How to Increase Adult Enrollment

Evaluate your adult student program
marketing budget.
Before we delve into how to measure effectiveness, we need to
understand the basic model for integrated marketing communication
because each component of the model is measured differently.
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) has three basic components:
brand marketing, direct marketing, and internal communication. Brand
marketing has one goal: the creation of awareness. Brand marketing is all
about top-of-mind. Direct marketing has a different goal: the generation of
response. Direct marketing will equip and motivate the customer to apply,
call, enroll, or donate. The third element of IMC, internal communication,
is designed to keep internal audiences abreast of key issues.
2. Shake your inquiry tree.
While the idea of increasing resources in any area of the institution may be
a challenge, it is an absolute necessary first step. At Stamats’ 2009 Adult
Student Marketing Conference I asked participants about their marketing
budgets and found that more than half of the over 100 participants were
spending less than $100,000, and some as little as $10,000. This is the right
time to evaluate the resources that are being spent to recruit this
population. Many of the suggestions that will be made within the context
of this paper will be low dollar. Others will require the reallocation of
existing dollars. But some will require significant funding. The final point is
this: If you want greater success you must be prepared to invest the
necessary dollars.
3. Get your message right.
It is not enough to simply talk about YOUR flexible schedule, YOUR
affordable cost, YOUR experienced faculty; you must talk about THEM.
Case in point, if you are a 37-year-old single mom sitting in your
apartment living paycheck to paycheck and suddenly XYZ University is
telling you about all they have to offer… now if the message to that same
37-year-old single mom is based more along the lines of demonstrating
an understanding of her current situation and offering an opportunity to
change it, then you may have a chance to be heard. Take a look at your
message; are you talking AT people or WITH people?
4. Track, Track, Track.
Now, more so than ever before, keeping track of your communication
with prospective adult students is absolutely essential. If your system for
tracking contact with your prospective student pool involves note cards,
ink pens, and sticky notes, you are more than likely not maximizing your
own ability to recruit. Now, before you dismiss this suggestion and move
on to the next tactic I am going to ask you to pause and be sure you
know how data is being collected on your adult students. I challenge you;
find out how you are tracking your prospective students and your
communications with them. I think you will be surprised and find an
area where you can do better.
5. Build a relationship.
At the end of the day in the world of adult student recruitment, this is
what it is all about. It is that simple. And, at the same time it is remarkably
complex. I recently invited a director of admissions from a for-profit
institution to speak to a group of marketing and admissions professionals
and asked her to give away her secret to the great success that she has had
with enrollment growth at three different proprietary institutions. Her
secret….relationships. She shared with us the process that her recruiters
work through with lists of purchased names. The first thing they do
when they connect with someone by phone is talk to them about them.
They focus on student goals, plans, lives, families, and aspirations. Her
recruiters are instructed to not speak of the institution’s online offerings,
flexible schedules, or great financial aid. Instead, they are directed to
listen and learn about the prospective student. It is from that relationship
that the prospective student turns into a current student, it is all built on
that. How are your current recruiters talking with prospective students,
what types of things are they focused on while on the phone or in a
meeting? Take a look, you may be surprised.
6. Ratchet up your responsiveness.
In preparation for writing this paper, a week ago, I telephoned five
institutions on a Sunday afternoon and requested that someone call me
back to speak with me about their offerings and my interests. I left my
cell phone number so I would have the ability to do a bit of tracking of
the return calls that I anticipated receiving. It has officially been seven
days and I have only heard back from two schools. Because I wanted a
call back I didn’t leave an address, only a phone number. I was acting as a
prospective student and requesting information on my terms. I also
realize that many inquiries come in via the Web, and perhaps my simple
phone call created more of a challenge than I had anticipated but I think
it illustrates my point well. While I have never talked to a school who
thought they were lax in their responsiveness to prospective students, I
have also never worked with a school that did not have room for
improvement. Not convinced? Ask a neighbor to make an inquiry like
mine and track the response.
7. Generate buzz.
What would happen if you took a few dollars and created a new
scholarship to give an adult student? Make it your own stimulus package.
The beauty is that it doesn’t need to be a huge scholarship. The goal is to
give your recruiters another reason to contact past inquiries with some
new information. In addition, it demonstrates your responsiveness and
gives you something to talk about on that postcard you are going to send
out. And it may, depending on the size of the community you live in,
earn you some local press if you go to the effort to make others aware of
the ways you are responding to the loss of jobs in your community.
Sometimes an opportunity to reach out to a prospective adult student
can go a long way to saying that, as a school, you recognize that times are
challenging, but that you believe enough in the power of education to
help make returning to school a reality for one student.
8. Evaluate the how.
When was the last time you refined the way you deliver your adult
student program? What may have been cutting edge 20 years ago when
you developed the format may not be the right package adults in your
area are looking for now. I realize switching from face-to-face to online
delivery or hybrid courses will take some time, and any decision must be
founded in research, but consider it an investment in the future. I would
love to believe that once higher education gets through this one tough
year it will be easy to fill every bed, or every seat from here on out; but
that is not the future ahead of us. It will always be competitive. Begin
this conversation now so that you are well positioned in the next year or
two to maximize your enrollments. And, I am willing to bet that your
traditional students will appreciate having these options as well.
9. Evaluate the what.
I am a firm believer in shelf life, nearly everything – including higher
education – has one. At the risk of stepping on an academic toe or two, I
want to challenge institutions across the country to try something
different as it relates to academic programming. Do a reasonable amount
of research and develop a new program. Invest in an academic program
marketability study so you can feel confident in your decision.
Something bad might happen, but something good might happen as well.
I recognize that this is an investment of time and resources, and I
recognize that for many of you this will mean taking an uncomfortable
look at your institution’s process for program development, but I truly
believe that now may be the time. It is amazing how agreeable people
can become when they are experiencing a bit of discomfort, and nobody
in higher education today is without discomfort. It is a new day, it is a
new conversation, do not shy away from doing the one thing that may
truly make a difference in the livelihood of your institution. Evaluate
your current offerings, research new program offerings, take a look inside.
10. Do SOMETHING about your Web site! I am passionate
about strong Web strategies and I am not alone.
Our research indicates 96% of adult undergraduates and 97% of graduate
students will go to your institutional site first to find information. There
is no single more powerful tool for communicating with this audience so
it is critically important that you make the necessary investment. Do an
audit of your Web site, do some usability testing with adults, ask a friend
who does not work in or around higher education to find the adult
student program course delivery options, price to attend, and how to
contact someone if you need to go a less expensive route, but please
take a look. Even if you just redesigned your institutional Web site,
confirm via Web analytics that adults can find their way to what they
are looking for.
It is always hard to feel in a position of having to be reactionary to a
difficult situation, but unfortunately that is the position many schools are
in as they move forward into the next year. None of what has been
suggested here is easy. In fact, several of these tactics will actually be quite
challenging and ask institutions to examine the way things have always
been. Institutions who rise to the occasion and strive to intentionally
impact their adult student enrollment through the implementation of
these tactics, position themselves to significantly impact their institutional
bottom line and find themselves in a significantly more comfortable
position in years to come.