FREE 10+ College Marketing Plan Samples [Community, Admission, Strategic]

Once you are in your final year in high school, you often are torn between what college degree you want to take and what particular college would suit you. It is a life changing decision for most senior high school students, since going to college would be another 4 or more years of studying on a particular degree that would prepare them to take part of the workforce, and it can be quite expensive as well. Unless of course you manage to secure college sponsorship. But how does one choose the right degree and college to attend to? Well, as another academic year is about to end, colleges would start their marketing campaign drawing potential students to attend and choose their schools.

Whenever you see emails, brochures, posters or any forms of advertising of a particular college, this is all thanks to the college marketing plan initiated in the first start of the quarter or perhaps during the last quarter of the previous year. Read more about what a college marketing plan can help formulate different methods to reach their target market and other important things, in our article below and for templates go check out our free college marketing plan as you scroll down this page.

10+ College Marketing Plan Samples

1. College Marketing Plan

2. College Education Marketing Plan

3. Community College Marketing Plan

4. Engineering College Marketing Plan

5. Technology College Marketing Plan

6. Community College Communication Marketing Plan

7. Sample College Marketing Plan

8. Sample Community College Marketing Plan

9. Simple College Marketing Plan

10. Central Community College Marketing Plan

11. College Marketing Plan Example

What Is a College Marketing Plan?

Colleges are just like most businesses, the services they offer are through teaching and the learning development of their students. And the final products are the successful graduates they produce. And also like most service oriented businesses, the competition is quite high. As there are various factors that would affect a student’s decision when choosing the college of their choice. Yet a big factor that can contribute to their choice is how well a college would market their services and the degrees they are offering. While it seems easier said and done, a college marketing plan can help your school with your marketing efforts and campaign, making sure it reaches the right audience and would play a part in their decision making process.

How To Create a College Marketing Plan?

Like clients on the search for the right product or who would want to avail of the right service, students begin as prospects. A student prospect is someone we know about but who has yet to indicate interest in us. And how to capture that interest is the main topic of your college marketing plan. Aside from all the digital or conventional way of marketing and advertising your college, somewhere along the line you might receive various inquires of all sorts. So it is always important to pay attention to this and should never be overlooked. So as you go along with your college marketing plan, remember this is a crucial piece of your school’s overall business plan. It outlines your goals, how you’ll get there, and the budget and resources you will be needing. Right now, we shall be tackling the basic outline of college marketing plan, here are the steps you should take to create a great marketing plan:

I. Define Your Goals

Your goals are an essential foundation of your marketing plan, this will help you set your sights on something that needs to be achieved. And the best way to identify your goals is by using the SMART goals–which is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based.

II. Situation Analysis

Doing research and conducting a situation analysis, is by gathering information on the internal and external environments to assess the college’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and to guide its goals and objectives. Make sure you know what makes your college different from others, perhaps when it comes to the cost, the learning processes you deliver to your students, the kind of college degree program, etc. Try to maneuver around your weakness, and take advantages of the opportunities–such as initial inquiries, reaching out to high schools and etc.

III. Identify Your Target Market

Looking for students to apply to your college is one thing, but where do you engage with them and who exactly are they. Before coming up with your marketing plan, you will need to do some research trying to determine your exact target market. Aimlessly choosing just anyone would be a waste of resource and effort. What you need is to focus your attention to those who are or will be interested. Here are some ways you can do as you go about your search:

• Surveying pop-up form inquiries to better understand the target audience
• Online communication
• Use of online platforms
• Field survey

With all that gathered data, you can now then create an outline and identify your target market and where to reach out to them.

IV. Create or Revamp Your Website

Most colleges, if not almost all now have their own websites where basically almost all information could be found. This platform is also used as a form of communication to reach out to their existing and potential students. A responsive website creates a positive image of your school and instills trust, and it must be updated constantly to keep up with the times.

V. Marketing Programs

Here are some effective marketing programs you can engage with:

• Digital Advertising: this can help generate new leads, build and strengthen brand awareness, increase exposure and interest.
• Content Marketing: this can help reach out to your prospects in a personal level, builds trust and rapport, showcase a student’s experience and showcase key messages the college wants to impart.
• Email Marketing: surveys show that email is the number one way students wish to be contact by the admissions office. And it is cost-effective and quite manageable.
• Handouts and Direct Mail: believe it or not, some people still like receiving their mail, traditionally. And handouts are a good alternative to capture your prospects direct attention.
• Social Events: you may want to conduct an open house for prospects to give them an opportunity to look around your college and assess the environment at first hand.
• Video Marketing: aside from uploading this in your website other suitable platforms such as YouTube will help increase engagement.

VI. Social Media

Having a strong social media presence allows you to engage with parents and students, and learn more about what they want from your school. You can address their concerns and be seen as a socially-responsive and engaged brand. This is an extension of an advertising strategy, free social media engagement can be an excellent choice.

VII. Measure Progress

Once you have put your marketing plan in action, it is always advisable to monitor your progress or performance and identify areas of opportunity. This will also help identify weak areas in the marketing strategy and make improvements.

FAQs

There’s no such thing as a perfect college marketing plan — it is a series of refining, optimizing, and experimenting. Start brainstorming with your team and plot out your efforts, and doing what you can with the resources you have, you’ll be much closer to meeting your goals.