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Unfortunately for higher education marketers, there is only so much program-specific information a University can espouse before its branding message becomes just another noisy, unrecognizable foghorn on the mist-cloaked, higher-ed seas. To differentiate your school’s programs, brand and message, consider marketing sideways. “Use a peripheral but more human and interesting component of your brand to tell a story that compels your customers and prospects more so than any product feature or benefit,” writes Marketing Keynote Speaker and Best-Selling Author Jay Baer. Baer’s article cites The King of Sideways” – Subway’s Jared Fogle. Subway’s campaign positioned Jared’s weight-loss story in front of customers who would hopefully relate and identify with Jared. The story appears to have worked. Jared is in his fifteenth year as a Subway spokesman with a net worth of $15 million. Sideways marketing is nothing new and certainly doesn’t begin or end with Jared. This marketing technique has been used by an uncountable number of brands – think … Continue reading
Posted in: content marketing, higher education content marketing agency, higher education inbound marketing agency, Inbound Marketing
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Over the past few months, I’ve heard from a growing number of prospective clients interested in inbound marketing in higher education. They may not call it inbound marketing — maybe they’re asking for help with blog posts or website content — but inbound marketing is what it comes down to. And to me, inbound marketing comes down to one thing: building trust. Traditional marketing sends a message. It’s a one way enterprise: an advertisement, a billboard, or a brochure. Inbound marketing builds a relationship. Social posts, for example, do more than just deliver a message. They invite a response. They begin a conversation. A conversation leads to a relationship. And a relationship (online, just like in real life) must be built on trust. In terms of higher education, prospective students are looking to form an impression of an institution. Is this a college where he or she might feel at home? Is this a student body where he or she … Continue reading
Traditional outbound marketing relies heavily on interrupting prospective customers with advertising, direct mail, etc. Inbound marketing takes a much different approach: earning attention and trust by providing valuable content and embracing personal interaction. Inbound marketers help clients “get found” via search engines, word-of-mouth and the sharing of content. These tactics also tend to engage prospects who already have an interest or inclination toward a particular offering, resulting in a pool of high quality leads who are more likely to convert. Inbound marketing involves the continuous creation of relevant and high quality content, such as PR2.0 assets, articles, social posts, blog posts, videos, infographics, white papers and thought leadership events, and igniting that content through promotion and conversation-starters to encourage peer-to-peer sharing. Carefully curated content is distributed through channels you control (your “owned” media, such as your website and social networks) and the channels you don’t control (the social media of people/organizations in your network), where our content strategists spark conversations … Continue reading