By Steven M. Kendus
Vice President for Communications and Marketing
Like watching shows on demand, streaming music by genre and ordering fast food online, college-bound consumers are expecting to engage with higher education brands in contemporary ways. High schoolers, adult degree completers and prospective graduate students alike demand quick and focused messages about college programs—and they want to receive the messages on their terms, according to their schedules and in media platforms that are integrated into their busy lives.
Emails to prospective students are optimized for mobile devices.
With these demands in mind, Immaculata University is continually refining the way it attracts and engages right-fit prospective students by embracing innovative content, design and delivery strategies that resonate with today’s tech-savvy, rapid-response-oriented generation. From targeted brand awareness campaigns and thoughtful social media outreach initiatives to personalized student information portals and virtual campus tours, the University’s forward-thinking approach to marketing, recruitment and admissions is not only meeting students where they are but is also showcasing its commitment to progress and growth in the ever-evolving landscape of higher education.
Bringing together the collective expertise and institutional knowledge of Immaculata’s admissions and marketing team members, the University’s approach to marketing, recruitment and enrollment management creates an ecosystem of separate but complementary teams and functions. In fact, the seamless connections between the teams are integral to ensuring prospective students are not only identified and engaged at the beginning stages of their college search journeys but are also informed, nurtured and encouraged as they progress toward applying and ultimately enrolling.
Initially focusing on generating awareness of Immaculata and its programs for prospective traditional undergraduate, nontraditional undergraduate (i.e. adult learners) and graduate students, Immaculata’s marketing and recruitment efforts follow a focused approach that aims to identify students with a likely affinity toward Immaculata. Leveraging data like location, optional standardized test scores, career interests, academic interests and athletics participation, Immaculata—along with its third-party marketing and recruitment partners—creates targeted awareness campaigns that reach interested prospective students directly via mail, email, phone and even text messages. Coupled with other traditional direct outreach methods like attending college fairs, sharing information with high school counselors and attending high school sporting events, these efforts are all effective in raising Immaculata’s profile.
In addition to traditional marketing and recruitment efforts, the Immaculata teams know the increasing importance of reaching prospective students in new ways. Using the hyper-targeted audience definition criteria embedded into digital and social media advertising platforms, Immaculata can also generate awareness and reach prospective students via the devices and media they are most familiar with. By creating engaging content and ads on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, YouTube and streaming television platforms, Immaculata is truly reaching prospective students where they are.
What’s more, thanks to the algorithms inherent in the platforms, prospective students are more likely to see and engage with content and ads that appeal to and resonate with them. In turn, they are more likely to follow and naturally engage with Immaculata’s social media accounts and other online content.
Realizing the always-connected nature of today’s prospective students, Immaculata has taken additional steps to present information to those students when, where and how they want it most. With self-service in mind, Immaculata engages students and encourages them to visit campus by promoting the newly launched virtual tour on Immaculata.edu and on online college search websites that match interested students with colleges and programs. Additionally, since most print, digital and social media campaigns ultimately lead back to Immaculata.edu, the website has been recently revamped to better accommodate the different student populations and answer their questions about the University and enrollment process.
Generating awareness of Immaculata and all the University has to offer is just the first step in the overall marketing, recruitment and enrollment management process. Keeping interested students engaged, encouraging them to apply and helping them enroll and matriculate are equally important, especially as college options and alternatives increase. With outreach campaigns created to build trust, develop motivations, address concerns and create long-lasting connections, Immaculata is committed to ensuring prospective students receive personalized, active and useful follow-up, guidance and support throughout their college search journeys. Prospective students who begin the application process create accounts in Immaculata’s admissions portal, where they can then track their application statuses and financial aid awards, register for events, participate in contests and connect with other prospective students.
Immaculata’s overall enrollment numbers are climbing, undergraduate student housing is in high demand, and increasing numbers of students are inquiring and applying. Higher education institutions nationwide are looking to address enrollment challenges associated with higher demand for online course delivery, questions regarding the value of degrees when compared to debt and future earnings, changing attitudes regarding skills-based credentials in the workforce and the anticipated effects of the declining number of college-age students. In this environment, it is now more important than ever that Immaculata remains committed to adopting new strategies for reaching, engaging and assisting prospective students.
The Evolution of the Immaculata Website
As technology has changed, with new devices, browsers and screen sizes, the Immaculata website has changed as well. This graphic shows the last 15 years of the home page. A redesigned site was launched in October, 2023.
But wait…
Why am I not seeing ads for Immaculata?
Folks on IU’s executive administration and communications and marketing teams are frequently asked by alums why they are not seeing ads for Immaculata. The short answer is ad targeting.
As discussed in the body of this article, IU mostly uses hyper-targeted audience definition criteria that determine where ads display and who is most likely to see them. Essentially, folks who are not in the market for undergrad or grad degrees (for themselves or their children) are less likely to see IU ads.
