Recruiting Intelligence

India is the second largest source country for students who are looking to study abroad (China tops the list).   However, the complexion of the study abroad market in India has changed a lot. Ten years ago, the USA and UK were the top destinations, but now we see Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland and other non-traditional destinations like The Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, China and Taiwan all actively wooing Indian students.

How important is response time and turn-around time for your success in international student enrollment?   Let me tell you why I am thinking of response time in marketing. I had two recent experiences that made me focus on the topic.  During a side conversation at a conference with the owner of a for-profit college, he mentioned that they follow up with a phone call within seven minutes of a registration on their web site (almost 24-7). Wow.  Then I needed a garage door repair, signed up on a website for recommendations for repair companies and received three recommendations to fix our garage door problem.  While I picked up the phone, the first repair person from that recommendation list called me.  The follow up happened within 30 seconds.  AMAZING. 

You are reading an excerpt from our e-book "88 Ways to Recruit International Students" (Click here to read the entire book)

#53. Social media

You are reading an excerpt from our e-book "88 Ways to Recruit International Students" (Click here to read the entire book)

At our core we at Intead are a technology company dedicated to helping universities harness digital solutions for their recruitment and retention needs. Let’s be honest here, we love technology. We have been digital marketers for well over a decade now. And we’d love to encourage our readers (and clients) to better utilize options available today. Digital media offers powerful tools for optimizing your marketing over time based on trackable user behavior. Digital marketers can test and modify their messages to appeal to the right student and their parents. Tracking web traffic from the first unrecognized visit by a prospective student to the final step of enrollment can lead to cost reductions, efficiency gains and result in yield improvements.

 The Four Pillars of Engagement

This blog focuses on the alignment of your marketing resources in light of your current recruitment channels and the desired mix of student enrollment channels in the future.  We will focus on the alignment of the geographic, as well as, the marketing channel mix for this analysis. For the purpose of this article and analysis, we are going to exclude other important enrollment criteria such as the ability to pay, English capabilities and academic level and preparedness. 

• Audit your external brand perception, visibility and content

Social media is becoming a must-do activity to generate prospects, nurture them through the admissions process and convert them into enrolled students.

You are reading an excerpt from our e-book "88 Ways to Recruit International Students". 

II. Armchair recruiting

Don’t underestimate what you can accomplish from your office in Dubuque, Syracuse or South Bend.  Even if you are chained to your desk, figuratively we hope, you can pursue numerous recruitment strategies with potentially great payoff.  If your institution is just beginning to explore international recruitment, many of these methods can help you wet your feet in the international sector.  Or if your institution has already made inroads in some markets, these methods can help to cultivate additional regions. Let’s begin. 

Excerpt...........

4. Targeted marketing materials for each international market