The news is dire: college administrators are estimating somewhere between a 10 and 20 percent drop in enrollment nationwide for fall 2020 (depending on the source and timing of the study). While this comes on the heels of nine consecutive years of minor enrollment decreases, to say that universities are in any way prepared for this radical reduction — and the catastrophic implications that strike at the core of every college’s business model and value proposition — would be hopeful for even the savviest of institutions.

For marketers, the ever-present battles between the “urgent and important” are recast into a world where everything is both urgent and important. While we understand the temptation for organizations to hunker into survival mode and focus solely on immediate priorities and “save 2020 initiatives,” we believe that for any institution to maintain relevance not just through but beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, they must invest in short-, medium- and long-term strategy and tactics.

Mitigate Enrollment Loss

First and foremost, students and parents are grappling with the financial and emotional impact of the virus — considering whether to stay closer to home, assessing the value of online vs. campus experience with fresh eyes, choosing a less expensive school, taking a year off or abandoning college plans altogether.

Your relationships with these students present a unique opportunity to play a meaningful role in this decision-making process. How are you adapting your staffing, investment and communication to reduce enrollment loss? How is this messaging different by student segment and type — by year, program, parental location, GPA and/or other meaningful distinctions?

• Staff: How are you deploying / shifting / redeploying resources — and maximizing skillsets to create the most meaningful outreach?
• Information: Are you maintaining a comprehensive baseline data “hub” — a single-source destination with accurate, real-time information for both internal and external audiences?
• Contact: Are you executing on a coordinated, multi-form outreach plan including phone calls, emails, text and social — in real time — with accurate, up-to-date and relevant messaging?
• Online: Are you converting your in-person activities to online events to adapt to this “new normal” — and finding new apertures to deliver traditional contact and messaging?
• Terms: Are you adapting and innovating your enrollment terms to give your team the tools and options they need to save enrollments?
• Positioning: Are you leaning into your brand and that which makes you special — and actively and consistently communicating that to both internal and external audiences wherever and whenever relevant (in a way that is considerate of this “new normal”)?

Defend Value

Now more than ever, marketers need to be advocates for optimizing value for students and parents. Given different scenarios (e.g., a delayed return to campus, continued online delivery, rollout over time), how might you deliver incremental value, adjust tuition and/or provide relief? As you consider the entire student experience, how might you look at your program and policies with fresh eyes to maximize value (both what you do and what you say) — for short- and long-term satisfaction?

• Analytics & Optimization: Are you tracking enrollment journey data in real time (by cohort and program) — and making optimization efforts based on drops and conversions?
• Real-Time Messaging: Have you reviewed and updated all marketing materials with a critical eye given the new realities students and parents are facing? How can you best “make the case” for the value you are providing — now and into the future?
• Onboarding: Have you put fresh eyes on the new student immersion process — including messaging and activities to help motivate students and parents (with unique messaging) to see maximum value?
• Optimize Online Learning: Beyond the basics of getting your facilities and technology up to snuff, are you investigating how to enhance your online learning capabilities in the coming weeks and months (short-term lens given resource constraints)? How are you communicating these changes and getting credit for these improvements to assuage concerns / bolster value?
• Use of Technology: Beyond the direct learning experience / environment, are you enhancing your systems, processes and technologies inside your institution, with students/parents and between these groups? If so, are you communicating these enhancements to students/parents and prospects and getting credit for these improvements as well?
• Focus: As you seek to maximize your value proposition, have you revisited your strategic plan — doubling down on your key programs and strategic priority areas?

Start Building the Future

Viewed through the right lens, problems can be opportunities — disruptive external forces can make any organization or institution refine its offering into an ultimately higher quality offering. In our experience, this is the “fortune favors the bold” type of thinking that many organizations are struggling to embrace, much less take on during times of major change.

• Data-Driven: As you benchmark against peers, where are you deficient in data-driven recruitment marketing? What are the low-hanging fruit? How quickly might an overhaul happen — and what does the business case look like? Do you have the right internal and external partners to accelerate improvements to meet your goals?
• Remove Barriers: As you consider traditional and online education, what are your key enrollment barriers — by student type and program? How might you innovate your offering and/or modify your business model (e.g., trial, refund, bite-size offering) to increase conversion?
• Customization: In concert with a data-driven approach and reduced barriers, how might you create more targeted, customized marketing campaigns to more specific target segments to bolster conversion throughout the funnel?
• Referrals: How might you enhance your referral programs? What role might student success stories and testimonials play to drive traffic and conversion? How might you optimize your content to fuel growth?
• Online, Reimagined: Instead of merely migrating an offline approach into online, have you truly “leaned into” the exercise of envisioning future realities for your institution? What would the ideal future state look like — based on your mission, vision, values, areas of expertise and likely changes in behavior beyond COVID-19?

Simply put, now more than ever, you can’t assume that historical activities will yield historical outcomes. While the preceding is by no means comprehensive in nature, our intention is to spark thinking for your organization, challenge assumptions and help you consider what a new strategic plan might look like.

If you are looking for an experienced partner to help you navigate these uncertain waters — and help you drive both short- and/or long-term initiatives for your institution — drop us a line. We’d welcome the opportunity to start a dialogue around “what if” together. Shine on.