Typically, colleges start sending acceptance letters out in March. Students have until May 1st, otherwise known as National College Decision Day, to figure out where they will be spending the next four years of their life. It’s a big step that isn’t taken lightly. As a representative of higher-ed recruitment, you need to make the moments leading up to their decision count. Let’s check out some of the college recruitment strategies that your school can adopt to capture the attention of students.
Share how your campus is unique.
For a student to decide to attend your college, they need to feel as though you are offering them something that no one else is. Just like businesses do, schools have unique selling propositions (USP). Demonstrating your USP is a proactive way to show your value. Having a well-prompted USP is exactly what your college needs in order to maintain strong admissions. To define your USP, think outside of the box about what makes your tangible and intangible offerings so special. It could be your top-tier engineering program or how the campus has been established for hundreds of years. If you decide to include custom 3D pop up cards in your college recruitment strategy, you can make your USP clear in the message and help the student imagine themselves benefiting from your campus culture. Plus, their parents will be more excited to pay for them to go there when they know what life on campus is like.
Take a look at our custom 3D pop up card for Syracuse University’s College of Visual & Performing Arts!
Syracuse College of Visual & Performing Arts Director of the School of Design, Dr. Emily Stokes-Reeves, and Associate Director and coordinator of the freshman program, Dr. Zeke Leonard, with the Awesome 3D Card of the Design Building.
Be interactive on social media.
Are you looking for a way to reach new students and their friends? Expand your school’s recognition by posting about your achievements and campus features on social media. Essentially, you will be making your USP all the more apparent. For instance, The University of Texas at Austin regularly posts about the UT Tower on Instagram. Because all students—and Austinites, for that matter—will recognize this image, showing it off at all hours of the day, whether it’s lit up or not, is meaningful. Another way to engage on social media is through sharing student stories. Celebrating the people who attend classes at your campus will inspire prospective students to experience their own academic successes with you.
Embrace brand ambassadors on your campus.
Students spend their time at college studying and socializing. They join organizations that give them some leverage in their professional resumes. Some grow to be loyal advocates that proudly carry college marketing on their backs. When students take the time to partner with the school to talk about its USP, they become brand ambassadors. Student organization leadership teams can be especially helpful in this regard considering they are already running booths at fairs, taking over social media accounts, and being a presence at events. They are a key part of your incentivizing. When you have someone who knows the campus lifestyle best working alongside you, brand awareness and loyalty are increased among prospective students who put their trust in someone like them.
Simplify your college application process.
Back in 1975, the Common Application was born. More than 900 schools use it today, with some even located outside of the United States. Creating an account is easy, and students are able to send a single application and essay out to multiple other schools. If your college is already a member of the Common Application, students will appreciate the amount of time that they save. It will allow them to prioritize other things, such as learning more about your campus. For those that aren’t taking part in the Common Application, ask for feedback about what you can do better with your process. What will be the best course of action for your next class of students? Is your school falling behind other competition in higher education because of ease and accessibility?
College student photo by Javier Trueba on Unsplash
Optimize your school’s website presence.
There are thousands of colleges across the U.S., so you need to provide a good first impression when students inevitably wind up on your website. This means giving them a great user experience, no matter what device they are on. It also means curating your content to make it valuable for the visitor. Having an easy-to-use navigation menu to guide them through this content will have them going to exactly the right place they need to be every time. For example, if they are planning on majoring in liberal arts, a few simple clicks should guide them there. And all of the content should be relevant to liberal arts, specifically. Wherever a student or parent is on your school’s site, it should be evident that it is a reputable institution.
Pro Tip: Don’t limit yourself to digital presence alone. Physical collateral in the mail is an incredibly impactful complement to your website. Plus, an Awesome 3D Card can include your unique web address and QR code to lead to more information and application forms.
Host live events to get students excited.
Take care to bring value to your prospective students offline, as well. Consider doing so through the adoption of marketing strategies for fundraising events and entertainment events. Recruiters need to prepare materials to announce these special occasions and host them. Custom 3D pop up cards are the right choice for this; they are excellent for invitations and outreach. They are high return-on-investment tools that are sure to be remembered, on account of their eye-catching designs with a unique experiential element. When planning for an event, you need to generate as much buzz as possible amongst the potential participants. For this reason, give your 3D cards out to prospective students, current students, and faculty members.
Send personalized custom 3D pop up cards to prospective students.
You want to be a cut above the rest from competing colleges. What better way to capture a student’s attention than right from their mailbox? When you let them know that they have been accepted to your school, do so in an interesting way with custom 3D pop up cards. This does so much more to form a connection than a flat piece of paper. And you want to have that connection because, otherwise, one of those competing colleges will swoop in and take them away to the campus that showed them more attention. Early relationship building with students will help with their success, as those who feel comfortable in that academic environment will stay for longer and perform better. Their parents will also be delighted that you went the extra mile.
Awesome 3D Cards is ready to take your educational institution to the next level. We can construct an amazing replica of any of the notable buildings on your campus. When your card is received, students will be surprised by the representation and impressed with the amount of detail that went into it. Contact us to start designing your school’s custom 3D pop up cards. Our goal is to provide you with the opportunity for fostering positive emotional connections with your future student body.