Enrollment Insights Podcast

In this episode you'll hear from Chris Huebner. Chris is the Director of Activation at SimpsonScarborough where he manages the lifecycle of comprehensive campaigns across various institutional and program types. Prior to his current role, he worked at other higher ed agencies as well as in enrollment management for the University of South Carolina, where he continues to teach as an instructor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His work has been published in the Journal of Digital and Social Media Marketing, Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing and the Journal of Brand Strategy.

0:00 - Introduction

1:01 - How "fingerprinting" can help you better build strategies and improve buy-in

2:50 - Reading as brainstorming

5:01 - What is mental availability and how does it differ from awareness?

11:10 - Putting it in practice: 3 key components to building campaigns for mental availability

16:15 - Are extracurriculars really copurchasing opportunities?

17:14 - To plan you should start with the moments you want to be considered, then move to audience

19:15 - Measuring mental availability and mental market share

22:41 - Added benefits of focusing efforts on mental availability

24:44 - Where to learn more

26:42 - How to reach out to Chris

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

This is a recording of a Niche webinar discussing a Data Dive on parent engagement on the Niche platform. We discussed the most common ways that parents discover Niche, the parts of the site that yield the most pageviews, rankings and grades, and how marketers can best position their schools and districts to earn parent consideration.

The full recording and resources are available at niche.bz/webinar.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students and families, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

This is a recording of a Niche webinar discussing the results of the Instant Insights Survey: Effectiveness of Recruiting Travel and Campus Visits in 2023. We covered the experiences that they want during a campus visit and how effective traditional fall travel is.

The full recording and resources are available at niche.bz/webinar.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

In this episode, you'll hear Melissa Essman and Deb Schultz from the Winchendon School talk about collaboration between the admissions and marketing offices and their campaign to yield accepted students.

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

This is a podcast version of a Niche Screenside Chat with Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed. We chatted about what trends Scott is seeing emerge for 2023 and how to address them. Some of the big topics were AI, the supreme court decision coming on race in admissions, financial aid and discounting, and how the economy might affect enrollments.

The full recording and resources are available at niche.bz/webinar.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

In this episode, we talk to school marketing experts Aubrey Bursch and Tara Claeys about what schools should start and stop doing in 2023 when it comes to recruiting families and managing their digital presence.

Aubrey Bursch is passionate about supporting small and independent schools to increase enrollment, retention, and revenue. As the daughter of lifelong educators and the mom of two independent school students, she combines her passion for schools with her 20+ years of marketing and development experience to help schools identify and implement high ROI initiatives. Aubrey, Founder & CEO of Easy School Marketing, co-hosts the Mindful School Marketing podcast, leads the free Small School Leaders monthly meet-ups, facilitates the Small School Solutions professional development program, hosts the Small School Leaders Virtual Conference, and speaks nationwide.

Tara Claeys has a marketing background going back to a time before the internet was a thing! Her extensive experience creating WordPress websites for schools has resulted in well-designed and functional websites within a small school budget. Her company, Design TLC makes the website process easy so schools can focus on growing enrollment instead of spending hours creating a website that doesn't accomplish their marketing goals.

:35 - Meet Aubrey and Tara

2:20 - What Tara and Aubrey have tried that didn't work and what they learned

7:15 - The practices Aubrey and Tara use to brainstorm and bring new ideas into their work

10:25 - Resolution #1: Stop putting all of your eggs into the enrollment basket

14:35 - Resolution #2: Stop ignoring your online presence

18:50 - Resolution #3: Start understanding what families are thinking and use it to create an exceptional customer experience

22:58 - Resolution #4: Start focusing on student-to-student marketing

25:35 - Resolution #5: Stop ignoring your website

29:33 - Tara's quick website maintenance checklist

33:25 - Resolution #6: Start connecting your website to other marketing tools

40:03 - Resolution #7: Stop thinking about your website as only being for prospective families (we know, this sounds controversial)

45:10 - Where to find Aubrey and Tara to learn more

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

In this episode, Angela and Will take a look back at the predictions that they made last year for what will happen in enrollment and marketing for PK-12 schools and in higher ed.

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

This is a recording of a Niche webinar discussing the results of our 3rd annual survey of parents.

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

This is a recording of a webinar on key takeaways from the 3rd annual Niche PK-12 Parent Survey. Angela Brown covers what mattered most to parents as they considered schools for the fall of 2022, and the marketing channels and tactics to prioritize (and avoid) to meet your enrollment goals.

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

In this episode, you will hear from Randie Benedict. Randie is the Assistant Head of School for Enrollment Management at St. Anne's-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Virginia.

With the independent school spirit in her DNA, over the course of her career, Mrs. Benedict has been a head of school, coach, teacher, dorm parent, advisor, and more. Working tirelessly to advance the industry, her service has included serving on two boards for state independent school associations, PAIS and AIMS, which govern accreditation for the state for all independent school members. Additionally, Mrs. Benedict has led and served on accreditation teams, served as a member and officer of The Enrollment Management Association (EMA) as a member, officer, and finally, board chair over a nine-year period, was a board member for The Heads Network, and served on the faculty for programs that help independent school faculty or staff consider their leadership path.

Randie was awarded the William Bretnall award by EMA honoring admission professionals who have provided exemplary contributions to the field of independent school admission. Mrs. Benedict has a graduate degree in Educational Leadership from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in Independent School Management. 

:34 - Meet Randie

2:24 - "The same tricks don't work in all markets."

4:01 - "Sometimes your 'Yes and..' is 'Yes, and we're gonna do that next year."

4:20 - How the pandemic has changed Randie's approach to parent engagement

5:29 - How Zoom parent meetings have continued to give Randie's team access to more people who are involved in prospective students' lives

8:00 - Managing family expectations around DEIB work during the admissions process

12:10 - Using "Must air facts" to ensure that prospective families are getting the right information about your community at the right time

15:40 - Why Randie's team switched from individual tours to group tours

18:37 - Having conversations about what is and isn't working in the admissions process

22:40 - Removing the perceived barriers about considering an independent school

25:43 - How St. Anne's-Belfield uses surveys with new and prospective families

28:18 - The really good question Randie includes on one of her school's parent surveys

29:00 - Connecting with Randie online

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.