Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | March 15th, 2021

Are your best prospects slipping through the cracks?

If your phone is ringing off the hook with new leads and existing prospects requesting more information – that’s a great problem to have! But not if your team is overloaded and doesn’t have the time or resources to answer the calls or follow up afterwards.

Let’s face it. A lot has changed (and continues to change) for admissions teams over the last year. Some or all of your staff may be working remotely. Your recruiting team may be smaller and dealing with consolidation of responsibilities. Everyone may be maxed out while trying to manage a strained hybrid events calendar while also balancing the need to be continuously available. If you’re struggling to keep up with new leads — whether it’s your typical volume or more— you’re not alone. Many schools are starting to realize that depending solely on traditional recruitment methods to meet the 24/7 demands today’s prospects is unrealistic. To connect with prospects on their terms, and within their timeframe, you need scale. This is where a centralized call center can become your support system.

Inbound support

Today’s prospects are more demanding than those you had a couple years ago. They are more digitally savvy and dependent on instant communication. If they decide to call you, you don’t want to miss them because they may move on quickly. What if every call coming into your admissions department was answered by a real person? Think about the impact it would have on your leads and prospects if they were able to talk to someone right away and get answers to their questions. And conversely, think about the benefit to your team if the person answering the phone was trained (by you) to pre-qualify the real leads and deliver timely data to you so that your recruiters could focus on the right ones? Better yet, what if those conversations were even scheduled for your team!

Text or phone call follow-up

Here’s where your admissions team can experience a backlog if your volume is too high (or you don’t have enough a large enough team). Voicemails and requests for information can pile up quickly and it may take some extra resources to help get back on track. Using a contact center can help by screening applicants, categorizing requests and handing off qualified leads. And when our staff takes the time to get to know the ins and outs of your school’s recruiting process, they can align communications with your brand and send prospects to your team seamlessly, giving you more time to focus on pulling them through the enrollment funnel.

What help can look like

GPRS boasts a state-of-the-art call center, complete with technology that enables real-time monitoring, as well as recording capabilities to ensure that our team is always a consistent extension of yours. All communications can be routed into your CRM platform – ensuring a simple transition with internal staff at the perfect time.

Although our contact center can manage several types of campaigns, prequalifying leads so staff can be more impactful with their time is a staple of our in-demand services. Getting the help you need will allow you to determine which leads to focus on, so the good ones don’t slip through the cracks – or worse yes, wind up calling a competitor.

Here’s what our calling services include:

A customized script
Agent/Advisor training on your brand
Flexible calling hours which can include nights and weekends in order to connect with prospects on their terms
Call reporting
A seamless hand-off of qualified leads to your recruiting staff

Real-time tracking

When you are using resources like a contact center to engage with your prospects on an ongoing basis, tracking is critical. Not only do you want to monitor communications, but you also want to keep a close eye on what’s performing well so that you can continue to optimize.

Get relief today

If you’re looking for resources to improve your customer experience, GPRS can help. Our contact center provides both inbound and outbound coverage for your program inquiries. We use state-of-the-art technology with real-time call monitoring and recording capabilities. This ensure our team is consistently an extension of yours.

Our other contact center services include:

Reigniting prospects who are stuck in your funnel and never matriculated
Following up on info session or online event attendance
Calling prospects to attend upcoming events
Contacting alumni for referrals

Let’s start the conversation today.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | February 24th, 2021

Some women choosing to put degree aspirations on hold

Barriers to pursuing a degree are mounting as the weight of the pandemic drags on — especially for women. If you’ve noticed fewer female prospects in your funnel, it’s not an illusion. While cost remains a factor, women are finding it harder to get on board with online learning. They’re worried about job loss, and they miss the invaluable in-person networking of the past. Additionally, time is a commodity as many are disproportionally shouldering the burden of childcare and remote school for their kids. As a result, some women are choosing to put their degree aspirations on hold.

A recent article in Financial Times reported many women are shying away from MBAs right now. The progress in evening out the gender divide in business schools has stalled. Although you can’t necessarily remove all of these challenges for your female prospects, you can communicate with them in different ways to re-spark their interest, instill confidence and keep them engaged in the admissions process.

Develop new personas

When you create personas for marketing purposes, you do a deep dive into what your audience is thinking so you can address the barriers to their decision making process. Although you may have already developed personas for female prospects, you may consider revisiting them or creating some new ones. People you are talking to today may be the same demographically, but have a different mindset from a year ago.

Interview some current students to get their perspective. Do your research on what women are managing right now. However you approach it, just be sure to address their challenges head-on and focus on the solutions they’re seeking.

Make admissions more personal

Since the past year may have completely altered your female prospects’ working environments, personal lives and career aspirations, it’s even more important for recruiters to personally connect. Giving women the opportunity to tell their story during the admissions process will make them feel validated. Finding convenient times for phone calls, video chats and texting will showcase your program’s flexibility. And focusing on how you can help them set and achieve new goals will go a long way in building their trust and confidence.

You may also want to emphasize the peer support they will receive in the program with fellow students who are going through the same challenges. Knowing they’re not alone in their struggles may help them feel more encouraged to tackle a degree versus putting it on hold until things even out.

Be authentic

Your female prospects have always been driven, intelligent and powerful. And now, they’re even more adept at identifying authenticity. In a year where relationships have been tested in both work and personal lives, women have become astute at evaluating risky situations and unapologetically doing what is best for them regardless of social norms or expectations.

Craft your communications carefully – what you say will carry more weight now than ever before. Be transparent – tell the truth about time commitments, cost, benefits and outcomes. Be empathetic – show you care about their challenges and struggles and you are ready to support them.

Employ some minor shifts in your marketing and recruiting strategies to help female prospects feel more comfortable pursuing a degree.

If you need more ideas on crafting communications strategies or personas to address the changing landscape of the prospect field, contact GPRS today. We can help you develop a plan to maintain a balance within your funnel. Let’s start the conversation today.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | February 11th, 2021

Last year’s lessons are this year’s plans

Although you may be feeling some relief as 2020 is slowly fading away, don’t be so quick to banish the memories of the challenges you faced and how your team overcame them. After all, if living, working and recruiting during a global pandemic has given you hurdles, it has also given you the gift of forced change and the resulting flexibility that bred new strategies, stronger teams and innovations. COVID-19 required many universities to pivot their paths or risk sinking. As you reflect on what you’ve learned, lost and gained, we’d like to offer a roundup of some of our favorite lessons from this past year that may help you move forward with confidence into a new recruiting season.

Evaluating success in a year with altered benchmarks

Before you lock in your plan for the upcoming recruiting year, you may be staring down the seemingly impossible task of evaluating last year’s enrollment goals and marketing plan effectiveness. As you tackle questions about spending, engagement, quality leads, yield, cost-per-seated student and enrollment goals, how do you determine what worked and what didn’t in a year where everything turned upside down? Here are a few ideas on where to start.

Making admissions more personal

While you will most likely be placing more weight on transcripts and references in the coming admissions cycles, finding ways to assess a prospect’s ability to overcome challenges could become a new mainstay in your process — and you might even find something new and helpful to take away from the pandemic, too. Find ways to incorporate personal stories into the admissions process to connect with prospects on a deeper level.

Protecting your brand

In today’s hyper-sensitive environment, just one statement can polarize an entire group. All eyes are on how we react online, in communications and on social media. The brands succeeding are pivoting their communications to address adversity, lead with confidence and emphasize commitment to their students. To enhance your brand promise and stay in tune with your prospects’ needs, here are a few suggestions.

Innovating in the face of forced change

While being forced into change isn’t always comfortable, it can breed new innovations and help you reimagine your approach. Marketing, admissions and recruiting teams had to find new ways to host events and generate and nurture leads. Still looking for new tactics to test? Here are a few ideas for going mobile, trying your hand at podcasts and expanding your social media reach.

Communicating in new (old) ways

With a challenging road ahead, you may wonder how you will generate leads, fill classes and communicate effectively. Although many things have changed, the fundamentals of human connection remain the same. Here some tips on how to use the basics to carry you forward even during a time of uncertainty.

Planning for another uncertain year

Although you may be staring down challenges to your planning process that include financial pressures, demographic changes and technology innovation, it’s important to realize that the opportunities to reshape your school’s recruiting process are abundant. While developing your projections, enrollment goals and strategic marketing plans, here are ways to prepare for the next recruiting cycle.

If you’re looking for ways to integrate new recruitment strategies into your enrollment plan, GPRS can help. With years of experience working in the higher education industry, we are skilled at customizing your message for your unique audience to increase enrollment. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 28th, 2021

The power of personal connection for recruiters

In a previous post, we explored how schools can alter admissions criteria to focus more on personal stories while typical screening methods are being challenged. As a second installment in this series on personal connection, we’ll examine how recruiting staff can use relationship building in different ways to pull prospects through the funnel.

While in-person events are suspended or re-invented, campus tours are altered based on states’ gathering requirements and safety restrictions are limiting travel that would have normally been key to recruiting, admissions staff are having to get creative. Are you searching for ways to connect with leads and prospects, but you can’t employ your usual tactics? Here are a few successful strategies we’ve seen from working with different graduate and undergrad institutions.

Pick up the phone

You may be thinking that listing phone calls as a top strategy would be obvious. But when was the last time you talked to a good friend – instead of texting or posting on social media? While many people consider themselves to be “connected” 24/7, a constant stream of emails and texts can be lonely and often overwhelming. If your prospects have signed up to take an admissions test, or started researching schools, their inboxes are full. A personal phone call or voicemail can cut through that clutter. Hearing from a real human being can make a huge difference to prospects who may be on the fence. You can be there to answer questions in real time and also provide a window into the personal side your program offers, and find ways to forge a connection with them. Tips for a successful conversation:

Keep it brief. You don’t have to discuss anyone’s life story, but you can stick to a few talking points and ask them if they have any questions.
Take notes. You’ll want to show you’ve taken a personal interest in them so you can bring it up in future communications. It can be a note about their current employer, or even their dog’s name.
Follow up in a timely fashion. Send answers to their questions right after your chat and take this opportunity to engage them in your CRM.
Focus on the real leads. Be sure to dig through your list of leads and prioritize the ones that are the most likely to be interested in your program. You can also create a re-engagement strategy for stagnant leads.

Use video to your advantage

While many videos you may be using are pre-recorded, they are still personal and can strike a chord with prospects. You can try producing video ads as well as longer-form videos for your YouTube channel. Topics can range from campus tours, student testimonials or even a look inside the classroom. To be more socially aware and relevant to today’s educational landscape, you may consider altering current videos with new footage that reflects social distancing. Or you may even post a Q+A with current students about how school is going with safety standards in place.

Webinars, podcasts and live events

You don’t have the be intimidated by podcasts, webinars and live events. In fact, creating them and leveraging them may be easier than you think. Try these tips for finding the tools you need, developing content ideas and using these digital assets in your marketing.

Be sure to engage a variety of thought leaders throughout your school’s community. Since these events are a relatively low time commitment, you can interview faculty, create a student panel, or hear from admissions directors. You can even broadcast live from a favorite campus spot to give prospects a view of the surroundings.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 13th, 2021

New year. New strategy. Go back to the basics.

A new year often comes with a new energy, new goals and a new mindset. While many of us eagerly awaited the end of 2020 and a fresh start, we also knew that we would likely still be contending with a complex landscape (especially in education) that would require flexibility, creativity and resilience.

Although there is still much uncertainty surrounding the virus, the market and the state of the country, there is one thing that remains steady – the need to educate the next generation and create stable leaders who can address challenges like these head on.

Armed with the learnings of the past several months, your recruiting team can begin to plan for the future, however fragmented it may appear. You may be wondering how you will generate new leads and how you will seat your classes. Although so much has changed, our perspective is to go back to the basics.

What is important to your target audience?

One of the most important pieces of any strategy, after identifying your target, is to focus on what is important to them. What makes them tick? What are they looking to achieve? How do they view their career path? By doing research and creating personas for your prospects, you may find that although their values may have stayed the same, the way they pursue their goals has changed. Although you may have created personas in the past, it might be time to update them given the current state of the job market. Since your target’s career stage, ambitions and mindset on advancement may have shifted drastically in the past year, it’s important to address these alterations by shifting your communications.

How will you find your target audience?

A qualified firm can help you determine the right strategy to uncover quality leads for your school. Right now, your prospects are spending an inordinate amount of time online—couple that with a constantly shifting digital advertising landscape and it’s hard to know where to start. Choosing the right platform is key, and it helps to start here:

Talk to current students – they can give you an insight into what their like-minded counterparts are thinking and where they’re spending their time online.
Do some research into digital trends. Find out what platforms and social media are trending for students in your demographic and decide if they are right for your programs.
Always buy media through reputable sources.

How will you communicate with your leads?

At the moment, your message is competing with a constant stream of news and your prospects are being barraged with 24/7 advertising and social media. While many are still working from home, they may be burnt out by the end of the day, so making sure your message cuts through the clutter is imperative. How can you focus your communications so that your target will tune in?

Be transparent and authentic. In the age of mis-information, your prospects want to know they can trust you to have their best interests at heart.
Focus on the benefits. Alter your messaging to be direct and “cut to the chase.” Showcase the strength of your programs with specific success metrics.
Give them something to look forward to. While the market is shifting, your target can quietly be positioning themselves for career advancement and leadership to prepare for the future.

How will you nurture your leads?

Once your leads are in the funnel, the real work begins. How you walk them through the process of applying and becoming a student may take more work this year. They may need more reassurance than in years’ past. Although your CRM can do a lot of the work for you, don’t underestimate the power of personal connection during this time. Your prospects need to know you are watching out for them, you are cheering them on and that your program will offer them hope for their future career ambitions. Utilizing a nurture strategy can help you keep tabs on your prospects, track their activity within the funnel and follow up with them if they become stagnant.

If you need more ideas on generating leads, selecting the right digital advertising channels for your target and personalizing communication for your prospects, contact GPRS today. We can help you develop a plan to fit within your strategy and budget.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | December 17th, 2020

Highlight the value of your MBA specializations

Specializations within an MBA program offer a deeper dive into a core business area or industry. Although an MBA can prepare students for working in any industry, specializations help improve their career prospects if they’re targeting a certain type of business or role such as cybersecurity, healthcare or HR. In the past, specializations may have been seen as pigeonholing. Yet, in the current business environment where degree stacking and “up-credentialing” are becoming trends, they can offer greater professional opportunities. A commitment to a certain skillset or industry is being seen as invaluable to employers at the moment and may make candidates even more desirable. Some schools are offering the opportunity to gain more than one specialization during an MBA program.

According to the Princeton Review, the most in-demand MBA specializations are:

General management
International business
Strategy
Consulting
Finance
Entrepreneurship
Marketing
Operations
Information technology

In an uncertain economy, anything candidates can do to make themselves stand out is important. It shows ambition, commitment and the desire to go beyond what is required for their employers.

Communication about specializations

For higher education institutions, communications around specializations are tricky. The goal is to seem intentional about the specializations offered and transparent regarding the benefits.

Specializations are a bit of a catch 22. Your school wants to be seen as innovative and poised to respond to the needs of the market yet be wary of appearing to chase trends. Your marketing needs to follow suit. Here are some tips on communications about specializations:

Give background on why your school is qualified to offer certain specializations. Cite faculty expertise and research to give credibility.
Use identified industry trends. Make a case for why a specialization will be valuable both now and in the future.
Know your audience. Based on your key demographic, be sure to tap into what’s important to them.
Use your geography wisely. If you’re in an area where entrepreneurship is booming, focus on metrics that show how they could enter the start-up market successfully. If your area is a healthcare hub, a healthcare management specialization could be extremely relevant.

Your competition may not be who you think it is

While creating a communications plan for your MBA specializations, you may first rely on a competitive analysis to see what peer schools are doing. However, be aware that the traditional set you’re used to reviewing may not be the only place to look. By now, you’re aware of online training platforms like Coursera, Lynda, Udemy, edX and Udacity, to name a few. With a variety of leadership, management and specialized courses – some free, and many a much lower cost than an MBA – these platforms are being used by today’s savvy business leaders to stack credentials and frontload their resumes. Don’t underestimate the power of these platforms to cast doubt on the value of an expensive MBA program.

Although it may seem like an uphill battle to compete, this is actually where specializations can be central to showing your program’s value and benefits. If your healthcare specialization is taught by a policy leader or a top-ranked physician, or it includes in-person immersions, highlight those. Does your HR specialization include a certification from an organization that would otherwise cost an additional fee? If so, be sure to include that in your messaging. If your strategy specialization includes working with a real client company to solve a business challenge, find ways to tell that story.

Need help?

If you need help crafting a campaign around MBA specializations, GPRS can help. With years of experience working in the higher education industry, we are skilled at customizing your message for your unique audience to increase enrollment. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | December 4th, 2020

MBA is the new undergrad

While the trend of jobs that require a Masters’ degree or an MBA has been steadily increasing over the past decade, the recent pandemic has demanded that those who aspire to business leadership positions commit themselves to post-graduate education.

According to an article in the Economist, a bachelor’s degree is the de facto requirement in the world of business, but increasingly, it’s not enough for those who aspire to lead. While a bachelor’s degree is required for many jobs, here are a few reasons why an MBA is becoming the “must do” next step.

Raising the bar

Employers are raising the bar for the skillsets needed to succeed. These skills go beyond the staples of accounting, finance and operations to include strategic thinking and innovation – and can determine whether you sink or swim in today’s unprecedented economy.

Right now, prioritized value is being placed on skills like:

Analyzing problems
Communication
Strategy
Dealing with ambiguity
Leadership
Navigating technological disruption
Innovation

With an MBA being one of the most widely known degrees you can obtain, it can give you the flexibility to jump into any business challenge head on, armed with the tools to solve complex issues. In addition, the networking from an MBA program, regardless of the format, is invaluable due to the broad scope of perspectives you gain from fellow classmates, and the business network that you form with them.

What the data says

The findings of the 2020 GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey suggest that, “employers remain confident about the value of graduate management talent, which is also apparent in their relatively steady hiring projections and salary trends. In sum, the skills and abilities acquired by graduate management talent during their business school experiences make them a valuable asset in supporting organizational recovery and resiliency.”

In addition, although confidence in the global economy has dropped, employers are still certain that graduate education will consistently be able to prepare future talent for the uncertain market and give them the skills to tackle the inevitable coming changes.

What an MBA can do for you

Although the cost of an MBA and its return on investment has been a long debated and studied conundrum, the skills you gain make you a valued asset to your organization, giving you a springboard to climb any ladder you choose. Also, finding a quality MBA program at a reasonable price is much easier today.

An MBA remains one of the most diverse post-grad degrees you can obtain. Regardless of your undergrad degree, it will give you a broader foundation to expand within your chosen industry, or even change course completely. It can be used in almost any industry, including those that you may not have an undergraduate degree in. An MBA enables you to make an impact and manage at a higher level even without extremely deep vertical market experience.

As the GMAC corporate recruiters survey confirms, hiring of MBAs remains steady, even in an uncertain market. So there’s no better time to plan to advance your career. And an MBA may very well be the next logical step.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | November 30th, 2020

Are the latest social platforms a fit for your school?

You may have heard your peers in higher ed or your digital agency talking about advertising on Spotify, Pandora, Reddit, Pinterest or even TikTok. These social platforms have become commonplace everyday “stops” for many people, especially as mobile usage has grown during the pandemic. And they can be extremely valuable for reaching a wide audience. But how do you know which platforms are right for your school, and whether or not they will help you achieve your recruiting and enrollment goals?

Brief definitions

Let’s start with a brief definition of each platform before we delve into their marketing benefits.

Spotify/Pandora: Digital streaming service for music, videos and podcasts. There are free versions with ads and monthly subscriptions that offer ad-free playtime and playlist customization.
Pinterest: A social network that allows users to search and share ideas for style, home and design inspiration. You “pin” your favorites to your board so you can access them later and easily share with others.
Reddit: A social news platform that encourages discussion and commenting on shared content through ratings and votes.
TikTok: A social media platform that allows people to create and share short videos set to music.

A note about social media usage

In a study published in August 2020, internet users (age 16-64) report using social media approximately 2 hours and 22 minutes per day. And since the start of the pandemic, at least 28% report increasing their usage.

The same study shows a shift in popularity of most-used social media platforms as it relates to monthly active users. While Facebook and YouTube remain in the top spots, TikTok, Reddit and Pinterest all rank higher than Twitter for those that are logging into their accounts vs. just searching the platform for general news.

Other interesting data points include:

Globally, social media is now the #2 most popular destination for brand research (behind search engines).

Among internet users in the age range of 18-55+, approximately 47-67% (depending on the age segment) are using social media as a main source of news.

When you are using social media to complement your marketing and communications plan, a high viewership is almost always guaranteed. However, with any marketing tactic the key is to make sure that your content is reaching the right age group with the right message at the right time.

How do I evaluate what social platforms are right for my school?

It starts with your strategy:

If it’s brand awareness, you want to cast a broad net. Spotify or Pandora could benefit you through contact with a wide range of demographics.
If it’s driving engagement, try out interactive content like a quiz (Reddit) or shareable content like a video (TikTok) or idea board (Pinterest).
If it’s lead generation, you’ll want a platform that allows users to fill out forms. While Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter & Instagram have traditionally occupied this space, Reddit is now an option. Reddit has a sponsored headline campaign allowing advertisers to generate leads to their website (or landing page) to collect information.

Then, on to your audience:

Be sure that your demographics line up with the viewership of the platform.
Be sure that your content will resonate.
Think about how you want your content to influence the viewer.

How is higher ed using social platforms right now?

Spotify/Pandora – Schools may benefit from either audio ads, display ads or sponsored sessions that allow you to insert rich media like videos that can engage prospective students. Both platforms let you segment your advertising by behavioral categories in addition to traditional demographics.

Pinterest – Although Pinterest is used less frequently for higher ed institutions, you can find ways to have a presence for a low investment. Try posting existing digital assets that have a broad appeal, like student testimonials, admissions checklists, test prep tips and infographics on program benefits.

Reddit – You may be surprised to know that your brand is already circulating on Reddit. Why not listen to what’s being said and find ways to respond in an authentic, helpful and transparent way?

TikTok – Some schools are using this platform to engage prospects that are looking for a “day in the life” viewpoint. They may hire “talent” to create videos with the intent of showcasing the campus, student life or admissions.

Need help?

If you’re interested in learning more about how these and other social media platforms can fit into your school’s marketing and recruiting strategy, GPRS can help.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | November 16th, 2020

The importance of personal connection during pandemic admissions

By now, it is not new news that colleges have had to drastically alter their admissions process. In both undergrad and higher ed institutions alike, requirements have quickly shifted as a result of the pandemic limitations. Schools that never intended to veer from their admissions “rites of passage” have been forced to change their processes or risk being changed by the landscape.

While you’ve held certain criteria requirements, you may find that your program is trying to find alternative ways to determine students’ viability while your typical screening methods are being challenged.

Replacement criterion

A recent article in the New York Times examined how some undergrad schools are finding replacement criterion. The article suggests that for college admissions during COVID-19, “SATs are out, personal stories are in.” It seems that in light of the pandemic, many schools are beginning to favor a more personal approach that requires students to dig into and demonstrate their “sense of self” which may prove to become more valuable over time than test scores to predict success in higher education.

This is not to say that the importance of test scores should be diminished, especially in the higher ed space. They have been, and continue to be, solid gauges of the hard skills required to succeed in finance, economics and operations courses. But in a time when the soft skills are crucial to survival, resiliency and adaptability are starting to emerge as strong traits that exhibit a person’s propensity to perform under pressure, and can dictate how well they will do in a demanding MBA or higher ed program.

Using personal stories as a gauge of fitness

Because submitting a personal story isn’t something someone can “study for,” admissions staff can use data from responses to determine natural creativity and adaptability as key predictors of success. It’s possible for you to come up with an objective grading scale that examines and scores qualities on a scale, such as:

Creativity
Uniqueness
Authenticity
Empathy
Honesty
Resilience

Since your admissions process likely already includes several touchpoints that are aimed at getting to know someone — a personal interview, an essay, multiple conversations — the suggestion is not to add another requirement. It is simply that you may put more weight on their responses. And using a quantitative grading scale can help you assess prospects more objectively and place them with confidence.

What questions to ask when soliciting a personal story

Although we’re all ready for COVID-19 to make an exit from our lives, it’s unlikely that will happen anytime soon. It’s also unlikely that you will meet anyone that has not been impacted in some way by the pandemic. Whether emotionally, financially or physically, everyone has seen the side effects of what the virus has done to our communities, country and world. Rather than gloss over the topic, leaning into the narrative can actually benefit us in the way we relate to each other. And getting a prospect’s take on what they’ve lost, gained and taken away from this experience can shed light on how they react in the face of adversity.

Here are a few questions you could ask prospects during the admissions process. Whether in an essay or interview format, be sure to find ways to quantify the response. You don’t want to get too caught up in your emotional response to their response.

What limitations did the pandemic place on you personally and professionally?
How did you handle the stress of the pandemic?
What did you add or remove from your daily routine as a result of restrictions?
What is your daily life/routine like now?
In what ways have you shown leadership in your community, workplace and personal life during this time?
What are you looking forward to the most in a post-pandemic world?

Moving forward

While you will certainly be placing more weight on transcripts and references in the coming admissions cycles, finding ways to assess a prospect’s ability to overcome challenges could become a new mainstay in your process — and you might even find something new and helpful to take away from the pandemic, too.

Need help?

If you need help with altering or improving your admissions processes, GPRS can help. Think of us as your partner during the pandemic to help shape and meet your new enrollment goals.

Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | October 30th, 2020

How do you pivot your branding and marketing when your programs have changed?

By now, it is likely that your school has a statement on its homepage following all of the changes COVID-19 has created in the higher education space. However, if the plan only goes so far as detailing what the overall university is doing, you may need to take it a step further to communicate how your individual programs will operate within your business school.

While you have made efforts to maintain your brand, even during a time of great adversity, functional elements of how you offer programs, what it feels like to be part of a cohort and the physical space where students are learning may be greatly altered. Communication is key to creating and maintaining your relationships with leads, prospects and applicants during this time and there are a few things you can do to encourage them to begin and follow through with the enrollment process.

So many changes

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing the cascade of questions that are currently facing programs:

International travel – From an MBA that offers spring break immersions to a Global Executive MBA program that involves travel to multiple continents, the landscape will look different this year.
Class delivery – Whether you’re offering in-person, virtual or hybrid approaches, the student experience will be altered.
Internships and recruiting – With many large companies working from home and limiting travel, internships may be tricky to manage.
Admissions events – Although in-person meetings, campus tours and preview days — all key components to recruiting — may be on hold, you may need to find creative ways to give prospects a view into campus life.
Admissions testing – Stay consistent and explain your reasoning for any alteration in admissions testing requirements.

Although it is easy to get overwhelmed with the logistics, it’s important to remember that your prospects definitely have the same questions and may be intimidated to start the application process before they know all the details. Don’t let ambiguity be a barrier for your prospects.

Where you can make a difference

Plans are changing often — are your communications? Here are some ways to ensure students have the information they need to make key decisions. By implementing some of these tactics, you can maintain your relationships with your prospects. You may even have the opportunity to gain students from different geographic locations, demographics and backgrounds.

Your website: Although you don’t need to alter your entire website (and this is not recommended due to the amount of time it would take), you can create banner statements on each program page that ensure your prospects that you have a plan. End with a call to action to schedule a casual conversation or attend a webinar.
Your events: Host webinars or town hall-style virtual chats where your admissions staff can address questions. You don’t have to have all the answers — just showing transparency and a willingness to engage while you’re working through the details can go a long way. Podcasts can also be a good way to personally communicate with prospects where they are.
Your digital ads: Don’t be afraid to address the elephant in the room. Try creating a digital campaign that offers details about altered course delivery, how you’ll maintain the student experience and ways you’re striving to keep everyone safe and healthy.
Your mobile strategy: Find ways that you can optimize your marketing budget with cost-effective solutions that target your prospects directly on their mobile devices.
Your keywords: Now’s a great time to write blogs that add keyword-rich and searchable content to your website. Employ admissions staff, student ambassadors and alumni to write about the changes that are happening. This organic content, especially as it is related to COVID-19, will boost your searchability that can lead to increased traffic.

It’s important to remember that you are currently marketing and recruiting in an ever-changing environment. The challenges the higher education market is facing are unprecedented. But quickly pivoting (and continuing to do so) will pay off as you seek to instill confidence in your prospects.

Need help?

If you need help with website alterations, promoting virtual events, altering your advertising campaign or writing keyword-rich content that can increase your leads and enrollment, GPRS can offer solutions.