The Role Counselors Play in the Admissions Funnel
In recent years, the college admission landscape has changed rapidly. This can be attributed to evolving demographics, easy access to information on...
4 min read
Chris Davie
:
Sep 19, 2023 10:25:50 AM
Recruitment can easily become hectic with a marketing funnel as complex as higher education. You have countless channels to manage over a multi-year cycle, all designed to increase enrollment and retain newly enrolled students at your institution.
But in that process, one key demographic remains overlooked. Parents are playing an increasingly vital role in their students' enrollment journeys. They're critical influencers in the decision-making process, helping their children find the right school.
To account for this increasingly important audience, your marketing plan for school enrollment has to include prospective parents as a key audience. Join us for an in-depth exploration of why parent engagement matters, the challenges you might encounter, and how you can better engage parents in your enrollment marketing.
4 Benefits of Involving Parents in Higher Education Enrollment Marketing
The Challenges of an Enrollment Marketing Plan Designed to Engage Parents
4 Strategies to Engage Parents in Your Enrollment Marketing Strategies
Experienced enrollment professionals likely already know that the parents of Gen Z students, which comprises today's high school and middle school population, are more involved in their children's college search than any generation before them. Plenty of research backs that up:
Broader generational research explains why this involvement is so high. Gen X parents to Gen Z students tend to be overprotective, engaging in hyper-parenting while considering themselves a close friend and confidant rather than an authority figure.
Given the high involvement of prospective parents in their students' enrollment journey, involving them directly in your enrollment marketing strategy carries clear benefits. It's not just influencing the influencer, but also in many cases influencing the decision-maker. More specifically, involving parents can carry these four benefits for your recruitment marketing strategy:
Add these benefits to the general involvement of parents, and the reasons for involving them in your marketing plan for school enrollment become clear. As an audience, they matter nearly as much as the students you're looking to recruit.
While the above benefits are clear, marketing to prospective parents is not without challenges. For starters, it requires increased attention and resources in an already hectic environment; after all, you will need unique and dedicated messaging to succeed.
In addition, different priorities can make designing, writing, and creating marketing materials that will touch both audiences more challenging. How, for example, do you treat safety in your viewbook when you know it's among the most important topics for parents but is not of top interest to students?
Finally, parents tend to be more cynical about marketing messaging than their children. It's comparatively easy to sell a prospective student on the fun they'll have while in college. Parents, on the other hand, will demand more substantial messaging that backs up the headlines with truth and facts.
Dedicating at least a portion of your enrollment marketing to parents is highly valuable, but you must navigate the above challenges to ensure its success. These four strategies can help you engage parents as you look to convert students and grow your incoming class.
Engaging parents in your enrollment marketing is becoming increasingly important, but there is no doubt that it also adds to the complexity of your recruitment effort. Fortunately, you don't have to be on your own. In fact, a reliable partner at your side can make all the difference in the success of strategies like the above.
At Sonority Group, we can become that partner for you. Our extensive expertise and experience in higher education, including parent marketing, allow us to be by your side from strategy to execution. Ready to learn more or start the conversation? Let's chat!
In recent years, the college admission landscape has changed rapidly. This can be attributed to evolving demographics, easy access to information on...
Recruitment can easily become hectic with a marketing funnel as complex as higher education. You have countless channels to manage over a multi-year...
At this point, it doesn't come as a surprise that you need strategic enrollment marketing to have the best chance of meeting your institution’s...