Creating content for a university can be chaotic. With so much noise and competition in the university landscape, it can be difficult to know where to begin. What content do I make? Who do I make it for? How will I know if I’m making the right content to attract students to my school? We’ve got the answers with our top 3 tips for creating university content:
I. Know your target audience
When it comes down to it, the university landscape has changed. That’s why it’s more important now than ever to really dig into who your target audience is. Push past the demographics and get to the core of who your target individuals are as individuals. Sure, demographics are a great place to start, but to really get to the heart of your target audience you have to understand their psychographics—their attitudes, opinions, buying behavior etc.
Develop buyer personas that relate to the many types of people you’re hoping to attract to your university—whether that be a diverse group of students, qualified faculty members, or passionate donors. Each person wants to see personalized content that speaks to them.
II. Find what sets you a part and build from the content you already have
What’s the piece that makes everything else click into place at your university? When competing with 5,000+ schools and programs across the country (not to mention international schools), it can be tricky to set yourself a part when you’re all selling the same thing—education. Finding that piece, the true essence of your brand, is key to finding out why Sue should apply to your biology program, or why Dr. Daryl would be a great fit for your interim dean position. Build from the foundation of content you already have, work with a team who know your school best, gain insight from students etc. Bottom line, you should be gathering information from all aspects of your school’s community to better understand the why behind their decisions to attend, work, or donate to your university.
III. Measure, measure, MEASURE your efforts
If there’s one thing you need to remember, it’s this: all aspects of your marketing must be measured. Wanting to increase enrollment? Measure it. Hoping to increase donor revenue for the year? Measure it. You can’t measure your ROI if you don’t have a baseline and an objective. It’s crucial that your school creates a dashboard (like HubSpot or Google Analytics) to measure your efforts based on the content you’re putting out there. These tools can impact and measure:
- General brand awareness
- Web traffic to your university site
- Admission applications and inquiries
- Alumni engagement, gift frequency and size
Among others to help you develop, change, and modify your content creation to better speak to your target market.
More questions on how to create quality content to enhance your university’s brand? Feel free to shoot us a message at [email protected]. We’d be happy to help.
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