10 Admissions Marketing Goals for 2020

The following efforts often end up at the bottom of your “to-do” list, but they can have a huge impact on your admissions strategy and yield.

1. Update Niche.com, Greatschools.org and Privateschoolreview.com profiles with on-brand messages, photography and video.
   (If you haven’t claimed your profile yet, do so immediately!) You should consider upgrading your profile to have more control over its content and think about asking students and/or families to leave positive reviews. While third-party rankings may seem insignificant in your communications strategy, it’s difficult to argue the importance of review sites among your most critical audiences. These sites often appear as top results in Google searches, and annual studies prove that consumer reviews are important to prospective families.

2. Take a fresh look at your admissions tour.
   What aren’t you showing that should be highlighted? Which classrooms and faculty best represent your brand? Are you taking the visitors through outdated facilities? Think carefully about your tour route and the impressions it’s making about your school. More importantly, make sure tour guides are doing more than sharing facts and figures. This is your chance to reinforce “why” prospects should enroll at your school.

3. Schedule a professional photographer to capture the “one” thing that should shine in your viewbook, but never does.
   Maybe it’s an athletic tradition, a student-run TedX event or a new program that could make a big difference for prospective families—if it could be captured in photography and promoted properly in the fall. When you update and reprint your admissions brochures this summer, be ready.

4. Improve your inquiry response.
   Prospective audiences have inquired and they are interacting with your brand. Great! But your inquiry submission webpage and your confirmation email should be carefully crafted to further engage prospects. Consider adding a feature video, a current parent’s contact information or links to alumni stories (outcomes!).

5. Create and implement newly enrolled and declined parent/student surveys.
   Base your annual decisions and strategies on real data. Surveying families can guide changes to communication strategies and help you prioritize messaging.

6. Align faculty and staff communications with the school’s brand standards.
   This can be as simple as ensuring event presentations or handouts follow your school’s design guidelines. Or, it could be a lot more. Show faculty and staff how their contributions to your program align with your institution’s relevance in the market, and equip them with the language and visual assets that will build a clear understanding of why your school is important.

7. Develop or update “quick facts” for parent ambassadors.
   Giving current community members the tools to communicate the strengths of your school is essential to your word-of-mouth marketing. Parents should have the latest FAQs and their correct answers to share. These audiences also need the facts behind any significant institutional changes and your school’s strategic priorities. And make sure they’re armed with impressive faculty, student and alumni stories.

8. Implement a series of admissions marketing emails for a “drip” campaign.
   Far too frequently, our “secret shop” activities reveal that schools fail to stay “front of mind” with their inquiry pool. Before admissions season starts (not that it ever ends), map out three or four monthly emails to send to inquiries. Include exciting institutional news that communicates your brand strengths, and always provide additional ways for these audiences to connect with your school like athletic and performing arts events.

9. Look for every opportunity to be personable.
   Are small class sizes a brand attribute of your school? What about one-on-one interaction with faculty? Or a close-knit community? If they are, you should be reaffirming those attributes at every opportunity for engagement. Try handwriting an address on important correspondence rather than printing it on a label or envelope. Greet visitors at the school’s entrance rather than directing them to your office. By all means, use technology to build efficiency in your processes, but never allow it to be used at the expense of being personal with your prospects.

10. Tell your school’s story during summer camp.
    When your summer camp parents drop off their children, do they have an opportunity to learn about your school? Will they see banners announcing exciting new facilities and programs to benefit their children? Are there appropriate ways to share former camper/school alumni stories? Are you providing these parents with invitations to meet with school leadership? Summer programs get prospective audiences on your campus. Don’t miss the chance to make your camps work for you.

Every school’s market and needs are different. This list isn’t intended to cover every marketing goal for 2020. At Creosote, we believe your marketing strategies should always be guided by careful market analysis.

But we do hope one or two of these items climb in priority on your to-do list, and make a difference for your school this year.

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Written by Emily Hajjar, Art Director and Brand Strategist at Creosote Affects

Creosote Affects helps schools, colleges and universities nationwide find their brand voice in highly competitive markets. We are a comprehensive branding firm—executing research, strategy and creative.