The state of the economy continues to shake the confidence of colleges and universities nationwide, which are striving to reach enrollment goals, but there’s hope buried underneath that small stack of applications.

According to a recent article in The Register-Guard, it seems the economy is actually helping higher education a bit.  How?  Though tuition costs have risen, students are opting to head off to college in lieu of searching for work in one of the worst job markets since the early 1980s.

So, while many students are driven towards the lower cost state colleges and universities, there is also hope for private institutions to gain an advantage in this market.

The increase in enrollment, mostly seen in state schools, causes overcrowding on campus, larger classes and fewer opportunities for classroom engagement.  This, however, gives private institutions the opportunity to flaunt their benefits – small class sizes, collaborative classroom environments, individualized attention and a large variety of scholarships to help with the cost. So, if you’ve got it, flaunt it!

In order to reach prospective students, you have to grab their attention and hold it long enough for them to think that your postcard, e-mail, etc. is worth their time. Everyone likes to be recognized and to feel like you’re talking directly to him or her. Personalization grabs attention – customization is likely to hold it.

Read the full article here.

It’s amazing to think about how much the Web has grown, even in the past couple years.  People hardly even pick up the phone anymore, instead opting for e-mails and social media venues via iPhone, Blackberry or laptop.  If it can’t be done online, many people get frustrated and turn to something that will.

These characteristics, prominent in Generations Y and Z, make up the majority of prospective college students.  If you want to reach them, or their parents, you’ll need to be technologically savvy.

According to a recent article by Joe Dysart, in Today’s Campus, 90% of parents are turning to the web for information when researching colleges and universities.  Here are a couple other interesting points:

-       Colleges should re-tool websites to include heavier emphasis on the information that most interests parents

-       Only 5% of parents expressed an interest in social networking as a communications medium with college admissions

-       84% preferred communicating with institutions via e-mail

-       76% preferred follow-up, letters or brochures by mail

Read the full article here.

If you’re a college or university, it might be a good time to take a look at your website.

While speaking of websites, check out the all new Spectrum EDU Solutions site…..

With the craziness of the recent economy, jobs and positions have been shifting everywhere, including here at Spectrum.  As marketing director and the newest team member, I’m learning a lot about our company and market, as well as sharing the information I’ve gained over the years in the world of marketing and social media.

I recently attended a conference in Boston, MA, on Social Media Marketing where our instructor, Dave Evans, did an incredible job of helping all of us put the social web to work for our companies.  For those of you who don’t know, Dave Evans is the author of the book Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day and is considered a social media expert.

Here are a couple of key points in the world of social media:

• Disclosure is THE most important rule of the social media world – it’s crucial to your reputation to fully disclose who you are and what you do.  Deceiving your audience is NOT the way to go.
• Drive your own conversation – you can’t control it, but you can certainly drive them in the direction you’d like.
• Social networks are full of consumer conversations about products and services.  The most powerful recommendation is one from a friend, family member and/or another consumer, thus making the social media market an extremely powerful tool.
• Social media is not universal – what may work for one company may not necessarily work for another.  Know your audience and give them a reason to want to ’socialize’ with you online.

Though these key points are geared towards general ‘consumers’, they can be applied to all markets.  In our case, the higher education market.  With more teens using social media to connect with friends, family, businesses and more, colleges have a unique opportunity to grab prospective students’ attention.  So how do they do it?  Stay tuned, but in the meantime, keep the points above in mind.  I’m learning more each day about this market, and as I do, I’ll share some insight with you.

You’ll hear from me again soon…we are definitely back in the swing of the blog!  Check us out on Facebook, too….

As part of our ongoing research at Spectrum, we’ve perused just over 3,000 emails from college and university admission offices. This post is #5 in an ongoing series that describes how you can avoid email pitfalls and establish best practices.

This week’s pitfall: The all-image email

When you’re designing emails, it’s necessary to deal with the fact that only common system fonts (like Arial or Times) will appear. Sometimes it’s tempting to place text in an image so that you can preserve your institution’s brand message by using your branded font.

The technical problem with this comes when an email reader strips out the images. And obviously, if text is only in an image, and images are gone, you don’t have much of a message left.

To add insult to injury, one email we reviewed had no text except for a line at the bottom which said “Unsubscribe Click Here.”

This week’s best practice: An email with a conservative header, catchy colors, and a simple message.

The design of an email should accentuate your message, not take away from it. Instead of bashing your head in trying to get a complex look out of an email, it’s best to focus on the content of the message.

One email we reviewed said simply:

If you want your college education to be more than just class work, it’s important to choose a school with an active campus life.

ABC University students join academic, cultural and recreational clubs, serve on campus wide committees, contribute to student publications and attend dozens of special events each year. Read more about campus activities.

The email had a limited scope, conservative design, clear call to action, and a great response rate.