How a qualitative insights strategy helps a rapidly changing industry

At the end of July, Katrina Noelle and Casey Bernard represented KNow at eduWeb Summit and immersed into the world of higher education marketers. We took our Booth? Insights approach to understand the key issues they are facing. While some of the challenges are unique to higher ed, we know that other industries can learn from these professionals who are navigating a challenging environment.

We combined their input and our own point of view in our most recent video.

It’s a pivotal moment for higher education marketers. The demographic and enrollment?cliff?is in full swing, trust in higher education is?waning, Google Analytics 4 is changing analytics, institutions are shuttering and merging and generative AI is looming. Colleges and universities’ marketing teams need to do all they can to create relevant, targeted messages to their potential students to keep communities and alumni engaged and supportive.

In this moment, differentiation and collaboration become paramount.

Take a tip from?eduWeb Summit?keynote presenters,? Kati Pratt ?at Perdue University and? Bill Faust ?from?Ologie. When faced with solving the challenge of improving awareness and enrollment rates for? Purdue Global , their online branch of the well-known university created for adult learners, they took the time to step back and learn from their core audience.

The knee-jerk reaction could have been to immediately update or ‘fix’ the website/digital branding based on messages the administration would think would resonate. Instead, taking a moment to pause and connect with their target audience was key to making the right changes and updates that informed their messaging strategy.

The take-away from this story for all higher education marketers is to listen to your students, faculty, alumni and community.

• Hear what they want and need from higher education in general these days
• Most of all, seek to understand what they believe your institution can uniquely deliver
• Then check in with your prospect population. What are they looking for??What do they need to hear? Which of your differentiating qualities are they most excited about?
• Then, get your internal stake holder teams together and immerse yourself in the collected data.?We were reminded at eduWeb just how siloed higher education management can be, so we know this is sometimes a tall order! But it’s important to?create spaces for the digesting of insights?so that everyone is on board with what you’ve learned – and how those insights will be implemented.

For more inspiration check out our?case study?on? San Francisco State University 's recent – and highly?successful – enrollment campaign branding.

Along with learning about the category of higher education, this event proved to us that Booth? Insights is an effective tool for reaching busy professionals. Are you trying to connect with hard-to-reach B2B audiences? Contact us about bringing Booth? Insights to your next conference or professional event.