HOW TO UNLOCK ORGANIC, VISUAL MARKETING? Your school’s brand is more than just a logo — it’s a collection of images, feelings, and emotions that are often experienced in person or on social media. Unsplash, one of the largest databases of free images (larger than Getty, Shutterstock, and Adobe Stock combined), allows brands to submit organic photos that can be used by the general public, but in turn generate organic traffic and free brand-building (there are also paid advertising options). Some brands who have uploaded their own free, organic photos to Unsplash have seen upwards of 13 million views of their image. That’s 13 million, free visual impressions that could go into the brand/perception building of your school.
Why you should care: A few professional campus images or even quality photos of your school, student life, or facilities taken on your iPhone could all be used to build your brand via Unsplash. The key? Find images that capture the essence of your school’s brand (perhaps research lab photos or ones that highlight your urban campus) that are also high quality enough that others will want to use them. Just as compelling written content can spread or “trend,” the goal here is for images to disperse organically while having those hints of your brand sprinkled in.
LEAD QUALIFICATION WITH LINKEDIN: How many times have you had a prospective student book a meeting with you only to result in a no-show? Or, how often have you captured a new inquiry who doesn’t end up opening a single email in your communication flow? While generating new leads is essential, enrollment teams still deal with plenty of unqualified leads or lead waste.LinkedIn’s new case study on The College of William and Mary showed how the school used personalized LinkedIn Message Ads to qualify leads to separate the “hot” inquiries from the cold ones.
Why you should care: The ability to separate the great leads from the soon-to-be no-shows can save enrollment marketers’ time, money and effort. LinkedIn Message ads aren’t the only way to filter inquiries into these two buckets. Conversational ads and chatbots are two more options to qualify leads and gain insight into where you can best allocate resources.
10 MARKETING STRATEGIES TO REACH COLLEGE STUDENTS: Reduced Spotify Premium pricing for college students and MacBook discounts for new college students are just some of the 10 strategies WordStream identifies that non-higher-ed brands are employing to reach the college student audience. Brands realize that marketing to college students early on can result in loyal, lifelong customers. Which begs the question, why aren’t schools (specifically graduate schools) partnering with these brands to reach current undergrads to create the same lifelong brand affinity?
Why you should care: Targeted promotions for college students, run in unison with brands that closely align with your program’s focus area, could create positive brand recognition among those students. What if an MS in Finance program partnered with Robinhood to give current juniors and seniors in a related undergrad program at the school $20 in investment cash? Creating that same loyalty could drive them to consider your program or a certificate option, and could even lead to alumni donations to your school well after their undergrad years.