Recruiting Intelligence

We all know there is no “one-size-fits-all” marketing (that would be too easy). You adjust your approach by country, right?

But in the US, would you market your institution the same way in Southern California and Texas? How about in Brooklyn?

Turns out, China is a big country too (surprise). And in a huge market like China, there can be a temptation to lower your strategic standards and provide the same marketing material to every prospective Chinese student. We’ve talked about segmentation often. To get the right students to your campus, you have to focus on niche markets with the right messaging.

Segmentation is especially important to small institutions with no brand recognition abroad. So, today we are talking about China’s second and third tier cities, and how you can leverage your brand in these harder to get to places. (Actually, many of them are on high speed rail and have reasonable flight schedules now.)

Bottom Line: Segmentation ensures that the right information gets to the right audience. In China, the criteria for a destination country varies depending on student academic interest. Additionally, a student’s academic level impacts the type of information they desire. Finding the right Chinese students for your campus involves tailoring information to targets and strengthening your relationship with agents. Agent management systems that reward success are essential to finding the right students and maintaining your institution’s reputation.

A couple of weeks ago, we were at AIEA talking about language schools as university pathways for international students. We had the honor of presenting with David Silva, Provost of Salem State University, and Deborah Curtis, Director of the Niagara University Center for Language, Culture and Leadership. 

With the global changes we are witnessing and the political landscape here in the US, this turbulent time is taking a toll on language school enrollments. These programs act as early indicators of trends in international recruiting, and we can see that many of them are starting to face challenges. These challenges are likely going to spread to international student enrollment more broadly over the coming months.

Yet, any significant enrollment declines we see coming will likely be limited to specific regions (think Middle East, Mexico, perhaps India) . This will be harsh enough for everyone in our industry. And still, there will be bright spots where students are less concerned and student interest in the US may, in fact, increase (think Russia).

Time will tell, and our market research is helpful as you develop your marketing/recruiting plans. We work hard to make your planning targeted and effective in each region. Your use of language programs is just one tool among many to draw students to your campus and your programs.

Read on to see what our language school research uncovered and to download our AIEA presentation slides.

Here at Intead, we are always on the hunt for reliable resources and information to help our clients, and favorite blog readers  make better decisions about their recruiting and marketing plans. While the ICEF Monitor Agent Barometer is not new (it’s been published annually since 2007!), it is a great resource of information from people on the ground, working directly with student every day–agents! They can be extremely helpful and reliable sources.

Considering the amount of change in the air here in the U.S., in the U.K. and frankly, a whole lot of other important student-focused regions, having a strong agent network is like having your ear to the ground in all of these regions. Without in-country partners, you are relying on international news sources to tell you what the cultural sentiments are and how economic conditions are changing. Good agents are a great source of current intel.

Bottom Line: The 2016 Agent Barometer survey gathered responses from 1,111 agents in 108 countries. The survey suggests that the U.S. is losing ground as an attractive destination for international students. Finance is less of a concern for students, while the responsiveness of universities is still essential for getting students to your campus.

Another helpful resource to be on the lookout for is "NAFSA's Guide to International Student Recruitment: 3rd Edition" about all things international recruiting coming out in May 2017, and featuring an Intead-written chapter "Effective Marketing Practices for International Student Recruitment: Simplifying the Complexity of Academic Global Branding" on digital marketing strategy and tactics.

Read on for details and links to valuable information sources and our agency evaluation form to support your recruitment plans. You’ll have to read to the end to get all the good stuff! Don’t forget to share it with your team.

In many countries where you are currently recruiting, parents and families are an important part of the study abroad decision-making process. In some European and Asian countries, parents play an especially vital role in helping their children decide where to study - especially at the boarding high school and undergraduate levels. And they play a pretty influential role at the graduate level as well (though the students would have you believe otherwise).

Though it may be a bit more challenging to reach parents with your marketing, this influencing audience is so important. Facebook, live chats and online forums are great places to engage parents and bring them into the decision-making process. Of course, China needs a different approach. China always needs a different approach!

Bottom Line: We discuss segmentation a lot. By demographics, geographics, programs of interest. Academic marketers segment their student audience in many ways. Parents are another segment of your overall recruiting plan that you should be considering. They need specific messaging about safety, quality of academic programs, job prospects (outcomes) and other factors when deciding to send their child abroad. And, Pro Tip 1: they like institutions that are close to large international airports with major metropolis shopping nearby. Pro Tip 2: local language (nuf said!).

Finding online communities where parents are active is a great way to make sure your influential messaging gets to them.

Meet us in D.C.! Intead is off again to AIEA in Washington, D.C., next week from February 20-22. We’ll be participating in a presentation on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 5pm: Harnessing Language Schools as University Pathways. Niagra University and Salem State University will share their plans to take their language instruction programs to the next level and we will offer our perspective on how to align global marketing plans with language program recruiting efforts. We would love a chance to speak with you one-on-one! Let us know if you will be there.

Read on for tips on how to engage international parents online...

This week, we turn directly to the voice of the international student–specifically, to our international student intern, Maartje Sebek (pictured above while traveling in Budapest), who has been working in our office since September and concluded her internship last week. (We seriously miss her already!)

Keeping the international student in mind as you create your marketing content is so important. Below, Maartje share's her perspectives on living and working abroad, why she decided to come to the US, and how her experience will benefit her future studies and career goals. Maartje’s motivations for this international experience and her decision-making process identify a few tools you should consider and point to valuable messages you might incorporate into your student marketing.

Among Maartje's many projects at Intead, she helped us pull off our first annual International Student Recruitment Bootcamp, presented in partnership with CGACC. The theme was What Works Where and our conversations, workshops and presentations all focused on building recruiting and digital marketing strategies for the year ahead with a mind toward best practices, metrics and engaging the right audiences.

In the weeks ahead (starting next week) Intead's Recruiting Intelligence Blog will share some of the helpful worksheets from the conference.

Now, let's have Maartje tell her story: Hello blog readers, I’m Maartje, a 23-year old Dutch student who just returned home to the Netherlands after living abroad in the US. Currently, I’m studying at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, in the Small Business and Retail Management program. As part of my third year at my university, I had to complete a six-month internship. This is my story about how I chose my internship abroad and the value of international work experience.

With this past week, the world of student recruiting is in a bit of an uproar here in the US and around the world. As we review the executive orders, court decisions and various statements from university presidents, NAFSA and the like, we know that many are gathering to raise our concerns and consider the options before us.

In times of great change, there is a strong inclination to take a wait and see approach. In our view, we see opportunity. Not to make light of the situation. It is quite serious. Nevertheless, planning is always valuable, regardless of how unclear the future may be.

We just completed our first annual International Student Recruitment Bootcamp held in San Diego. An intrepid, forward thinking set of universitites, boarding high schools and other academic industry providers gathered for two days to share their experiences and map out plans to move forward despite the turmoil in our industry. Whether you were an attendee, a speaker, partner or sponsor, the Bootcamp was a success because of you.

And special thanks to Zepur Solakian at CGACC for her leadership.

Our goal, as always, is to help you make smart recruiting and marketing decisions. We think everyone came away with useful information, tools, best practices and insights into international student recruiting and digital marketing and that you will be able to share that knowledge with others in your office who were not able to attend. From the conversations we overheard in our speaker sessions, break-out groups and networking receptions, and even the 3K sunrise run, it seems everyone was able to connect with others facing similar recruiting challenges and share solutions to overcome them. We think that's pretty cool.

We are already thinking about next year's conference and can't wait to share details. And for those unable to attend this year, we will be sharing marketing planning material and worksheets from the conference in the weeks ahead, so check back often! We want you to be able to plan and move forward even when the headwinds are strong.

In the meantime, we want to thank our speakers for bringing their expertise to our conference attendees....Want to see who spoke? It's a truly incredible line up and we owe them all such gratitude for their willingness to share. 

What are the Top 3 Metric Areas you should be tracking? Does your answer match ours?

Former CEO of HP, Carly Fiorina, once said, “the goal is to turn data into information and information into insight.” This is the essence of analytics. It’s exactly why you are (or should be!) taking the time to track traffic on your website and social media engagement. It is all for that valuable insight that can introduce you to the student leads you want and help you understand their needs/motivations.

We know we might sound like a broken record but analytics are important. And we know how difficult it can be to get started. The good news is that it’s not as complicated as you think.

Come meet us in San Diego this weekend (a quick jaunt to the sun!?!) to learn more about metrics, tactics and other international student recruiting approaches from experts in the field at our upcoming International Student Recruitment Bootcamp. It is all about What Works Where.

Have you seen our speaker list? A range of experts, our conference faculty, will be on hand January 29-31. Today is the LAST DAY to take advantage of regular pricing. Spaces are limited and going fast. 

The Bottom Line: The key to successfully tracking analytics is to set up a system that is easy to use and accessible–your dashboard. Just like your car dashboard, a metrics dashboard stores all your “go-to” data in one place. This can help know how your digital marketing is performing. If you take the time to do this regularly, a big IF based on what most of us have time for, you will spend your marketing budget more wisely every year. If nothing else, your bosses will be proud of you for that ;-)

Trying to collect data without setting up a dashboard is like trying to make a recipe you’ve never made before without the ingredients list. You might know where to find one or two of the pieces of data you are looking for, but you need to know how to piece them together to make a tasty meal. Read on for our list of the Top 3 Metrics Areas we think you should be keeping tabs on. This is the kind of data we think should be on your dashboard to support your international student recruitment efforts.

Pro tip: this is one of those posts you’ll want to share with a select few others on your team.

Is your institution using international partnerships effectively? There are benefits beyond the academic collaboration. Have you examined your faculty’s international connections from an international student recruitment point of view?

Study abroad programs, research exchange programs and dual degree programs take time to build, but they have lasting value and, nurtured well, can grow into significant international student recruitment pathways beyond the academic bridges they build. These relationships often become significant differentiators for the institutions making the effort to build them.

At our upcoming International Student Recruitment Bootcamp, presented in partnership with CGACC, we will have speakers, discussion groups and work sessions focusing on the tactics that work best in regions around the world based on the type of academic program you offer. It is all about What Works Where. International academic partnerships represent an important tactic to consider.

Secure your spot and meet us in San Diego on January 29-31.  We've held regular pricing in place through 1/25/17. It is a small venue for a highly-focused gathering. Spaces are limited and going fast. 

Bottom Line: Creating international partnerships can be time consuming, but done well, have lasting and significant value. These partnerships help increase your institution’s international presence. Courses, published research and events shared by your institution across borders help market to your prospective students in their native language, and through the media channels they use most. These initiatives increase your opportunities to reach international student influencers: parents, agents, counselors, university and high school administrators. In concrete numbers, we’ve seen this work where a partnership is the source of four international student enrollments each year at the start and slowly builds to a consistent pipeline of 20+ international students from a single source. That, in addition to the many other benefits of these cross-border collaborations.

It's 2017 and Intead's Recruiting Intelligence is back! And we are flying forward. So glad you are with us!

2016 saw a lot of change – a new U.S. presidency is just days away, Brexit has made an impact on international relations, safety concerns have heightened, new government policies have changed the landscape across the world, and currency exchange rates have presented challenges for international student mobilization – among many other things.

Throughout it all, we have tried our best to present new research and insights, shed light on new markets, and introduce you to new tools and best practices to make your international student recruiting and marketing strategies work to meet your goals. While 2017 will undoubtedly present its own set of new challenges, we checked the analytics on last year's posts and wanted to share those posts that your colleagues found most helpful based on the readership stats.

Read on, and while you're at it, check out Intead’s new blog homepage! This is just a first step as we roll out our website refresh to make all our great content easier to find and access. Our popular e-books, conference slides, market research reports..everything you use to make your international student recruitment and enrollment plans stronger.

Did someone say "recruitment and enrollment plans?" To start your 2017 planning, come meet us in San Diego on January 29-31, at our first annual International Student Recruitment Bootcamp (theme: What Works Where), presented in partnership with CGACC. The conference will cover implementing effective strategies, measuring results, and determining what works where. We've held regular pricing in place through 1/25/17. It is a small venue for a highly focused gathering. Spaces are limited.

We are excited to announce our KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Safia Samee Ali (NBC, News Associate) and Paul Jensen (Weber Shandwick, President – Corporate Practices) will present on The Power of Storytelling: Marketing, News Media and the Student Experience. It is sure to be an inspiring talk from two experienced professionals well-versed in the importance of audience engagement. 

Now for our Reader's Choice Top 10 Blog Posts of 2016...

Now that the year’s conference flurry has ended (no pun intended for those of you currently getting snow!), we wanted to take the time to reflect back on all of the great information we gathered and presented at the AIRC conference this year.

There was great discussion around what universities should be doing in the months and year ahead given the new political landscape, where institutions should be allocating budgets as they plan for 2017, how tech systems (CRMs and MAPs) can help your recruitment and digital marketing efforts, and how language schools are being used to support some institutions more effectively than others.

We were thrilled to be a part of it. And we really enjoyed the warm Miami weather ;-)

For those who were not able to attend our sessions, or for those who want a closer look at our slides, you can download these below.

But even better than that, you can come meet us in San Diego at our first annual International Student Recruitment Bootcamp (theme: What Works Where), presented in partnership with CGACC. The conference will cover implementing effective strategies, measuring results, and determining what works where. Spaces are limted to just 200 attendees. 

As a loyal reader, we want to extend a special offer: $75 off both registration fees if you sign up with colleague, now until January 5, 2017.

This conference will be a great opportunity for your marketing and international recruitment leadership to come together and build effective global recruitment and marketing plans. As we work with our clients, we have found those institutions that build a strong partnership with their internal marketing and IT colleagues are in the best position to attract and convert their student leads. This conference will help your counterparts gain perspective on global marketing (as distinct from domestic marketing) in ways that will help you be effective going forward. 

Important Reader Note: The Recruiting Intelligence Blog will be taking a short, 2-week break for the holidays and will return on January 4, 2017 with a great set of must-read posts coming your way in the new year. Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday season wherever you may roam.

Read on to download our AIRC slides!