According to a 2014 Uversity Report, 97% of students have visited the website of a college they are interested in but nearly 2/3 of those students found that the experience was “just ok” or “challenging.” In addition to have trouble actually accessing the sites, only 4 in 10 students found the information and content on the college’s website to be relevant.

So what are you doing wrong?

1. Your website won’t load on a mobile device

Teenagers are on their smart phones constantly. If they can’t access an easy-to-use site on their phones, they won’t stick around. In fact, according to HuffPo, research shows that if your website doesn’t load within 3 seconds, you lose 57% of your mobile visitors.

1. Your content is too long and complicated

Mobile users crave convenience. They are after all, mobile. If they can’t download your website they are leaving. If they download content that will take too long to read, they are leaving. Simplify everything. Make it short and easy to read.

Maybe you aren’t focusing on delivering content that interests your prospective students, or maybe it’s just badly written. You need to know who is viewing your website, and you need writers who can deliver great content. No shortcuts here.

1. You are too focused on SEO

There can definitely be too much of a good thing. If you are using the same keywords and phrases over and over again, the search engines will find you, but no one will stick around to actually read what you have to say. Use keyword best practices, but lay off enough to have a genuine voice.

Take a step back and really look at your website as if you are a prospective student seeing it for the first time. Does it load quickly? Is it up to date? Is the content interesting? Would you stick around to read it?

Download our infographic to learn why you need inbound marketing for student recruitment.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

Why is this important to you, the marketer? In the world of inbound marketing, one of the most important factors in the process is to know your buyer. The profile of your buyer is referred to as a buyer persona. Without knowing your buyer, you can’t possibly set goals or even begin to create a marketing plan.

In your case, the buyer is the prospective student. In order to best reach them with the content that will help them make an informed decision, you need to know everything you possibly can about your prospective students — age, interests, potential fields of study, and yes, their greatest fears. This information will help you discover the best topics and types of content that will appeal to your audience.

So what are your prospective students most afraid of?

Yup, this is the big one. According to Time magazine, a whopping 70% of college students are worried about money. Will they have enough to pay for college? Will they have enough money to survive on their own? Will they have enough money to pay off their loans after college?

Create a video or a slideshare that clearly explains the student loan process or work/study opportunities for students.

For most students, college will be the first time they are living on their own. Except they aren’t exactly on their own — many will share a room roughly the size of a large walk-in closet with another person that they have never met before in their lives! And whether they have everything or nothing in common with this person, roommate issues will arise at some point.

Engage with prospective students on Facebook. Start a conversation where you discuss your institution’s process for matching roommates or explore the pros and cons of using an outside roommate match service like Roomsurf.com.

For the most part, college campuses are not anymore unsafe than any other American city. However, it can still be scary living in an unknown place, and sometimes college campuses are a natural place for drifters to travel through. Informed parents and students should and will ask questions about safety procedures and policies on campus.

Why not make safety information readily available in a FAQ on your website? Or create a checklist for how students can stay safe on campus.

With any inbound marketing program, knowing exactly who your buyer is and their buyer persona is the most important part of your plan. Now you are armed with the knowledge to create content that will delight your audience.

The more you can pinpoint what is on your prospective student’s minds, the better you will be able to engage with them and turn them from website visitors to leads to students.

Download our infographic to learn why you need inbound marketing for student recruitment.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

Entrepreneur defines brand as “a promise to your customer. It tells them what you can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors’. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.”

Inside Higher Ed recently published an article discussing why so many universities have similar brands. There’s been a lot of chatter on the internet about it, but basically what it comes down to is that students need to trust an institution if they are going to pursue an education there. The brand matters when students apply, while they are in school and even as alumni.

Because brand matters so much, many marketing departments are simply too scared to take a big risk to differentiate themselves in case it doesn’t pay off. They are worried about losing trust. So, instead, they focus on the beauty of their campus or their most successful academic programs and don’t appear that different from another university of similar size and landscape.

So what is the solution?

Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix in this matter. But adopting a couple of inbound marketing principles can be the first step in forging genuine relationships with prospective students and setting yourself apart from the competition.

1. Know what makes you unique

Do you have a unique location, an array of internships, pioneering partnerships with people working in technology or sustainable development or professional mentors to offer your students? Whatever sets you apart, emphasize this on your website, in your blog and in any communications with prospective students.

What do your current students study? What have been the most successful programs? Where do your students work after college? Knowing what drives your current students and alumni is an easy way to anticipate what your prospective students are looking for in your university. In any inbound marketing plan, developing a profile of your prospective student or “buyer” is the most important first step.

It sounds like a lot of work, and it can be, but taking the time upfront to personalize your message whether it’s via social media, through email or even on the phone, will pay off in dividends in the end. According to Collegedata.com, tuition alone averaged $9410 at public universities for in-state residents and $32,404 for tuition at private institutions for the 2015/2016 school year. College is one of the largest purchases a person will make in their lifetime. Make sure you take it as seriously as your potential students and their parents are taking it.

1. Position your institution as a thought leader

Create amazing content, and give it away for free. On social media, comment and share opinions of other respected institutions or individuals. Be a part of the conversation and your prospective students will take note.

1. Social media, social media, social media

Branding can be extremely expensive. But anyone, even an average Joe can effectively brand themselves if they are savvy with social media. Building a profile and being strategic with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other platforms will help you set yourself apart from the flock.

Branding is important, and worth putting some time, effort and strategy into. Remember, you are owning what your institution already stands for, not trying to emulate what you would like for people to think about you.

See if you’re doing what it takes to reach enrollment goals with our free Inbound Marketing checklist.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

And with all new beginnings, fall is also a great time to take a look at your current marketing strategy, to make sure you are staying relevant. The world of inbound marketing is constantly evolving so you need to be constantly accessing and analyzing your plans just to stay current with your competitors.

Here are 3 ways you can be sure your inbound marketing strategies stay fresh:

1. Evaluate Your Buyer Personas

Yes, spending time outlining who your prospective students are takes a lot of time, and can seem redundant. However, knowing your consumer is the foundation of a successful inbound strategy. According to Hubspot, segmenting your audience and database is critical to delivering targeted, relevant content to your prospects.

So, how could your buyer personas have changed?

You might find yourself actively recruiting more international students who have different educational needs than your average American student. According to the International Institute of Education, 2015 saw a 10% increase in international students.

Are you recruiting more adult students than in the past? In 2012, a study for National Student Clearing House revealed that in fact, 38% of post-secondary students are adult learners, which is defined as anyone 25 years and older. Adult students also have very different needs from students who are attending after high school and living full time on campus.

The best way to update your buyer personas is to ask. Include space on student and prospect surveys to find out a little bit more about your prospects and then adjust accordingly.

1. Assess Your Social Media Channels

Times, they are a changing. And America’s social media use goes right along with them. It’s important to take a look at your social media strategy from time to time as demographics and popularity shifts between sites. It can be frustrating because you may have just mastered a site’s algorithm when attention moves on to the next big thing. But, you signed up for a career in marketing, so you must be used to it by now.

So how are the sites ranking these days?

According to Statista, Facebook still reigns supreme in the United States, with 43% of U.S. social media site visits. YouTube doesn’t even come in at a close second, with 22% of U.S. social media visits, Reddit is next with 5.6% and Twitter comes in fourth with 4.9% of the share.

However, you also want to take demographic into account. If the buyer persona you are segmenting is a traditional student, you want to cater to the sites that skew younger. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2015 Facebook was still being used by teens aged 13–17, 73% of them in fact. But the research also shows some sites that didn’t show up above including Instagram (52%), Snapchat (41%), Twitter (33%) and Google+ (33%).

When you analyze your social media traffic, it’s important to see which strategies have worked best and also do outside research to determine the newest trends in social media.

1. Revamp Your Email Marketing Campaign

Over the past couple years, many marketers have declared email marketing dead, a victim of the popularization of social media. However, according to Inc., despite rumors, email marketing was never dead. An Adobe Study found 63% of consumers still prefer to receive marketing messages via email and Americans are just as obsessed with checking their email as ever. 81% of people check their email outside of work hours and 31% of people even check their email before they get out of bed in the morning.

So how has email marketing changed?

To be effective, you need to be constantly tweaking your email marketing practices to stay relevant.

• According to B2C, personalization is key. Mass emails and blasts are a thing of the past, unless you want your emails to go straight to spam.
• Your emails need to be optimized for mobile. Remember those 31% of people checking their emails in bed? They didn’t do it on a desktop computer. According to emailmonday, 25% of people will read their emails on their mobile devices first. That number increases to 40% in the 14–18 age group.
• Consider using images and GIFs in your emails. According to Litmus, using these visual aspects can delight prospects and increase click-throughs on your email. Remember, the inbox is still very crowded and the competition is stiff.

There you go, you’ve got three solid areas to analyze in order to refresh your marketing this fall. These are by no means the only areas you will want to check out, but they do provide a great jumping off point. By constantly looking for new trends and improvements to your current inbound marketing strategies, you will stay relevant in the college market.

Learn what the golden rule of marketing for student recruitment is. Download your free copy.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

Take the college fair for example. You may feel like you are spinning your wheels sending reps all over the country to promote your school at college fairs when prospective students have shown that they can hop on your website and get all their questions answered right from their smart phone. And, in fact, 97% of prospective college students have indeed visited a college website on their smartphone.

But there is still a lot of value to being able to meet thousands of prospective students and their parents face-to-face. College fairs used to be the absolute best way for students to learn about colleges all over the country without having to travel far. But they remain important. In fact, a recent study from Hanover Research revealed that despite increased digital activity, the most effective marketing strategies are still events-based.

Here’s why college fairs are still an integral part of your inbound plan:

• College fairs are a great way to build your brand

Branding is a hot topic these days. Many criticize that institutions are spending lots of time and money to brand themselves almost identically to other institutions without realizing it. So what better way to set yourself apart than to interact with prospects face to face? You’ll be able to see how your brand is being received by those who are just starting to learn about your school and you’ll be able to reinforce your institution’s values.

And as NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers), points out, remember to send a rep who truly represents your brand. Someone who is charismatic, professional and equipped to answer questions, address concerns and really sell your organization.

• College fairs can boost or maintain international recruitment

Recruiting international students is one of the most competitive areas of recruitment for universities in North America. Maintaining a presence at overseas college fairs is extremely important to stay in the game. According to the same Hanover Research report, international student recruitment in 2012–2013 increased by 10%. College fairs were an important part of the increase, along with social media presence and offering financial aid.

• College fairs allow you to show off your tech savvy

Why not include digital elements in your actual booth at the college fair to show your tech savviness and attract visitors to your booth? By providing Wi-Fi stations or tablets where students can look at videos or sign up to learn more about your institution beyond the fair, you will have a great set of qualified leads to further nurture. No need to bring your own equipment, you can rent a 4G internet kit for your own hotspot at the fair.

If you’re still questioning how college fairs are part of an inbound plan vs. just standing on their own, consider this — when you engage with prospective students through social media, email campaigns, blogging and your website, you can provide information to drive them to colleges fairs you will be attending. You can even offer a pre-registration option through your website so your rep is expecting them and already knows a bit about their background and intended area of study to maximize their experience.

So, put your best foot forward, send your best reps and amp up for a successful college fair season this fall.

Unsure your marketing efforts are having any results? Check out our free Inbound Marketing Checklist.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

Sometimes when life is completely hectic, it’s hard to keep up, much less try anything new. Natural breaks provide the chance to do a 180 and break out of your comfort zone.

Summer is a great time to set goals and create a fresh new inbound marketing plan for the 2016/2017 recruiting season. Perhaps you’ve dabbled in inbound marketing, tested the waters a bit. Now is the time to push that even further and really dive in.

Here are some ways to grow your inbound plan this summer:

• Make a plan for sharing great content

According to Hubspot, 70% of marketers have reported that they are creating more content now than they did a year ago. But it’s not just about creating content, it’s creating a plan complete with a mission, goals, target audience, types of content and an editorial calendar with timely topics.

That’s right — if you’ve set your plan and goals, there is no reason why you can’t get to work on some of that content you’ll be needing all year round. You can also spend some time developing content with off-season tips for your audience. How about an ebook on what incoming high school seniors can be doing to research colleges over the break? Or a virtual college tour of your university?

Millennials grew up in the digital age and therefore get most of their socialization from the Internet. So that is the best place to reach them! They are also over-saturated with brands, and do not respond to traditional advertisements. So spend some time on social media having a conversation with them about your institution. Remember to always be genuine and nurture your leads. Don’t go in for a hard sell during early interactions, it will only turn them off.

According to Huffington Post, 57% of mobile users will abandon your website if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds. Prospective students are learning about colleges via the Internet, on their iPads and smartphones. You may find it easier to hire an agency to help you with this, but there is absolutely no time like the present to update your website so that come fall, you are ready.

Still not sure how exactly how inbound works? Want to get some expert advice on creating new strategies? Summer is a great time to check out a conference and gain knowledge from experts in your field. Higher Ed Experts provides a comprehensive list you can check out.

I’m not saying your entire summer should be dedicated to honing your inbound marketing plan. Of course, summer is also an excellent time to take a personal break. Go on that vacation you’ve been putting off, get projects done around the house. Do whatever you need to do to refresh yourself.

Then, get ready to dig in and refresh your marketing strategies.

See if you’re doing what it takes to reach enrollment goals with our free Inbound Marketing checklist.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

Here are some top reasons you should be using Twitter:

1. Ability to connect with prospective students. If your prospective students are on Twitter, you need to be too.
2. To brand your institution. You don’t have to be a huge university to build brand awareness on Twitter. You just need to be dedicated and tweeting regularly.
3. Tweets can go viral. If you’ve never had a tweet go viral, it’s hard to understand the phenomenon. But it happens, and it can happen to you.

The good news is: If you take a little bit of time to understand how Twitter works and best practices you need to follow, you will be happily tweeting and sharing your message with millions of users across the world.

Twitter Best Practices

1. Part of Twitter’s appeal lies in how effective and concise it is. Twitter bios are 160 characters maximum, and tweets are 140 characters maximum (this includes any short links you add). It’s important to make your tweets as concise as possible. Studies have shown that top tweets average around 70 characters.
2. This is actually advice straight from Twitter. By using search.twitter.com, you can find comparable institutions and people and keep your finger on the pulse of what is relevant in your field. Notice which tweets get a lot of likes, retweets and responses, and create that kind of conversation with your followers.
3. Just as you want to observe what your competitors are doing, you will want to follow influencers in your field and thought leaders in related fields. You’ll want to engage with what they have to say about college marketing, student recruitment or the application process. You can agree, disagree or just add something to the conversation, but if you’ve engaged with them, they are likely to also do so with you.

• Follow the 80/20 principle

Eighty percent of your Twitter use should be interacting with your followers: retweeting their tweets, liking their tweets, tweeting things that are fun, interesting and engaging and using hashtags and images. The remaining twenty percent can focus on promotion. Yes, you read that right: One fifth of your time should be used for call-to-actions. But remember, these must also be concise and interesting.

• Analyze, analyze, analyze

Twitter has a fantastic analytics dashboard that shows you your top tweets, top mentions, and top followers month to month so you can see who your demographic is and even the best times of day to tweet. There are also applications like TweetDeck and HootSuite that will allow you to schedule your tweets ahead of time to hit optimum times. Not using these tools is a big mistake, so use them!

Hopefully by reading this post, you’re feeling a bit more confident about using Twitter to promote your institution. Twitter also offers a quick tutorial for businesses, to help demystify the process.

In order to be most effective on Twitter, you do need to Tweet regularly. It is hard to build your brand and follow the 80/20 principle if you are simply logging on a couple times a month. You need to set a plan for how many times you plan to tweet per week and follow that plan, even when it isn’t convenient.

It takes time to build your brand on Twitter, but the investment is worth it. Business Insider said it well, “You tweet, people follow and your network grows.”

So start tweeting!

Download our infographic to learn why you need inbound marketing for student recruitment.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

By now you understand that inbound marketing is all about drawing prospective customers in, rather than pushing your message out. You understand it’s about creating a virtual space and extending a hand for leads to get in touch and stay in touch. You understand it’s about listening as much as you speak and understanding what your prospective students want out of an education.

You understand that content is the engine that drives inbound marketing.

Content can take endless forms — podcasts, blog posts, tweets, Instagram photos, Facebook updates, ebooks, Slideshare presentations and YouTube videos are all ways for you to communicate your brand using the inbound strategy of offering valuable material to attract and delight your audience.

That means all of your inbound content — every tweet, post, video, photo and update — should be created with the goal of earning attention and eliciting delight.

Here are some tips that will help you create the content you need for a successful inbound plan:

Before you begin to create your content, you must develop a plan.

The creation of content is not an end in itself. As part of your inbound strategy, you will use your content to draw prospective students in. You will use your initial content to attract and delight them enough that they will share their contact information with you. Then you will in turn provide more specifically tailored information appropriate to their unique needs and interests, and you will gain a little more trust from them. Eventually, you will nurture this lead into an applicant and then a student. You need to keep your ultimate goals in mind from the beginning in order for each step along the way to be effective.

Your content must actually be great content.

This should go without saying, but if you don’t put the time and resources into actually providing useful, well-written information, your prospective students won’t give you the time of day. Great content comes from great content writers. These may be in-house writers, designers, video producers and social media experts, or they may be contractors, freelancers or even an agency. Whatever your team decides, it’s crucial that your content is written, edited and designed to the highest possible standards. Today’s consumers are savvy and can sniff out low production quality quickly.

You must spend a sizable chunk of your budget on creating content that you will give out for free.

Free?!? Does that make any sense? Actually, it does. As a higher education marketing professional, you’re used to doing just that. Only in the past, it took the form of glossy, full-color brochures. The content you create digitally actually has a much longer shelf life than those brochures that ended up in the recycling bin. Digital content can be endlessly used, reused and revised without showing its age. And remember, inbound marketing costs significantly less than traditional marketing.

Remember the quality of the content you offer will also send a message to prospective students and their parents about the quality of your institution. If, for example, you create a really excellent guide to writing a college admissions essay, that article will not only generate organic traffic and interest and give prospective students a chance to opt into further communications with your admissions team, it also positions your institution as a helpful, savvy and generous guide within the maze of admissions and applications.

Producing fabulous content that delights your audience will assure that your institution is viewed as the type of place with resources that make a difference, the type of place your prospective students would like to be a part of.

Download our infographic to learn why you need inbound marketing for student recruitment.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

Twitter followers are nice, but they’re not leads. Same goes for Facebook likes and blog readers. They are good things to be sure, but not exactly students in seats. Ditto for all the other platforms and their ways of quantifying popularity. Most of these numbers don’t mean anything, unless they translate to bona fide leads that convert.

It all comes down to leads.

Everything single thing you do as part of your digital marketing strategy should be about getting prospective students and their parents to opt into further communications with you. It’s all about delivering and nurturing high quality leads through content your target market can’t resist.The way you convert a follower or a fan to a lead is through clever use of a call-to-action. A call-to-action (aka CTA) is an invitation that comes in the form of a button or link. Basically a potential student fills out a form with his or her contact information in exchange for premium or higher end content than is available elsewhere on your website.

CTAs should be concise and action oriented.

Obviously the effectiveness of a CTA depends in part upon the quality of the offer being extended. We’ll get to that, but in the meantime, let’s focus on the language and phrasing that makes a CTA effective.

• A call-to-action phrase should begin with a verb or action word: download, get, receive, claim or register.
• The phrase should be very short; five or six words at the most.
• CTAs should be designed in a way that fits with the overall look of the page but also manages to stand out.
• A call-to-action should be very clear about exactly what a reader will get when he or she clicks the button and fills out the form. No surprises!

Here are different types of CTAs you might use:

This kind of CTA serves to attract and convert casual web visitors into leads and belongs wherever new visitors land on your website — most likely on a blog page. Typically, effective lead-generating CTAs appear in the sidebar as a floating banner or at the end of a great post.

Ultimately, you want a prospective student to opt into communications with you, but you also want for them to spread the word about your institution. This is where the social sharing CTA comes into play. You will want to include sharing buttons at the end of each blog post to make it easy for readers to use them. Make sure you complement these buttons with the same kind of vivid, concise language you’d use in any CTA, such as Share the News, Spread the Wisdom or Get the Word Out.

1. The Take-the Next-Step CTA

This is a type of lead-generating CTA where you attract prospective students and their families by offering them something that further draws them in: a free consultation, a free college-admissions coaching session, an ebook, whitepaper or seminar. These CTAs can be linked to thank you pages, blog posts, emails and other places where engaged visitors will encounter them.

1. The “Make it Official” CTA

This is where you take your nurtured, informed lead to the next level by turning that person into an applicant. You don’t want to turn off new visitors by asking them to apply too early in the process, but eventually you’ve got to get down to what this has all been about, getting that lead to become an applicant and then a student. Be professional, friendly and clear. Emphasize that it is important that he or she take action now, but also that you will be there as a knowledgeable guide to what can be a confusing process. Using a well-crafted phrase creates a sense of safety, but also of accomplishment on the part of the prospect taking action.

So there you have it — a quick cheat sheet on how to create effective CTAs. If you need more inspiration, check out this list of 50 different CTAs from SitePro News.

The next step will be to test, test, and retest your CTAs to make sure they are effective. We will cover that topic soon!

Download our infographic to learn why you need inbound marketing for student recruitment.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.

Ask any blogger — from the columnist with a national news outlet to the mommy blogger who posts ingenious craft ideas — and he or she will tell you: effectively promoting content without being annoying about it is a tricky line to walk.

Admit it, we all have at least a few contacts in our social networks who always seem to be sharing something they’re selling, something they’ve written, or something on their blog, to the point that we groan internally and think “what now?” when their content comes up in our newsfeeds. It’s spammy, intrusive, and annoying.

So, how do you avoid being that person?

1. Network (face-to-face as well as digitally)

Digital marketing experts agree that networking is as important as ever in the effective promotion of blog posts. However, this doesn’t mean you should waste your time clicking around on blogs and social media profiles belonging to influential organizations and people you admire to comment: “I love your blog and this post is so helpful! Check out my blog at…”. That’s just empty flattery and thinly disguised self-promotion. It’s not fooling anyone.

Build real relationships with leaders you respect. Provide detailed feedback on someone else’s efforts; share other people’s content widely and enthusiastically without expecting to be repaid immediately. Over a period of time, you will be rewarded.

Do you already have a mailing list? Are you in touch with key influencers? Targeted promotion, whether through email or social media platforms, is another important strategy for boosting the reach of your content. If you mention a great resource or person in your promotional tweets and Facebook posts, make that person (and his/her followers) aware of the nod you’ve given them, and hopefully that person will take notice of you.

It’s all too easy to want to focus on getting lots of new referring links and page views, and too easy to forget that subscribers are important, particularly when you are launching a blog. Subscribers help form the basis of your audience and are a great base from which to branch out — the more subscribers you have, the better.

1. Learn the Social Media “Tricks”

The most authentic way to share your content on social media is simply to produce good content, use social media strategies and sit back while others share and retweet your messages. There are proven scientific ways to get more “likes” on Facebook and more retweets on Twitter, you just need to understand their unique algorithms, which happen to be constantly changing.

Stuff says the best ways to get “likes” and shares on Facebook is to make your post striking with a great picture or video, make sure you have a complete company profile on your page, and perhaps even boost a post or two if it is in your budget.

On Twitter, Fast Company says using proper language, bottling your emotions (at least in your tweets) and believe it or not, tweeting at 4:00 pm on Friday will give you the best chance at getting retweeted.

We hope you’ve picked up some advice on how to best promote yourself without being annoying. Remember, getting the most “likes”, retweets, shares and even followers is not necessarily helping you reach your student recruitment goals. It’s all an important part of an inbound marketing strategy, but the point is to produce qualified leads.

And it’s what you do with those leads that truly matters.

Download our infographic to learn why you need inbound marketing for student recruitment.

Originally published at blog.cgrantandcompany.com.