevant.

Your competition may not be who you think it is

While creating a communications plan for your MBA specializations, you may first rely on a competitive analysis to see what peer schools are doing. However, be aware that the traditional set you’re used to reviewing may not be the only place to look. By now, you’re aware of online training platforms like Coursera, Lynda, Udemy, edX and Udacity, to name a few. With a variety of leadership, management and specialized courses – some free, and many a much lower cost than an MBA – these platforms are being used by today’s savvy business leaders to stack credentials and frontload their resumes. Don’t underestimate the power of these platforms to cast doubt on the value of an expensive MBA program.

Although it may seem like an uphill battle to compete, this is actually where specializations can be central to showing your program’s value and benefits. If your healthcare specialization is taught by a policy leader or a top-ranked physician, or it includes in-person immersions, highlight those. Does your HR specialization include a certification from an organization that would otherwise cost an additional fee? If so, be sure to include that in your messaging. If your strategy specialization includes working with a real client company to solve a business challenge, find ways to tell that story.

Need help?

If you need help crafting a campaign around MBA specializations, GPRS can help. With years of experience working in the higher education industry, we are skilled at customizing your message for your unique audience to increase enrollment. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | December 4th, 2020

MBA is the new undergrad

While the trend of jobs that require a Masters’ degree or an MBA has been steadily increasing over the past decade, the recent pandemic has demanded that those who aspire to business leadership positions commit themselves to post-graduate education.

According to an article in the Economist, a bachelor’s degree is the de facto requirement in the world of business, but increasingly, it’s not enough for those who aspire to lead. While a bachelor’s degree is required for many jobs, here are a few reasons why an MBA is becoming the “must do” next step.

Raising the bar

Employers are raising the bar for the skillsets needed to succeed. These skills go beyond the staples of accounting, finance and operations to include strategic thinking and innovation – and can determine whether you sink or swim in today’s unprecedented economy.

Right now, prioritized value is being placed on skills like:

Analyzing problems
Communication
Strategy
Dealing with ambiguity
Leadership
Navigating technological disruption
Innovation

With an MBA being one of the most widely known degrees you can obtain, it can give you the flexibility to jump into any business challenge head on, armed with the tools to solve complex issues. In addition, the networking from an MBA program, regardless of the format, is invaluable due to the broad scope of perspectives you gain from fellow classmates, and the business network that you form with them.

What the data says

The findings of the 2020 GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey suggest that, “employers remain confident about the value of graduate management talent, which is also apparent in their relatively steady hiring projections and salary trends. In sum, the skills and abilities acquired by graduate management talent during their business school experiences make them a valuable asset in supporting organizational recovery and resiliency.”

In addition, although confidence in the global economy has dropped, employers are still certain that graduate education will consistently be able to prepare future talent for the uncertain market and give them the skills to tackle the inevitable coming changes.

What an MBA can do for you

Although the cost of an MBA and its return on investment has been a long debated and studied conundrum, the skills you gain make you a valued asset to your organization, giving you a springboard to climb any ladder you choose. Also, finding a quality MBA program at a reasonable price is much easier today.

An MBA remains one of the most diverse post-grad degrees you can obtain. Regardless of your undergrad degree, it will give you a broader foundation to expand within your chosen industry, or even change course completely. It can be used in almost any industry, including those that you may not have an undergraduate degree in. An MBA enables you to make an impact and manage at a higher level even without extremely deep vertical market experience.

As the GMAC corporate recruiters survey confirms, hiring of MBAs remains steady, even in an uncertain market. So there’s no better time to plan to advance your career. And an MBA may very well be the next logical step.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | November 30th, 2020

Are the latest social platforms a fit for your school?

You may have heard your peers in higher ed or your digital agency talking about advertising on Spotify, Pandora, Reddit, Pinterest or even TikTok. These social platforms have become commonplace everyday “stops” for many people, especially as mobile usage has grown during the pandemic. And they can be extremely valuable for reaching a wide audience. But how do you know which platforms are right for your school, and whether or not they will help you achieve your recruiting and enrollment goals?

Brief definitions

Let’s start with a brief definition of each platform before we delve into their marketing benefits.

Spotify/Pandora: Digital streaming service for music, videos and podcasts. There are free versions with ads and monthly subscriptions that offer ad-free playtime and playlist customization.
Pinterest: A social network that allows users to search and share ideas for style, home and design inspiration. You “pin” your favorites to your board so you can access them later and easily share with others.
Reddit: A social news platform that encourages discussion and commenting on shared content through ratings and votes.
TikTok: A social media platform that allows people to create and share short videos set to music.

A note about social media usage

In a study published in August 2020, internet users (age 16-64) report using social media approximately 2 hours and 22 minutes per day. And since the start of the pandemic, at least 28% report increasing their usage.

The same study shows a shift in popularity of most-used social media platforms as it relates to monthly active users. While Facebook and YouTube remain in the top spots, TikTok, Reddit and Pinterest all rank higher than Twitter for those that are logging into their accounts vs. just searching the platform for general news.

Other interesting data points include:

Globally, social media is now the #2 most popular destination for brand research (behind search engines).

Among internet users in the age range of 18-55+, approximately 47-67% (depending on the age segment) are using social media as a main source of news.

When you are using social media to complement your marketing and communications plan, a high viewership is almost always guaranteed. However, with any marketing tactic the key is to make sure that your content is reaching the right age group with the right message at the right time.

How do I evaluate what social platforms are right for my school?

It starts with your strategy:

If it’s brand awareness, you want to cast a broad net. Spotify or Pandora could benefit you through contact with a wide range of demographics.
If it’s driving engagement, try out interactive content like a quiz (Reddit) or shareable content like a video (TikTok) or idea board (Pinterest).
If it’s lead generation, you’ll want a platform that allows users to fill out forms. While Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter & Instagram have traditionally occupied this space, Reddit is now an option. Reddit has a sponsored headline campaign allowing advertisers to generate leads to their website (or landing page) to collect information.

Then, on to your audience:

Be sure that your demographics line up with the viewership of the platform.
Be sure that your content will resonate.
Think about how you want your content to influence the viewer.

How is higher ed using social platforms right now?

Spotify/Pandora – Schools may benefit from either audio ads, display ads or sponsored sessions that allow you to insert rich media like videos that can engage prospective students. Both platforms let you segment your advertising by behavioral categories in addition to traditional demographics.

Pinterest – Although Pinterest is used less frequently for higher ed institutions, you can find ways to have a presence for a low investment. Try posting existing digital assets that have a broad appeal, like student testimonials, admissions checklists, test prep tips and infographics on program benefits.

Reddit – You may be surprised to know that your brand is already circulating on Reddit. Why not listen to what’s being said and find ways to respond in an authentic, helpful and transparent way?

TikTok – Some schools are using this platform to engage prospects that are looking for a “day in the life” viewpoint. They may hire “talent” to create videos with the intent of showcasing the campus, student life or admissions.

Need help?

If you’re interested in learning more about how these and other social media platforms can fit into your school’s marketing and recruiting strategy, GPRS can help.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | November 16th, 2020

The importance of personal connection during pandemic admissions

By now, it is not new news that colleges have had to drastically alter their admissions process. In both undergrad and higher ed institutions alike, requirements have quickly shifted as a result of the pandemic limitations. Schools that never intended to veer from their admissions “rites of passage” have been forced to change their processes or risk being changed by the landscape.

While you’ve held certain criteria requirements, you may find that your program is trying to find alternative ways to determine students’ viability while your typical screening methods are being challenged.

Replacement criterion

A recent article in the New York Times examined how some undergrad schools are finding replacement criterion. The article suggests that for college admissions during COVID-19, “SATs are out, personal stories are in.” It seems that in light of the pandemic, many schools are beginning to favor a more personal approach that requires students to dig into and demonstrate their “sense of self” which may prove to become more valuable over time than test scores to predict success in higher education.

This is not to say that the importance of test scores should be diminished, especially in the higher ed space. They have been, and continue to be, solid gauges of the hard skills required to succeed in finance, economics and operations courses. But in a time when the soft skills are crucial to survival, resiliency and adaptability are starting to emerge as strong traits that exhibit a person’s propensity to perform under pressure, and can dictate how well they will do in a demanding MBA or higher ed program.

Using personal stories as a gauge of fitness

Because submitting a personal story isn’t something someone can “study for,” admissions staff can use data from responses to determine natural creativity and adaptability as key predictors of success. It’s possible for you to come up with an objective grading scale that examines and scores qualities on a scale, such as:

Creativity
Uniqueness
Authenticity
Empathy
Honesty
Resilience

Since your admissions process likely already includes several touchpoints that are aimed at getting to know someone — a personal interview, an essay, multiple conversations — the suggestion is not to add another requirement. It is simply that you may put more weight on their responses. And using a quantitative grading scale can help you assess prospects more objectively and place them with confidence.

What questions to ask when soliciting a personal story

Although we’re all ready for COVID-19 to make an exit from our lives, it’s unlikely that will happen anytime soon. It’s also unlikely that you will meet anyone that has not been impacted in some way by the pandemic. Whether emotionally, financially or physically, everyone has seen the side effects of what the virus has done to our communities, country and world. Rather than gloss over the topic, leaning into the narrative can actually benefit us in the way we relate to each other. And getting a prospect’s take on what they’ve lost, gained and taken away from this experience can shed light on how they react in the face of adversity.

Here are a few questions you could ask prospects during the admissions process. Whether in an essay or interview format, be sure to find ways to quantify the response. You don’t want to get too caught up in your emotional response to their response.

What limitations did the pandemic place on you personally and professionally?
How did you handle the stress of the pandemic?
What did you add or remove from your daily routine as a result of restrictions?
What is your daily life/routine like now?
In what ways have you shown leadership in your community, workplace and personal life during this time?
What are you looking forward to the most in a post-pandemic world?

Moving forward

While you will certainly be placing more weight on transcripts and references in the coming admissions cycles, finding ways to assess a prospect’s ability to overcome challenges could become a new mainstay in your process — and you might even find something new and helpful to take away from the pandemic, too.

Need help?

If you need help with altering or improving your admissions processes, GPRS can help. Think of us as your partner during the pandemic to help shape and meet your new enrollment goals.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | October 30th, 2020

How do you pivot your branding and marketing when your programs have changed?

By now, it is likely that your school has a statement on its homepage following all of the changes COVID-19 has created in the higher education space. However, if the plan only goes so far as detailing what the overall university is doing, you may need to take it a step further to communicate how your individual programs will operate within your business school.

While you have made efforts to maintain your brand, even during a time of great adversity, functional elements of how you offer programs, what it feels like to be part of a cohort and the physical space where students are learning may be greatly altered. Communication is key to creating and maintaining your relationships with leads, prospects and applicants during this time and there are a few things you can do to encourage them to begin and follow through with the enrollment process.

So many changes

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing the cascade of questions that are currently facing programs:

International travel – From an MBA that offers spring break immersions to a Global Executive MBA program that involves travel to multiple continents, the landscape will look different this year.
Class delivery – Whether you’re offering in-person, virtual or hybrid approaches, the student experience will be altered.
Internships and recruiting – With many large companies working from home and limiting travel, internships may be tricky to manage.
Admissions events – Although in-person meetings, campus tours and preview days — all key components to recruiting — may be on hold, you may need to find creative ways to give prospects a view into campus life.
Admissions testing – Stay consistent and explain your reasoning for any alteration in admissions testing requirements.

Although it is easy to get overwhelmed with the logistics, it’s important to remember that your prospects definitely have the same questions and may be intimidated to start the application process before they know all the details. Don’t let ambiguity be a barrier for your prospects.

Where you can make a difference

Plans are changing often — are your communications? Here are some ways to ensure students have the information they need to make key decisions. By implementing some of these tactics, you can maintain your relationships with your prospects. You may even have the opportunity to gain students from different geographic locations, demographics and backgrounds.

Your website: Although you don’t need to alter your entire website (and this is not recommended due to the amount of time it would take), you can create banner statements on each program page that ensure your prospects that you have a plan. End with a call to action to schedule a casual conversation or attend a webinar.
Your events: Host webinars or town hall-style virtual chats where your admissions staff can address questions. You don’t have to have all the answers — just showing transparency and a willingness to engage while you’re working through the details can go a long way. Podcasts can also be a good way to personally communicate with prospects where they are.
Your digital ads: Don’t be afraid to address the elephant in the room. Try creating a digital campaign that offers details about altered course delivery, how you’ll maintain the student experience and ways you’re striving to keep everyone safe and healthy.
Your mobile strategy: Find ways that you can optimize your marketing budget with cost-effective solutions that target your prospects directly on their mobile devices.
Your keywords: Now’s a great time to write blogs that add keyword-rich and searchable content to your website. Employ admissions staff, student ambassadors and alumni to write about the changes that are happening. This organic content, especially as it is related to COVID-19, will boost your searchability that can lead to increased traffic.

It’s important to remember that you are currently marketing and recruiting in an ever-changing environment. The challenges the higher education market is facing are unprecedented. But quickly pivoting (and continuing to do so) will pay off as you seek to instill confidence in your prospects.

Need help?

If you need help with website alterations, promoting virtual events, altering your advertising campaign or writing keyword-rich content that can increase your leads and enrollment, GPRS can offer solutions.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | October 15th, 2020

Finding ways to evaluate last year’s marketing effectiveness

How do you evaluate marketing effectiveness and enrollment in a year where benchmarks are out the window?

Before you begin planning for the upcoming recruiting year, you may be staring down the seemingly impossible task of evaluating last year’s enrollment goals and marketing plan effectiveness.

The 2019-2020 cycle may seem like a blur as you tackle questions about spending, engagement, quality leads, yield, cost-per-seated student and enrollment goals. How do you determine what worked and what didn’t in a year where everything turned upside down?

Here are a few ideas on where to start.

Break the year into segments

For this exercise, we will focus on a recruiting year that runs August-July. Feel free to adjust based on your start date, or if you have additional cohorts.

Consider for a moment, that there were approximately eight months (August – March) that were—for all intents and purposes—“normal.” If you are benchmarking YOY data on spending and leads, breaking the year up this way will help you apply a lens for comparison. Using your CRM, you can also match up leads from that period to enrollments and determine a cost-per-seated student.

For the four months that followed (April – July), benchmarks were sidelined in favor of adjusted enrollment goals, spending reallocations and altered recruiting strategies. Now is a good time to revisit those adjustments and plans you made to see if you reached any of those goals. Realize that goals were a moving target and celebrate even small victories or accomplishments.

Evaluate how you pivoted, throw out the benchmarks

This past year was a time of uncertainty and adjustment. You were forced to alter your plans in ways you’ve never been asked to do, during your key recruiting period. On the road events? Cancelled. Campus tours, preview days and interviews? Moved online. Digital advertising strategy designed to bring in leads? Halted or altered.

When you look back on the ways you pivoted your marketing and recruitment strategy at warp speed, were you moving so fast that you forgot to keep track?

Now is a great time to jot down these alterations so you can chart your successes and incorporate them into planning for the upcoming year.

What platforms worked best for virtual events?
What social content got the highest engagement?
What types of events had the most attendees?
What did yield look like?
What were the best ways to personally connect with prospective students?
What did your website traffic look like (both YOY and pre-COVID to post)?

Jogging your memory now and keeping track of the things you changed can help you track your successes and incorporate them into the upcoming year.

Look at the final results in context and celebrate successes

Often, marketing and recruiting success is evaluated in black and white terms: Did you meet your enrollment goals? What was your cost-per-seated student? How did digital advertising fare in terms of CPL?

Although using a tracking method to evaluate these benchmarks at key points during the year can certainly give you a window into how well your plan worked, it’s also important to look at the results in context.

And in terms of planning for the future, this may be the time to create new benchmarks that are adjustable to the market and your prospective students’ needs.

Need help?

Navigating the evaluation process and planning upcoming recruiting cycle will be challenging this year. If you need help charting your successes and creating a realistic recruiting plan that can help you gain more quality leads and seated students next year, GPRS can help.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | September 30th, 2020

What will the next round of recruiting look like?

When the Spring 2020 recruiting cycle was upended mid-stream due to COVID-19, many schools had to pivot quickly. Since then, the entire higher education industry including recruiters, marketers and leaders have been operating in pandemic emergency mode, focusing on the short term out of necessity and trying to remain as flexible as possible to address continuous change. As such, there have been significant impacts on recruiting and enrollment in higher ed. However, in thinking about the upcoming recruiting cycle, it may be time to regroup and think long term.

Although you may be staring down challenges to your planning process that include financial pressures, demographic changes and technology innovation, it’s important to realize that the opportunities to reshape your school’s recruiting process are abundant. While you’re developing your projections, enrollment goals and the supporting strategic marketing plans, here are four ways to prepare for the next round of recruiting.

Focus on building community

At a time when many people – your prospective students included – are feeling isolated due to continued social distancing, one-to-one connections are critical. According to an Inside Higher Ed article that examines the community college model of building relationships beyond the traditional college campus experience, checking in on your prospects virtually to address their needs can mean the difference between yielding a student or losing them.

Invest in technology

If there was ever a time to upgrade your digital technology, it’s now. Let’s face it, the online recruiting events you begrudgingly accepted last Spring in hopes that they would be temporary, are not going anywhere. In fact, it appears that they may become a staple in the foreseeable future. Be sure your internal tech partners are up to the challenge and your team allocates the time and resources it will take to learn how to use new meeting platforms and digital collaboration tools.

Continue offering options

Your students (and prospective students) want to know your plan. They are interested in how you are altering your recruiting process including admissions testing, events and application deadlines. They’re also curious about what their degree experience will look like, what shape leadership development and career planning will take and how they’ll interact with other students safely. During a time when there are a wide variety of preferences – in-person, virtual, hybrid— and several barriers to decision making, the most important thing you can do is to instill confidence and set expectations with a clearly laid-out plan, addressing as many concerns as possible and clearly outlining what they can expect.

Remain flexible

According to many higher education leaders, thinking long term – although difficult when the future is unsettled – is critical. If it’s possible, find a way to create a roadmap that allows for quick alterations. Contingency plans can give your team and prospective students confidence that you’re prepared to pivot quickly and efficiently when needed.

Need help?

Navigating the upcoming recruiting cycle will be challenging. But developing a strategic plan that builds community, integrates technology, offers options and allows for alterations can help you meet your enrollment goals. If you need help creating a realistic recruiting plan that can help you gain more quality leads and seated students, GPRS can help.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | September 18th, 2020

The secrets behind building and maximizing your higher education marketing budget

Say it’s the beginning of your school’s recruiting cycle and you’ve completed last year’s analysis—reviewing enrollment numbers, the impact of marketing on those numbers and even cost-per-seated-student. You’ve solidified your marketing budget, planning is underway and you’re feeling confident in your next steps. But then, you get the call from recruiting saying that they’ve added a new program or increased their enrollment goals. What do you do now? How do you build a media budget that can support your current programs while also making accommodations for these changes? Do you need to request more funds? How can you justify the additional funds, and more importantly, what’s your new plan?

The budget

Many marketing plans and budgets, regardless of industry, are all too often determined solely by a percentage of gross revenue. However, if you start with the audience in mind, you can propose a fundamental shift in the way your school develops a sound marketing and advertising budget that can serve all programs.

If you’ve created personas, you have a good idea of where your potential students get their news. Different programs – even under the same brand – have very different audiences with varying media consumption habits, so developing a strategy for each one based on where they spend their time is critical. Examine if your audience likes social media, shares videos, clicks on ads or visits news, entertainment or business sites. This can help you create a roadmap for the types of digital media you will consider in your strategy.

Your strategy

A solid higher education marketing strategy is made up of a combination of your enrollment goals and the resources it takes to achieve those goals.

First, examine the key performance indicators (KPIs) for each program you’re marketing – this will allow you to set targets and track progress against those targets. It will also help you determine the marketing toolkit you will employ.

Are you looking to cast a wide net and build awareness for a new program? Focus on garnering a high amount of impressions.
Are you looking to increase engagement with an existing program or new audience segment? Focus on generating content that will get more shares.
Are you looking to build quality leads and convert them? Focus on digital advertising conversions.

Here are some questions you can ask your recruiting and program team members:

How many enrollments do you need to make the program profitable?
How many leads do you need to yield your enrollment goal?
What has been your cost per seated student ratio for the past 2-3 years? What is ideal and realistic?
When is your key recruiting period and how do you see marketing supporting those periods?

The tactics

Once you’ve built your strategy and set your goals, it’s time to develop the tactical plan. This is the proverbial “where the rubber meets the road” and where the majority of media planning and budgeting happens. If you’ve appropriately examined your audience, clarified your goals and built your strategy, making a decision on which tactics to use will come more easily.

Start with listing everything out and deciding on the ones that bring the highest ROI (you can rely on last year to know what has worked well). Focus on the high-impact tactics first.

Higher investment – conferences and recruiting roadshows, travel, revamping your entire website, targeted and produced web video marketing, inbound digital marketing including banner ads and paid search, search engine optimization.
Lower investment (especially if they can be done internally) – blogging, podcasts, shareable assets like checklists and infographics, faculty research summaries, SEO-rich landing pages with information capture, admissions webinars and chats, and virtual meet and greet events

All of these tactics can help you create a digital identity to reinforce your visibility and brand.

Need help?

Your digital marketing plan will be more successful at achieving your set enrollment goals if your budget is formulated during a careful strategic planning process. If you need help creating a realistic higher education marketing budget that can help you gain more quality leads and seated students, GPRS can help.