9 Marketing Strategies to Increase Student Enrollment

As administrators or marketers in the higher education space you are being asked to increase student enrollment numbers and being measured on that as an outcome. So you may be thinking about ways to make that happen for your college or university. There are a number of ways to approach this but taking the time to research a few of the better ways to make these numbers go up will drastically improve your performance. 

In this article we are going to share 9 marketing strategies to increase student enrollment that have been proven to work, time and time again.

1. Segment Your Enrollment Targets

This is one of those tried and true approaches in marketing, but creating segments that you can speak to more directly will allow you to better connect with these students. Yes it takes a little more work but putting in the time will yield compounding results for your enrollment numbers.

2. Use Images of Your School & Students

Again this one may seem obvious, but sharing images of the campus, students engaging with each other and even showing students enjoying their learning experience from home or remotely at a coffee shop can spark interest and get students excited about enrolling with your school.

3. Share Content On YouTube

Video is a powerful medium and you need to be there. The good thing about YouTube is that it gives you the ability to make short form video content like clips or YouTube shorts, medium length content and long form all on the same platform.

You can direct students here using things like direct mail or catalogs distributed to high schools.

4. Create A Contest

People love games and students are no different. Now you’ll have to do some research in your target student body to best understand what to do as a contest and what the prize should be, but that type of promotion is engaging and will get prospective students talking about you. Maybe creating a student body influencer position or two?

5. Send Out Direct Mail

You should actually send out a lot of direct mail to the students you want enrolling at your college or university. Every study shows how direct mail breaks through the noise of today’s marketing channels and that they actually read it. Incorporating all of your marketing as an integration with direct mail will generate substantial results.

6. Share Interviews of Professors, Students and Staff

Conducting interviews with people who teach at, attend and work at the school can create a connection that goes well beyond just the learning experience. It can tie prospective students to your institution by showing how impactful the school is to all of these different stakeholders. The more meaningful the interview, the more powerful the connection.

7. Capture and Retarget Anonymous Admission Page Visitors

We can resolve and match up to 65% of your admissions website / landing page traffic with our Website Visitor Identity pixel.  We can send you daily updates of matched / resolved visitor traffic to retarget or additionally market to your visitors of why your school is their best choice.

8. Distribute Catalogs or Magazines to High Schools

Target the areas you are wanting to generate higher student enrollment from and send those specific high schools catalogs that highlight everything from student life, to curriculum, to Alumni success stories. These give students something to read but also generates higher awareness and recall when it comes to enrollment time.

9. Personalize Your Direct Marketing to Students

Personalization is always on the list for top marketing tactics and increasing student enrollment is no different. If you can speak directly to an individual student on a printed card, booklet, catalog or direct mail piece then you have a better chance of connecting with them. Even if your personalization is more macro and focused on specific interests you need to do it because it will intrigue and engage those who the intended student audience it’s meant to be in front of.

We could probably list out 100 more different ways to increase student enrollment, but if you only do 2 or 3 of the different marketing strategies we’ve listed here then you are guaranteed to see a jump in your student enrollment numbers. 

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