UNIVERSITY MARKETING: 10 PROVEN STRATEGIES
FOR MOST UNIVERSITIES MARKETING IS VITAL TO ENSURE THEY GET THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST. WE LOOK AT SOME KEY STRATEGIES FOR MARKETING A UNIVERSITY.
A 2017 study found that over half of U.S. universities admitted over two-thirds of the students who applied. The extremely selective schools were limited to Ivy Leagues and other highly renowned universities such as Stanford and UCLA.
While a high admission rate isn’t a bad thing, universities have to account for the fact that many of those admitted students will choose to go elsewhere. In other words, securing the attention of prospective students has become more difficult.
This means that for universities marketing is more important now than ever. How do you showcase your school in a way that will make it stand out from the rest?
Read on for our 10 proven university marketing strategies.
1. BRAND YOUR UNIVERSITY
Having a logo and a mascot isn’t enough. Universities need to come up with a branding strategy that will spread their name across the country and make that logo easily recognizable.
Branding is a chance to take your school’s reputation into your own hands. What do you want it to be known for? How can you reflect this reputation in your visual marketing as well as your copy?
Keep in mind that the more costly your tuition is, the more important your reputation. Studies have found that students applying to private or expensive universities list “reputation” in their top five considerations when making their final choice.
2. KNOW YOUR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS’ NEEDS WHEN COMMUNICATING
Don’t expect that all prospective students are the same. When you’re communicating via email or phone call with a prospective student, take into account their credentials and background. Cater your responses to the things most relevant to them.
For example, academically prestigious students tend to come in with a declared area of study and will want to know what your program has to offer them in the way of academic opportunities. Students who aren’t sure what they’re interested in yet will want to know more about your general education courses and how those will help them find their path.
3. FEATURE YOUR STUDENTS
What’s the most relatable part of your university to prospective students? Your current students. Post interviews, highlight achievements, and showcase student-run activities.
When looking at a list of schools with the happiest freshmen, you’ll notice that almost all of them mention the number of organizations or athletic teams students can choose from. Remember that applicants are seeking a place to build a well-rounded life. Show them how your students are making that dream come true.
When you’re featuring your students, don’t resort to stock photos or outdated pictures. Hire a professional to take quality portraits of your actual students. This is a more authentic marketing strategy that can actually build your on-campus community by making older students more familiar and approachable to freshmen!
4. FEATURE YOUR FACULTY
Prospective students know that your professors have impressive degrees. Do they know that they’ve published books, been featured in conferences, and are leading experts in their field? Dedicate a prominent part of each department’s page to the achievements of your faculty.
5. USE CURRENT, HIGH-QUALITY IMAGES
If you aren’t already using images in your marketing, you need to start. Humans are psychologically more drawn to visual content and will retain information longer if it was accompanied by an image. Without visuals, you’re forgettable.
But don’t just use grainy, outdated photographs of faculty and students. Hire a professional for your events and headshots so that you can post clear, current images that are more appealing to look at and give your marketing content a more polished look.
While we’re on the subject, let’s talk about the fact that outdated photos aren’t just the ones that had to be printed in black and white. University marketing photos become outdated in a matter of seasons, as fashion trends change and previous events fade in campus memory. Bring in a professional for all of your events so that you can keep your online presence current.
6. DON’T FORGET PRINT MATERIAL
We may live in the digital age, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take advantage of posters, brochures, and other print material. Don’t miss an opportunity to reach prospective students directly because you’re counting on them to make their way to your website on their own.
7. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 dominate the world of social media. 71% of this age group uses Instagram and many of them also have accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and even YouTube. If you’re looking for a way to reach these young adults, you’ve found it.
Social media is a great way for universities to share content that is attractive but wouldn’t quite make sense (or be seen as much) on the university’s home page. Remember those student interviews we mentioned earlier? These would make great content for photo-sharing platforms like Instagram that allow for lengthy captions.
Social media is also a great place to advertise university events that are open to the public. Engaging with prospective students in person and outside of enrollment activities is a great way to spark their interest in your school.
8. KEEP YOUR WEBSITES STREAMLINED AND ARCHIVED
As your university website grows, it can become overloaded with information and data. This can make it both difficult to follow for the viewer and slow to load.
Use digital asset management to stay on top of your archived data. This will allow you to take down old content without losing it. Keeping it properly archived will give authorized content creators an easy way to find old content and republish it when necessary.
9. FOLLOW THE FLOW OF SEO
With over 5,000 universities for students to choose from, you need to make sure that they’re finding your website quickly. 71% of search traffic clicks come from the first page of results. That means that your university’s posts need to be high-ranking, or they’ll get buried beneath the competition.
Use Search Engine Optimization to find out how your prospective students are using the internet. What phrases are they searching and how can you implement those phrases in your own content? This will help you to generate more organic traffic on your website and reach students who hadn’t yet thought of looking into your university.
10. LISTEN TO YOUR CURRENT STUDENTS
We asked you to think about the reputation you want to project for your university. What about the one it has amongst your current students? What do they love, what do they wish was improved, and what positive things did they discover upon arrival that they weren’t expecting?
Implement their opinions into your branding strategy while also encouraging them to participate in your branding. User-generated posts are a great way to show prospective students that your current students are happy and thriving. Promote event-specific and school-wide hashtags your current students can use to spread their own opinions and experiences across the web.
UNIVERSITIES’ MARKETING MATTERS
In the end, universities are businesses, which means that for universities marketing matters a great deal. Businesses turn to the pros all the time to improve their branding and marketing. Why shouldn’t universities?
If you’re ready to up your marketing skills and make your university stand out, contact us today. We’re here to help you put your best face forward.