4 Marketing Strategies to Differentiate Your Institution

Last updated on: October 10, 2023

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According to numbers released by the National Student Clearinghouse, enrollment fell by more than 270,000 students for fall 2016 compared to 2015. With this decrease of enrollment comes an increase in competition. To help generate more interest in your programs and to help meet your institution’s enrollment goals, consider implementing the following marketing strategies:

  1. Guide your communications plan with predictive analytics: Predictive analytics use data collected over many years to determine the likelihood that prospective students in the current applicant pool will apply. This data can be applied to every step of the funnel, creating a predictive model to guide your marketing and recruiting strategies. Besides helping admissions teams, the analytics help institutions budget marketing dollars more efficiently and better determine which prospective students will persist through graduation.
  2. Set yourself apart by leveraging strengths: Stand out to prospective applicants by emphasizing what your institution does especially well. To determine your most marketable strengths, consider developing target personas based on past students who came to your institution to prepare for specific careers. Alumni can also be an important part of marketing efforts to authentically illustrate what a degree from your institution can mean career-wise.
  3. Be flexible in your strategies: Due to the dynamic and competitive landscape of higher education, institutions must constantly evaluate and adjust their strategies to ensure maximum impact. Whether it takes the form of creative advertising, increased social media outreach, or another tactic, make sure your marketing strategy is tailored to what is currently resonating in the market.
  4. Collaborate with other departments on campus: Collaborating with other on-campus offices can help enrollment managers meet their goals. This cross-functional work can result in diversified collateral that speaks to specific student groups. For example, enrollment managers can leverage the expertise and mathematical acumen to work on business projects involving data and business intelligence, such as financial aid leveraging models.

To read more about the results of institutions who have adopted these marketing strategies, read the full article from the Enrollment Management Report here.

For more higher education marketing tips and strategies, visit our Resources page.

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