Improving Your School's Enrollment Conversion With Inbound Marketing 

In higher education, digital marketing tends to take a back seat. For decades, sending students a view book and a personalized letter from admissions was enough to get them to visit campus, apply, and become a student.

Unfortunately, that's no longer the case. Thanks to online programs and for-profit institutions, competition for high school students has become fierce. Thanks to the increased choice, the average U.S. student now applies to more than 3 colleges, with sending out as many as 40 applications.

Improving Your School's Social Media Marketing on Instagram

The conversation has been all about Millennials for years. The time has come to shift our focus to Generation Z. Luckily, your education marketing strategies aren't starting from ground zero because many of the same marketing methods apply to Gen Z. However, there are a few significant differences. One of them is that Instagram is to Gen Z what Facebook is to Millennials. Gen Z'ers post updates about their lives, comment on each other's posts and have real conversations on the platform. As a result, Instagram delivers some of the highest engagement rates for higher education institutions.

To reach prospective students, you should be working on creating a strong presence on Instagram with eye-catching posts, social interactions, and creative marketing.

5 Content Lead Magnets That Increase School Enrollment

Higher education marketing has changed drastically over the past few years. The days in which a university could simply send a viewbook to a large list of purchased SAT names are long over. Today, as a large number of institutions are competing for a limited number of potential students, more nuanced strategies are absolutely crucial. 

Enter inbound marketing, a concept that builds itself on providing value rather than promotion. Its methodology, with an emphasis on education, aligns closely with the core mission of educational institutions. That's why colleges and universities across the country have increasingly embraced the concept to attract and convert future students on their way through the enrollment journey.

It's Time Your Students Get Involved

We've truly arrived in the digital age. Today, almost every college and university has a social media presence. And yet, few of them can show actual success in attracting potential students and their parents, while assuring them your school is the right fit.

Need To Increase Student Enrollment?

Here's a sobering statistic: overall student enrollment in higher education has been falling over the past six years, according to the data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Unfortunately, this trend is unlikely to reverse on its own, as researchers believe that the decline is likely to continue in the coming years. As a result, it's more important than ever that you take action now to proactively recruit future students. 

How To Build A Successful Higher Education Lead Generation Strategy 

When building a successful lead generation strategy, an important question to ask is “What result am I aiming for?” Great question! But what do real results mean? It's different for every school however one thing translates across all the higher education institutions we've encountered. A big part of the answer lies with their successful graduates. Successful graduates are the real test of the entire school's ecosystem, and it starts with the marketing efforts and reaching the right future graduates.

So how do you reach those future graduates? Simple. With a higher education lead generation strategy that works. The key to connecting with your prospective students is reaching them when and where they want you to. There are numerous options, be it Google, social channels, through lead generation companies, or traditional media like TV and radio. Maybe your students attend college fairs or school Open Houses. There are many different channels, and each has its strengths. How you use them depends on who your students are .

Three Sales Lessons From The Lions

As a co-founder of a boutique growth agency I realized it was time to scale our business and not only focus on growing other peoples businesses. What a concept! The problem was, I hate to sell. I’ve always been so uncomfortable that when I have to do it, frankly, I suck at it. At least that’s what I thought. My mindset defeated me before I even began. I had to break that trend, so I started looking at Sales Optimization strategies to help get me over the hump.

Is your school growing?

We all love data when evaluating the success of marketing campaigns, website redesigns or the performance of our admissions teams. But are we using it to establish our growth strategies? We should!

When working to increase enrollment in your school, setting executable and attainable goals to drive your strategies is a must. There is nothing wrong with making them difficult, just not impossible. Setting unattainable targets do more damage than good. It deflates the team and likely impacts agendas across the entire operation. So how do we create a successful growth plan?

Below is a quick clip of a workshop we did for the Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator on becoming an Artreprenuer. We cover the basics of establishing your business, finding opportunities and using digital marketing to grow. More to come!

This article by Partner Chris Davie originally appeared in the September 2015 issue of ProSound News and touches on the new Department of Education's "Gainful Employment" regulations and their potential effects on Pro Audio Educators and Students.