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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | March 26th, 2020

The importance of future work even in a time of unprecedented change

What's Next? Recruiting and enrollment and the importance of future work even in a time of unprecedented changeThinking to the future can be overwhelming at the moment, especially when everything is a big question mark. Although you can’t predict what’s coming next for our country during the COVID-19 health crisis, it’s important to continue work on your recruiting and enrollment plans so you will be positioned for success when everything normalizes. Here are some ways to keep an eye on recruiting and enrollment even though your plans are currently being altered.

Recruiting and enrollment events

Although we are just at the beginning of what the CDC calls “social distancing,” and small gatherings have been restricted, there will come a time where people can come back out of quarantine for in-person events. In the meantime, here are a few ideas to consider for hosting events to fill your upcoming class:

  • Plan a couple of months out and determine whether it’s feasible for you to host in-person events in the summer.
  • Consider hosting online recruiting events using zoom, skype or another online forum.
  • Have an admissions member record a video or podcast from a home office.
  • Host a Q&A conference call.

Students want to hear from you on how you will handle admissions and the start of the next academic year. Although you may not have all the answers, be prepared to address their questions. You need to validate their concerns and instill confidence that you’ll work with them every step of the way.

Be sure to track how these new event types perform and lessons learned on hosting them. Some may be sustainable for the upcoming recruiting year.

Marketing strategy and digital advertising

During these unprecedented times, it’s important to remember planning still needs to be done for the coming year. You still need to fill your class and don’t want to lose the momentum you’ve gained with your marketing strategy. Here are a few tips marketers can follow to plan ahead:

  • Track your paid search and paid social data in terms of cost-per-click and impressions in Google Analytics. Information consumption habits are changing right now, and it may just be a temporary change, but your media strategy and messaging strategy should reflect the current environment.
  • Test and re-test. Now is the right time to try new things and measure the impact. Tough times provide new ways to connect with people.
  • Seek to build trust with current students and prospects through proactive communication and consider the long-term relationship at all costs.

Consider pulling out all the stops to give much needed relief to those who need it.

Email marketing and social media

Email and social continue to be key ways of getting in touch with your prospects so you’ll want to be sure you’re sending relevant, up to date information. If you haven’t already done so, you may want to review all of your automated emails and planned social posts and re-visit your immediate communications plan. Don’t go radio silent by any means, but do be thoughtful about what you send, and what your audience needs to hear from you right now.

Looking ahead to the next recruiting year, you may be able to find time to audit your email communications plan and brainstorm new ways of delivering social content. Have you always wanted to learn how to create simple animations for social or have you been interested in learning how to leverage a new tracking feature in your CRM? Now’s the time to learn so when you scale your communications up again, you can apply new skills and abilities.

Extending deadlines, waiving tests and being flexible

Now is the time for ultimate flexibility. As you are making exceptions to ease the burden on your prospects, think about what you’re willing to sacrifice now and long-term.

  • Deadlines – Extending deadlines to give your prospects assistance is a necessity in the current uncertain times. But also think about how you’ll structure your deadlines for the following year and the impact of these temporary changes.
  • Waiving tests – If your program requires an admissions test for entry, consider admitting students now and letting them take the test later. This will allow you to be flexible but not sacrifice your standard.

Although these changes can be stressful, the best thing you can do is look forward and calm the nerves of your prospects as best as you can by having clear, consistent and accurate messaging.

If you’re searching for other ways to manage the change within your marketing and recruiting organization, reach out to GPRS. We are here to help.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | March 17th, 2020

Lessons learned during a time of forced change

In the wake of the recent global pandemic COVID-19, or coronavirus, colleges and universities everywhere are being forced into change. It’s uncomfortable, unprecedented and seemingly without end as things are developing rapidly. Although no one can predict how the next few weeks or months will unfold and it’s uncertain how this will impact the higher ed industry specifically, here are a few lessons we’ve learned from working with graduate programs during this evolving time.

Keep calm, and carry on – it’s the new mantra

This is more than a phrase that you see on t-shirts and screensavers. It’s a mantra that many across the higher ed industry are adopting right now. With the advent of fully remote teams, classes going online and campuses closing across the globe, it can be easy to slip into the mindset of worry about closing out the semester, recruiting for the next class and losing valuable momentum with your marketing efforts. So how do you ensure you’re prepared for this rapidly changing environment? Take things one day at a time. Although your team may be held accountable for a lot, remember that everyone else is in the same boat.

You are more nimble than you previously thought

If there is anything that can force you into change, it’s an international pandemic that threatens the health of your team, your neighbors and your country. As the CDC is urging people to create social distance because of the coronavirus, many teams have gone fully remote and students have been ushered off campus in an attempt to “flatten the curve” of new cases.

Universities were some of the first organizations to go remote for many reasons. Although social responsibility tops the list, many schools were confident in their ability to go remote because of the technology they already have in place. Students can take advantage of online learning, tools and remote classrooms. And although staff is traditionally in the office to assist students and keep things running smoothly, it may be surprising how efficient people are at working from home, responding to issues and coming up with contingency plans. You may have realized that you’re more nimble than you thought when forced into change and it’s impressive. And for schools who didn’t have as many online resources in place, it’s a great time to learn from your peer schools to prepare for the future of online learning.

Online classes that you’ve pushed for are happening

For the marketers, admissions staff or program managers who have been pushing for online course offerings to position your school more competitively in the market, the day is finally here. Whether you’ve planned for this for two years, or you’re planning for it right now out of necessity, realize great change can often come out of great adversity. Professors and instructors across the globe are being jolted into action by placing their content online, finding ways to connect remotely using technology and thinking differently about course delivery. Although there may be glitches and everyone is figuring it out together, you’ll look back soon and realize that you made great strides that you can continue into the future.

Your students (and prospective students) want to know your plan

At the moment, your personal inbox is being flooded with emails from various companies, letting you know what their plans are for slowing the spread of the coronavirus and ways they’ll modify their business to keep you safe. These emails may be somewhat comforting to you. Your current students and prospects need to hear from you as well. They want to know how they will continue coursework, graduate on time and meet with their teams. Prospects want to know if you’re still planning on starting a new year, how this downtime will affect their application, if preview days will be rescheduled and how to take admissions tests when they’re being cancelled. The most important thing you can do right now during the coronavirus pandemic, even if you don’t have all the answers, is to instill confidence and set expectations.

  • Let students know you are working on a plan and will follow up with them soon.
  • Establish one or two key communicators and consolidate emails and messages.
  • Send updates as you have them with clear direction and action for them to take.
  • Pause existing automated email communication flows so you’re not sending inconsistent messaging.

If you are searching for other ways to manage the change within your marketing, recruiting or online program management, do not hesitate to reach out to GPRS. We are here to help.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | January 23rd, 2020

Get 2020 vision for your January planning sessions

Marketing trends: Get 2020 vision for your January planning sessionsAs you enter into your inevitable January planning sessions determined to find ways to innovate and prepare for the upcoming recruiting push, consider these top marketing trends and opportunities for your school.

Video

As you scroll through your feed, you may notice more and more videos. Whether they are animated, organic videos shot with a GoPro or professionally done snippets, video is now king in social media marketing. And many websites are even using video as a way to replace longer content narratives. Video is becoming imperative in higher ed because of the personal scale connection required for large buying decisions like a degree.

The opportunity: Find ways to integrate video into your marketing strategy, vary your content and don’t sacrifice production quality.

Influencer Marketing

In the past, you may have thought of an influencer as a celebrity or a high-profile executive. But on Facebook and Instagram, anyone can be an influencer. And social feeds are cluttered with people telling you what to buy, do and even think. Sometimes it can be hard to determine if what you are seeing is an ad, an endorsement or simply someone giving a recommendation for a product they like. Influencer marketing can be extremely lucrative, but also risky because of the personal implications. It is less controlled because it is tied to someone’s personal opinions. On the other hand, if an influencer has sway with your target, it could be a solid strategy. Just be sure to select well.

The opportunity: Think of influencers in a non-traditional way. Could an alum or professor be an influencer?

Blogs

The evolution of the blog in recent years has rendered it one of the single most important ways to boost your organic website viewership. When written well, with abundant and well-placed keywords and search terms, blogs can create well-qualified traffic to your website. Their value also extends into thought leadership and general education. Adding a blog or re-imagining your current blog can pay dividends.

The opportunity: Research trends in education each month and write about them using the top keywords. Recency is key so be sure to capitalize on what’s trending while also relating it to your school and website content.

SEO

Writing keyword-rich content is no longer an option. SEO can give your website higher rankings on search engines that can translate directly into more traffic. If you are unsure about how to get started, a qualified firm can help you conduct an audit of your current site and give you recommendations for improvement.

The opportunity: Research keywords to find out what is trending in competitive searches. Incorporate those words into your website content and increase your organic traffic.

If you’re looking for ways to innovate in your upcoming strategy sessions, GPRS can help you keep up on the digital marketing trends and customize your communication for your prospects.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | September 12th, 2019

The Power of Personas: Why do personas matter for higher ed?

The Power of Personas: Why do personas matter for higher ed?If you’ve ever advertised or sold a product or program, you’re familiar with how important your target audience is to your marketing strategy. Personas are target audiences on steroids, a kind of hyper-targeting to help you dig even deeper and uncover the key motivations behind buying behavior. If you’ve heard the buzz about personas and are interested in how to create and use them to enrich your marketing, and communicate more clearly with your prospects, find out more below.

What is a persona?

A marketing persona is a partially fictional sketch of a key “type” of ideal customer. After creating it and re-reading it back, it will sound like you are talking about a friend or family member because it will include very personal and specific details on the person’s background, mindset and motivations. It will be based on market research and real industry data, but goes deeper than a traditional target market assessment that only includes demographic information. It might visually look like a resume, or a social media profile page with a name—and many times a photo or quote from the person.

Example Student Persona

Sarah Johnson, age 38, married with 2 children, lives in Chicago

Background

Full-time HR director at a retail company, on the path to become CHRO in 5 years, mom with demanding dance and soccer schedules, has undergrad in political science and secretly wonders if an MBA would help her advance in her career.

Motivations

Leading and mentoring a team, being at all of her kids sporting events, traveling to her weekend lake home more often.

Goals

Balancing time with her family and a blossoming career that could land her in the c-suite in her early 40s.

Fears

That her non-traditional degree is limiting her earning power but that she will miss her family’s important events if she decides to pursue a degree.

Online habits

Sarah is busy. She can typically be found browsing Facebook or Instagram at 10pm after her family has gone to bed and she’s replied to a few pressing work emails. She uses the Gmail platform and shops on Amazon because she doesn’t have time to run her errands during the day.

Quote

I’d love to get an MBA so I can gain a seat at the executive table, but it’s also important for me to balance my time so I can be there for my family.

How do you build one?

Although you can see samples of fields in the included example, it’s important to tailor your persona to what you want to know. Since there can be many different types of people even within the same market segment, you’ll want to cover your bases with 2-3 per demographic group with male/female counterparts, and areas to address all of the decision points for someone considering your brand. Using general market research, past data from your organization, google analytics, personal interviews and industry benchmark data can all help you build the type of persona you’ll need to enrich your content strategy.

How can personas enrich your marketing strategy?

When you do a deep dive into what your audience is thinking, it helps you address the barriers to their decision making process. For example, if they’re worried about balancing time you can present the benefits of your flexible online and weekend programs. If ROI is the question, make sure you provide factoids on how long it might take to recoup the investment. Developing personas can also help your internal marketing and admissions teams collaborate to prioritize your messaging, media strategy and tactics.

Why do personas matter more in higher ed?

In marketing, anytime you are asking someone to spend money the connection to values, motivations and mindset are critical. But for your prospective students, investing in a degree and educational experience carries a larger price tag and much higher emotional commitment than a cup of coffee, a couch or a lawnmower. Digging deep into goals, fears, frustrations and media habits will not only help you develop your messaging more clearly but also prioritize your channels and strategy for connecting.

For schools looking to build personas to enhance your targeted marketing strategy, GPRS offers custom solutions. With deep insight into the mindset of degree-seeking students at all levels, we can help you pinpoint your audiences and reap the benefits of hyper-targeted communications. Contact GPRS today to learn more.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | August 28th, 2019

3 tips to push past misconceptions and launch your new online program

Online program managementIf your school is facing the challenge of launching your first online program or expanding one, the next steps are not for the faint of heart. Regardless of your role: marketing, product development, recruiting or instructor, growing pains are inevitable. Read on to discover common challenges and some tips for overcoming them.

Internal pushback

Whether your school is innovative or rooted in deep tradition and slow to change, it is likely that someone (or many people) will oppose this shift. If it’s different from the way you’ve done things in the past, there will be resistance. But the truth is, online education is quickly becoming less of a trend and more of a mainstay. There is a way to do both; so focusing on that can really help push through some of the barriers.

So much competition

Let’s address some misconceptions. Institutions tend to think that going “online” can be overwhelming because it changes their entire market. Should you begin marketing in Australia, Greenland and Europe? Should you hire a translator to write all of your content in Japanese? How will you compete with the online education goliaths?

Relax. Trends have shown that although online programs do give you more opportunities to reach more people, it is more likely that you will have your best luck with your current geographic target where your brand is already well known. This is a great starting point and you can slowly expand your geography by 100 miles or so to see when the demand tops off, and then gradually pull back to achieve a balance.

The question of “how?”

Online content is very different from content that is delivered in person. A fair amount of work can go into converting existing content into an online format, building new content that keeps students engaged and making sure it still aligns with your brand. And then there are the questions about marketing, recruiting and cost structure, to name a few. As you are delving into the deep questions, you’ll need an experienced partner to help you plan, and help ensure success.

For schools looking to launch a new online program, expand existing ones, or possibly transition away from a traditional Online Program Manager (OPM), GPRS offers de-coupled services to help you accelerate growth and market programs. With powerful lead generation services, as well as call center solutions, we can help you increase market awareness while building a steady stream of qualified candidates, and enrollments. Contact GPRS today to learn more.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | August 15th, 2019

Connecting with prospective students

Connecting with prospective studentsAre you overloaded trying to keep up with all of your prospects? The right tactics, and the right partner, can help you optimize the middle of your recruitment funnel for greater enrollment results.

Your admissions staff is the first point of contact for most prospective students and follow-up time is crucial for making that first impression a positive one. In our 24/7 world, leads are expecting their schools of choice to be “always on.” So how do you balance your leads’ demand for instant communication with your recruiting team’s bandwidth?

If you’re concerned (and you should be) about asking your team to respond to texts, calls and emails at 3 a.m., here are a few tips to lighten the load as you prepare for your next big recruiting wave.

Automated (personal) emails

You’ve probably done it – you’ve signed up for a newsletter, entered a sweepstakes or requested more info about a product. You check your inbox and hit refresh. You refresh again. Where is your confirmation email? Did you accidentally type the wrong info? Did your email go into a black hole? Should you try again? These are things that you never want your prospective students to wonder, especially when they are considering a high-dollar purchase (your degree program).

When you have an automated email campaign that spurs an immediate response from your school, the prospect is immediately gratified and will be less likely to regret taking that first step to inquire. Your first email doesn’t have the be fancy or even include a ton of information. Just a quick note to acknowledge them and let them know you’ll be following up with them soon will go a long way. Here are some tips on creating a custom email campaign using your CRM.

Text or phone call follow-up

Here’s where your admissions team can experience a backlog if your volume is too high. 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 when appropriate. And when they take the time to get to know the ins and outs of your school’s recruiting process, they can align communications with your brand and handoff prospects to your recruiting team seamlessly, giving you more time to focus on pulling them through the funnel.

Real-time tracking

When you are using resources like automated email and 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. When you are searching for a contact center to use, just make sure they can help you track communications and integrate with your CRM for real-time data collection.

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, as well as timely email follow-up. We use state-of-the-art technology with real-time call monitoring and recording capabilities to ensure our team is consistently an extension of yours. And we can enter every communication directly into your existing CRM for seamless handoffs to internal staff at the perfect time. Contact GPRS today to learn more.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | July 31st, 2019

Marketing approaches: Key differences in marketing executive education vs. degree programs

Marketing approaches: Key differences in marketing executive education vs. degree programsCan you use the same marketing campaign, channels and budget to market your degree programs and executive education? You can, but you may not be thrilled with the results.

The truth is, although both leverage your brand and aim to educate students, these audiences differ quite a bit and so should your approach to communicating with them. Besides the demographics, here are a few key points of differentiation that are important to consider when crafting your marketing strategy for these unique groups.

Cost

Although this seems obvious, when you are asking someone to invest $2,000 in a program vs. $100,000, you can benefit from different messaging strategies. Here’s how you can address the cost difference:

  • Executive Education: focus on the immediate benefits like sharpened skills, applicable case studies, and resume boosters
  • Degree Programs: tout the long term benefits like network, strategic vision and upward mobility

Investment of Time

A 2-3 day program or online course takes less planning for than a 1-2 year commitment. Here’s how you can address the time investment difference:

  • Executive Education: make it easy for them to come to your program, give them enough notice so they can ask their manager for a couple of days to attend a training and emphasize immediate rewards
  • Degree Programs: address the barriers to their time commitment like family and career and assure them it will pay off in the long-run

Decision Cycle

Because of the cost and time investment, the decision-making process can either be quick or something they consider for up to 5 years. Here’s how you can stay integrated into their decision cycle:

  • Executive Education: stay top-of-mind, promote your calendar, and offer thought leadership and value-added content throughout the year so that when it’s time for them to act, you’re the first choice
  • Degree Programs: depending on the program, lead cycle time can vary greatly; be sure to stay in their consideration set with these tips

Motivation

What motivates a working professional to attend a short program may be completely different from the goals of someone considering a degree program. Here’s how you can address different motivation sets.

  • Executive Education: focus on the immediate need to fill a skill gap and sell the return on investment for the employee and the organization (it is often the talent manager or supervisor helping make the decision)
  • Degree Programs: emphasize the long-term benefits, career trajectory, network and the return on investment

If you’re looking for more ways to hone in on your strategy for promoting a variety of programs at your school, GPRS can help. Leverage our long-term partnerships with universities in both the degree and executive education spaces to create a solid marketing plan that can address these unique audiences.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | July 12th, 2019

Ways to track your marketing spend, optimize your campaigns and find an ROI for your graduate student recruitment campaigns

ROI graduate student recruitment campaignsOne of the biggest questions that universities have about their marketing is related to its effectiveness. How do you know if your marketing spend is making a difference?

If you’re not sure if your recent spike or dip in interest, leads or applicants is related to your advertising, the competition, the economy or something else, you’re not alone. Gauging peaks and valleys and determining the root causes of what’s going on in your funnel can be difficult and often cryptic. Assuming that your marketing campaign is based on a sound strategy and tied to your enrollment goals, the next most important thing you can do related to your spend is to track it carefully so you can use data to optimize your campaigns for greater success.

But what data should you be looking at to gauge ROI? Here are the key metrics that can determine if your efforts are moving the needle.

Digital advertising is measured in 3 key ways (that matter to you): Cost per Click (CPC), Cost per Lead (CPL) and Cost per Acquisition (CPA) – or seated student. This translates to: how much did you spend to get someone to click on your ad, convert into a lead, and then turn into a seated student?

In higher ed digital advertising, you often can’t get a true CPA until you have your final seated class. At that point, you can do a match-back process utilizing your reporting dashboard to see how many seated students came from your marketing. But since that may happen at the end of the year, the CPC and CPL are what you should be measuring and optimizing throughout your recruiting season.

Your digital agency will know what is typical by channel (i.e. LinkedIn vs. Facebook vs. retargeting) and can advise you on whether your campaigns are working or need to be adjusted – monthly, weekly or even daily. It is typical to start with a higher CPC which will lower as your campaign becomes more efficient. This often translates to a lower CPL because the people who are clicking on your ads are more qualified leads.

If you take it a step further and use a sophisticated campaign optimization platform that ties in with your CRM and aggregates all of the data in real time, you can get even smarter with your spend. When you can track every program inquiry back to not only a specific marketing campaign, but also to a particular image, message and ad size, you can powerfully optimize your campaigns and match your enrollment data back to your marketing efforts to prove ROI at the end of the year.

If you’re looking for an agency that is well-versed in digital campaign optimizations, GPRS is your partner. Our proprietary lead optimization system, GP InsightsTM, shows your real-time campaign data and can even display industry benchmark data showing how your peers and competition are trending. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to give you a demo.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | June 26th, 2019

Enrollment Marketing: The value of digital strategy from a specialized firm

Enrollment Marketing: The value of digital strategy from a specialized firm.In most retail or consumer goods businesses, a good digital agency will be successful in helping meet revenue goals. But finding a firm that has experience in education and enrollment marketing is taking it a step further. Higher ed is a definite “niche market” and working with a firm that is both qualified in digital advertising AND has education expertise is key to success.

Here are a few insights on how to select an agency to help you with your enrollment goals.

They’ve been around the block (with a solid and varied education client roster)

You recognize their past clients. You may have even seen some of their recent work. Although digital marketing is all about innovation and new tactics, it’s important to select a firm that’s been doing this for a while. They can spot a good opportunity and weed out the bad ones. They’ve “been there done that” and can share new perspectives in your strategy sessions based on their breadth and depth of knowledge on how to meet enrollment goals.

They can prove their results (think case studies)

When you ask them about past results, they readily respond with client testimonials and proven ROI. The firms that you want to work with to fulfill your enrollment goals have done this for other schools and they’re proud of their results. You might be the next client they use for a case study!

Your peers know about them (and recommend them)

The last time you were at a conference, connecting with your peers from other schools, this firm may have come up in conversation. Nothing speaks more strongly than a recommendation from a peer. It’s likely that if the admissions director or CMO at a peer school is singing their praises, there’s something worth looking into.

They have their roots in education (although they may serve other industries)

Starting with retail or consumer goods and then backing into education is very different than originating in the higher ed space. You don’t want to be the guinea pig. Chances are, if they haven’t had an education client before, or have only worked with one or two, you’ll be paying heavily for their learning curve. Instead, look for a firm that has a strong background in your space and understands the sales funnel for prospective students. This is especially true with the specialized niche of graduate programs.

If you’re looking for an agency that has all 4 of the criteria listed above, GPRS is your ideal partner. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to share those case studies with you.

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Insights from the Higher Ed Experts

BY Anthony Campisi | June 12th, 2019

Navigating the Generational Divide: Communicating to Prospects

Navigating the Generational Divide: Communicating to ProspectsBaby boomers. Gen X. Millennials. Each generation has different value sets, core motivations and media consumption habits. Make the most of your communications to each group, and bridge the gap with some universal messaging that applies to all.

Millennials are in the work force and Boomers are slowly starting to transition out of the professional landscape. You’ve been inundated with information about how these groups consume information. But how do you handle communications when you’re marketing a program that may include more than one generation?

Universal Messaging

Marketers can go crazy trying to integrate the buzz words that are important to different market segments. Make sure you don’t offend anyone. Use the right mix of humor. Try to include data that is relevant to a certain career stage, or you’ll lose them. If your head is spinning, wondering how you can stay relevant, consider this – there are some universal messages in education that cut through any generational divide. Those are:

  • Value – Who wants to pay more than something is worth?
  • Return on investment – Most people are looking for a payoff on the time and money they’ve spent.
  • Personal connections – We are all human. Relationships matter. Make sure your prospects know you care and are available to help them.
  • Flexibility – Regardless of career or life stage, we can all use a little more time and control over our schedule to focus on things that are important to us.

Communication Tracks

In a recent blog, we discussed using segmentation to bucket your communication strategies. One way to do this is to segment by age group. For emails, if you have birthdate or years of work experience, you might be able to use that knowledge to craft different messages aimed at core motivations. For advertising and social media, you can depend on certain channels. Check out this infographic showing media consumption habits across generations.

Event Strategy

Wondering why your Preview Day attendance has dropped? Thinking about trying a webinar for the first time? Are you open to testing new types of events? What worked 10 years ago to market an Executive MBA program at a 3 hour event on a Saturday may not yield the same response today. Why? Because when you were marketing your program 10 years ago it was to Boomers who may have been amenable to that type of event. But now, you’re marketing to GenX and even some ambitious Millennials. They don’t have the time to attend this event, although they would attend class if they were accepted to the program. These generations are less likely to invest time in something that is not a sure thing.

Bottom line: Innovation can work in your favor. Try a webinar or a coffee chat. Hold an info session at a restaurant near a business park. You can still keep your favorite events, but it can’t hurt to add new ones to the mix.

Marketing Materials

Have you checked out your competition online recently? You may be surprised at what materials they are offering to prospective students. In an age where the website is king, even supplemental information is shifting. Standard brochures are morphing into videos and blogs. Photo albums are now social feeds.

If you’re looking for ways to innovate to connect with your target, we can help. Get tips to engage prospects on their terms so you can get the most from your communications strategies. Contact GPRS.

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ABOUT GPRS

For over two decades, GPRS has been a trusted higher education marketing agency, offering custom solutions to institutions of all sizes and degree types. Admissions directors, marketing directors, deans, and presidents rely on GPRS to provide a depth of services, including strategy, lead generation, digital marketing, nurture communications, recruiting, and analytics.

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