I frequently research how colleges and universities market themselves to prospective students. From surveys to secret shopping, emails to print publications, I review a lot.
In a recent survey, I received the following thoughtful response from a current high school student named Daniel.
Read his comments below and notice the themes of relevance, permission, and value throughout.
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Be relevant
"Information that is unsolicited is typically discarded. When colleges want students to read/hear what they have to say, they should present it in a package that is likable. The more novel it is, the more likely it will be read. Consult a marketing major on improving direct mail communications"
"No text messages. First off, text messages cost money for people to receive and send. Secondly, they are small meaning very limited information can be passed on. Thirdly, most people would not appreciate spam entering what most consider a spam-free area: their text inbox.
It'll probably backfire and if I ever received a text message (solicitation), I would go from surprise to anger in less time than it takes to send a text message."
Have you thought about Skype?
"Go ahead and try calling, but that's (sic) gonna expensive. Perhaps you can set up 'appointments' or 'conferences' and do it. Perhaps a more cost-efficient method would to use Skype and have an admission officer or someone equally knowledgeable talk to a group of people.
Make sure your emails have value
"As for emails, I typically don't read them (especially colleges who obtained my email through the so-called nonprofit Collegeboard). Personalizing the email is a good idea, but is creepy. If you can't reach students, don't get desperate and try to instill guilt with subject lines like 'Daniel, is this the right email?' or futilely create urgency with Urgent: deadline notification."
Direct mail is a premium channel
"Direct mail can sometimes work. They just seem to be more 'important' than email. However, they are cost-prohibitive and are hard to make interesting."
“I’m not down with Twitter”"
"Don't use Twitter. It's sort of the same reason for not using text messages. They're meant to be short and concise. They're useful in times of emergencies, but as a communication tool between colleges and prospective students, their usefulness is very limited"
Ideas for real value with Facebook
"Facebook isn't that great (because of security & privacy concerns), but can be better than Twitter. You can create a page for your college, if you haven't already, and use videos and pictures to help students get to know these colleges better. Perhaps have an online campus tour using the Photos app on Facebook.
I would definitely have tried this for the colleges I applied to if I knew they had pages devoted to introducing me to their campus. It's in real-time so updates (when used sparingly) can actually be useful and wanted. Since it's online, it's very environmental-friendly and costs much less than mailing thousands of letters/brochures."
Hope this helps, Daniel.
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Yes, thank you Daniel. I think it does.
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