Student recruitment is an ongoing marathon for administrators. From maintaining and refreshing your school’s brand to deploying marketing efforts and following up on leads, recruitment can be a big challenge. As schools seek to enroll new students for spring of 2022, we offer our insights that we’ve gained from working with education partners over the years.
Recruit Year-Round. Working with education partners, we often find that recruitment is focused for a couple months in the summer and a couple months in the spring. Effective recruitment focuses on recruitment year round with higher marketing spend during “recruitment season.”
Have a refined and cohesive brand. A school’s brand is more than just a logo; the brand tells the story of the school. A brand comprises every experience that people have with a school, from students to parents and potential students. Ensure that the school’s brand is telling potential students and their families the story that you want to convey. Identify the school’s mission and purpose as well as the particular value it offers students. Branding should naturally highlight that value in every touchpoint.
Understand the student’s journey. Recruiters must understand the “buyer’s journey” they’re developing. This journey begins with a potential student’s initial exposure to the school via ads, social media, personal referral, or earned media. By layering tactics, such as digital and print media ads in the same geographic area, The Colibri Collective strategically builds brand recognition. Once a potential student or parent fills out an interest form, school recruiters must be ready to guide their enrollment decision-making process with informative and helpful content. Every step of the process requires cohesive branding and a keen understanding of what makes your school stand out.
Prioritize omnichannel strategy. An omnichannel strategy incorporates all tactics, from digital to print, in-person experiences, and beyond, into one cohesive brand experience for the audience. The experience a potential student has when viewing a digital ad should be complemented by their on-campus experience, for example. Student- and parent-facing staff, including recruitment professionals, front desk staff, and teachers, should all be well-prepared brand ambassadors for a school, armed with knowledge of the brand’s messaging and mission.
Simplify the lead generation process. At The Colibri Collective, we’ve developed a proprietary lead generation platform built on years of experience in school recruitment. We took our understanding of the common frustrations recruiters face and created a tool that smooths out the road bumps in the recruitment process. Our partners now recruit more qualified leads more efficiently than ever before. Your school recruitment process could be due for an update. Reach out to our experts using the contact form below to hear more about our approach.
By keeping these key pieces of advice in mind, recruiters can develop an advanced strategy that attracts and retains more students. If you’re looking for more insights into recruitment from someone with first-hand experience, check out our Voices of Colibri podcast episode, “Education Recruitment in a Pandemic,” where we hear from Cartwright Elementary School District, one of the largest school districts in the state of Arizona.
Resources:
Bauman, K., & Cranney, S. (September 2020). School Enrollment in the United States: 2018. US Census Bureau.