Case Study #1: Know your audience
Like many small public universities, Fort Lewis College has experienced enrollment declines over the last ten years. That loss of students is significant for a tuition-dependent institution, yet our marketing efforts were not as successful as they had been in years past. We obviously were not connecting well with our audience. How might we do better?
Challenge
Nationally, there is a growing skepticism about the value of higher education. Marketing for Fort Lewis College needs to address that skepticism while at the same time understanding and anticipating the unique needs, challenges, and frustrations of our particular slice of the higher education marketplace. How is our audience different and how can we market to them more effectively?
Research
My marketing team did a deep dive on our prospective student population. We learned that our target audience is unlike any other college in the country: 39% of our students are Native American, 36% are Pell-eligible (i.e. low income), and 44% are first-generation. We interviewed our admissions counselors, looked at CRM data, hosted workshops with the enrollment teams, and conducted a brand perception survey. We used this research to build four, distinct user personas (see below), which are customer stereotypes informed by both qualitative and quantitative research. These personas help us to through the eyes of our typical students.
Solution
The user persona research taught us two main things about our audience. First, our audience didn't have the typical background knowledge about higher education (e.g. knowing that baccalaureate means a 4-year degree). Second, our audience was more focused than average on the financial benefits of a college degree (e.g. jobs with higher salaries than high school graduates earn). Given this, we redesigned and rewrote all enrollment marketing material to speak directly to our unique audience without using higher ed vernacular and with a focus on pathways to good jobs.
On the horizon
We know that we can do even better. We have begun to micro-target our audiences in our digital advertising and email marketing, using messaging that resonates with the audience across our personas. Secondly, we are simplifying the website content by swapping out higher education vernacular for plain speak to make education more accessible. Fiinally, we are articulating processes in the most clear and concise way to reduce the cognitive load which benefits everyone.
