4 ways to boost revenue at your university

by Elisa Esposito

Summary

Boosting revenue across 4 areas of university business

Time: 4 minute read

When it comes to generating revenue on your campus, there are probably four main areas you're paying the most attention to: admissions, athletics, advancement and alumni relations. But there may be more you can do in these areas. It comes down to how you're using collected data and personalization in your marketing tactics.

With universities becoming more reliant on tuition dollars and donations due to cuts in state and federal funding, and students having a choice of where to spend their money when it comes to higher education — choosing between traditional, online or alternative institutions — results-proven marketing tactics may be more critical now than ever.

The following article will identify ways to use data and personalization to reach and help attract students to your university and build a loyal alumni network to help incoming revenue in these four main areas.

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Admissions: student personalization

Today's market for new students is highly competitive and universities can no longer rely on traditional marketing tactics to hit enrollment goals.

The answer lies in marketing solutions that personalize communication with students and send those messages in formats students are most responsive to. With the updated education services, tools and software, you can incorporate results-driven personalization into all of your communication and marketing to prospective students.

An effective and intuitive website, which is often the “ultimate brand statement" for an institution, is among the most important marketing tools in higher education. Therefore, today's institutions should focus on website personalization and optimization in order to enhance student enrollment. Each campus website visit can further develop a student's user profile, helping content to become more and more targeted, and encouraging prospective students to matriculate.

The explosion in advanced communication technology offers even more opportunities to pinpoint relevant information to share with specific donors and maintain the type of long-term, relevant relationship that leads to fundraising success.

Athletics: stand out to student athletes

Hundreds of schools are vying for the attention and enrollment of accomplished high school athletes. Consequently, your university has to grab that student's attention to even have a slight chance at winning them over.

Using collected data and personalization tactics can help your university's information reach students. Be sure to include the name of the student you're targeting and information about your school's athletic program and the specific sport they are interested in.

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Continued education: target the companies you want to partner with

To generate support for teaching, research and public service missions, build strong bonds with the community and national organizations, and create awareness for your university, you must employ data-driven techniques. These techniques should be paired with personalized communication to target individuals and organizations where they are most responsive.

Many universities have yet to fully integrate their advancement operations and use customer relationship management (CRM) strategies and higher education data analytics to personalize their communication with donors.

The explosion in advanced communication technology offers even more opportunities to pinpoint relevant information to share with specific donors and maintain the type of long-term, relevant relationship that leads to fundraising success.

Personalize your target audiences

Tools and resources to aid your revenue goals

Alumni: do more than ask

Alumni today must feel enticed to give, especially if they've recently handed over their final tuition check. And just as students do with recruitment and enrollment, alumni should feel as though they have been specifically sought after and personally communicated with. This can be done through higher education data analytics and personalization.

When equipped with the right data on your targeted audience, you can seek donations using personalization, and share updates on your university about areas of interest, past and upcoming events, big games, advanced degrees and more. And do it in a format your alumni are responsive to — figure out what works for who and stick to it, whether it be email campaigns, social media, phone calls or mailings such as newsletters.

By challenging traditional marketing methods and incorporating cross media and personalization, you can reach prospective students, athletes, corporations and alumni in new and original ways. Doing so can help result in increased enrollment and revenue at your university.

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