The vast majority of today’s prospective students -- a whopping 97%! -- are reaching out to the college or university they’re interested in first -- and do much of their own research about the school online and on their own time.

Just 3% of students in this study said that they waited for a college to contact them before getting in touch for more information or to apply.

This means that your institution’s strategy for student recruitment has got to be nimble -- you can’t rely exclusively on old strategies, such as cold-calling and direct mailing. And your admissions team needs to be up-to-the-minute on how today’s college-bound students use the Internet.

The stakes for being out of touch are high. If you’re not up on how rising juniors and seniors are using the web…

“Hey mom,” my young son said. “When can we go back to that store with the cool seats and the iPads?”

Just weeks before a huge project was due, my MacBook wouldn’t turn on.

Even though it was starting to snow, I packed my kids and my seemingly broken MacBook into the car and headed for the nearest Genius Bar. The kids happily played with the newest iPads while I chatted with the friendly young man who explained what might have gone wrong -- something rather insignificant, happily -- and quickly got my computer going again.

 After running a few diagnostic checks, he said my (rather old) computer was still running strong, and that everything should be fine.

1. Understand what makes your institution distinctive

Today’s prospective students have more options than ever -- from massive open online courses (MOOCs) toward high-quality accredited online education. And they’ve grown up being able to research all their options online. In order to persuade a rising senior that your institution is right for them, you’ve got to offer a coherent and compelling narrative that persuades them that your school could be the right fit.

Think about it: today’s rising seniors don’t remember a world without the Internet. These “screenagers” -- a term coined by Richard Watson -- have more or less grown up online, sending and receiving dozens of texts, using tablets and laptops at school, and spent time on their phones or computers both for homework and socialization.

When they have questions, they don’t go to the library -- they go to Google. When they are thinking about a problem, they don’t ask a real, live person -- they pull out their phone and search for the answers. And when they’re thinking about buying something, they check out online reviews and poll their friends on social media: “do I get a Kindle Fire or an iPad mini? Pros/cons?”

Analog Admissions in a Digital World

Professionals engaged in enrollment management in colleges and universities across the country don’t always realize that their student recruitment methods may well be misaligned with how today’s students are making their college decisions. For example, today’s students are wary of traditional marketing’s interruptive and marketer-centric approach. They don’t want to be cold-called, and they’re probably as likely to delete unsolicited recruitment emails as they are to toss that expensive, glossy view book in the recycling bin.

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.

Traditional marketing and its shortcomings

When’s the last time you opened your mailbox -- whether physical or electronic -- and looked carefully through all the random offers and ads that have come your way?

I’d be willing to bet that it’s been a while.

Ads for a free estimate for a bathroom remodel? Not especially relevant if I happen to be a renter.

College recruitment materials addressed to my fourth grader? A waste of marketing dollars -- we’re just not there yet!

At this point, you are probably feeling pretty confident about how to use various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in your inbound marketing efforts.

What about Snapchat?

According to a 2013 article from the Wall Street Journal, only 29% of all students are traditional students, i.e. they are attending a four-year university full time right after high school and are living on campus. So, we can only assume as tuitions have continued to rise that percentage may be even lower today. Many colleges are finding that having more non-traditional students is helping them battle rising enrollment fees. And in the years to come, catering to these students will likely be the difference between staying open and shutting your doors.

So, how do you reach the new majority of college students? Are there different tactics you need to use to be most effective in boosting adult student enrollment?

Do you ever feel like you are doing everything right in your inbound marketing campaign but you’re just not seeing the results you’d expected?

Your higher education institution is hip to the content marketing game. You know how to build a winning website and blog and how to capture attention via social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. You may have a million unique visitors a month, but definitely not a million prospective applicants a month.