Developing a Recruitment Campaign in a Cost-of-Living Crisis
Attracting prospective students comes with plenty of challenges. While UCAS projects 1 million applicants for undergraduate programmes in the UK by 2023, other research suggests younger generations are increasingly ‘pragmatic’ and ‘analytic’ than those that came before them, and even more averse to traditional marketing techniques.
With the cost-of-living crisis in the UK the picture becomes more complex. A recent report by the Prince’s Trust found that 57% of young people cited the cost of living as their biggest worry for the future. Common tropes about student life being a threadbare, thrifty experience and concerns regarding the rate of tuition fees only seem to compound the sense that a degree might be the hard option in the current climate.
Understandably, we’re seeing significant shifts in the recruitment landscape as a result. A fifth of the young people polled in a survey conducted by the Open University claimed they are rethinking their plans to enter HE, while research at Birkbeck found only 1 in 5 young people planned to move away from their hometown to attend university.
HE can be an enriching, life-changing experience. It’s the role of those working in HE marketing, recruitment and admissions to ensure that prospective applicants have accurate information about the opportunities it offers and the doors it can open. They also must address the understandable concerns prospective students will have during recruitment campaigns.
In this article, we explore 4 steps HE marketers and recruitment professionals can take to ensure their recruitment campaigns are cost-of-living fluent.
Centre Graduate Outcomes
The focus on good employment outcomes for students following graduation is an increasingly touchstone issue across the sector, particularly in the regulatory context.
On top of this, research shows that young people see securing a good job as key to their happiness and success in life. Mature learners, similarly, will be concerned with the financial returns they can see on their investment in HE.
So, pointing to the post-graduation opportunities that a degree at your institution can provide should be central in your marketing campaigns.
Promotional materials and events you produce should include both qualitative and quantitative indications of proven paths to success for graduates from your institution. This practical and resourceful generation want to see facts and figures that illustrate the benefits of getting a degree, so be sure to integrate this information in your communications.
On the other hand, young people in particular want to see authentic marketing content that tells stories, so make sure to include a human side to the data. Getting alumni, graduating students and careers professionals to participate in marketing campaigns can give your communications that human touch, and also offer prospective students the opportunity to ask questions and receive authentic advice.
A great example of this in action is the campaign the University of Northampton led highlighting the employability and success of their graduates. Using HESA graduate outcomes statistics and testimonials from their alumni, this campaign effectively made connections between past students’ experience at the university and their professional achievements. In doing so, the university brought together inspiring stories from alumni while also indicating how a degree at Northampton could help to support prospective students’ job search.
Address the Cost-of-Living Head On
While some marketing gurus suggest a ‘say nothing’ approach when it comes to rising prices, it’s not necessarily as simple for HE marketers. After all, you’re not promoting a product, but an entire experience – and one that is acutely affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
Prospective students will be keen to hear what support your institution is providing to current students, so be sure that staff and students at recruitment events know how to talk about this. You may also choose to include the details of some of that support in your promotional materials, or run a recruitment event that focuses specifically on rising prices.
This information doesn’t need to focus only on the financial support your university is offering students, such as bursaries and hardship funds, heated study spaces and free meals. For example, is you careers and employability service helping students to find part-time work to support themselves? What about changes your institution has made to academic processes and assessments to reflect the current pressures on students? Weaving this into your campaign will be important for letting prospective students know exactly how they’ll be supported by your university.
You might also consider how to develop a university-wide communications approach, which sees consistency between the cost-of-living information provided to current and prospective students. This will increase the consistency of your brand overall, which can make for a robust marketing campaign.
Middlesex University has seamlessly combined its communications to current and prospective students regarding cost-of-living support. The information on their website appeals to both groups of students, with clear indications of the cost of university and tools to support budgeting. They also recently launched the MDX Student Starter Kit and MDX Excellence Scholarship, new support packages exclusively available to new students – a considerable incentive for prospective students concerned about the cost-of-living.
As a supplement to your cost-of-living communications, a strong focus on the branding of your institution will be essential. If prospective students feel a connection to that brand identity, you can increase leads and conversion rates.
Demystify the Loans System
The headlines when it comes to the price of higher education often focus on the amount of debt accrued by graduates and the high interest rates that apply in the repayment system. Yet, in reality, the vast majority of graduates will never repay their loan in full – an intentional feature of the loans system that often goes unspoken.
Given these confusing communications, it’s unsurprising that just two-fifths of students claim they don’t properly understand the loan system.
The need for more accurate information on the loan system becomes ever more crucial in the context of the cost-of-living crisis. Prospective students need access to clear, succinct communications about precisely what they can expect when they take out a student loan, and how it will affect their life as a student and beyond.
We recommend integrating this information into your recruitment campaigns. This could include, for example, running a webinar that demystifies the loan system and allows prospective students to ask questions.
As the Government plans to overhaul the student loan system in 2025 with the introduction of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE), it’s essential to keep an eye on policy changes and ensure staff and student ambassadors are able to answer questions about how this might affect incoming cohorts.
Run Online Recruitment Events
When the pandemic induced a nation-wide lockdown in March 2020, HE marketers had to adapt their recruitment campaigns rapidly. The provision of online events for prospective students was a key part of this shift.
As costs rise, engaging with prospective students in a virtual manner remains an essential part of any recruitment campaign. For example, as the price of train tickets and fuel continue their upward trajectories, it’s unlikely that all prospective students will have the resources to attend in-person events on campus, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
A palliative to this could be the introduction of a bursary for students that supports them with travel costs.
Virtual events, however, also have a role to play. While they cannot replace the experience of, say, an open day on campus, you can make them engaging and interactive in ways that address prospective students needs and questions.
One way of ensuring this engagement and interactivity is by including student voices in your virtual recruitment events. If your institution has a student ambassador scheme, they should be as involved in your virtual delivery as they are in your in-person events.
Virtual fatigue is also a concern, so consider breaking down your online events into shorter, digestible sessions. For example, rather than running a whole ‘open day’ in one session, run a number of webinars addressing different themes, such as accommodation, course information, campus facilities and so on. Having a range of events will ensure you can cast your net wider.
Understanding Student Decision Making
Palpable changes in prospective student decision making are to be expected in uncertain times. As the pandemic subsides but the cost of living rises, it’s understandable that prospective applicants have more complex, distinct needs and considerations.
Developing and delivering impact and engaging marketing campaigns will be key to ensuring prospective students get the full picture, and can use that to inform their decisions.
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