This post was originally published on September 26th, 2017. When you picture today’s quintessential college student, what do you see? Is it someone straight out of high school, lounging around on an idyllic college campus lawn? If so, think again. Such “traditional” students still represent the majority of college students… But there’s another group gaining ground and increasingly demanding attention. Post-traditional students — people who come to education later in life — represent a staggering 40 percent of college students! That number continues to grow. Post-traditional students arrive at universities later in life; often after they’ve started working. Reaching this older group requires a unique strategy, and a different way of thinking about the student population in general. To build this strategy, you’ll need to do a few key things:
Want to connect with and embrace post-traditional students? Combining these keys will help you develop a cohesive marketing strategy to do just that.
Successful marketing is about communicating the right message to the right audience at the right time. To do this with post-traditional students, you’ve got to learn who they are. So, getting to know your audience is the first step. Only then can you put together your specific digital marketing strategy. So who are post-traditional students?
Post-traditional students are usually older than traditional students. While the group spans anywhere from 19 to 52 years of age, within that range, we can identify a few important trends.
Now that you know who post-traditional students are, the next step is to identify what they want. This usually aligns with their overall lifestyle and needs. For example, post-traditional students increasingly prefer online learning to studying on campus. They also have an overall preference for convenience. This aligns with the fact that most post-traditional students work full or part time. Convenient online study allows them to balance their education with their current careers. Post-traditional students also tend to be motivated by their employment in other ways. Many of them want to pursue higher education to improve or change their career prospects. That’s why they look for a high job placement rate after graduation. For post-traditional students, tuition and financial aid are major priorities. Remember: Most of them are financially independent from their parents! Online versus campus learning. A preference for convenience. Employment / career motivation. Tuition and financial aid. The post-traditional student lifestyle has different needs… Needs that you can fulfill. Needs that can become opportunities.
You’ve identified your audience. You know what they’re looking for. But what can your institution offer to students that nobody else can? What value will YOUR program add to potential post-traditional students? To identify what you can offer and put it into context, ask yourself these questions:
Once you have the answers to each of these questions, you’ll have a clear picture of what message you want to send your audience.
Once you’ve figured out your message, the next step is to deliver it to your audience. This is where your multi-channel digital marketing strategy comes in. You will want to use a variety of platforms and formats to deliver a consistent message to your audience. Multi-channel digital marketing is a valuable strategy for several reasons:
Multi-channel marketers have more tools available than ever before! It’s up to you which to use. But diversifying options will give you the best opportunity to connect with the broadest audience possible. Those include prospects both from Search Engines and other marketing channels.
Understand who post-traditional students are, what they want, and why. Create an effective message that hits your target. Embrace multi-channel digital marketing. This will make sure your message gets delivered in a variety of ways. Of course, picking the right mix of channels, and allocating the right resources to them, will depend on your institution’s size and goals. Need help developing your strategy? Contact us to schedule a free, no obligation marketing consultation here.