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This SEO guide was written to help under-resourced, small to medium colleges, universities and higher education institutions who can’t compete in the marketing arms race and therefore need to out-wit and out-smart the deep-pocketed Goliaths. We call them small giants. As one of the leading higher education marketing SEO agencies, we learned the strategies and tactics presented here from serving numerous small giants of higher education. We salute them. What is SEO? SEO or “search engine optimization” is a set of techniques higher education marketers deploy to improve their institutions’s natural or organic website rankings on Google, Bing and other international search engines. Why Colleges and Universities Embrace Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Colleges and universities that pursue and achieve top organic or natural Google rankings prosper and thrive. There are many reasons for this. A few are listed below: Prospective audiences trust organic rankings more and click on them more. Leads generated from organic rankings out-convert paid advertising leads three-fold. … Continue reading
Posted in: Higher Education SEO, Higher education SEO agency, higher education seo marketing
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The Elliance higher education marketing practice has grown enrollment, endowment and reputation for over 100 colleges and universities including 10 medical schools and healthcare institutions in all 4 major medical traditions o western medicine. Included below are a few samples of our agency work we have enjoyed delivering for each medical tradition: O S T E O P A T H I C M E D I C I N E Transforming Lives. Transforming Generations. University of the Incarnate Word (UIW), a leading Hispanic-serving institution, owes its existence to the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, a congregation from France that responded to urgent public health and education needs in South Texas following the U.S. Civil War. San Antonio and South Texas face severe shortages of culturally competent health professionals — primary care doctors, optometrists, pharmacists, physical therapists and nurses. That shortage, along with entrenched socioeconomic disadvantages, combine to produce a 20-year life span discrepancy between … Continue reading
Beginnings matter. How you start will determine where you’ll finish. Experience tells us that great beginnings matter for these reasons: a clear purpose calms the winds of change seeing (our future) becomes believing strong messages invite loyalists trust takes root Most Schools of Medicine feel competitive pressure from two sides — with the entrenched elite top schools attracting game-changing private donations, and ambitious emergent schools aggressively pursuing prospective students. As the trend line in medical school applications rises and falls, and as the makeup of future classes moves decisively toward more female and far more diverse applicants, the level of integration required between strategic planning and strategic communication becomes more crucial, and the potential rewards greater. Your claim to greatness can come on many fronts — research, global reach, intellectual capital, and clinical partnerships. These can provide a solid bedrock for a more assertive reach and push across the digital ecosystem. Only by claiming this will the School of Medicine … Continue reading
Reducing the frequency of a printed alumni magazine is a controversial idea. Generations of alumni will react to this change differently. However, as Yogi Berra said, “if you see a fork in the road, take it.” Benefits and Costs of Print Alumni Magazine Great alumni flagship magazines are beautiful, comfortable and great coffee table pieces. They have the potential to move your college’s perception/reputation needle with alumni and friends. They draw you into the great stories and iconic photographs that slow you down and take you back into the memory lane of your youthful idealism. Above all, they don’t get lost in the email clutter or sea of web distractions. However, they are not cheap, they’re difficult to produce and have a limited reach. It’s not uncommon for them to consume budgets of over $100,000 for quarterly or bi-annual issues. Production requires teams of editorial and design staff. Despite best efforts, you can only tell so many stories that can … Continue reading
With strained budgets, weakened endowments and the anticipated demographic cliff when college bound undergraduates will begin to shrink, colleges are eyeing international students from emerging economies. With over one million international students heading to the US in 2023, the race is on to attract the brightest and most financially well-off international students. Our clients have started asking us to prepare a playbook for successfully recruiting and growing international student enrollment. In increasing and significantly growing enrollment for international programs for the past 25 years for numerous colleges and universities, we have learned two things: First, students can’t buy your programs or buy-into your university unless they can find you; Second, you can’t bore students into enrolling in your university. To succeed, universities must invest in first impressions, and deploy a unique balance of the marketing air-game, boots-on-the-ground game and follow-up contact strategies. INVEST IN FIRST IMPRESSIONS INSTITUTIONAL TOUCH POINTS Your website and social media are the most important touch points … Continue reading
With the impending 2025 demographic decline expected to reduce the pool of college-bound undergraduate students, colleges and universities are proactively investing in the establishment and expansion of graduate programs as a means to diversify their revenue streams. Our clients have requested a playbook for effectively recruiting and expanding graduate student enrollment. Drawing from over 25 years of experience in significantly increasing enrollment for graduate programs across more than 50 colleges and universities, we’ve gleaned two key insights: First, students can’t buy your programs or buy-into your university unless they can find you; Second, you simply can’t bore students into enrolling at your university; you must inspire them. To achieve success in recruiting graduate students, universities must begin with a well-curated portfolio of programs, assess the environment, and orchestrate multi-channel marketing strategies, on-the-ground engagement, and follow-up contact tactics. WIN BEFORE YOU WIN Launch new, unique, sought-after graduate programs in areas where your college possesses an undeniable competitive edge. Resist the urge … Continue reading
The goal of marketing is to win the hearts, minds and trust of people. If you win them over, you might win their business too. It has taken a lifetime of experiences to learn these timeless laws of marketing. Being the youngest of 11 kids, losing my Dad at 6, being raised primarily by women and becoming a bridge builder shaped my worldview towards human-centered marketing. I hope you find them beneficial. 1. The Law of Humanity Great brands always remember that prospects, customers, users, ambassadors and loyalists are real people, with real needs, wants, motivations and ambitions. They never forget that they are in the business of making the lives of their customers easier and helping them realize their ambitions. Be empathetic. Treat customers like human beings. Humanize your brand. 2.The Law of Findability If they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. If a prospect can’t find you on Google page 1, your product or service won’t be … Continue reading
Posted in: Elliance culture, Marketing, Marketing Strategy
Paid Advertising plays a crucial role in generating high-quality leads for master’s degree programs. With its ability to reach audiences with specific educational and professional backgrounds and offer precise tracking and optimization, paid advertising campaigns provide colleges and universities with a powerful tool to attract right-fit students. By leveraging the advantages inherent in paid media and incorporating techniques such as retargeting and A/B testing, institutions can optimize campaign performance and engage with graduate prospects throughout their decision-making journey, ultimately driving a steady stream of high-value prospects and applicants. Targeted Audience Reach A primary advantage of paid media is the ability to effectively reach specific high-affinity audiences online. Through platforms like Google Ads, LinkedIn, and display networks, schools can manage their audience targeting based on demographics, interests, and associations. By combining specific characteristics such as location, job title, interests, industry, inferred age, education, work experience, behavior, and affinities, campaigns can home in on individuals who are most likely to pursue a … Continue reading
As one of the top higher education branding agencies, here is what have learned. Brands are not created. They already exist, and it’s just a matter of us discovering, defining and articulating them. As brand people, we execute a well-planned discovery that liberates your institutional voice. We create a bright new vocabulary that establishes an emotional connection with prospects and other stakeholders. For us, branding is a way to express, with clarity, verve and imagination why the institution matters. But getting there requires us to bring the right mindsets, review the right information and interview the right people. Here is the recipe our brand strategists and brand journalists use: 7 mindsets we bring to brand discovery Two branding agencies tasked to develop a college brand will arrive at different brands. The difference between a successful, enduring brand and one that’s not is the mindsets that agencies bring to the process. Here are ours: 1. Beginner’s Mindset Bringing the “beginner’s mind” … Continue reading
Posted in: Higher Education Branding
At Elliance, a Pittsburgh-based digital marketing agency, we create unique ad creative for paid campaigns for each of our higher education marketing clients. There are several factors that we take into consideration as we develop this ad creative. Keeping the client’s brand in mind, the target audience and the goal of the campaign helps us come up with a one-of-a-kind strategy for each client. Here are some best practices that we follow to develop high-converting ad creative for every client campaign: Use authentic photography: As all paid marketing platforms have become more and more visual, using the right image is really important to creating the right ad.The use of client images of actual students helps us develop a more authentic look and feel for prospects. It gives a realistic feeling of being on-campus and brings out the individuality of the brand. Following are some examples of ad creative that we used for our higher education clients marketing campaigns: Chatham University’s … Continue reading