Are you targeting your education liaison effectively?
September 2014: The Honest Marketer launches bespoke key feeder analysis
Engaging directly with schools and colleges is one of the most effective tools to improve student recruitment,
but managers need to be confident these time consuming and resource intensive activities are being targeted to best effect.
While institutions are adept at identifying their top level feeders, often providing a suite of innovative activities to schools and colleges delivered by students, academics and marketing staff, many are missing out on opportunities to interact with the feeders most likely to deliver results at an individual subject level - unintentionally paving the way for competitors to get their foot in the door and establish a strong and exclusive relationship. That's where The Honest Marketer's Key Feeder Analysiscan help.
Search any university website and you'll discover a host of rich and creative activities - from debating and designing a sports car to business challenges and budgeting - all designed to provide greater insight into specific subjects and the universities themselves.
"In recent years there has been an explosion in the volume and variety of education liaison and outreach activities offered by universities seeking to secure their feeder recruitment pipelines," explains Kathryn. "Universities are becoming more and more creative in the approaches being used and the sector has come a long way since the days of simple subject talks and basic introductions to university life. However, with the best will in the world, it is impossible for central marketing teams or academics to physically engage with every core feeder and decisions about where to prioritise resources need to be taken very carefully."
Universities have traditionally targeted education liaison and outreach based on their own recruitment performance, namely those feeders delivering the most students year on year. The detailed undergraduate data available means that many have also been able to identify the schools and colleges which provide the most students nationwide within a specific tariff band and subject.
"Where universities tend to fall short is a more in-depth analysis of the true potential from key feeders, which not only looks at their institution's performance and the total numbers entering Higher Education in any particular subject or tariff band, but also examines which universities those students have previously chosen to attend," says Kathryn. "This is precisely what our analysis intends to do, giving the university a much better insight into where the opportunities and threats may lie by identifying their true competition at a subject level within specific feeders. We can also delve further into the individual course or subject offering with tailored competitor analysis to compare your 'offer' within the market and make suitable recommendations.
"It is highly likely that academic schools will discover they have inadvertently been ignoring a number of their existing key feeders with the best track record in delivering numbers, as well as those who offer the greatest potential in the future. Forewarned is forearmed and future strategies can quickly remedy this. "
Contact us to find out more about The Honest Marketer's Key Feeder Analysis by emailing info@thehonestmarketer.ukor calling 01536 725701.