Higher ed studying

College Marketing: The Changing Faces of Higher Ed

Whether you’re the professor or a student at a college, you understand that higher education is constantly facing changes. One of the biggest challenges higher education has to take on is the way it reaches potential students. Through today’s technology and available digital marketing initiatives, there are various ways to reach your target audience. Whether it be increasing lead generation through inquiries, on-campus visits or applications, there’s a digital marketing strategy to do so.

Paid Search

Paid search will reach prospects who are already searching for educational programs by placing your website at the top of the search engine results page. Paid search takes place on search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Both display and text ads will retarget previous website visitors with ads that include calls-to-action encouraging them to revisit and reengage with your website.

If a website visitor has already filled out a contact form on your website, they are already in your system and considered a lead. If this is the case, the remarketing message will vary from the message a first time website visitor will receive. To convert the lead, the call-to-action can be designed to encourage an application submission or a campus visit.Higher ed students studying

Social Media

Social media is especially crucial for lead generation. According to a previous study, 72% of incoming high school seniors reported that they researched their prospected colleges on a social media site, with more the one-third of them saying social media helped them make their final decision. Targeted ads can be customized based on demographic and psychographic data of social media users.

Ads can promote content that will inform and engage your target audience or they can also be an advertisement of the school itself or something especially relevant to the school. With the remarketing feature on Facebook, you’ll be able to retarget previous website visitors with similar ads as mentioned above.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most affordable ways to increase your leads. An email campaign can be started by encouraging potential students to sign up on your website to receive email updates. A follow up email can then be sent based on their targeted interests. This can be determined by digging into what they were looking at on your website, such as certain programs, extra-curricular activities, etc. As the leads come in, that will provide you the opportunity to roll out emails encouraging them to submit an application.

Contact us to start developing a plan to reach potential students. We’ll help you determine the most noteworthy strategy for your college.

