New Year’s Resolutions for Higher Ed

It’s that time of year again, when marketers begin making predictions on which trends will be most impactful over the next year.

As you finalize marketing plans for the upcoming year, it might be hard to find time to create some New Year’s resolutions for your department. However, we’ve compiled a list of things that you can do next year to help improve your strategies and add value to your institution.

1. Perform a Competitive Analysis

One of the most important things you can do when developing a marketing strategy is understanding what tactics your competitors use in their communications. What channels are they using to communicate with prospective students? What kind of language and imagery are used in their marketing materials? For a deeper look at what it takes to make competitive analysis easy, check out this blog post.

2. Establish (or re-establish) a consistent social media presence

Whether this means bolstering a slightly-underused feed or diving into a brand new app, try to create a consistent stream of content for social media this year. Consider using a content calendar to plan posts in advance and an automated tool to help post on time. Social media can be an incredibly high-value, low-cost communication tool for schools when used properly.

3. Consider refreshing or recycling older material

Recently we outlined the differences in rebranding vs. refreshing your institution’s identity. However, a fresh look doesn’t require tearing everything down and starting from scratch. Consider refining your institutional voice or experimenting with a new template for display ads in the new year. There are a myriad of small ways that you can update your marketing materials to make more connections and gain more impressions. Make small changes, examine the results, and keep moving forward.

4. Look at where you’ve been and where you’re going

Forgive the new year lingo, but consider a marketing consultation from Little Foxes. We can analyze your conversion data, past performance, and current strategies and develop a year-long strategic marketing plan that can help you reach enrollment goals and establish best practices for the future.