Your school can’t hope to successfully attract new students without a clear understanding of their needs, hopes, objectives, and concerns.

1. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 1
Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content

2. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 2
1) Why customized content is crucial
2) Differentiating student personas
3) Recruit leads by understanding persona behavior
4) Tailor material to persona characteristics
5) Examples of customized content
6) Responsive CTAs: Smart content, tailored to personas
7) Responsive homepages: Future of high-tech targeting
Overview
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content

3. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 3
 A targeted content strategy helps set your college
apart in an increasingly competitive space
 Ensures program promotion matches audience
preferences
 Customization gets at the heart of prospective
students’ interests, needs, concerns, academic
goals, and professional objectives
1. Why Customized Content is Crucial
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content

4. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 4
 Use your website analytics to track the behavior of
site visitors
 Consider metrics like:
- pages visited
- links clicked
- searches performed
 Group site visitors into a few main profile categories
2. Differentiating Student Personas
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content

5. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 5
3. Recruit Leads by Understanding Persona Behavior
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content

6. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 6
 Personalize landing pages to the personas that
visits them most
 Develop and link to blog and social media content
most likely to interest those target personas
 Create and position CTAs according to persona
behavior, interests, and needs
4. Tailor Material To Persona Characteristics
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content

7. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 7
 Prepping for college
 Managing first-year expenses
 Selecting a program
 Living on campus
5. Examples of Customized Content: First Time
Student
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content

8. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 8
 Brochure on ESL support services
 Links to international student groups on campus
 Links to FB page for international students
 Blogs about adjusting to a new culture, strategies
for making new contacts
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content
5. Examples of Customized Content: First Time
Student

9. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 9
 Links to blogs on re-training; balancing work, home
and school
 Links to campus support services (child care,
academic counseling, financial aid for continuing
education)
 Links to FB groups for other career professionals
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content
5. Examples of Customized Content: First Time
Student

10. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 10
 This brochure can change, depending on visiting
personas
6. Responsive CTAs: Smart Content, Tailored To Personas
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content

11. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 11
7. Responsive Homepages: Future of High-Tech Targeting
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Student Personas and Behavior-Targeted Content
 Bucknell University has a responsive homepage that
prospective students can customize with their preferences
 High-tech behavior targeting will allow colleges to develop
several alternative homepages, based on their primary
personas – customizing the visitor experience and refining
lead generation

12. Know Your Audience: Student Personas &
Targeted Content
Slide 12
Questions?
1.514.312.3968
info@higher-education-marketing.com
Visit our Website: Higher Education Marketing
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