How can marketing and authenticity work hand in hand for education?

Schools can no longer afford to rely solely on their long-established reputations. The entire field has fiercely engaged in the practice of marketing to prospective students, which has transformed the market to be ever more competitive. Most schools have done their homework — identifying demographic trends; defining financial models and prime geographic opportunities; and using sophisticated analytics to sharpen conversion mechanisms. And most schools outreach through the same channels, with comparable strategies, claiming one identical promise: ours is better than theirs.

Regrettably, this new reality overwhelms both prospective students and their parents — feeding into their anxieties — and doesn’t bring anyone closer to what they are seeking: a sense of certainty for tomorrow. Even more regrettably, this phenomenon too often reduces the entire consideration process down to a question of return on investment — or return on sacrifice for some parents — reducing the conversation to the college matriculation list. At DISTINC_ we believe a healthier marketing strategy is to lead with authenticity.

Historically, authenticity and marketing have not necessarily gone hand in hand. Yet authenticity can help position, market, and elevate the unique proposition of your school by focusing on values. Values provide an immediate sense of certainty. People align with values much more than they buy into tactics, gimmicks, subject lines, or shiny printing techniques. When you set out to organize your outreach, recruitment, and enrollment efforts around values, your message will resonate with the right families. We call this values-based branding.