Learning Center

The truth is, we didn’t realize at first how working “aged” leads would make such a huge impact for our clients who are trying to grow academic programs. We had a thought that if we combined two established practices, aged lead follow-up and outbound contact strategies, it would redefine the way our higher education Contact Center operates. It wasn't until we saw it in practice that we noticed how significant of a game-changer it was for our partners. By placing the prospective student's experience at the forefront of our strategic proven process, we uncovered a whole new way to drive growth.

Jennifer Goode / CEO of Enrollment Builders

With summer around the corner, it's a great time to get your admissions and marketing offices on track before fall. With so little time to address weaknesses, how do you make progress and still impact your next big recruitment period?  Reviewing and aligning admissions and marketing practices is key given the continued decline in enrollment according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center recent findings. 

Imagine you have called an institution’s admissions office to find out more about their online programs. Who picks up the phone? The admission counselor. This representative is the first and likely most influential person in the selection process because they can make or break the experience. Hiring for this role is sometimes more complex than what it used to be. So, what happens when institutions must recruit for themselves?

Since COVID-19 wreaked havoc on every facet of life, colleges and universities have experienced an enrollment decline of about 1 million students, which is more than 5 percent in a little more than two years.¹ 

Strategic Enrollment Management (or SEM) has never been more critical for institutions that are working to attract the right students, balance academics with the needs of the market, and focus on long-term student success—especially in today’s environment where increasing numbers of students are ditching college altogether. 

In a consumer-oriented society, each of us are bombarded daily with not-so-subtle requests being made of us. Commercials shout at us to contact companies for their services, billboards implore us to rent them with clever ways of articulating their visibility, and online embedded pixels provide ads that remind us of items we explored days and weeks before in hopes that we will reconsider purchasing them.

You and your staff have been working tirelessly to create great content that is relevant, fun, and shows how well your institution matches the needs of the prospective students you are trying to reach.

Yesterday I read a wonderful article by Brad Neathery, founder of the Right Brain Factory, regarding the forethought and actions that should go into the decision to rebrand a company. The article has some very important carryovers that can find relevancy within higher education.

Often times in the recruitment process, we tend to find ourselves becoming overly encumbered with predictive modeling, retargeting pixels, and mass email invitations to upcoming open houses. There is a very human element that sometimes takes a backseat for one very good but unacceptable reason: It’s resource consuming.

When it comes to creating communication plans for the recruitment process an important question you must ask yourself is, “How much is too much?” Sure, the idea of creating such specific, drilled-down emails, letters, and postcards that each student feels as though you created the document specifically for him/her is enticing, but the reality is that having a solid foundation for your communication plan can allow you to divert from these pieces whenever necessary without overburdening yourself or your staff.