Enrollment – Full-Funnel Strategies

yard signs outperform billboard advertising Often, the best ideas aren’t about spending more. They’re about spending smarter. That’s especially true when it comes to student recruitment. Colleges often ask us how to get their name in front of prospective students and families in a more effective way.  Many institutions invest heavily into billboards, and while they may offer high visibility, they also come with high costs, limited targeting, and short lifespans.  Our take is simple. Invest in a yard sign campaign.   Yard signs do exactly what billboards can’t. They generate

Parent engagement in college admissions I just lived the experience of being a parent through the college recruitment process. With our company’s collegiate focus, my antenna was up as I paid attention to communication to my son and my wife and me. I have a few takeaways that I wanted to share for colleges to consider as they plan for the next cycle.  For context, my son applied to four colleges and we visited all of them his junior year. Since none of them were local, we did not attend

College Recruitment Branded Merch Slate Integration Over the past few years we have been growing our capabilities with integrating branded merch within Slate. One key focus area has been how to make it easy for colleges to create the custom queries. Since this may be new for colleges to create queries to send mailing lists to an SFTP, we wanted to provide guidance. Through a strategic collaboration with Magellan Promotions and RHB, a higher ed consultancy, we have made exciting progress!   Magellan Promotions now has a Slate Integration Portal. This

When incoming students commit to a college, from a marketing perspective, this presents an amazing opportunity to take advantage of their pride and excitement.   Let me explain.   With increasing competition in higher education, colleges invest heavily in marketing. Billboards, digital ads, print pieces, and more, create awareness but often lack personal connection. Why Personal Connections Matter Society’s trust in authentic endorsements are coveted. We are more skeptical of ads than ever before. People trust influencers, peers and authentic reviews.  Thus when awareness campaigns are combined with personal and authentic recommendations,

College enrollment promo success With the pressures to build a freshman class, the strategies to influence and create excitement with prospective students is imperative. This requires constant adaptations to your engagement practices. Two keystone moments of the recruitment process are when students are admitted into college and when they make their final decision. These moments are truly special for students because they have been working towards them for years. Colleges need to make sure they’re appropriately amplifying the excitement for maximum impact.  Currently I am getting personal experience with this.

Strategic Use of T-Shirts in Admissions Today I want to challenge the practice of giving t-shirts to all prospective students who take a college tour. The reason is I believe there is a better timing in the enrollment cycle for using the power of a t-shirt. Let me explain.     First, I get why colleges do this. Receiving a t-shirt is popular. Our research verified this: 93% of students who received a t-shirt during the recruitment process wore it.   Colleges want to make impactful impressions for tour visitors. They know if