After a call with IEP, we came to campus to better understand their frustrations and concerns. We listened during meetings with faculty leaders as they attempted to cut program costs (assuming cost was the reason it didn’t fill). We heard faculty frustration regarding poor attendance at info sessions. Ultimately, this led us to review their marketing materials and overall messaging to students.
Even with beautiful posters around campus, their message clearly didn’t resonate with the customer (students). They hadn’t considered the internal response a student might have when looking at those materials. For example, a student may be thinking:
- I could never afford that.
- I’m a Nursing major, there’s no way that would work for me.
- I need to graduate on-time, I don’t have time to go overseas.
- I’m way too scared to go that far away.
Marketing and outreach need to bust the myths that students have about studying abroad. A poster provides one chance to answer their questions, then drive them to an info session where students can get “hooked” on the experience.
So IEP did just that. We worked with staff to create new posters and sent out new emails addressing those myths. We held an info session the next day. A faculty who could never get anyone to her sessions quickly found herself with a dozen students in the room.