Is it time for an enrollment growth diagnostic?

As you are wrapping up one recruiting season and preparing to begin a new one, you may be breathing a sigh of relief. You’ve made it through one of the most difficult times in recent history and regardless of the impact on your bottom line, your team has had many accomplishments. But, is it time for an enrollment growth diagnostic?

How do you know if you’re poised for growth? And are your upcoming enrollment targets attainable? Most importantly, are your tactics sustainable, or is it time to pivot to address new challenges?

Although it may be tempting to stay the course, now is the best time to dive deep into how your marketing and recruiting strategies are working. The results you find can help you determine what to continue, start or stop doing.

Why a diagnostic is important

The goal of a diagnostic is to assess how your programs currently market and recruit so you can increase effectiveness. When you dissect each element of your strategy with an objective viewpoint, the outcome can help you develop a roadmap. That will ultimately lead to continued growth and sustainability.

What to examine

We recommend auditing your marketing and recruiting targeted at growing enrollment at the top and middle of your funnel.

Top funnel: Start by examining your strategy and audience targeting, move on to tactics such as media mix and creative, and end with evaluating your metrics.

Middle funnel: Look at your conversion process and the platforms you use to yield students such as your CRM and communication touchpoints. You can do a thorough review of the data in your CRM to determine impact.

Depending on your school’s appetite for optimization, you can also evaluate data at the program level. You can look at audience personas and review how your internal teams work together, set goals and gauge success.

What decisions can be made

Once you’ve collected the data, you’re ready to create your roadmap for optimization. This may seem daunting; however, you can follow these general guidelines to help you with the process:

Categorize your findings: Group your findings by what to continue-start-stop doing. From there, you can assign priorities to what enhancements can be done now vs. later.

Form an implementation plan: Detail your next steps from strategic to tactical. Assign timelines, responsible parties and KPIs for periodic check-ins.

Document how you will manage change: It is important to acknowledge that even the best laid plans can morph based on circumstances and changing environments. Find ways to build flexibility into your plan and checkpoints to assess whether any pivots are needed.

The GPRS Enrollment Growth Diagnostic

GPRS is a specialized firm with deep expertise and a singular focus on growing enrollment revenue. Over the past 20 years in working with over 60 colleges and 150 graduate programs, we have identified trends, challenges and successful strategies for filling classes. We believe that growth comes from change and are offering our clients a unique opportunity to gain new objective viewpoints into their successes as well as blind spots that may inhibit progress. When GPRS performs a diagnostic on your program, we’ll dig deep into every aspect of your marketing, recruiting, goals, successes and challenges. We’ll emerge with a roadmap that outlines a sustainable path to success for your program with a solid plan that your team can implement.

If you think an enrollment growth diagnostic might be right for your school, let’s start the conversation today. By the time the next recruiting cycle comes around, you’ll be positioned for success with greater insights and a roadmap to address your challenges.

BY Anthony Campisi | June 17th, 2021

Communications as the pandemic winds down

At this point in the pandemic, many may be excited that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. As states are beginning to open up and drop capacity restrictions, schools are thrilled to be planning for a Fall semester that is going to look more normal than it did last year.

Although this news is encouraging, your prospects may still be in a state of limbo, wondering if now is the right time for them to return to school or pursue an advanced degree. They may also have many questions as things are continuing to evolve.

It’s important for your school to address the questions on everyone’s minds – even if your answer is that “it’s a work in progress.” Your prospects need to know that you are thinking about the same things they are — and that you are available to address their concerns. Your admissions staff is the front line in communicating with prospects so arming them with consistent and unified communication strategies is critical.

Address the big questions

A recent article in Higher Ed Times recommends that schools account for questions regarding the pandemic. This not only includes safety measures, but also what to expect for class delivery and even post-graduation opportunities. Although the answers may still be a moving target, it’s important to address things like:

Mask policy
Big group gatherings
Class delivery (in-person, virtual or hybrid)
Professor office hours and interaction
The job market
Return on investment

Over-communicate

Going back to school is a huge decision involving a significant financial investment and many complexities. It can be similar to making a decision about medical care, such as a surgery or treatment plan. And sometimes getting a second (or third opinion) is necessary. The bottom line is: the more information the better.

Your prospects need as much information as possible – especially right now – because things are changing so rapidly, and they may still have a lingering level of uncertainty. Communicating consistently and clearly can help them feel more comfortable with their decision to choose your school. Here are a few strategies you can try:

Develop a landing page that addresses all concerns about campus life. This can be in the form of an FAQ page that you modify as things change. Link to it in a banner at the top of your website so it is easily accessible.
Update your automated communications flow to infuse key information changes in each mailing, email or text.
Launch a social campaign addressing key questions in a concise way.
Host a webinar that includes Q+A with admissions or program managers and then post it online and link to it in communications.
Arm your admissions staff with talking points so that all conversation touchpoints are consistent.

Be available

As people are getting out more and the economy is showing signs of rebounding, your prospects may be both excited about moving forward and uncertain about their future. Their barriers may still include questions about their work life, school for their kids, the job market, financial stability and even how comfortable they are with large groups of people.

Being available at this juncture is extremely important and could be a critical piece to helping them decide on your school or a competitor.

If you happen to miss a call or an email, try to adopt a 24-hour return policy.
Establish automated responses.
Answer questions as quickly as possible or let them know you’re looking into it.
Be honest, open and available to ensure that you don’t lose them.

Although these practices may seem like second nature to any admissions or marketing professional, it’s important to note that stepping it up a notch in the current environment will pay off.

GPRS is your communications partner

Working with a firm that has a deep understanding of the educational landscape can help you determine what types of communications are right for your school. GPRS tracks industry trends and has a long history of helping schools develop strategic enrollment strategies that get results. Start the conversation today.

Month: June 2021

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts