Marketing higher education can be a little tricky. You want every high school student in your neighborhood to be fully aware of your program and consider your institution as their first choice. This can be done offline by mail.
But at the same time, we want to reach as many high school students as possible, and this cannot be achieved offline. Are you considering email marketing and wondering if email marketing can do both? Geo-targeted email marketing offers a package that combines the best of both worlds.
When you purchase or rent an email marketing list, geotargeting involves targeting your list using postal codes and other demographic details. Geo-targeted email marketing combines two powerful marketing elements: email marketing and specificity.
If you're trying to reach high school students and haven't already incorporated email campaigns into your marketing strategy, you're doing more harm than good. Today's high school students are digital natives, spending an average of eight to nine hours a day on digital devices. Reports show that a significant percentage (98%) of students use their email at least once a week. Additionally, for students planning to pursue higher education, email remains the preferred method of communication between students and universities.
Yes, social media is evolving. Nevertheless, email marketing is as important as ever, and even more so now.
In addition to being easier to carry than other digital devices, mobile phones seem to be attracting more attention. Please consider this. Some students stop reading or working on their laptops to look at notifications on their phones. You've probably done something similar yourself.
Use a content management system (CMS) that supports mobile responsiveness. Therefore, your email campaign is best read on any device, including mobile phones. Otherwise, your conversions may decrease significantly. After all, you can't act on information you don't have.
Branding is an important element that influences any marketing strategy. Brand consistency is especially important in higher education marketing. Students are exposed to different institutions and universities day in and day out.
Strong brands are known to be as visually recognizable as the company name itself. Therefore, when designing an email marketing campaign for higher education marketing, take care to demonstrate your brand identity and image in your campaign.
Emails should reflect your school's brand. Be consistent in:
- Brand voice and tone
- design elements
- Taglines and logos across all engagement platforms.
“seeing is believing”. This saying applies not only to photography, but also to higher education email marketing. Photos and videos can convey more than words in a minimal amount of time. So why not put them to good use in your email campaigns? The 2021 E-Expectations Trends Report also proves that emails with attractive graphics trump text-only options. I am. Average attention spans are continually decreasing, so you need engaging, engaging, and informative graphics to increase your chances of success.
Be intentional when choosing images for your email campaigns. Rather than choosing a generic image that doesn't appeal to a specific group, choose a more targeted image that will resonate with your target audience. Images and graphics emphasize your message and facilitate effective communication.
In marketing, generalizations are rarely the best. The specificity is. Make sure your email list is grouped by demographics and interests. This allows you to send custom messages that are more likely to get a response and increase conversions.
Just as a freshman's interests and needs are different from those of a sophomore or senior, so too are email. Additionally, if your institution has campuses in different locations, don't use the same email to contact high school students in different locations. Utilize geotargeting to create content that is more likely to attract specific demographic groups. High school students living in Alabama are more likely to be interested in colleges in Alabama than students in Arizona, and vice versa.
Time is very important in life. This is even more true in K-12 marketing. Email campaign automation can save you a lot of time. There's no need to create follow-up emails every now and then. All you have to do is drive prospects through your funnel without any hands-on work.
Customize the software to automatically follow up and send frequently requested information. This way, you won't miss out on potential customers and at the same time you'll make the most of your time.
Yes, emails will be sent in bulk. Nevertheless, this is no excuse not to personalize them. Import names, interests, and locations into your email content. That way, it becomes more personalized and suitable for your specific audience.
Email marketing is often integrated with other marketing strategies.
When creating a marketing strategy to reach seniors and K-12 decision makers, we recommend testing bids in up to three different radii. First, consider using 5-mile, 25-mile, and 50-mile radii. This allows you to test different areas and be very strategic with your spending. Make sure the center of the radius is your city center or campus location. This is especially easy to do if you are using Google advertising words for your marketing.
For graduate or professional school:
- Set the bid adjustment ratio to the highest value within all minimum radii.
- For areas with a moderately large radius, set bid adjustments moderately high.
- Set the minimum bid to the largest radius of all radii.
This allows you to further focus on students who are most likely to enroll in your program. This applies equally to sending emails about programs and courses.
Please do not send a uniform message to the whole country. You may want to do this, especially if your school has different campuses in different parts of the country. However, research shows that more than 57% of college freshmen enroll at a college within 80 miles of their home. This accounts for a significant percentage of the audience.
Additionally, approximately 73% of students attend schools within the state. So when creating a marketing strategy to reach potential students, whether using paid search or email marketing, it's best to first check your geographic surroundings. First, make sure to focus your digital spend on reaching everyone in close geographic proximity.
The ultimate goal of any marketing strategy is to achieve optimal results. Geographic targeting increases the likelihood of achieving these results at minimal cost. Efficient geographic targeting can increase enrollment at higher education institutions without going over budget.
