While the traditional transfer student moves from a two-year university to a four-year institution, “reverse transfer” students are leaving four-year universities to attend community colleges. According to a recent article in Inside Higher Education, “reverse transfers” may be an overlooked growing student population. As cited in the article, according to the American Association of Community Colleges, about a third of all two-year students attended a four-year institution prior.
As tuition continues to increase and the recession goes on, many students are returning to the less expensive two-year option closer to home. Many community colleges see this as an excellent opportunity to market to this often overlooked segment. Remember, when a student decides to leave a four-year program, they have a number of choices as to where they will continue their education including online programs, community colleges and vocational/technical schools. This is the time to create that differentiating message about your institution.
The key marketing message to this audience should not only be about affordability (because everyone in your category can claim that), but also about the personal and more engaging learning environment (with smaller classes, etc.). What sets you apart? Why are you the best choice for a “reverse transfer” student? What services do you have in place that will cater to their learning needs? How flexible are your course schedules? Can you make the complicated process of transferring credits easier? Asking a few simple questions can help you determine where you may need to “fill in the gaps” to capture the attention of this fast-growing population of students.
Have you been tasked with a branding project at your school, college or university, but have been given a shoestring budget (no money to bring in a branding agency-wink-wink like www.educationbranding.com)? No worries.
Here are some guidelines to get you started. These steps were pulled from the wonderful book by Duane E. Knapp, The Brandmindset™. I highly recommend you read this book before starting any branding project!
Step 1: Brand Assessment
How is the brand perceived today?
Gain an understanding of where we are and where we want to go.
- Review current communications
- Look at competitive brand positions
- Discuss industry trends and impact on brand
- Review current marketing activities
- Analyze current business environment
- Answer “brand principles” questions
Step 2: Brand Promise
What does our brand stand for?
Create and communicate a long-term value proposition.
- What is our unique selling proposition (our differentiator)?
- What business are we really in?
- What is superior about the value we offer our customers?
Step 3: The Brand Blueprint
How will we communicate the brand?
Create the architectural building blocks for the brand’s communications.
- Graphic representation & visuals
- Tagline (positioning statement)
- Brand story and messaging
Step 4: Brand Culturalization
Everyone will follow the same written roadmap to ensure a consistent brand experience.
- Brand principles formerly defined (top 5 ideals to live by)
- Brand integration in everyday practices
- Communications/marketing outline
Schools across the country are going green. The only problem is that many students, parents, alumni, and prospective students simply don’t know about it. If you have a plan for sustainability, tell the world about it. I promise that if your plan is genuine, it won’t look like you’re “greenwashing” or even bragging. It’s about sending a responsible message to the community that you are committed to doing the right thing for the environment, and our future. This is an extremely important message to send, especially for those in education.
How can you spread the green message?
- Add a section to your Website that keeps tabs on the progress your organization makes. Consider a green blog to follow the progress. Everyone knows that “going green” and implementing sustainable practices does not happen overnight.
- Add an update to your newsletters/e-newsletters.
- Finally, a useful reason to Twitter!
- Find those green ambassadors—people who are excited about the cause and will enthusiastically tell your story to everyone they know.
- Do something unique and get the local press to cover it.
Recently, I attended a CASE conference in Atlanta for Senior Marketing and Communications Professionals (in higher education). One of the hot topics was the idea that institutions of higher learning should consider reforming their marketing operations to run more like a corporation. To some degree (pardon the pun), I believe there are some distinct areas that could benefit from following corporate tactics.
Here’s how:
- Improve the use of marketing metrics to strategically track results. In my experience on the client/corporate side, the use of metrics was an extremely valuable tool for justifying our marketing budgets and asking for additional funds.
- Think in terms of lead generation. I learned this when I first worked with “for-profit” schools. We set lead generation goals for each advertising campaign (and drilled down to each media outlet). Additionally, we factored in the average CPL (or cost-per-lead) for each acquisition method (online, newspaper, magazine, email, direct mail, etc.). We established what each lead cost, if it converted, if the prospective student enrolled, and finally, if he/she matriculated.
- Manage internal communications more effectively to keep external messages on target. Start with a communications audit and then develop a comprehensive plan with goals, a tactical implementation plan and timeline.
- Stay ahead of the curve (and ahead of the competition). With the higher education market becoming more and more competitive, our role as marketers is to stay on the forefront of “what’s next.” Just look at the social media marketing (SMM) phenomenon. It’s moving faster than most institutions can implement. And while you may grow frustrated when ideas become bogged down, remember, you have to start somewhere.
- You do have customers! Ask yourself “how can we improve ‘customer service’ throughout our institution?” Give them a positive customer experience to blog about.