Tips for today’s higher education marketer: GET YOUR DIGITAL HOUSE IN ORDER

Tips for today’s higher education marketer
Be HEARD.
Be SEEN.
STAND OUT.

Introduction
Get Your Digital House in Order
Knock Knock. Who’s There? Generation Z.
Building Your Brand in Higher Education
Building Higher Education Brand Strength with a Brand Hierarchy
A Good Communications Strategy Starts with Knowing Your Audience
Table of contents
2
6
11
16
21
1

Higher education has always been a complex
industry.
But in recent years it’s emerged as one of the country’s most competitive industries
too. Add seismic shi!s in media use, and the coming-of-age of the first generation
of true digital natives, and you start to understand what keeps higher ed marketers
awake at night.
The challenges are immense, and constant change spawns new challenges almost
daily, so it’s no surprise that decision makers are searching for answers. The good
news is that success stories are cropping up, and some “best practices” can finally
be gleaned. It’s becoming clear that there are smart steps an institution can take to
stay competitive and even thrive.
We at Risdall Marketing Group are fortunate to have worked with many outstanding
higher ed institutions over the years on projects of all scopes and sizes. Now we
want you to benefit from our experience. We hope a read-through of this eBook—
tailored specifically to higher education marketers—will provide some comfort and
clarity amidst the big challenges you face day-to-day in marketing your institution.
Introduction

What if you could set up a way to know how many guests you had, what each of them
thought of your new place, how they moved through the house as they showed
themselves around, and what they’re saying about your new place, both to you and
behind your back?
In the online world you can. With today’s digital marketing tools the potential is there to
access all this information about guests visiting your “digital” house—your website. And
with so much of the college search now taking place online, your website is your “front
door” and, more than ever, your one chance to make a great first impression.
Imagine you’re having a housewarming party. You want people to show up, be comfortable
and enjoy themselves, right? And you want to make a good impression too. So, how can you
be sure it all goes as planned?
Get Your Digital
House in Order
2
Tips for today’s higher
education marketer:
GET YOUR DIGITAL
HOUSE IN ORDER

Before any digital marketing efforts kick in, it’s critical that
you have your house (website) in sound working order first,
or you could be throwing money away. A lackluster or hard-
to-navigate site can stop even the most well planned
campaign from working. Sometimes before it’s even
launched.
Imagine you bought your new home a week ago and you can’t
wait to show it off, so you go ahead with that housewarming
party. Your place is a nice, standard, single-family house like
those you’d see on a remodeling TV show. The structure is
sound, the utilities work, but the design and appliances are
outdated, and it’s clear the house has been empty for a while.
Your friends walk in and, as they’re taking off their shoes,
they’re faced with having to say something nice about a living
room that’s half pink and half wood paneling. It’s also clear
that the carpet needs replacing, there’s dust everywhere and
the walls are crying out for fresh paint. The potential for an
awesome house is there, but there’s plenty of work to do first.
While true-blue friends aren’t likely to flee your new place
based on the décor, your website visitors will. Recent
research says that judgments around website credibility are
75%-based on a site’s overall aesthetics. And 88% of online
visitors are less likely to return to a site a"er a bad
experience.
Unfortunately—even with stats like these floating around—
fixer-upper websites are being used for many digital
campaigns. With no second chance to make a great first
impression, it’s critical that you have your house in order, so
to speak, before you invite guests in.
And these days, it’s not just digital marketing initiatives that
drive traffic to your site. Many traditional campaigns do too.
People will also find your website on their own and show up
to learn about you, whether you’ve invited them or not. So
first-things-first, get your website gussied up and running
smoothly before you do anything else.
CREATE A GREAT WEBSITE EXPERIENCE FIRST
3
education marketer:
GET YOUR DIGITAL
HOUSE IN ORDER

OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE, IT AFFECTS EVERYTHING
It’s well known that today’s prospective students are the ones
that initiate the college search. Once they begin their research,
you want to be easily found, stand out from the crowd and
answer their questions to their liking. Optimizing your site’s
content for specific keywords is not only important for your
organic search rankings, but it also influences how well your
paid search ads perform and how much you pay-per-click for
various keywords you’re targeting.
Once your site is keyword-optimized, make sure it’s visitor-
optimized too. Make the navigation clear so people can find
what they’re looking for easily. And without interesting content
that answers prospect’s questions and holds their interest,
they’ll leave, sending cues to Google and other search engines
that your site may not be relevant to the query that brought
them there.
Other things, like freshness of content and signals from social
media platforms also factor into your website’s relevance and
authority around particular topics and keywords.
4
education marketer:
GET YOUR DIGITAL
HOUSE IN ORDER

It’s not only important to optimize for search engines and
visitors, you must also consider what types of devices
people are using to do their research and engage with
potential colleges.
If you do not have a responsive website yet, one that’s
optimized for mobile, tablet and desktop experiences, you
may already be turning prospects away. Stop and focus
your attention there before you attempt anything else from
a digital perspective.
Across the board, mobile and tablet traﬀic continue to
increase in usage. Even if the final conversion takes place
on a desktop or laptop, in many instances much of the
research leading up to a decision occurs on a mobile phone
or tablet.
Because of this ongoing shi" to mobile, Google updated its
algorithm earlier in 2015 to decrease the likelihood that a
non-mobile friendly site will show up in mobile or tablet
searches. Subsequently, we’ve seen mobile and tablet
traﬀic drop significantly on sites that are not mobile-
friendly.
So take a good look at your website. Make sure it looks
beautiful, represents you well and that it’s easy to move
around and find things. And be sure it provides a great
experience no matter what device your users have. That’s
the first step to making a great first impression on
prospective students and other visitors whether you invited
them or they’ve dropped by on their own.
ACCOMMODATE MOBILE PHONES AND OTHER
DEVICES WITH RESPONSIVE DESIGN
5
education marketer:
GET YOUR DIGITAL
HOUSE IN ORDER

Knock Knock.
Who’s There?
Generation Z.
Just as marketers get the hang of courting Millennials, along comes
Generation Z. Opinions diﬀer on their exact age range, but it’s generally safe
to consider Gen Zers as anyone born a"er 1994.
Many brands will focus on Millenials for at least another decade, as they
maintain earning and spending supremacy. That gives brands time get to
know Gen Z, but higher education marketers don’t have that luxury.
Generation Z is your target now.
6
education marketer:
KNOCK KNOCK. WHO’S
THERE? GENERATION Z?

What Makes Generation Z Tick
And What Do They Want?
“Generation Z grew up digital,” said Rebecca Shin,
(@rebeccashin41), a Boston-based marketer with
expertise in Millennials and Generation Z. “They are
the first true digital natives and are quick to embrace
and adapt to new technologies. They do a lot of online
research and understand the power of being able to
check facts and teach themselves new skills.”
And they’re not passive observers of the online world,
they consider themselves part of the action. They
believe strongly in their own capacity to drive change
and influence others.
Members of Generation Z are more idealistic than their
millennial predecessors. They care about improving
the world and want to have a positive impact on
people and the planet.
They have an appetite for content that meets a need,
but also a finely tuned sense of when they’re being
“sold to.” They can be brand loyal, but are just as likely
to align with a small startup as they are with a large,
established company.
As Generation Z’s Numbers Grow,
So Do The Marketing Challenges
Gen Z is on the cusp of out numbering Millennials.
According to the Boston Globe, Millennials hold the
lead at 83 million, but Gen Zers are 82 million strong
and counting.
For marketers, reaching Gen Z means pinpoint
targeting and custom messaging, as they’re even more
accustomed to a fragmented media landscape than
Millennials.
“Social media has made it extremely easy to share
opinions, perceptions, experiences and facts,” said Ms.
Shin. “To resonate with Generation Z, marketers need
to embrace this dialogue and engage in two-way
conversations. Co-creation and personalization are key
elements.”
To do this successfully companies will likely put more
dollars toward visual content that entertains, helps
solve problems, and is worthy of sharing with friends,
family and other people in their networks.
7
education marketer:

DON’T JUDGE GENERATION Z JUST BECAUSE
THEY’RE DIFFERENT
Some negative perceptions about Gen Z erode with
further understanding. They’ve been called out for having
short attention spans, but recent reports suggest they’re
simply fast and highly adept at assessing message value.
“Generation Z has experienced an information overload
since birth,” Ms. Shin points out. “Developing a way to
filter through the clutter and pull out what matters is a
way of coping.” They’ve always had unlimited access to
information but not a lot of time.
Gen Zers also get eye-rolls for “never putting down their
phones,” but research suggests they have higher “phone
etiquette” standards than Millennials. Gen Zers also know
the bad rap Millennials got for being antisocial, entitled,
etc., and they work hard to avoid those judgments about
themselves.
8
education marketer:

HIGHER ED IS IMPORTANT TO GEN Z. BUT HOW
AND WHERE YOU REACH THEM MATTERS TOO.
Most Gen Zers say they want to go to a traditional college
and that college is critical to a bright future. However,
marketers still need to reach them on their terms, be
where they are, and help them solve their problems.
Facebook is still important but many younger users are
abandoning it for sites like Instagram, Snapchat, Vine and
Tumblr. Lesser-known apps like Kik and Yik Yak are also
gaining favor with Gen Z.
But “what was hot today can quickly become old-school
tomorrow,” says Ms. Shin, “and it’s important for colleges
and universities to have a hand on the pulse of these
shi!s.”
Marketers should develop a smart and fast process for
assessing new and emerging apps and social platforms.
Consider relevance and scale—is your audience there? Are
there enough of them to justify your presence?
And with smartphone use rapidly eclipsing other devices,
a compelling and easy-to-use mobile experience is also a
must-have.
But despite the huge shi! to digital, don’t forget that
some traditional recruitment tools still work well.
Research reveals that live events and campus tours are
highly important to Gen Z. This is a plus for marketers
because face-to-face events are a great opportunity to
provide a fun, memorable experience for prospects and
their families.
Just be sure to use consistent branding across all
channels and touch points. Consistency over time helps
boost your reputation, build your brand and forge deeper
connections. (Read more on branding in the next
chapter.)
9
education marketer:

OFFER SOLUTIONS, TOOLS AND GUIDANCE.
SHOW THEM YOU CARE.
What matters most to Gen Zers will change as they age,
but two-thirds now say they have concerns about how to
pay for college. And according to Fortune, while they want
to “do good” in the world, they also expect decent
compensation.
Address issues and concerns like these in your messaging.
Put helpful, share-worthy content in the right places.
Show them how you’ll help solve these problems and
they’ll likely listen.
10
education marketer:

Building Your Brand
in Higher Education
These are big questions, but answer them and you’ll have the basic
foundation of your organization’s brand. Much more than just a logo and a
tagline, your brand is the perception consumers have about your
organization on an emotional level. It’s how they feel about you.
When your audience trusts you and believes in what you stand for, a loyal
relationship develops. Then, it’s in your hands to maintain that
relationship.
What does your organization stand for? What is the
reputation you currently hold in the eyes of your diﬀerent
audiences and customers?
11
education marketer:
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
IN HIGER EDUCATION

Your brand should also set you apart—or differentiate you—from
competitors. Differentiation in higher ed is more critical than ever as
competition intensifies and more schools jockey for attention.
Today’s undergrad prospects are flooded with marketing messages
from higher educational institutions. Unfortunately, most tend to tout
similar features making it hard for prospects to see clear differences
from school to school. A solid brand strategy helps your institution
articulate what makes you unique and distinguish you from the pack.
A well-managed brand is also valuable asset. But because it’s rooted
in people’s perceptions, it’s the people you serve who ultimately
determine that value. According to SEMWorks, your brand “is worth
only what students and parents are willing to pay for it, donors are
willing to support and faculty are willing to contribute to make it real.”
Higher education institutions today face unique challenges to creating
that brand value. Your main audience—those Generation Z prospects—
is likely to already have perceptions based on your organization’s
reputation. On top of that, the true impact of an institution’s benefit
to a consumer can sometimes be difficult to measure.
DETERMINE WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT
12
education marketer:
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
IN HIGER EDUCATION

Your institution has likely been around for years
and already has a solid reputation. That
reputation is what currently impacts how people
feel about you and is the foundation on which to
build your brand. Think of your brand as the
consumer-facing version of your reputation.
Take some time to assess and understand how
people currently feel about you. Also gain a solid
understanding of the various needs of your core
constituencies. What issues and problems do
prospective students as well as alumni, faculty,
staﬀ, donors, etc., face, and how are you helping
solve them?
The assessment can take many forms, but the
desired outcome is to gain insights into your
existing reputation and people’s perceptions. It’s
a “right-this-moment” snapshot of where you
are today.
UNDERSTAND YOUR SCHOOL’S REPUTATION FIRST
13
education marketer:
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
IN HIGER EDUCATION

Central to your
organization
Functional, usefulTimeless Emotional
Single-minded, short and focused Relevant to the consumer
Unique in the market
Compelling
Believable, credible Logo and tagline
Color palette and fonts
Consistent graphic style
Copy tone and voice
With an understanding of your reputation, you can start to build your brand. At Risdall we recommend doing a self-
assessment of your institution in the four areas below.
This is your core identity. It defines your organization
and should remain largely unchanged over time.
This is your diﬀerentiator. It’s a concise, focused
statement that communicates your unique,
competitive advantage.
This is a quantified statement on the benefits that
consumers can expect your brand to deliver.
This is the creative expression of your brand. Your
essence, value proposition and positioning all influence
your brand’s visual presentation. Creative consistency is
crucial to building brand trust and loyalty.
Build On The Foundation through Self-Assessment
Brand Essence
Brand Positioning
Brand Value Proposition
Brand Presentation
14
education marketer:
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
IN HIGER EDUCATION

Once your brand is defined, it’s time to implement it.
You’ll need a brand strategy. Your strategy is a
marketing plan that dictates how the newly defined
brand will be rolled out.
The plan should include what media outlets will be used
to deliver key messages to targeted groups. This may
include, TV, radio, printed materials, outdoor, digital
marketing, social media, email and a website re-launch.
It also defines design and copy guidelines to be applied
across all media to ensure clarity and consistency.
Don’t forget to provide brand guidelines to your internal
audiences too. Here you have an opportunity to
empower staﬀ, faculty, administration, etc., to serve as
brand ambassadors. Maintain consistency at every
communication touch point, and your brand becomes
strengthened and ready to stand the test of time.
IMPLEMENTATION OF YOUR BRAND STRATEGY
15
education marketer:
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
IN HIGER EDUCATION

Building Higher Education
Brand Strength with
a Brand Hierarchy
The last chapter addressed how today’s perfect
marketing storm of stiﬀ competition and information
overload has more colleges and universities
recognizing the need for branding. Those who’ve
already done the hard work of developing a strong,
core-brand are ahead of the game. But they still have
work to do.
16Tips for today’s higher
education marketer:
BUILDING HIGHER EDUCATION
BRAND STRENGTH WITH
A BRAND HIERARCHY

CREATING A BRAND HIERARCHY: ARE YOU A
HOUSE OF BRANDS OR A BRANDED HOUSE?
Most higher education institutions, by necessity, serve many diverse and distinct communities and
interests. That means a lot of communication is pouring out, and when multiple departments, programs,
schools, sports teams and oﬀices try to reach nuanced audiences through the same brand bullhorn, it can
get murky fast.
Problems crop up when messages are confusing, too frequent or contradictory, and you’ll end up eroding
brand loyalty instead of building it.
The key to maintaining that strong identity—while also empowering teams across the institution to reach
their audiences eﬀectively—is to create a brand hierarchy, or brand architecture. We’ll use “hierarchy”
here but what you call it is less important than taking it seriously and taking some steps to put it into
practice.
Creating a brand hierarchy means ranking and
organizing “brands” and then dra"ing rules or
guidelines that each rank or group must follow when
communicating. It’s generally accepted that most
companies or organizations fall into one of two
categories—a house of brands or a branded house.
education marketer:
BRAND STRENGTH WITH
A BRAND HIERARCHY

Proctor & Gamble is a good example of a house of
brands. Each product or product line has its own
consumer-facing brand identity that lives
independently of the core or master brand.
We can also look to Procter & Gamble to understand
the large investment it takes to create and maintain
multiple brands. The company is currently in the
process of shedding almost half of the 200-or-so
brands in its portfolio, a decision largely due to the
ongoing costs of sustaining many under-performing
brands.
Most higher education institutions fall into the
branded house category. This means that there is
one master, core or umbrella brand with other sub-
brands beneath it. The sub-brands will likely use the
umbrella brand’s name and logo.
education marketer:
BRAND STRENGTH WITH
A BRAND HIERARCHY

FedEx is a branded house, and a glance at their logos
show how the FedEx name and logo are present in
each sub-brand’s mark.
York University in Ontario, Canada, follows the same
branded house approach that FedEx does. As the
graphic below shows, York University is the core
brand so their logo is included with the logos of
professional schools (called sub-brands below) and
faculties.
Both brand ranks identify themselves in lockup with
the main logo. However, the professional schools can
include their own unique logo, while faculties use a
standardized text treatment.
education marketer:
BRAND STRENGTH WITH
A BRAND HIERARCHY

FOR A GREAT BRAND HIERARCHY, LOGO TREATMENTS
ARE JUST THE BEGINNING
As great as logo examples are for showing how brands can be organized, it’s important to know
that a winning strategy is much more than that.
Each school or department needs to communicate with a unique audience, and the trick is to
speak that audience’s language while also honoring the core brand’s voice. So a complete
brand hierarchy can have rules around logo use, color palette, copy tone and voice, what types
of imagery can be used and more.
Some schools are already far down the road to having hard-working brand hierarchy guidelines
in place.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, for example, has a comprehensive and detailed Brand
Identity Guide that includes information about the core brand, a visual style guide, editorial
guidelines, social media guidelines, and even a gallery of pre-approved photography.
How deep you go depends on your school and your individual communications needs. But the
sooner you get a brand hierarchy defined and guidelines in place, the more miscues you’ll
prevent. And the more empowered your teams will be to reach their audiences while honoring
the core brand and building on that investment.
education marketer:
BRAND STRENGTH WITH
A BRAND HIERARCHY

A Good Communications
Strategy Starts with
Knowing Your Audience
It’s easy to get caught up in the daily surge of emails, social posts,
meetings and, oh yeah, what about lunch? But despite looming
deadlines and never ending to-do lists, it’s critical that
communications professionals push pause and take the time
required to really get to know the people they’re trying to reach.
21
education marketer:
A GOOD COMMUNICATIONS
STRATEGY STARTS WITH
KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE

IDENTIFYING YOUR AUDIENCE(S)
Without a deep understanding of the people
you’re talking to, you can’t be sure your
messaging addresses what matters to them.
Identify who they are, and get to know what they
care about and what challenges they face.
In higher education, the most common audience
is prospective students. But as noted in the last
chapter on brand hierarchies, there are o!en
many audiences that should be “talked to” in
diﬀerent ways. Focus on the audience your team
or department is entrusted to reach, and gain as
deep an understanding of them as possible.
Monitor social accounts, follow relevant blogs,
do surveys, mix and mingle any way you can.
More insights lead to more opportunities for
meaningful and relevant messaging. You’ll
want to be able to show that you know what
they’re going through, that you care, and that
you have answers and solutions for them.
Identify your audience(s)
Build audience personas
Reach your audience exactly where they are
Our experience has taught us a few simple things that can help you do this. And
investing the time upfront will make your communications much more eﬀective going
forward. Here they are:
22
education marketer:

Building Marketing Personas
As you learn more and more about your audience
you’re getting closer to being able to cra! a
persona, or personas. According to HubSpot, a
persona is a “semi-fictional representation of
your ideal customer based on market research
and real data.”
Personas provide insights into the behavior
patterns, motivations, aspirations and concerns
of your audience members. They help you
humanize your audience so you can tailor
communications to better resonate and matter
to them.
To get started, define the four W’s: who, what,
where and when.
You may even find through research that you
need multiple personas per audience group to
ensure the right message will resonate. Once
your personas are defined, give each one a name
and personalize them. Use them to guide all
future communications.
Who is the type of person that best
represents your audience?
What do they value, what is their role, what
is their background/story, and what are
their pain points/challenges?
Where are they likely to be reached?
When is the best time to reach them? (This
may vary by tactic.)
23
education marketer:

Below are a couple examples of how your core-audience
persona descriptions might start:
Steve
Kimberly
Nikki
Steve is a 46-year-old father who has an
administrative role within ABC Company. His
computer experience is limited outside of work.
Steve has traditional roots and is an engaged and
supportive parent. His daughter, who is just
beginning her college search, is heavily
influenced by Steve’s input… Etc.
Kimberly is a 34-year-old single parent working fulltime as an executive
assistant. To make ends meet, she works weekends at a retail garden store.
Limited career options at her day job have her considering going back to
school. She’s just starting to look into what online, evening and weekend
classes are out there… Etc.
Consider personas for other important audiences too. It’s no secret to higher ed
marketers that “non-traditional” students are a growing segment that may warrant
unique messaging and tactics. Here’s one more persona example:
Nikki is a 17-year-old who has been engaged in
the college search for about a year. She is very
proactive and wants to attend a prestigious
university and obtain an undergraduate degree in
electrical engineering. She is very technically
savvy and values her studies as well as extra-
curricular opportunities… Etc.
24
education marketer:

As research continues, you can make personas more detailed. In addition
to gaining the kinds of knowledge noted above, aim for some
understanding of how they search for solutions and what criteria are
important to them at each point in their decision-making process.
So what may be the best way to communicate
with Steve? It’s quite possible that using email
in combination with a great desktop website are
good starting points. But that may not work
with Nikki. To best reach her, you could boost
your presence on the social platforms she’s
using, and provide a great mobile web
experience since she’s more likely to research
by phone.
Consistent communications by audience, across
the relevant channels, with the right message,
will create a winning communications strategy.
REACHING YOUR AUDIENCES WHERE THEY
LIKE TO BE REACHED
25
education marketer:

TRY THINGS, MEASURE RESULTS AND ADJUST
ACCORDINGLY
As you develop personas and explore what channels to
use, you can build hypotheses based on your collected
data and test them a!er implementing your strategy.
Choosing the right measurement metrics during the
planning stage is important and this is where digital
marketing can play a large role.
There will be trial and error throughout the process of
targeting each audience, but identifying audiences,
building personas, and being where they are with your
communications will do a lot to ensure success.
The key is to honor your core brand with all
communications but tailor it—both the message and
selected channels—to best engage each distinct audience.
And don’t forget, somewhere along the way, to grab lunch.
26
education marketer:

About Risdall
Risdall Marketing Group is an independently owned, full-service
advertising agency in New Brighton, Minnesota, a suburb
convenient to both Minneapolis and St. Paul. As one of the largest,
longest-lived independent agencies in the state, and the U.S., we
provide digital and traditional marketing communications to
clients of all sizes and types. We work happily and tirelessly with
varied budgets, brands and business strategies.
We Love Education
We have extensive experience in the education market, having
worked with public and private colleges and universities,
community colleges, educational non-profits, secondary schools,
statewide systems, and nationally commissioned organizations.
Some recent clients include the University of Minnesota, Crown
College, Carlos Albizu University, University of Texas at Tyler and
Mounds View Schools.
jswanson@risdall.com
888.RISDALL
We’d Love to Hear from You
Let us get to know you, what you’re trying,
what’s working and what isn’t. Tell us what your
goals are and what obstacles you’re facing.
Whatever you want to talk about, feel free to
contact us today.

Tips for today’s higher education marketer: GET YOUR DIGITAL HOUSE IN ORDER

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