Ideas, insights and inspirations.

Kansas City University, one of the oldest osteopathic medical schools in the US, turned to Elliance, a website design and digital marketing agency, to bolster their leadership role in the industry and outsmart the competition.

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When crafting strategies for international student recruitment, we pay special attention to cultural sensitivities that may be at play. Here are three considerations to look out for when creating culturally sensitive communications.

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With mass adoption of smartphones and social media, traditional public relations, or PR 1.0, has evolved into PR 2.0. The traditional rules of PR for building reputation in key areas and conveying values have fallen to the way side, and a new paradigm has emerged. Instead of relying on media relations contacts as gatekeepers for the select few, authority and expertise is now flowing from a groundswell of faculty, staff, students and alumni conversations. The voice of authority has been replaced by the voice of many peer experts. Mass communications has been replaced with personalized messaging. Today’s public relations 2.0 marketers need to employ and harness personalized, story-centered communications to steer their institutional brand: Create Buzz on a Person-to-Person Level In contrast with the mass communications style of traditional public relations, PR 2.0 brand journalists create influence by starting, joining and shaping one-on-one conversations. They rely on storytelling rather than press releases. They make the faculty, students, alumni and the … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education inbound marketing agency, has worked with many colleges to increase visibility, traffic and reputation through top Google rankings for their blogs. Read more to find out how we have helped our clients.

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Brand anthem videos are powerful marketing tools that distill the argument for a college brand’s essence, and reason for being in a concise and impactful manner. They often serve as the centerpiece of a college or university’s branding, enrollment and fundraising campaigns. Once produced, we use them across various marketing channels including websites, social media platforms, advertising campaigns and open houses. They are carefully curated to create brand preference and connect with audiences on an emotional level. Here are four examples of brand anthem videos we’ve produced, SEO-optimized and promoted. The first one was used as a cornerstone of capital campaign for Boler College of Business at John Carroll University. It helped raise $25M and has garnered more than 68,000 views since its launch four years ago. We used the second one as a cornerstone of an integrated enrollment marketing campaign for New York Chiropractic College (recently renamed to Northeast College of Health Sciences). It has not only received more … Continue reading

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Colleges and universities are akin to a small town and serve a vast plurality of people.  A college website, being its digital soul, serves a multitude of functions for its many audiences: prospective students, current students, parents, alumni, faculty & staff, donors, employers, research partners, foundations, media, financial institutions, and nearby communities at large. In this blog post, I’ll limit my focus on tips and best practices for user experience design of college websites for increasing enrollment. It all begins with seven essential questions prospective students have User experience is human experience. Prospective students are on their personal hero’s journey. Beyond their personal needs and wants, they have dreams they hope to fulfill, ambitions they wish to achieve, and challenges they aim to overcome. Ultimately, they want to enroll in a college which can give their spirit a fighting chance to blossom and thrive. Let’s assume that a prospective student has just arrived at a college website after gathering preliminary … Continue reading

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Olds College of Agriculture & Technology sits in the center of Alberta, at the northern edge of North America’s Wheat Belt, a vast swath of the Great Plains. The school’s Smart Agriculture Ecosystem — with labs, 3,600 acre Smart Farm and researchers — plays an outsized role in advancing a range of digital agriculture innovations designed to sustain Canada’s position as one the world’s largest agricultural producers and exporters. The Olds College leadership team turned to Elliance to translate a new public-facing name and brand position into a full website relaunch focused on clear business goals: Grow the number, geographic reach and diversity of its prospect pool. Increase research funding, industry partnerships, major gift donors. Leverage digital content as a catalytic force to secure non-branded, organic page one Google rankings The Elliance website team prioritized the following site features and outcomes: Transform oldscollege.ca from a quiet enrollment website into a true digital content platform and conversion machine, capable of expanding the reach and … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education enrollment marketing agency, has built a reputation by both increasing and growing enrollment for more than 100 colleges and universities. Founded on the principle of right-fit matchmaking, our recommended strategies revolve around six core beliefs. First, if they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. Second, if they do find you, you can’t bore them into buying from you. Third, back your claims with proofs. Fourth, ensure that students are able to see themselves at your institution. Fifth, pursue right-fit students at all cost. Sixth, you must be easy to do business with. All our recommended actions for increasing and growing college enrollment revolve around these core beliefs: 1. Activate a Winning Strategic Plan Winning, not playing and optimizing, is what successful college presidents focus on. To create an inflection point, they sometimes deepen their competitive advantages and at other times disrupt and challenge the status quo. College presidents lead strategic planning based on thorough, objective … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education enrollment marketing agency, has built a reputation by both increasing and significantly growing undergraduate student enrollment for more than 50 colleges and universities. Founded on the principle of right-fit matchmaking, our recommended strategies revolve around five core beliefs. First, if they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. Second, if they do find you, you can’t bore them into buying from you. Third, the students must be able to see themselves at your institution. Fourth, you must pursue right-fit students at all cost. Fifth, you must be easy to do business with. All our recommended actions for increasing undergraduate enrollment revolve around these core beliefs: 1. Invest in Branding: Babson has positioned itself as THE college for entrepreneurship, American University as THE supplier of “wonks” to the political and governmental establishment, Drexel as THE university that mandates coop experience, and so on. Investing in a strong brand can lift a college from obscurity to national prominence. … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education enrollment marketing agency, has built a reputation by both increasing and growing online student enrollment for dozens of colleges and universities. Founded on the principle of right-fit matchmaking, our recommended strategies revolve around six core beliefs. First, if they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. Second, if they do find you, you can’t bore them into buying from you. Third, the students must be able to see themselves at your institution. Fourth, you must pursue right-fit students at all cost. Fifth, you must be easy to do business with. Sixth, you must be supportive and understanding of life constraints of online students. All our recommended actions for increasing online enrollment revolve around these core beliefs: 1. Offer Online Degrees in Ideal Formats and Starts: Offer your online programs in formats that are convenient for working professionals. Online students prefer frequent starts for courses, ideally every 8 to 12 weeks, and need the flexibility to pause and … Continue reading

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