Month: April 2021

How to evolve your target personas in higher education post COVID

Randy Micheletti
VP, Director of Brand Strategy

How to evolve your target personas in higher education post COVID

Education

As most of you know, your target personas should be a living document. Because society experiences shifts in attitudes and external factors, these personas should change as frequently as necessary to ensure accuracy. Markets can change quickly, and effective marketing must evolve with it. Many industries have experienced a dramatic shift in response to the past year, but perhaps none as much as higher education. 

As higher ed marketers continue to battle for students, especially after the COVID pandemic, now is the time to take a look at your personas and realize what COVID has changed in the mind of your students. It seems all but certain that the way they look at the world and their criteria for choosing their college education has changed. What are their motivators now? What are their pain points? Here’s a few ideas to help when taking a fresh look at your student personas.

Where Is the Line Between Online and Traditional Learning? 

If you haven’t done it already, we’d recommend developing personas for both online and offline/traditional students. Many students who adopted online learning because of COVID will continue down that path, but there will always be the need for offline/traditional student personas. Each of these two students’ personas have different motivators in their higher education experience. Online students are looking for a convenient way to earn their degree without disrupting their current lifestyle or career, while offline/traditional students evaluate campus life, college experiences, etc. as part of their selection process. As you can see, your message and approach to each will be completely different.

It’s Time to Rethink the Enrollment Journey

With the immediate future a bit unknown, students are still deciding on their best approach to higher ed. Still, many students are progressing towards applying for college selection, but the typical enrollment journey is most likely different. Our recommendation would be to review your persona’s enrollment journey and draft additional personas that account for changes in your audience, e.g. short-term vs long-term leads. 

The “Typical” Student Is Anything But 

More than ever, there is no such thing as a “typical” student persona because COVID has changed what that student looks like. With the loss of jobs and livelihoods during COVID, it’s possible that your students might become older since many people will be starting over or trying out new careers. Additionally, younger students might be looking for more online classes than they had previously. Either way, you need to develop new student personas.

Financial Concerns Will Become More Common

With so many temporary or permanent layoffs that will hinder the ability for many students to attend college, financial concerns will become a much more important consideration for a large number of students. This barrier to entry should be taken into consideration immediately across all personas.

New Safety Concerns Must Be Addressed

Last, but certainly not least, is the safety of all students. Will your students expect smaller classes? Redesigned classrooms that include social distancing? Sanitary processes to help with the spread of COVID? You better believe these are top of mind with possible students. It is very important to convey to students all the measures that you’re taking to protect them so they can continue their learning in a safe environment.

At Geile/Leon, we understand how to write the most effective personas across many different categories. If you’re in need of assistance updating your student personas, we’d love to assist. If you’d like to talk or see samples of our personas, please reach out. We can help.

Reference: Higher Education Marketing – “What will your student personas look like after COVID-19?”, May 2020

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Remote Learning Presents Unique Challenges for Technical Schools

Geile/Leon Marketing Communications

Remote Learning Presents Unique Challenges for Technical Schools

Education

A Wall Street Journal article and accompanying podcast recently addressed several formidable obstacles faced by technical schools during the pandemic. Like other educational institutions, these schools had to quickly pivot from in-person to remote learning.

To an even greater extent than traditional schools, the tech schools rely on in-person instruction. When Covid-19 shut down their campuses, their students had access to their computers at home but not the state-of-the-art equipment that enabled them to be tested in real-world applications like welding and electrical wiring. Teachers had to learn new technologies for their virtual instruction, but also had to devise innovative methods to keep the students engaged and on track to pass certifications that tested hands-on skills.

An administrator at a leading technical college-related that Zoom and TEAMS worked reasonably well for general ed classes. A welding instructor at a local St. Louis technical high school described in addition to learning how to use Google classroom, Zoom, and welding software, he created Go Pro videos for his instruction. He discovered students did better watching welding videos and answering questions from the video versus just reading a chapter and answering review questions.

Throughout the pandemic, technical school administrators and teachers worked together and found ways to improvise their learning and succeed. We salute their dedication to preparing students with skills and certifications in so many high-demand fields such as manufacturing, automotive, welding, cybersecurity, and a variety of STEM areas.

While video will never replace the rich experience of engaging with a teacher face-to-face, vocational high schools and colleges are now thinking about how it can be used in new ways in the future. We have known for some time that video is a formidable marketing tool, but now we are seeing its increasing role as a study resource. Video content will continue to be a powerful connection for your internal and external audiences. If you would like some insights about the most effective and economical ways to integrate video into your practices, give G/L a call. With an in-depth storyboarding and scripting pre-production process, we efficiently shoot and edit compelling videos, as well as video animations

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Digital Strategies for Any Higher Education Institution During a Pandemic

Melissa Ross
Digital Content Producer

Digital Strategies for Any Higher Education Institution During a Pandemic

Advertising

While there are countless industries that have struggled since the beginning of the pandemic, one industry that’s facing major challenges and seismic changes is higher education. These institutions have been forced to completely rethink how they’re marketing to potential and current students. Whether it’s navigating new COVID restrictions, rolling out virtual learning, dealing with students opting out of college all together and decreased marketing budgets, they are struggling to connect with their end users. 

Here at G/L, we work with higher education clients who are faced with all of these challenges.  Based on our experience, we’ve gathered some strategies that we believe should be incorporated into any higher education marketing strategy. And guess what? They’re all techniques within the digital space…and they don’t cost a fortune.

First and foremost, any marketing strategy, especially that within a higher education space, needs to be reaching the right audiences (Gen Z and millennials mostly) where they’re already at — on their phones and online. And the best part is that digital marketing, especially social media marketing, is one of the most budget-friendly options out there. But before you start worrying about your advertising budget, this first recommendation will only cost your higher education institution time and effort. 

Audit your digital experience 

Take time out to evaluate every aspect of your digital presence. Start with auditing your online programs, your class registration process and your payment tools. Make sure that these processes and experiences are simple and easy to use for all involved. Next, make sure that your website is easy to navigate via mobile devices. According to Statcounter Global Stats,  54.25 percent of people worldwide are using their mobile devices to access the internet. Without a mobile optimization, your website is only accessible to less than half of the population. 

Lastly, incorporate customized experiences into your strategy. Not only is this a trend in the digital space, but it’s expected from higher education institutions by prospective students. Whether that’s creating custom landing pages for your different student personas (ie. international, first-years, etc.), utilizing a personalized student portal or employing personalized digital ad and/or email campaigns, these digital tools will build trust between your brand and your audience.

Don’t skimp on your social media

Since the onset of COVID-19, social media usage worldwide is up by 44 percent, and 40 percent of consumers are spending longer on social media sites due to a lack of in-person connection. Not only are your prospective students on social media, but it’s also one of the most budget-friendly marketing tools to use. However, with varying platforms and strategies, it’s hard to know what tactics a higher education institution should take. Here’s what we would suggest:

Utilize chat bots

This is another great way to bring that personalized touch to your brand without a lot of labor. The pandemic has restricted in-person appointments, however you can still have those personalized conversations answer questions and concerns by using chatbots. Using this streamlined method can also help your prospective students through the enrollment and application process. Try chatbots with LinkedIn Conversation ads and FB Messaging ads. Check out how we did this for our client, Lindenwood University here.

Utilize TikTok + Instagram Reels

Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has rapidly grown to be the seventh-largest social media platform. As of 2020, 62 percent of users are between the ages of 10-29 and nine out of ten of these users open the app multiple times a day. On Instagram, there’s a reported 1 billion monthly active users as of 2020, 70 percent of whom are under the age of 35. Overall, 29 percent of teens say TikTok is their preferred social platform, and for Instagram it’s 25 percent. All of these statistics say that it’s a no brainer for a higher education institution to have some sort of organic strategy for short-term video across both platforms. At the very least, it would help increase brand awareness, brand recall and new student acquisition. 

Utilize Influencers

Morning Consult reports that “72 percent of Gen Z and Millennials follow influencers, and teenagers are more likely to follow many.” Taking advantage of the reach that well-known alumni, professors, and distinguished students is a great way to reach your audience the way they want to be reached – via those who they seek out daily for information and opinions. 

Increase your video content output

Video is a crucial part in any higher education marketing strategy for the simple fact that your students and prospects can’t visit and experience your campus for themselves. So it’s up to the school to create an immersive experience representing the atmosphere of their campus and curriculum to those students at home in front of their computers/mobile devices. It’s imperative for marketers to make those experiences come to life through video in order to drive prospective students to enroll. Some video content ideas could be:

  1. Campus tour videos (check out our work for Ursuline Academy)
  2. Speakers
  3. Day-in-the-life videos
  4. Meet the professors
  5. Department spotlights

Obviously, every school needs their own strategic, brand-driven marketing solutions that are tailored to their specific goals and brand, which is something we can help with. Let’s chat and see how Geile/Leon Marketing Communications can help your higher education institution build a marketing plan that will get you the most return on investment. 

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