How to round out your personalized marketing plan so that students feel connected with your school and the experience it brings
If you are on track with the ideas from parts one and two of this series, you’re individualizing your marketing strategy for an onsite event. You’re helping potential students understand the industry, environment, and culture that will best suit them. You’re tying all of that information in with the specific programs and careers you have to offer. If you want those students racing to apply at your school, follow through with these final two aspects of individual needs: study strategies and college life.
Yes, the ultimate goal of graduating college is to land a great job, but the conditions have to be right for each student to succeed. Every student is chasing a dream, but the here and now is even more important. If you tie this in with the personality results, you will truly connect with the students.
Study Tips
A lot of students start college without even the most basic skills to succeed, like note taking and marking texts. In fact, this is such a problem that many K-12 schools have initiated a program called AVID – Advancement Via Individual Determination. The AVID program is comprehensive and designed to help students study and learn more successfully. The movement is slowly spreading to colleges around the US.
Whether your school uses AVID strategies or something else, if you engage students with study habits at your event, they will feel like they can actually succeed at your school.
Hosting mock study sessions – with fun materials – is an enjoyable way to replicate the experience your students can expect. You can tie these sessions and tips in with the personality assessments. For example, some students will study better alone, while others will learn more in a group.
Show students how to distribute content and teach each other what they learned. Walk them through the right way to take notes and study them later. Show them how to access resources exclusive to your students.
If your instructors/professors use unique strategies in the classroom, engage the students in these techniques. When students enjoy interacting with each other in a classroom setting, it will spike their enthusiasm to attend class at your school.
College Life
Most students want a social experience at college. Many first year students struggle to fit in. No matter how well they do in classes, a lonely college life can ruin the experience for most. When showcasing student life, utilize the individualized results. Different groups have different social cultures and levels of commitment. While some groups are exclusive to programs, religious affiliations, and cultural backgrounds, many appeal to wider audiences. Split up different activities, events, and clubs based on the color-coding you’re using for the programs. Make the students feel like your school is where they will make lifelong friends.
While it will take some work to orchestrate all of the suggestions in this series, once the initial work is done, future setup will be swift. Again, since this event is designed for individual colleges to have onsite, admissions representatives can promote it when they visit high schools and college fairs. To help personalize the experience for your prospects, check out the educational materials at Vinyl Art. Our flexible and plastic products can be customized with colors, finish, adhesive backing, debossing, and a variety of hardware for closures. For ideas and information, contact 800-569-1304 or sales@vinylart.wpengine.com.
