Ten years ago, higher education marketing was much different than it is today.
Back then, your primary methods of reaching students and parents included hosting and promoting campus events, or by contacting them via phone or direct mail.
Today, however, the internet has exploded to the point that most marketing for higher education is now done online. As a result, the higher education world has also become very competitive as more than 7,000 separate colleges and universities in the United States try to stand out among the rest.
How can you make your college stand out to new students in your marketing campaign? Here are four tips for how you can:
1. Answer The Questions A High School Student Would Ask
While it’s impossible for you to answer every single question that every student will have on your website, you still can answer all of the ones you can think of. Most schools recognize this, but the problem is they don’t always answer questions that a typical high school junior or senior would probably be wondering about.
Examples of questions that a high school student would have include:
- How do I write a college resume?
- What can I do to improve my SAT or ACT scores?
- What is the career outlook for a particular major?
- What recreational activities does the college offer?
Obviously these are only a small handful of examples, but you get the idea. Put yourself in the mind of a high school student just beginning their research for college, and think of what questions you would ask.
You’re still going to have to run a highly efficient SEO (search engine optimization) campaign even in higher education marketing. A little known secret to improve your SEO campaign and boost your visibility to students online will be to run your school’s website through a free SEO analyzer, and you will be shown reports telling you what SEO errors you need to fix and increase your rankings.
The days of mass marketing have largely come to an end. Instead, people (and millennials especially) are now responding more positively to digital marketing campaigns that are more personalized. Personalizing your digital marketing campaign is possible because you can message users directly on social media or run your e-mail campaign based on what content people like online. A few ideas to personalize your higher education marketing campaign would be to send out handwritten notes from professors to students or to send e-mails or social media messages to students that provide them with more information based on the major(s) they have expressed interest in.
Don’t forget that you also have to target parents and not just students in your marketing campaign as well. To this end, think of what kind of information parents would most likely be interested in, such as the costs of tuition and food and housing, campus safety, and college employment opportunities. Answer these kinds of questions on your website and contact them via e-mail or social media.
By following these steps you can run a personalized higher education marketing campaign that appeals equally to both parents and students. The reward will be more potential students who are interested in and will maybe even apply to your college. Last update on 2019-02-15 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API2. Optimize Your Higher Education Website For SEO
3. Personalize Your Marketing Campaign
4. Don’t Forget To Appease Parents
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