Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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1) Increase Enrolment in Summer Programs

2) The Benefits of Summer Learning

3) Using the Right Words to Attract Leads

4) Celebrate Your City

5) Put The Spotlight on Your Unique Summer Programs

6) The Power of Student Voices

7) Promote Summer Programs as an Experience—Not a Course!

8) Takeaway Message

Overview

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Increasing enrollment in your school’s summer programs is a great way to attract students to your institution, who might not have otherwise attended in a regular term.

Here are some ways you can leverage your summer programs to attract new students:

Gain the attention of international students with a program that’s specifically tailored to them.

Spark some interest with a niche summer program in a particular discipline.

1. Increase Enrolment in Summer Programs

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Marketing your school’s summer program can be challenging because students would normally prefer to spend their summers either working, or enjoying their time off.

The level of commitment required for pursuing a summer program is lower than the level required when pursuing an entire degree.

This means that with the right student recruitment strategies, students might be inclined to use the opportunity to explore a new campus, or city—and this will generate more leads for you!

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

1. Increase Enrolment in Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Highlight the benefits of experiencing another campus, which can include:

Becoming familiar with potential programs and associated faculty

Resources and networking opportunities

Exploring an exotic new country or city (this can appeal to international students)

2. The Benefits of Summer Learning

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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If you’re trying to attract teenagers to summer programs, you should probably refrain from using the term “summer school.”

This particular term will usually deter prospective teenage students because it reminds them of catching up on material they failed to master during the school year.

How do you best market your summer program to perspective students?

3. Using the Right Words to Attract Leads

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Leverage the things that make your school, or city unique to increase lead generation.

Example: McGill University’s International Summer Program page includes links to the tourism Quebec website, and information about the various festivals that the city has to offer (Just For Laughs, Montreal Jazz Festival, etc.):

4. Celebrate Your City

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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The key to attracting students is making every effort to showcase what makes your programs unique

Unique courses that attract more students usually have a dedicated page (on your school’s website) to increase the scope of their influence

If your summer courses are located only in your general course calendar, and you’re not showcasing the unique and popular ones—you’re losing out valuable opportunities to attract more leads

5. Put The Spotlight on Your Unique Summer Programs

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Example: The University of Manitoba highlights its Summer University Advantage program, which is geared toward recent high school graduates who want a head-start on their university experience.

This is appealing to students who are keen on getting a head start on the school year or just prefer a less hectic transition.

The university attracts new leads by targeting and specializing the way they promote their summer program

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

5. Put The Spotlight on Your Unique Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Using testimonials from past students is a great way to convince prospective summer students (both local and international) of the quality of the course, as well as its perks.

Student feedback will offer opportunities to improve your summer program, while providing supportive testimonials to feature on your school’s website.

Example: McGill University has a page dedicated to student testimonials

for its international summer program. The testimonials touch on the aspects of the program that the university is already promoting. This helps to corroborate how McGill is presenting its program with valuable social proof.

6. The Power of Student Voices

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Summer courses are as much about experiencing a new school and an entirely different cultural landscape as they are about academia.

It’s essential to find ways of including pieces of the rich culture and entertainment of your city into aspects of your program.

Partnering with local festivals, or combining programs with visits to historical sites and cultural landmarks is a great way to add extra incentive for local and international students to enroll.

7. Promote Summer Programs as an Experience—Not a Course!

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Example: Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta offers prospective local, or

international students the opportunity to embark on various (optional) trips when choosing to enroll for its Summer immersion English Program. The university prompts students to register for trips at the same time as they register for the program:

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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The key to marketing summer programs is to make them as visible as possible on your website

Consider what unique benefits you can offer that are out of the ordinary for a summer program, and make them clear in your promotional content strategy

8. Takeaway Message

Source: Higher Education Marketing – Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

Successfully Marketing Your School’s Summer Programs

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Questions? 1.514.312.3968

info@higher-education-marketing.com

Visit our Website: Higher Education Marketing

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