There are some persistent myths out there about using inbound marketing for student recruitment. Here’s why they’re wrong.

Misconception #1: “Inbound marketing takes way too much time!”

Here’s why that’s wrong:

Yes, it takes time to create and maintain content for a mobile-optimized website and distribute that content on well-designed and responsive social media platforms.

Setting up a successful inbound strategy for enrollment takes a significant investment of time—but it’s just that: an investment. And the return on investment (ROI) of inbound is very high. According to HubSpot data, an inbound campaign was a remarkable 95x more effective in terms of ROI than a direct mail campaign!

How to use this dynamic new marketing tool, which disrupts traditional marketing and lets colleges and universities attract students, parents—and applicants—reach their enrollment goals.

Inbound marketing is a technique tailored to the needs of contemporary consumers.

Most of us stream TV shows and movies, use DVR to speed through advertisements, block pop-up ads, ignore sidebars, avoid advertisement links, and drop direct mail in the recycling bin. Clearly, it’s time for a change.

The situation is no different when it comes to student recruitment. Anyone with a junior or senior has experienced the deluge of unsolicited college marketing materials filling the mailbox—and the recycling bin.

Unsolicited mailings are an example of traditional marketing—or what savvy marketers are now calling outbound marketing. Outbound marketing pushes content out: it cold-calls, buys email lists and ad space, and, in today’s crowded media landscape, often has to shout (or pray!) to be heard.

Learn how to implement inbound marketing methodology to generate leads and increase student applications.

Prospective Students, Proactive Students

Today’s consumers—including prospective students and their parents—don’t sit back and wait for information to come to them.

Think about it: are you more likely to hang on to and browse through fistfuls of brochures and direct-mail glossies that may or may not be offering anything of interest—or are you more likely to search online for the answers to your questions and the solution to your needs?

The writing is on the wall. When a prospective student visits your website and self-selects into receiving communications from your institution, the worst thing you can do is fail to interact with them. 

 

We’ve reached the point where we need to talk about the engine that drives inbound—great content.

By now, you understand that inbound marketing is about drawing prospective customers in rather than pushing your message out. You understand that it’s about creating an inviting virtual space and extending a hand for leads to get in touch and stay in touch. You understand that it’s about listening as much as (or more than!) you speak, understanding what your prospective students are looking for and where they’re looking for it, and here’s where we reach the question of content: what is it, and what makes it great?

 

Are we pretty safe in assuming that at one point or another, you’ve shared something you read or watched on the internet?

Come on, you know you have. Perhaps you’ve emailed an interesting article to a friend or colleague (the digital version of clipping a newspaper article and mailing it in an envelope!), shared a moving or inspiring image or blog post to your Facebook wall, tweeted an irresistible offer for a free or discounted ebook—or maybe you’ve even shared one of those ubiquitous videos of animals doing something cute. (No judgment here—after all, who can resist cute baby animals?!)

The best of the inbound marketing web, just for you.

We scour the web to bring you the best of the best in marketing ideas and resources. Here are some of the things we’re loving lately:

Don’t skimp on the quality just to capture an email address—it doesn’t pay off. Here’s how the best higher education marketers do content offers.

Lead generation strategies in higher education these days are all about inbound marketing.

For a while now, we’ve been hearing pundits proclaim that blogs are dead. People’s attention spans are shorter!

Social media not loyalty to a particularly blog, drives content sharing! We’ve looked at the data, though, and we just don’t buy the line that blogging is dead. Sure, blogging has changed a lot over the years, but the basic format of a blog: essentially, a frequently updated page on your website is a winner for search engine rankings—not to mention an excellent way to share valuable content and communicate effectively with your prospective students. The data on blogging is pretty convincing, too: studies have shown that organizations that blog receive greater than 50% more web traffic than organizations who do not blog!

Develop a plan for unrolling great content.