And Carrie On

The work of marketing teams varies greatly by institution type. In my dissertation, I looked at what marketing teams should be doing to help mitigate the enrollment cliff. Specifically, I wanted to understand what strategies marketing officers should be considering to help in the face of an upcoming enrollment challenge. One that is now a year away.

The marketing leaders I spoke with had lots to say about the role of marketing offices and how their role was uniquely positioned to do this work. As part of our conversations, they offered several strategies to that marketing officers might consider ahead of the enrollment cliff.

About the Participants 

For this study, I visited with those in the CMO role at regional public universities across the Southeast United States. In all, I visited with 15 individuals who are serving as CMO at their institution. I also reviewed supporting documents they were willing to provide. 

What the Research Showed

The participants identified multiple ways that marketing could help in this space. However, there were four primary ways the teams identified that would have the best outcomes in helping to overcome the enrollment cliff.

Professionalize the Work – Part of the role of the Marketing and Communications function is to professionalize the work. There are so many people on our campus who may not understand the detail of what we do and how it can impact the enrollment and perception needle. Our job is to educate campus. If we can help our campus partners understand that marketing and communications require a unique skillset, that focuses on data, messaging, imagery, and works in collaboration with campus, we have a much stronger case to partner with campus clients on marketing efforts. My team does this through lunch and learns to help showcase our expertise. We also try to provide regular reporting about our work, so people on campus can see the data-informed approach we take. Our work is much more than making something look pretty, and it’s important to highlight the professional expertise we bring to it. We still help and provide a service, and we always will have that aspect of our work. However, I want to make sure our team is viewed as a strategic partner and an equal at the table.

We are becoming more and more recognized by universities as important, and budgets are getting allocated to more of that as a spending piece. There’s more focus on the services that our office can provide, so people know that marketing or communication is there, so you’re a lot more accessible.

Study participant

Aid in Recruitment – Recruitment matters, especially at regional public universities and other institutions that heavily depend on enrollment. That’s why it is critical that marketing teams do what we can to support the recruitment function. In some cases, that may mean first building a relationship with the enrollment function. For several of the study participants, they had either done this or were working to build a collaborative partnership with that office to ensure the two teams were working together on things. If a strong relationship already exists, the two teams are more equipped to partner on a variety of projects including printed pieces, social media, email messages and more. Marketing and communications can help with these tasks, but they also benefit from CRM data about what enrollment trends exist, which can help marketing refine advertising, which can then help enrollment. This relationship when functioning best should be a true symbiotic relationship.

Our office was really disconnected from admissions. They had their own agency, they had their own campaign, and we weren’t involved. We had our own branding campaign, and it was just decentralized, but I think it’s really important for us to have constant communication with admissions. There’s so much knowledge that they bring to the table, and then we bring the other side to the table and working together is where we are most successful. 

Study Participant

Embrace and Advance the Brand – Part of our role as marketing leaders is to champion the importance of brand messaging and advocate for that across our campuses and in external messaging. Brand work helps build emotional connections with audiences, and it helps stakeholders to know what an experience at a particular institution will entail. As marketing leaders, the participants in the study shared it was important to ensure their university had brand pillars or core brand messages. Within the division, they were working to make sure that every news article, story, or social post had a clear connection to one of those brand messages. Additionally, they shared it was critical to visit with departments across campus to encourage consistent branded messaging so that external stakeholders saw consistency across all university messages.

It’s one of the most important and hardest things to keep going because, in my opinion, a lot of what branding is about is simply being consistent in who you are and what you say you are and getting the entire campus to understand that. 

Study Participant

Develop Institution-Specific Marketing Strategies – This strategy is probably the most obvious but also one of the hardest. The participants spoke of developing strategies that were specific to their institution. Some spoke about marketing to stakeholders in local papers, while others discussed using digital marketing to engage prospective students. However, the key takeaway was the importance of making sure the marketing plan was designed to fit the needs, budget, and the desired outcomes of the specific institution. Because each institution was different in student type, recruitment territories, cost and aid packages, it was difficult to provide general best practices. However, multiple participants shared the importance of integrating any work across the larger campus, so that all marketing efforts were coordinated to ensure alignment and maximizing resources.

My position was created to kind of traffic control and apply strategic oversight to all of that. My personal role is really to make sure that we take that an integrated approach to everything that we’re doing. 

Study Participant

What’s Next?

Whenever I present at conferences, I always try to end with a few key takeaways for audience attendees. With that in mind, I want to provide a few takeaways if you’re looking to employ some of these strategies but are not sure where to start.

1. Pick up the phone and schedule a listening meeting with your enrollment leaders. Begin getting to know them and figuring out small ways you can work together.
2. Start exploring ways you can professionalize your work on campus. That could be offering lunch and learns to showcase expertise, preparing reports to show how you think about data, or meeting with leaders to share your strategic approach.
3. Review your office materials to make sure you’re highlighting clear brand connections within your marketing materials. If you’re not doing this, begin to do so. If you are, it might be time to explore how other offices and departments might join you in the effort.

As we near the enrollment cliff, our teams are uniquely positioned to help, and I hope you’ll take the year to begin further exploring strategies to help your marketing team support the entire university.