Full Service Marketing for Higher Education, Health Care & B2B Marketing
Full Service Marketing for Higher Education, Health Care & B2B Marketing
Marianne Sipe
July 29, 2024
So, you want to write a recruitment piece—something flashy but with substance that will really draw in prospective students. The best-balanced recruitment pieces have great visuals, useful information, and a clear path to next steps. They contain value, both for parents or family members helping their students to select a great fitting college, while also serving the teenage skimmer who is multi-tasking with a cell phone in one hand and your recruitment publication in the other.
One mistake we often see for recruitment pieces is the lack of an exact target—trying to serve all prospective students. This will lead to publications that feel formidable, and full of information that overwhelms the reader while failing on design principles and brand continuity.
If you’re unclear about where to start, here are some key points to consider when reviewing last year’s publication or designing a refresh. Start with audience and budget. Imagine the information you have to offer is like the ingredients to cook your favorite dish. The final dish will vary depending on the chef’s intended audience. In other words, you have a grocery list of information to use; how you choose to deploy it depends on the audience you’ve decided to target.
Every recruitment piece should address four categories of crucial information every potential student seeks to answer when shopping for a college. These are the four pillars of recruitment.
Often institutions include large program lists at the back of their catalog with every program available. While this is one strategy, it can also exhaust the reader to pore through every degree, certification, endorsement, and everything in between. Additionally, the complex titles of the programs are missing transparency and can be difficult to decipher for a high school senior.
Additionally, there is an opportunity for an institution to strategically design its program list to fill seats. Institutions mindful of programs to highlight and feature in publications can help push the needle on enrollment for those programs. Identifying institutional goals and KPIs for program enrollment helps the same programs that may get lost on a large shopping list in a recruitment publication.
How does one find the programs that may need additional attention? Collaborate with your Institutional Research team or the Strategic Enrollment Management team to pull institutional data. The data will help you find which programs to spotlight.
If your institution has chosen to go with a simpler list, then one must provide a channel for accessing the full list. This is where part of the marketing strategy includes a keen website.
Add a link or QR code with a call-to-action to access a full list of programs. On the website, provide a program finder that is dynamic and helps inquiring students look through program options to help tailor their career and educational goals.
Concerned about feedback regarding which program is listed in the publication? Let the decision for your publication come from a governing body or group such as the Strategic Enrollment Management team. Then the decision is not from a single person or department but rather a governing body that represents the facets of the institution.
Pro tip: Use vanity URLs and QR codes. Long URLs can dissuade people from visiting your website. Your vanity URL should be as simple as institution.com/programs.
Financial transparency is an important topic for a recruitment piece. This can include:
The Cost Of Attendance (COA) is a great place to highlight any funding options for students. Share the information with large infographics and other visuals to tell the story. Keep tables with a bunch of numbers to a minimum – even better if they can be eliminated. Does your institution participate in SARA for States? Include a map and basic information about students from outside the institution’s residing state and the reduced tuition rate.
This one is simple. Students want to know how they can apply, and general qualifications for admission. Provide an easily accessible link or QR code to complete an admission application. Include the basic information on how to apply along with contact information for assistance.
Is there an application fee? Make sure to include this to help applicants prepare before they sit down to complete the application. Or if your application is free, make sure you highlight this feature and benefit for applying. Often, institutions can overlook the obvious features that can be highlighted as a benefit to the applicant.
Cultural fit is one of the most important yet intangible pillars of recruitment. When structuring the recruitment piece, take inspiration from a Denny’s menu. Yes, I’m serious. Denny’s menus are highly image-based, with small descriptions. Similarly, focus on images and testimonials with easily digestible accompanying text. This will help students absorb the culture of the college to understand what makes the institution unique—the things that are sometimes difficult to convey with the written word.
Pro tip: When designing recruitment pieces, first focus on making a larger print piece or viewbook. Afterward, it’ll be much easier to use pieces from this larger piece for social media posts, emails, and other tactics.
The approach is slightly different depending on your target audience or personas. The stage of a lead or inquiry influences what content is included.
1. High school seniors: Seniors are actively choosing plans after high school. It’s important to describe the next steps with transparency. Both high school seniors and juniors are interested in campus culture and how they perceive themselves fitting—highlight clubs, athletics, campus events, and extracurricular activities to help inquiries find a niche or group they can see themselves belonging.
2. High school juniors: Some high school juniors are proactive about finding the right college. On the other end of the spectrum are juniors waiting until the following year to start shopping. Most juniors fall somewhere in between. Regardless, while it’s still important to highlight next steps, it’s more of the focus to help them find programs of interest and encourage them to visit campus. Like car sales, the opportunity to yield another applicant lies in the proverbial test drive through a campus visit to help them visualize themselves as a college student at your college after graduation. Ongoing recruitment and marketing for this group payout in net gains when it’s time to apply.
3. Adult learners: Adult learners are focused on how college can fit the adult learner’s established life. This segment is raising families, working, married, helping family members, and more. In addition to wanting information about the first three pillars, they want to know how college will fit into their lives. Not interested in marketing fluff, adult learners want to get to the heart of what it takes to attend and the steps to get started. They look for how previous credits will be accepted. They may want to know about schedule flexibility and online options. Include topics like these and who they can speak to today for topics about credits that will transfer and how fast one can complete their degree.
4. Dual enrollment students: Consider dual-enrolled or concurrent enrollment students as a significantly untapped source of potential enrollment for colleges. This audience is a brilliant marketing opportunity. Taking advantage of the pre-existing tenure with your college is an excellent strategy. For example, strategically distribute tchotchke and dual enrollment information to students while they’re in class. Why not host a special VIP event for this group, who tend to be high achievers and college-focused?
Related reading: Recruitment Strategies That Nurture Dual Enrollment
When designing recruitment publications, start with your audience to drive content and strategy. Follow the structure of the four pillars for recruitment and marketing with higher ed to ensure the pieces address key topics for every potential student. Utilize strategic teams internally to provide a customized focus for the institution’s enrollment goals. In addition, find opportunities to target specific segments such as adult learners and dual enrollment to elevate tactics that will result in meeting enrollment goals.
Ready to talk about quality recruitment materials? Contact us at [email protected] to discover how we can work together to create recruitment pieces that drive enrollment and promote your brand.
Related reading: Enroll More Now: 3 Steps You Can Take Today
