[feat-text]Summary: In the world of higher education marketing, parents are an under-addressed group whom we should not ignore. Parents are involved in the decision process when a student chooses your school, and sometimes they hold the purse strings. In addition to your student-targeted marketing, what is your college doing to reach out to parents?[/feat-text]

Who is the biggest influence in a child’s life? Obviously, it’s mom and dad, even though other influences are present as well. In marketing higher education, we focus so much of our efforts on reaching out to prospective students with our messaging. But what about talking to their parents? Let’s examine this angle of higher ed marketing.

We’ll dig into what the parents of your next student care about the most. Then we can see how to tailor our marketing message and value proposition to align with those parents’ expectations and the best communication practices.

What Do Parents of College-Ready Students Care About?

One of the first concerns of parents is, no surprise, safety. Anybody who has had children can identify: their safety and well-being are your first thought every day. So what safety concerns are there to address on the campus square today?

COVID-19

We are just beginning to glimpse the COVID-19 pandemic in the global rear-view mirror, and nobody is sorry to see it go. However, we’re still not out of the proverbial woods yet: We still don’t have everybody vaccinated, parts of the world are still suffering their pandemic peak, and there are variants of the Coronavirus which threaten to mutate into becoming the next pandemic.

These might not be significant concerns in some places. Still, the point is that every parent fears for their children’s safety, especially since most of us have been impacted in some way by COVID-19, be it the loss of family members and loved ones or even co-workers and distant acquaintances.

Bottom line: The same safety measures that your school advertised at the dawn of the pandemic should still be at least partially in place. Communicate that to parents, highlighting your campus sanitation precautions, practices in limiting large crowds and gatherings, remote learning options, and other safety measures. Schools may not be able to require “vaccine passports,” as the idea was bandied about, but can still encourage vaccination through their messaging. Put it upfront where the parents can see it too.

Beyond COVID-19, share information on your campus healthcare facilities, emergency medical response teams, and nearby hospitals. Re-assure parents that if anything were to happen, your students would be well cared for.

Mental and Emotional Health

COVID-19 had a secondary impact on young people, which worsened their collective mental health. However, even without a pandemic, the student mental health landscape has more of a spotlight than in previous generations. Students today are far more aware of—and open about—mental health issues, which have dropped the stigma that plagued the issue in previous generations. There is also the diversity factor in mental and emotional well-being. We just got through June, LGBTQ+ Pride month, and amid that, we passed Juneteenth as a federal holiday to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans.

So what are we talking about here? Your student body today is likely to be extremely vocal about its diversity and individuality. On every front, from diverse cultural backgrounds to matters of gender identity and orientation, you will be faced with the proverbial cast of unique snowflakes, all of whom will demand inclusion and respect. Students who experience discrimination or a toxic culture will feel the impact on their mental health there as well.

Parents of this generation are aware of the social issue we have now. Before, if you had a non-heterosexual child, many parents encouraged them to hide it and try to blend in. Now the shoe is on the other foot: Parents today watch for any sign of bigotry against their offspring and will quickly leap to their defense. The onus is on the campus to accommodate everyone and safeguard an inclusive and accepting atmosphere in their daily business.

Bottom line: Be the “caring” school! Highlight your diversity and your civil rights activism like never before. Alongside this, tout your school resources in mental health services, student counseling, and promoting a thriving, inclusive atmosphere of mental and emotional well-being. Your marketing materials should re-assure parents that their children have somewhere to turn for help and support.

And now for other, more standard, concerns which parents of college-age students express:

Academic Value

Not much has changed in this regard. Parents have always wanted their children to have an education that prepares them for a stable and fruitful career. In previous generations, going to college was seen more as an automatic gateway to upper-class life, without much focus on the value of a particular degree. Today, the view has shifted to the brass tacks of what a degree means, what careers are opened by said degree, and how valuable it will be in coming decades.

Bottom line: To parents, you should emphasize the academic value that your school provides. Feature alumni endorsements, achievements of past students, graduation rate, individual support for studies, and your expansive libraries and study halls. Feature your school-to-career pipeline. Do you have partnerships with corporations that hire right out of your campus? Career fairs? Career counseling and support? Parents don’t mind so much paying for college as long as it offers value with a capital “V.”

Price Tag

We’ve certainly all heard about the high cost of higher education, haven’t we? Parents, who will likely be footing the bill for their kids’ education, are always going to experience some sticker shock. But recent events have made the cost of higher ed become a sharper concern than before. We do have the economic fallout from COVID-19 to consider; many parents may have been laid-off, had a career setback, or even saw a major business venture go bust due to the bad timing.

Bottom line: You want to emphasize your school’s financial support. Highlight the opportunities in scholarships, student loan structures, or available grants. This is basically the same way you would market to any student with financial concerns, but in addition, you can do something extra for the parents. That is, clearly document, even itemize, the costs and where they come from. Maybe there’s an opportunity to supplement the textbook bill with an open books program? Perhaps students can cut the costs of on-campus housing? Whatever your financial situation, making the expenses clear and differentiating between the necessary expenses and the frills will go a long way.

Now that we have some messages to share with parents, let’s find out more about this demographic…

Who Are the Parents of College-Age Students?

This is a deep and interesting question because you have a challenging split demographic! Today’s students are overwhelmingly Generation Z. Their parents are a split between mostly Generation X (born 1965-1979, currently age 40-54) and early Millennials (born 1980-1994, currently age 25-39). These two generations currently comprise the majority of the workforce.

We could fill a book about these two generations, which each have fascinating positions in history which shaped their world views. In fact, Generation X and Millennials may prove to be the sharpest generational divide ever, hence the challenge to marketing to both as a group. We should focus more on Gen-Xers because their children are without question higher-ed range, where the younger half of Millennial parents are still years away from thinking about college.

Rather than focus on the differences, let’s see what values unite both generations as a group:

• They are economically wary: Gen-X saw the Reaganomics ’80s and Dot-Com crash; Millennials endured the 2007 Subprime Mortgage Recession and the ongoing COVID economic impact. Both generations understand that there is no such thing as a permanent position, and they value transferable skills and career flexibility.
• They are tech-savvy: Generation X is more likely to own a laptop, and Millennials are more likely to use a phone, but otherwise, both generations were weaned on a screen of some kind. Generation X is more crafty with tech and more comfortable with text; Millennials expect far more out of technology and would rather watch a video. Both of them head for your website first, while Generation Z is scanning your social media feeds.
• Both are skeptics: Generation X tends to question everything because they were born in the wake of civil unrest and were raised self-sufficient. Millennials mistrust authority because they were born into “cancel culture” and media saturation, so they expect every god to have feet of clay. You have something to prove to both of them. Be grateful if you only have to prove it once.
• Both prize diversity and individuality: Generation X is mostly defined by being so individual that they never united as a generation because that was for squares. Millennials came along to embrace diversity labels with a passion, down to redefining gender pronouns. All of them demand that you accommodate every race, gender, orientation, religion, creed, belief system, and diet.

Taking the above proclivities into account, along with the things parents care about in the previous section, we can see a better structure to shape our marketing message:

• Highlight academic value and flexibility: Tout your easy credit transfers, your wide-open course catalog, and your programs that offer a buffet approach to curriculum. You want parents to know that students at your campus will be “ready for anything.”
• Use technology to the fullest extent: With mobile-friendly websites and apps, interactive ads, conversational chatbots, and as many tech-assisted services as possible. Goodness knows, technology has played an important role for three generations now, it’s not likely to stop being relevant.
• “Show me, don’t tell me.” Back up every claim with data, offer campus tours, have open house events with faculty on hand for Q&A. You are under the magnifying glass.
• Showcase your inclusive atmosphere: It’s all about those diverse people rubbing elbows as cozy, respected equals. Schools have been at the forefront of progressive cultural movements throughout history. Continue to show how you respect and value your student body and welcome all peoples.

As we said, there’s much more to say about the generations, but we marketing people never shut up about demographics. Let’s just cap it and move on, with the caveat that, of course, there are exceptions to every rule, including generational ones.

Marketing to College Students’ Parents

The digital marketing you use to reach parents of students looks similar to the same channels you use to reach students, but with subtle differences.

You want to advertise to parents through the channels they use. Most of this will be on your own website or the parts of your website they will discover through Google. Email marketing is a perennial staple to reach Gen-X especially. Social media channels will likely be limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. The rest of the social media sphere is more Generation Z territory.

However, don’t be afraid to spring more advanced tech on the parents. Let them encounter an automated assistant or host an interactive video conference. They will appreciate that your school is cutting-edge and embracing the future.

In marketing to parents, be consistent and repeat your message, letting brand awareness sink in. Those with kids that aren’t quite college-age will spend time researching and reading news articles and blogs as they prepare to send their kids to school, so keep them up to date. A positive news story about your school will score high marks with them. Your school’s blogs or social media channels should carry events like your policy changes or improved safety measures. It’s not so much about the details, as the general feeling that you’re on the ball, hands-on, somebody is in charge.

Parents, more than the students, will be swayed by events. Open houses, campus tours, Q&A sessions, meet and greet events, any event at all. They will appreciate your openness and will take the opportunity to analyze and compare one school to another. However, you win points just for being engaging and approachable and available to answer their questions.

Bottom line: Marketing to parents is an entirely different ball game compared to marketing to students. You use some of the same message and methods but augmented for the older audience with a more mature outlook. If you reach out to both parents and their children, chances are one will persuade the other that your campus is the place to be!

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The pandemic’s impact continues to be felt in 2021, with postsecondary enrollment numbers at the lowest this spring.  The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that community college enrollment fell by 11.3% and that overall postsecondary enrollment declined by 4.2%.

These declines at universities, colleges, and other tertiary institutions are putting more pressure on higher education marketers to increase enrollment numbers.

To jump-start interest in their courses and degree programs, many academic institutions are focusing on restructuring and improving their digital marketing strategies. If you’re a higher education marketer seeking to increase enrollment this year, let’s explore ten higher education marketing strategies that you can implement right now.

1. Refine Your Value Proposition for Students

First and foremost, you need to work on your value proposition and messaging. As students have grappled with the recession and an uncertain economic future, they’ve put their educational plans on hold. At a time when the college degree is constantly being questioned, higher education institutions need to demonstrate the value of their degree and help students understand it in real-world applications. Career viability has always been important, now it’s vital.

Now is the time to hone your value proposition and create content that shows students that their chosen path will lead to a promising future. Beyond simply telling students that they’ll be successful, you need to show them. That means creating testimonials, case studies, and backing up statements with data. Here are a few ideas on how to get the message out:

• Create videos of your past alumni discussing their career successes
• Share alumni and student success stories on social media
• Publish blog articles that feature student wins
• Back up all messaging in program and degree content with hard data

If you don’t have insight into how your students are succeeding after graduation, then that needs to be a top priority. Leverage your alumni network and hear what they have to say. Communicating the value students received from your school needs to be the central focus of your marketing campaigns.

Learn more about what students care about most, and how to refine your value proposition and messaging.

2. Leverage High-Profile Endorsements

You can make use of high-profile endorsements to promote your school. This is very similar to influencer marketing. Since most institutions have famous alumni, marketers can mention these famous graduates in ads and content. These famous alumni can also be contacted to endorse the institution on television or in online ads.

Several studies have shown that prospective students put trust in an academic institution’s alumni employment track record. Featuring your alumni successes and current achievements, either on your website or social media platforms, can be a great way to attract both new and current students.

Higher education marketers can also use high-profile students as “social media ambassadors” and influencers. This will help to increase the reach of your school on social channels. Flagler College has a YouTube channel, which showcases its student ambassadors and what they’re doing. It’s a great example of organic content that creates itself.

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3. Showcase Campus Life Through Social Media Marketing

To connect with prospective students, colleges and universities need to leverage social media platforms. According to Emarsys, there are currently more than 3.1 billion users on social media platforms. This figure equals about 42% of the world’s population. Recent research from eMarketer revealed that US teens prefer using Instagram and Facebook, followed by Snapchat. A small, but growing, percentage are also starting to use the new platform TikTok.

Take a look at Stanford University’s and Texas A&M University’s Instagram pages. They both give prospective students a peek into life on campus. They showcase sporting events, student achievements, campus grounds, and student life and community. This helps prospective students envision what life will be like at that school, making them more likely to enroll.

Now, let’s highlight some of the effective social media marketing strategies you can leverage to improve enrollment.

Use Dedicated Hashtags

In a study by Gartner, it was revealed that more than 80% of millennials are influenced by user-generated content. By using dedicated hashtags on social media, your institution can leverage social proof to build its social media brand. Current students can use hashtags to showcase their life on campus and alumni can even use hashtags to show their appreciation to the institution that helped them succeed. You can also create and promote hashtags for departments and events as well.

The University of Michigan started the Hashtag #MYUMICH on Instagram and even used it to host a contest that yielded massive results and new enrollees.

Build a Social Media Directory

On your website, create a directory with quick links to social media accounts used by your school’s different departments, schools, and administration. It’s an instant way for students to keep up-to-date. NYU has had a lot of success with this strategy.

Feature Your School’s Social Life

Featuring student activities on your social media channels is a great way to help prospective students visualize a social life on your campus and feel a sense of community.

Feature Achievements on Your Social Media Platform

Showcase your student and faculty strengths and achievements on your social platform. This helps them visualize the successes that they can achieve at your school. If they know that students have a strong support network and are achieving success after graduation, they’ll be more motivated to enroll.

Showcase Your Beautiful Campus

If you have a beautiful campus, then show it off on your social media. Take photographs of public spaces like lawns, outdoor study areas, and beautiful buildings. The campus environment plays a key role in shaping students’ lives, and it’s especially important in their decision-making process.

4. Improve Conversions with Responsive Chatbots

More than 60% of prospective students expect to get a response from an academic institution within the same day of filling out a form. According to Drift, colleges and universities are 10 times more likely to decrease their chances of a follow-up contact if they fail to respond to prospects’ inquiries within just five minutes.

To ensure that prospective students receive a quick response, you could use chatbots. By using chatbots, admissions representatives would be able to reply to frequently asked questions promptly. Then, if necessary, the conversation can be transferred to a human representative who can provide a more personalized response.

Georgia State University developed the first university chatbot, popularly referred to as “Pounce.” With it, the university recorded 90% student engagement and students got their questions answered within seven seconds, thanks for Pounce’s quick response time powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Learn more about chatbots in our article “How Chatbots Are Useful in Higher Education Marketing.”

5. Connect with Live Streaming and Video Ads

Higher education marketers can make use of video chat for Snapchat, Facebook Live, Periscope for Twitter, and Instagram Stories to market their institutions. You can live stream classes, events, or even Q&A sessions. Live streaming is very effective among Generation Z and can be an effective way to develop strong relationships with prospects.

Studies revealed that the human brain processes videos about 60,000 times faster than text. This makes higher education marketing via video ads very effective. Facebook has more than 1 billion active users, and its newsfeed is ideal for video ads. Research from databox suggests that video ads outperform image ads and result in higher engagement and clicks. Video content requires users to spend more time processing the information that they’re viewing before they continue their scroll, which results in higher click-through rates. Higher education marketers who are looking for the best advertising channels should consider Facebook video ads.

6. Increase Organic Traffic Through SEO

Simply having a website is not enough anymore. If people can’t find it when they conduct a search, you won’t have any visitors. You must improve your website’s search engine rankings if you want to ensure a consistent volume of website traffic. Several reports show that more than 90% of people use a search engine when seeking information on the web.

Here are some common SEO strategies that higher education marketers can adopt this year:

Focus on Less Competitive Long-tail Keywords

Keywords are crucial to any SEO campaign. Colleges and universities must conduct research to determine the best keywords to optimize for, which should then be strategically integrated into web content for effective organic search rankings.

Learn more about keywords in my article “What Are SEO Keywords: Definitive Guide for SEO Keywords.”

Create High-quality Content

If you want to rank for specific keywords, you need to have content and web pages that discuss that topic. Higher education institutions must ensure that the content they feature on their website is well-written and relevant. Think about the questions that prospective students have and what information they are seeking. Create helpful content that answers these questions and it will help you rank well in organic search results.

A popular type of content that higher education marketers can incorporate in their content marketing strategies is a blog. In the next section, I share more information on how to develop an effective blog.

Use Enticing Page Titles and Meta Descriptions

Colleges and universities should use relevant and enticing meta descriptions to attract prospective students to their website. When a prospective student is looking at their search results, the page title and meta description can help convince them to click on your link.

Read our Ultimate SEO Guide for Colleges and Universities.

7. Drive Organic Traffic Using Niche Blogs

Blogs are a crucial component of many content marketing and SEO strategies, and they can be a powerful tool for higher education marketers. Successful blogs can receive a large amount of traffic and the posts can reach a massive audience. Just as companies that blog consistently generate 88% more leads than companies that don’t, much of the same can be said of higher education institutions that keep quiet.

Blogs give higher education institutes an opportunity to showcase their brand and connect with students. When developing your content strategy, think about how you can relate to prospective and current students.

Here are some examples of how blog posts can help academic institutions reach a broader audience:

Admission Blog

Navigating the admission process can be confusing and intimidating for incoming students. They likely have many questions—as do their parents. Create a blog solely focused on admissions and use it as an opportunity to address commonly asked questions and to quell any concerns.

Niche Blogs for Different Departments

Different departments or colleges within your university can launch blogs to showcase their activities. For example, the College of Engineering may want to highlight groundbreaking research projects or their presentations at national conferences. The College of Agricultural Sciences could blog about community projects that they’re involved in, such as local elementary school gardens they maintain or their extension programs.

Guest Posts

Not only can higher education institutes write for their own blog, but colleges and universities can also submit guest posts to other high-traffic blogs to reach a larger or more targeted audience. Due to the nature of the content and the school’s reputation, it is easier for most academic institutions to get their guest posts accepted by blogs.

8. Design Mobile-Friendly Websites

Prospective students begin their search for a college or university online and the first place they visit is often a university’s main homepage. Websites should have effective UX and perform well on both desktop and mobile devices. Users should be able to easily access your content at home and on-the-go, delivering a mobile-friendly experience is crucial. This is particularly important to Generation Z, who is now the target demographic of most colleges and universities.

That’s exactly what Southern Virginia University is doing with its mobile-responsive website that displays well on both desktop laptops and cell phones.

Page speed is a factor that most search engines use to determine a website’s page rank. Search engines, like Google, strive to deliver the best results possible. They know that their users don’t want to visit websites that are slow to load or have a poor user experience (UX). If your website is slow to load, it will negatively impact your search rankings.

9. Communicate with Email Marketing

Some marketers have neglected email marketing, claiming that it is obsolete. This is far from the truth. Email marketing is still very useful and several institutions have begun to adopt this strategy. According to Statista, more than 70% of students said they’d rather get information from colleges and universities via email versus direct mail. However, with cold emailing, the odds are stacked against you as most emails sent to prospective students will go directly to their spam folder.

So how can higher education marketers ensure that their emails won’t go to spam?

Send Personalized Content

Send personalized, segmented, and relevant emails to leads. This has become a proven way to increase your engagement rate and improve overall deliverability. According to a report from Econsultancy, 74% of marketers confirmed that targeted personalization is one of the best ways to improve user experience and boost engagement rate.

Optimize Your Email Program with AI

There are some specialized tools that help higher education marketers identify the best time to send an email to anyone they have sent an email to in the past. Popular email marketing tools like MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, and ConvertKit offer these capabilities.

10. Increase Brand Awareness Using Display Advertising

Digital display advertisements are about 35% more effective than billboards and they can help colleges and universities increase their reach. Banner ads can be placed on high-traffic websites or through the Google Display Network to target prospective students based on their search histories Besides compelling text, banner ads should also include videos, GIFs, and photographs that are likely to attract prospective enrollees.

Here’s an example of Cardiff University’s banner ad displayed in the sidebar of an educational blog.

Start Increasing Enrollment Today

Higher education marketers are always faced with lots of challenges—especially how to increase student enrollment. If these 9 marketing strategies are properly leveraged, they will differentiate you from other universities, helping you to build stronger relationships with current and prospective enrollees. If your marketing strategies need a refresh, the digital marketing professionals at Atlantic Digital Marketing Company can help. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

[feat-text]Summary: As the predictably messy fallout from the global COVID-19 pandemic turns the page to a new chapter, higher education is in a conflicted position regarding vaccine requirements. Here’s how schools can reach out to students during this time to assure a safe “back to school.”[/feat-text]

These are strange times, and they keep getting stranger. A gaggle of politicians is moving to prevent universities from requiring returning students to provide proof of vaccination. This comes in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed 3.2 million lives worldwide as of this writing. The numerous vaccines have begun distribution in stages, with those most at-risk receiving them first.

At this point, getting the vaccine is a voluntary act open to most citizens. In most cases, this is a simple matter of scheduling a free shot at your nearest pharmacy. The controversy is over the proposed issuance of a “vaccine passport,” which would certify the holder as safe enough to participate in public gatherings, recreational venues, travel, and other activities previously restricted due to the pandemic.

Some of the states where universities’ (and general) vaccine policies are being challenged include:

• Michigan: Dual House bills to prevent vaccine passports and prohibiting university vaccine mandates
• Texas: Governor has banned any tax-funded entity from requiring vaccine passports, including state-funded universities
• Utah: Governor has signed a law to prohibit any educational institution from requiring a student to show proof of vaccination
• Florida: Governor has issued an executive order barring businesses from requiring proof of vaccination, but it’s unclear how this applies to universities
• Montana: Governor has issued an executive order prohibiting vaccine passports
• North Carolina: is having a debate about this issue
• Iowa: Is advancing a bill to ban vaccine passports

The logic behind these bans is difficult to follow but seems to be based upon a mixture of concerns about personal liberties, privacy, and health choices. Idaho Governor Brad Little, issuing his executive order banning vaccine passports, stated:

“Vaccine passports create different classes of citizens. Vaccine passports restrict the free flow of commerce during a time when life and the economy are returning to normal. Vaccine passports threaten individual freedom and patient privacy.”

Universities Would Like Students To Be Vaccinated Anyway

On the flip side of this controversy, over 100 schools have announced a vaccine requirement for students. More are being added to that list nearly by the hour. It’s clear that most higher education institutions favor an immunized student base. Moreover, the American College Health Association urges COVID-19 vaccination requirements for all on-campus students beginning in the Fall season of 2021.

We did not expect this to become a politicized issue, but here we are. That’s our American politics, always full of surprises! In the meantime, continuing education students are torn with uncertainty about the future of school health policy. As we mentioned before, the pandemic has already darkened student mental health to crisis levels. On top of the already stressful burden which the pandemic has placed on us all, the last thing we need is a big political fight about ending it.

Universities may not be allowed to require student vaccines – but they can surely, strongly encourage them! If you need to persuade someone to follow a course of action, this looks like the marketing department’s turn to shine. And the going couldn’t be easier, because students are on our side on this issue already

Students Prefer Vaccination, With or Without Passports

Inside Higher Ed publishes a survey by Maguire Associates, taken from over 14K prospective students plus another 5K parents. The survey asked about students’ willingness to attend college when it requires various pandemic safety measures.

To make a long story short: Virtually nobody is opposed to the idea! Requiring face masks on campus is favored by 94.8%, required social distancing is favored by 91.5%, and even requiring a vaccine is opposed by just 14.9% of those students surveyed. Parents of students were a bit more reserved but fell in line mostly with the students on the issue.

The same survey found that students and parents were less enthusiastic about fully online school options, while they were far more optimistic about returning to the full on-campus experience. Finally, 69% said they were entirely comfortable getting a COVID-19 vaccine in any context.

At this point, telling students to get a shot before heading back to school sounds almost like preaching to the proverbial choir. But those numbers are not yet 100%, so there’s still some room for improvement. Most of the stragglers on this issue, in all likelihood, have simply not been informed of all the facts.

Pro-Vaccine Marketing Messages

Here are a few marketing message templates we can use to bridge the gap and inform students of the facts about vaccines.

#1: Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy

Surveys conducted on the general public regarding the vaccine have uncovered a few concerns that lead to vaccine hesitancy. Those who were hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine stated reasons such as:

• worries about possible side effects
• lack of trust in its safety and effectiveness
• concerns that it is “too new”
• concerns over the role of government in the development process

It stands to reason that people would still need some time to get used to this new vaccine standard. The whole pandemic has left everyone’s nerves jittery. Doubtless, the ongoing conflict between certain political influences and the education and medical industries plays into this. Young people look at stories like how Dr. Fauci and his family were targeted with death threats and think, “The world’s gone crazy, and I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

For school marketing messages, an education campaign about the COVID-19 vaccine will go a long way in quelling those jitters. We have a whole summer to gather surveys and statistics regarding the vaccine’s safety. Of the three vaccines, Johnson & Johnson did hit a snag, but the CDC has cleared it to be reissued. No such issues have cropped up with Moderna or Pfizer.

It is true that the COVID-19 vaccine, being a virus inoculation, provokes mild flu-like symptoms in some recipients for a few days afterward. We’re all seeing everybody tell their vaccine stories on social media. To address this issue, schools can begin their vaccine promotion campaigns early to ensure everyone’s over the effects come opening day.

Overall, an information campaign communicating vaccine facts is crucial for overcoming hesitancy. Universities can reach out through every media channel they have: social media, their own website, university blogs, student ambassadors, and printed information pamphlets.

#2: Unite Students With Hope For Putting This Behind Us

Are we all on the same page in regards to wanting the COVID-19 pandemic to be OVER? Does anybody out there want another year of lockdowns, quarantine, and grim daily statistics? We didn’t think so.

Universities can reach out to the student body with this very empathetic message: “We all want this to be over.” Virtually everyone at this point has at least some distant relative or acquaintance who has fallen victim to COVID-19 to some degree or another. We have experienced a stressful time. Everybody wants closure.

University marketing can target this emotional appeal, urging students to work together to end the plague. Use the example of history, that the world has overcome epidemics before, to ensure students that this, too, shall pass. Young people do respond to a message of idealism and the public good. Lean on their instinct to hope for a better tomorrow.

#3: Use Trusted Messengers

Medical professionals will be an expert voice in ending the pandemic. Universities can access groups such as:

• • Healthcare providers
  • Researchers
  • Civic and community groups
  • Healthcare organizations
  • Large employers

These groups can be recruited as partners to help the university deliver its message of vaccine benefits. As the polls we cited above reflect, medical expert advice still carries some weight with the younger demographic. Teens and young adults naturally seek out medical information online to begin with.

If your school has any medical program or courses, or access to any health professional, get their expert advice on record and include quotes from them in your campaign.

#4: A Little Peer Pressure Never Hurt

The Washington State Department of Health has a PDF pamphlet published regarding social marketing recommendations for the COVID-19 vaccine. In that document, we learn that social marketing identifies tools for promoting behavioral change, such as:

• • Social norms: “Everyone is doing it.”
  • Prompts: Everybody gets busy and distracted; maybe they need a reminder.
  • Commitments: Get people to sign a pledge to do something, and they are more likely to follow through.
  • Convenience: Remove all barriers to getting the vaccine, making it the course of least resistance.
  • Incentives: Providing a perk helps overcome reluctance.
  • Recognition and feedback: A progress statistic like “X% have now gotten the vaccine” or thanking people for helping to flatter the curve, etc.

We use this kind of logic in marketing all the time, and it’s the kind of template we have used in things like WWII scrap metal drives and getting out the “Rock the Vote” message every election.

Influencers and student ambassadors can be two valuable channels for selling the “social norm” angle. Influence and peer marketing are powerful ways to reach those students who wouldn’t listen to an authority figure.

RELATED: Student Ambassadors: A Marketing Strategy to Increase Enrollment

Conclusions

Given that the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated world news for more than a year now, one would think that a vaccine against it would be the hottest fad since fidget spinners. To be sure, we do see a massive amount of users on social media posting their vaccine experience. In fact, experts had to advise people not to post their vaccine cards online, for data privacy. Why would people do this anyway? Because of that “social norms” factor. A vaccine card is the “I voted” sticker of the pandemic. Tap into those instincts to create campaigns that rally your student body to get vaccinated.

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[feat-text]Summary: The 2020s pandemic pushed students out of the classroom and onto a laptop at home, shoring up the previously questionable reputation of online courses. Now that the proverbial genie is out of the bottle, some students might be reluctant to head back to campus. How can traditional higher ed stay in competition with online universities, and how can marketing reflect that strategy?[/feat-text]

We all have to face one sobering fact: We should have seen this coming. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed bringing online schools to the foreground, that wave was a long time coming. EdSurge pegs the year at 2010 when the earliest Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) emerged. Internet-based educational options have ever since been growing to compete with traditional higher education institutions. COVID-19 just gave them a niche in history to propagate.

We should have seen this coming because the tech revolution of the past few decades has purged whole industries as remote digital equivalents replaced them. Take the movie theater industry, for example. Actor Jim Belushi recently polled his audience on Twitter, asking if people are willing to head back to movie theaters after the pandemic. Responses are very mixed, but a substantial percentage responded that they’re perfectly cozy at home streaming their Netflix, HBO, Disney, and Paramount services.

Like the various entertainment industries, higher education may undergo its own evolution. But the comparison is different this time because education isn’t just a matter of media. The full campus experience is difficult to replace with digital analogues, even though a classroom lecture is easy to reproduce over Zoom.

Pros and Cons of Remote Learning

In January of 2019, Inside Higher Ed covered a report which concluded that fully online education doesn’t effectively substitute for a traditional in-person experience. A few of the issues with online learning are stated as…

• Employers perceiving online degrees less favorably than traditional degrees
• Skepticism of online education compared to face-to-face education
• Students from disadvantaged backgrounds under-performing
• Online education failing to reduce costs, offering a lower ROI
• Reduced student-instructor interactivity decreasing online education’s quality

For-profit, online universities are another factor contributing to pessimism towards online education. As one might expect, for-profit institutions have a “well-established and long record of predatory behavior and compliance troubles.”

Two grains of salt may be prescribed with this report, however. The article itself points out skepticism about the report, with critics citing outdated information and a blanket attitude of condemnation for online learning. And of course, the report predates the COVID pandemic when online learning switched from “optional” to “necessity.”

So much for the “cons.” On the “pros” side, online learning offers:

• Flexibility – No longer limited by physical campus location or classroom size, students can pick and choose programs that tailor to their field of study
• Convenience – We all know that taking a class is easier when you can do it from the couch at home
• Digital accessibility – You can still jump into chat rooms with your fellow students, have virtual study groups, and pick your own schedule for more activities
• Advantage for the motivated – The self-starter who is well-prepared benefits from not being held back by the slower members of the class
• Decreased negative social interaction – Students who are disproportionately targeted for their gender, race, or religion may enjoy some protection in anonymity online

We can all think of many benefits that digital technology, in general, provides for the education experience. Indeed, the whole World Wide Web was created to assist academia in the first place. No less than Sir Tim Berners-Lee has called publicly for increased access opportunities for young people, in the form of government-supplied universal broadband by 2030, citing in part the need for access to virtual learning.

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Adopting the Good Traits of Online Learning

If you’re looking for a less wishy-washy take on online learning, look no further than the Harvard Business Review, which has boldly stated that the time for universities to adopt online learning was “long overdue.” This attitude draws a firm line, sorting the universities which will adapt to make digital transformation and technology a central priority and which ones will not – and hence perish.

There is much more to “remote learning” than a mere Zoom lecture, Harvard points out. Cloud computing can warehouse data, virtual SMS assistants are the new classroom tutors, and artificial intelligence can be harnessed to assist in grading assignments and to deliver adaptive content. Some of these services are significantly optimizing student support. Meanwhile, schools that adapt to a more embedded technology role benefit from saving labor on administrative functions.

Furthermore, there are quite a few schools already adapting. The University of Illinois has pounced upon the opportunity to reduce faculty labor using technology, creating a program where thousands of students can pick up an M.B.A. for $22K. Georgia Tech offers a master’s in Comp Sci costing only $7K, currently enrolling 10K students. Universities such as Stanford and Oxford have begun digitizing their libraries for easy student remote access as a service to their online programs. US News lists several more accredited online colleges, and they’re not all for-profit online diploma mills.

How are schools able to afford these competitive rates? We mentioned before things like those chatbots. Well, there’s much more to that story. Chatbots are not limited to those tacky little eCommerce customer service scripts. They are becoming virtual avatars with personalities, using machine learning to become competent at handling admissions, campus tours, and even student counseling.

There’s so much more that is possible when a university integrates technology with its infrastructure. While artificial intelligence systems are expensive to implement, once they are running, they become a tireless, full-time employee who never needs a paycheck nor calls in sick.

Targeting the Online School Audience With Digital Marketing

The summary of all of the above knowledge is to consider that your potential students are doing precisely this kind of research. They are also discovering an online MBA degree from UI for $22K. They are also weighing the pros and cons of remote learning versus the full campus experience.

But we have also seen where a strictly online class is not for everybody. You miss out that way on the hands-on course and lab work, don’t get the luxury of hanging out on campus networking with stimulating peers, and don’t get the full learning bandwidth that in-person class allows. So how do we market to all of these diverse needs?

The answer is easy: Have it your way! Why not offer the best of both worlds? The concept is called “blended learning,” a mixture of in-person and remote delivery where the online portion replaces some of the face time.

National University in La Jolla, California, has a page up with exactly this message. Take an example from there and use it for the first key in your marketing materials:

#1: Be Frank About the Pos and Cons of Online vs. In-person Learning

On the pro side, students may be more attracted to online learning for its flexibility, lower expense, and less need for commuting. Or they may be more attracted to in-person learning for the distraction-free environment, hands-on experience, networking opportunities, and increased guidance.

Tech-savvy students who have high personal motivation may do better with online courses. Students who like learning the analog way or would prefer more guidance in budgeting their time may find that in-person classes work for them. Still, other students may prefer a blend of both approaches. Address all of them and your school’s openness to taking the approach that works best for students.

#2: Offer the Same Perks as Online-only Schools

This is easier said than done, but if your school is at all on track to fully embrace tech innovation, your advertising can echo every single enhancement. Beyond mere “Zoom courses,” you can tout your smart virtual assistants, networked student hangouts, supplemental materials on campus blogs and YouTube channels, bustling online campus culture, and so on.

Don’t forget to compete on the price point too. We hesitate to advise you to start placing dollar amounts in every ad like a used car lot would, but students should be aware that if they are getting a pared-down experience through a monitor, they should expect to get the savings passed on to them as well. Remember, your online courses have no limit on size; you can enroll more students and make up the tuition discount in volume.

#3: Offer Something That Online Schools Can’t Match

Of course, you can also compete with online-only schools by offering something they don’t have: a campus! For those students who prefer an in-person or blended approach, your physical university facilities still provide that advantage.

One should note that certain fields are more suited to online learning than others. You’ll find many online-only computer science courses because being on the computer counts as a hands-on experience there anyway. Likewise, an MBA program doesn’t lose much when taught remotely; the spreadsheets and accounting parts are used on a computer regardless. But there are other pursuits, such as the performing arts or medical courses, which benefit from in-person instruction and lab work.

So you can broadcast a course portfolio that encompasses the spectrum from remote-only courses to in-class and hands-on instruction, plus the options that offer a blended approach. If you have made it this far in the pandemic, you have already partially adapted to offering more technology-based instruction methods. There’s no reason to throw them out after the pandemic has ended.

#4: Address Student Motivations in Learning

This generation of students views “learning” as something accessible anytime, anywhere, right on their phone. Their motivation in going to university is to get that degree and the career assurances that come with it. PwC, UK, has a report on the 2018 Digital University which points out…

“Students increasingly see universities as the main means of securing their future employment, rather than simply learning and self-development. The value proposition for universities is therefore changing, and this means that employability and the student experience is more critical than it has ever been.”

In other words, students don’t necessarily equate a lack of continuing education with a lack of knowledge. In many ways, the Internet functions like the world’s biggest encyclopedia, all free. Their attitude is, “If you don’t know it, Google it.” They come to university instead for that piece of paper that certifies their official credits for a field related to, hopefully, their career.

Your marketing message can focus on the end goal rather than the journey. True, we will still have students who want the full experience of classroom discussion, debate, guided practice, workshops, and exercises. Not everyone learns the same from just hours of reading text, and even the best book is no replacement for the give-and-take with a spirited professor. Your marketing content can, again, showcase the flexible options for each style of learning.

Conclusions: The Hybrid School

This article at Visible Body speculates on the future of higher ed, concluding that a hybrid approach, the blended learning model, will become the standard model for universities. That’s one more source forecasting a significant sea change in the education industry.

As we say at the beginning, we should have seen this coming. Science-minded universities have already been offering online options, such as MIT’s Open Courseware project. This is an initiative to publish all of the educational materials from its undergraduate and graduate courses online, where it’s free as rain for anyone to access. Instant class, just add instructor and exam.

Modern students look to the future when they think about school. Your school should do the same and message that vision to potential enrollees.

Interested in improving your college’s marketing and thinking of shifting to an online/in-person hybrid approach to learning? Let us help! Atlantic is a digital marketing agency with seasoned professionals who are eager to help take your higher ed institution to the next level. We specialize in SEO, PPC, reputation management, and everything in between. If you would like to know more about us, click here.

[feat-text]Summary: It’s easy to get student commitment in the fall, winter, and spring. But along comes summer, and the drop-off rate begins. Summer melt doesn’t have to be inevitable![/feat-text]

We made it to the spring of 2021, and summer is just around the corner. We’ve all been through a lot, with the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying recession still casting a tall shadow over our futures. Even as vaccinations are finally coming through, some challenges remain in higher education and for young adults that may impact enrollment next year. At this time of year, a top concern for most academic institutions is summer melt: a syndrome where up to one-fifth of students don’t follow through on their college plans.

On top of the many difficulties we’ve faced this year, higher ed may have the “perfect storm” for a summer melt.

Understanding Summer Melt in Higher Ed

The tendency for students to drift away from their educational track over the summer occurs for several factors, but the most important one is financial uncertainty.

It hits home when they have to file a FAFSA, which is a daunting piece of paperwork for those from lower and middle-income households, especially for first-generation college students. In addition, they may have low to zero support from family and peers when it comes to navigating the transition to college life. Sure, they graduated high school and have been approved to continue their education, but it’s been a tough time of change and uncertainty all the same.

Factor in the effects of the pandemic, which has brought student mental health to an all-time low. It’s not just the pandemic but the economic uncertainty that comes with it. Which industries will survive and which ones will fold? How can you bank your future on a career path at a time like this? All the dreads, doubts, and “what-ifs” loom greater this year than ever before in recent memory.

So our challenge is to fight against the tide of pessimism. This summer might be the time when higher education marketing has to work harder than ever before to keep students engaged and committed to enrolling or coming back for their next semester.

#1: Keep Students Engaged on Organic Social Media

Students may be out of your influence sphere when they’re not on campus, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they’re not giving up their phones. Pew Research pegs mobile phone saturation at 97% of the population. Pew’s 2021 Social Media Use in 2021 report says most 18-to-29-year-olds use Instagram or Snapchat, and about half use TikTok. If you want to stay in touch after they graduate high school, social is a prime channel to use.

Summer melt happens partly because young adults lose touch with the excitement of shaping their futures. They no longer have access to teachers and guidance counselors to keep them focused. They stop mentally identifying themselves as “students” and start looking for summer jobs. They may get distracted by other opportunities, or financial concerns can creep in. Both may steer them towards different career paths.

Social media can be the bridge for your school to reach out and keep that mental tether. As soon as students are accepted, invite them to follow your school’s social media channels. Use this environment to highlight future opportunities. Feature alumni testimonials and interviews that will help them envision a successful future at your school. Spotlight programs and activities, showing off the fun side where possible. Keep the hype going for three months.

Engaging students on social media is something we hope you’re already doing. If not, it’s essential this year.

#2: Create Social Media Ad Campaigns Targeted At New Students

This is definitely the year where you want to reach out through every channel possible. For those students who don’t follow your school’s social media channels, you can still stay present in their minds using social media and display advertising. On Facebook and Instagram, you can use student email addresses to create a custom audience. These hyper-targeted audiences allow you to tailor your ad messaging to specific barriers or pain points that might lead to attrition.

Don’t let students wrestle with difficult decisions alone; use advertising to let them know that support is available. You should meet all their doubts and concerns head-on.

• Don’t know how to fill out FAFSA and other forms? We can help.
• Are you worried about transitioning to campus life? Here are our resources for new student initiation.
• Have questions about enrollment, tuition, housing, or pandemic safety? Here’s our hotline.
• Still feeling uneasy about taking this big step? Our student ambassadors know just how you feel!

The common thread we’re going to be emphasizing this year is “support.” Student attrition happens in the first place because students are frustrated with the challenges facing them and feel like there’s nowhere to turn. Do everything you can to make committing to college feel like the path of least resistance.

#3: Partner Students With Mentors

As we mentioned above with student ambassadors, this is the year to push the hardest, keeping all hands on board. You can never have too much one-on-one support. Marshall all the forces you have from ambassadors, tutors, mentors, and counselors to evangelize your campus.

We’re not indulging in hyperbole with the word “evangelize,” either. Forbes will tell you all about “brand evangelists,” the super-fans of a brand that will market it most enthusiastically. Take a page from that article and copy it to your mentor program. Your student mentors can likewise:

• Inspire them: Be a role model and show prospective students what’s possible at your school.
• Support others with their knowledge: Teach and instruct students on how to succeed at school.
• Be genuine and personal: Use grassroots tactics to motivate students to persist in their education plans.

For example, students might express being discouraged because of all the trouble going on in the world right now. A mentor can counter that with the old saying, “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.” The events of a pandemic, a flailing economy, and various other natural disasters point to the greater need for graduated professionals. Inspire them to be the change the world needs.

In a difficult situation, the most significant difference between somebody who pushes through and somebody who gives up is confidence. Many students quit over the summer because of their fear of failure. Have your mentors switch those students into the mindset of “with this wind at my back, I can’t fail!”

#4: Address Common Barriers to Continuing Education

Your content marketing, meanwhile, should also focus on overcoming resistance to continuing education. You have to consider elements such as the fact that first-generation college students may not have the support at home to launch their educational careers. Let’s be frank; some kids have less of a home than others. They may need help navigating the transition to college life, applying for FAFSA, or finding housing.

Reach out with an empathetic message to underprivileged students. Create content that alleviates their concerns. Via university blogs, YouTube channels, and other media, you can create a workshop environment where students can find support to walk them through the steps of negotiating college sign-up and orientation.

#5: Use SMS and Chatbots – They Work!

It’s hard for adults past a certain age to appreciate how well students respond to automated prompting. We older folk might consider text messages and scripted chatbots to be trivial, something we dismiss.

For the younger generation, even automated messages serve as motivating prompts. They have already gotten used to relying on Google to find information for them, Wikipedia for deep learning of topics, and peers on social media for mutual support. Reminders to complete a goal becomes just one more convenient service to them. Research has shown that 86% of today’s students report that text messages prompted them to tackle a task.

A similar effect can be found in the concept of “gamification,” which is the application of video game concepts to a non-game context. It may sound silly, but applying a score and achievements to mundane tasks helps students finish the tasks. Logically, we know that we don’t get three points per folded shirt when putting away the laundry. But psychologically, the human brain is hardwired to respond to any validation, even the artificial kind.

So… Our SMS and chatroom robots can be the motivating avatar in a student’s life:

• Send reminders about approaching deadlines
• Augment email communication with short prompts
• Use chatbots for 2-way communication, allowing them to respond to queries
• Provide phone numbers and links where students can reach out for more assistance

Remember not to use SMS and chatbots for trivial messages or irrelevant content. Focus on helping them navigate the most significant hurdles and give them just enough nudges to stay on the right path.

#6: Reach Out With Other Automated Marketing

Email marketing is another crucial channel you can use to anchor students to the back-to-school mindset. This is a separate channel from SMS; text messaging is for brief prompts and essential reminders. Reserve email for more engaged communication.

Modern email marketing automation software can be scripted in advance, personalizing the emails to address students by name and track their individual progress on their commitment. We’ve all gotten these from various services we’re signed up for, be it online shopping or whichever service we use to file taxes.

Use the script to keep students informed of their next steps in the process. It can also be a marketing channel of an introductory nature.

• have a “meet the professors” email with thumbnail bios
• offer a student orientation package
• share testimonials from alumni
• send program information and schedules
• share links to tutorials for submitting financial aid forms
• Preview new campus features and attractions

Whenever a student does complete a milestone in the enrollment process, follow up with that congratulatory email and offer to show them the next step. Keep that momentum going.

#7: Build An Enrollment App

Everybody and everything these days has an app. Building a custom app is a considerable undertaking, but picture the benefits. An app is an ultimate anchor in the student’s life. They install the app on their phone. You can ignore a text message, but you have to uninstall an app.

Your app can have:

• a checklist and schedule for completing enrollment steps
• prompts for admissions deadlines and financial aid submissions
• student housing information and points of contact
• menus for class and course selection
• invitations to student orientation events
• support chats with an enrollment counselor

You can draw inspiration from “Mission: Admission,” a digital college enrollment simulator developed by USC Pullias Center for Higher Education’s Digital Equity in Education team in partnership with USC’s Game Innovation Lab. Once again, it’s a way to psychologically appeal to students native to the video game mentality. Higher education is foreign turf to a young student, but couching it in terms of digital breakpoints and achievements brings it into a familiar headspace for them.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this gives you a few ideas on how to keep students engaged this summer. Looking back over the above plan, the one important factor we want to come back to is “support.” Make everything as easy as possible for the student. Be ready with an answer to every “what if” concern. Offer the students your dear sweet time through every resource you have. We’ll see if that summer melt doesn’t turn into a freeze!

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