Whilst much of my career has been on the sales side of student marketing, I played an integral role in building annual marketing plans for PBSA operators, enabling them to connect with the right students at the right time.
Regardless of how long you’ve been creating marketing strategies, it’s fair to say it is not an easy task, with so many moving parts and teams often juggling multiple products and markets.
The best higher education marketing strategies are built with a strong plan, enabling you to define your goals, identify your target market, understand your competition, use buyer personas and share internally to work seamlessly together.
Key considerations:
None of the above work in isolation so, as marketers, there is a lot of pressure to get every component right. We are very fortunate to have a clearly defined market of UK HE students - of course there are many segments to drill into to be effective.
A good campaign is an essential aspect of achieving your goals but distribution channels are just as important if not more – if your content isn’t reaching the right people, then you're not going to deliver your objectives.
We have more channels at our disposal than ever before, but one of the biggest debates we have is the value of offline vs. online marketing, which each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Offline marketing is highly effective for building trust and establishing a presence in the market.
For example, events are an excellent platform that enable you to build new connections and nurture existing relationships. That being said, there are also drawbacks:
Online marketing, on the other hand, can be highly effective for reaching a larger volume audience with lower costs, offering greater value for money. Other benefits include real-time reporting, as well as the ability to personalise content and create micro-segmentation to ensure you’re addressing individual buyer personas’ individual needs.
The main drawback to this strategy is that establishing trust is more challenging, yet even more essential. Online fraud is so prevalent that we have naturally become less trusting of online content, and students are no exception. A strong digital footprint is essential for giving your content consumers assurances that you are trustworthy, so don’t ignore brand awareness and reputation management when planning your marketing.
As consumers ourselves, we often read reviews before making a purchase and it is highly likely that students will do the same as they assess your organisation / products & services.
We are the only review-led decision making platform for students in higher education. We are privileged to provide a safe space for students to research all of their options with verified student experience front and centre of their decision making. In addition, this enables us to act as a bridge for universities and accommodation providers wanting to build trust and demonstrate positive student experience.
Additionally, we recognise the importance of social proofing, so we also facilitate review integration for our customers.
It’s clear that both offline and online marketing channels have their pros and cons, so how do we strike a balance? Budget will likely be a big factor in deciding the ratio but always take it back to your core objectives.
Digital Marketing strategies are better value for money, less strain on resources, and usually return more leads.
But offline marketing, particularly that which involves a physical presence (e.g. events), can often have more impact and build more trust. Whether a university, accommodation provider or any other type of business, even with fantastic digital marketing, your consumers are going to trust you most once they've met you face-to-face.
Whilst much of this generation of students are digital natives, doing much of their research online, UCAS applicant survey results show that the second most important resource for students are university open days, demonstrating that the appetite for face-to-face marketing in the HE world is still strong.
Online reviews by other students is the third most important resource for student decision-making so striking a balance between in-person and online is essential if you are to capture your entire target market.
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