Colleges and Universities around the world are trying to find new ways to increase their international numbers. With education changing around the world, there has to be some new strategies that are met to encourage student recruitment for those who want to go abroad. Institutions around the world are dealing with the challenges of find new students from around the globe who bring value, inspiration, and intelligence to their campuses. However, recruitment initiatives need to be creative to bring awareness to more students, to ensure those admissions numbers stay on the rise rather than decline. One of the most valuable tools that institutions can use to keep their institutions numbers on the rise, is by using various marketing strategies. Marketing is meant to bring various efforts together to achieve a result or awareness. This can be connected to international admissions because marketing can help bring awareness to those who are looking to study abroad. It is best to have a marketing strategy in place because once we get back to our “new normal” for life, there will be a surge in students wanting to study abroad. The question that is begging to be asked though, is how marketing and outreach can help recruit international students right now?

Personal Emails 

This may seem like an unconventional way to reach out to students, but sending personal emails is one of the best ways to provide students with a personal touch. There has been a variety of research conducted to figure out some of the best ways to reach out to students, and that is through sending personalized emails. Research has been conducted that has proved that personalized emails can work better than mass emails.

• Respond to emails within 1 to 3 days from a student. This is due to the ability to build trust with a student to ensure that they know they are on an admission representatives mind.
• Type a subject line that is remarkable to ensure that a student will open the email. Some key elements to keep in mind when creating a subject line is to keep it concise, exclusive to the student and their needs, and include cruciality.
• Make sure there is some sort of email feature that will allow for a student to interact with the email. Usually this is referred to as a “Call-to-action" button that may have a student click a button to fill in their information.

Email Marketing 

As technology evolves, there are new strategies that have become more popular than others in providing students with more information, like email marketing. This is one of the many forms of marketing that is affordable and gives results. Email marketing is great for students because it can give them a wide variety of information, or it can be specific. This can be useful if an institution wants to funnel what students are interested in and send specific information to them regarding their interests. However, research has been done that has shown evidence of institutions not using their email marketing to their best abilities. This is due to:

•  Inconsistency with branding – Most institutions have colours, logos, and fonts that represent who they are. These elements tend to stay in sync wherever they are posted, which is a part of an institutions branding. All material, from in person to online, should stay cohesive.
• Lack of personalization – Creating emails should be personalized to each institution and recipient. Make sure that the content inside the email is about the recipient; most generation Z need their attention to be caught for them to find relevance in viewing it.
• Scarce testing – If an institution is just getting started on their email marketing, it is crucial they run some tests to ensure that everything in the email is running properly and looking good. There is nothing worse than sending an email with incorrect information or email features that do not work.

Social Media Marketing 

The boom of social media began with Myspace in the early 2000s and has now integrated into various platforms that can be found across our computers and mobiles. Generation Z has become the generation that is always connected, so social media marketing is a crucial way to recruit students interested in studying abroad. Social media marketing is used when an institution wants to try and gain reach to students all over the world, to intrigue them into learning more about their institution. Social media is a great way to target specific demographics. This is because institutions can create campaigns (advertisements) that are directed towards a specific audience which include: location, audience, detailed targets, programs, and keywords. This will help institutions gets specific about what students they want applying to their institutions because it is directing a specific advertisement to those students.

Virtual School Fairs 

Do you remember when your institution would hold various campus tours to students from all over the world, so they could get a little more insight into the environment they are thinking of becoming immersed into? Well, you can still give a student this insight through virtual school tours. Virtual school tours will help a student get acquainted with your institution, campus, and what services and support you have to offer a student during their time at your institution. During a virtual school tour, a student should be able to navigate through different booths, which may be hosted by professors and faculty from your institution who can discuss programs, services, and anything a student may be interested in from a re-creation of an in-person open house. Your institution can even host different presentations that are accessible to all students, so they can get a healthier idea of what they can receive from your institution, compared to others. Virtual school tours can help ease international students' worries because they can get a better grasp of everything you have to offer at your institution.

Virtual Fairs

Due to the global pandemic, measures have needed to be taken to meet new students to ensure that international enrollment is still on the rise. One of the best new methods that an institution can use to meet new students is by joining virtual fairs and webinars. This gives students the ability to connect with admission representatives on a one-to-one basis, which can leave an impression on a student. Although many think that impressions are hard to conduct through a screen, there are various ways that a recruiter can leave a great impression on students:

• Be genuine with the students you are talking to. Nothing is worse than sounding like a robot or copying and pasting the same message to every student.
• If you have resources available for students such as PDF’s or brochures, provide them to students. Try not to give them an information overload but show them you care about them joining your institution.
• Set up a video chat if possible, with the student, so they can put a face to the name and feel more comfortable speaking with you.

Virtual fairs are a great way to meet new students who are serious about studying in another country. Many virtual fairs take place worldwide, so students are authentic in wanting to learn about what options they have, and how to make them happen. During certain recruitment fairs, admission representatives can host webinars to discuss important topics in post-secondary education. This can help students learn more about an institution, and about what they need to apply.

At Worldwide College Tours, we are proud to help both students and institutions connect to further education. As of April 2020, we began hosting virtual fairs that are available worldwide to students and admission representatives. During our virtual fairs, admissions representatives can create a personalized profile, have one-on-one messaging, video chats, upload documents and videos, and host sessions for students on various topics. Other efforts that we offer in support of student recruitment is our soon to be released book: Worldwide College Tours College Admissions Guide. There is the opportunity for print marketing within our book that can show off an institution to everyone who purchases or receives a copy. It is best to combine efforts to get the best strategy and outcome for an institution. Work with companies whose efforts can overlap with what institutions need to gain the attraction of students. Worldwide College Tours finds the students, has connections with guidance counselors around the world, and establishes a marketing plan. When working with us, we also provide a database of leads to allow institutions to continue their recruitment efforts with having to spend time coming up with a new marketing strategy.

We want to help you explore new opportunities.

CLICK HERE to learn more about becoming an exhibitor for our virtual fairs.