Making Your Higher Ed Marketing Resolutions

A new calendar year and a new academic semester provide a natural time to step back and evaluate, dream and strategize. For higher ed marketing teams, you may be in that “calm before the storm” even as you read this. Maybe you’re on the team planning retreat you look forward to each year or semester. Or maybe all of your grand ideas that you’d “get to in January” are already crumbling under the weight of the coming semester or an unexpected PR crisis demanding your attention. 

Wherever you fall, we invite you to take just the few minutes it takes to read this article and choose one or two or three big ideas for your team to tackle this semester. Think above and beyond your day-to-day responsibilities of telling your institution’s story. Call these big ideas your new year’s resolutions or your strategic priorities or your pie in the sky—whatever floats your boat. But choose some. Goals that aren’t set are rarely achieved, after all. 

One way to tackle this goal-setting challenge is to set a target in each of three categories: think practical, think relevant, and think big.

Think practical:
What enduring higher ed marketing best practices need work at your institution?

Have you been dragging your feet to think mobile-first for your website? Or to build that truly personalized email marketing campaign? After all, you have more urgent needs clawing at your team, like ongoing social media content or digital ad campaigns targeting your next incoming class. This semester, choose one of those big pieces you’ve yet to get around to and get started—or get polishing!

For several years now, research* has confirmed that Americans access the web via a mobile device at increasing frequency—especially Gen Z. They are not only the first truly digital native generation, but they could even be called mobile-reliant. On top of that, they expect their online experiences to be personalized.

Even with the many apps and platforms available to them, our prospective students still rely on college websites and emails to gather information for the life-changing choice of where to enroll. Yes, creative content on TikTok, Snapchat, or any other app-of-the-moment can draw their attention, but the value of an authentic and informative —and personalized—web and email marketing plan endures.

*from sources such as Pew Research Center, Hubspot, Ruffalo Noel Levitz

Think relevant:
What 2024 higher education marketing trends should we leverage?

Maybe the inevitable discussion around marketing trends for 2024 makes you roll your eyes. Or maybe it invigorates your creativity to think about new ways to stay relevant in the marketplace. Regardless, it’s true that marketing and trends both evolve incredibly quickly. It’s the blessing and curse of higher ed marketers to stay on top of the movements of both. The critical—and difficult—next step is to discern how your institution fits in to the latest trend.

Use your institution’s mission and strategic plan, target audiences, and current marketing strategy to filter out trends that don’t align with your current needs. If you’re unable to clearly see the connection between your university’s brand and a current trend, your audience likely won’t either. But don’t be afraid to take a tangential connection and tailor it into something that fits your situation. Sometimes those creative risks receive the strongest responses.

One online development we think has strong potential for higher ed marketers is micro-learning, which also has been identified as a trend to watch from a pedagogical perspective. Gen Z audiences already love short-form video. Colleges are already centers for learning full of experts in dozens of fields. This trend could be an excellent vehicle for elevating your academic assets in a way that connects with key audiences in a new way.

Thought leadership is likely a strategy you already use to enhance the reputation of the university as well as professors or administrators; micro-learning puts a new spin on this, with lots of creative tactics to explore.

Think big:
What big picture elements of your brand aren’t as clear as you’d like?

Sometimes it’s the most important things that you never seem to get around to. Take time this semester to begin building out what can become foundational marketing and communications tools for you and your team.

Get those brand standards solidified. Create a storytelling architecture that explains who you are as an institution. Flesh out those audience personas that only live fuzzily in your head. Or maybe talking points for faculty and staff members would be a boon to your recruitment team. Think about what would make the biggest impact and sketch out a plan to begin taking baby steps, even if you can’t knock out a full project.

To make space for this or other projects, also take this time to think about how you can adjust other assignments that take over your or your team’s to-do list. Can anything be scrapped or shifted in a way that won’t be a detriment to your core responsibilities? It’s a great time of year to Marie Kondo more than just your closet, after all.

As marketers, there are always more worthy projects than you have capacity for. Make this the year you prioritize a big need with less obvious and immediate ROI, but one that can truly transform your next recruitment cycle.