"Great marketing allows audiences to have a voice in the story, so that they're not just listeners, but can become the protagonists." - Mario Bini
Audience, audience, audience.
Every marketer knows the importance of finding the right audience, not just those in higher ed marketing. But with the enrollment cliff looming, ensuring your institution is speaking to the right audience has never been more important. You’ve got to attract and retain the right kinds of students, which means you need to know who those students are.
That starts with crafting student personas.
Maybe you don't know what those are. Or, maybe you do know, but your school's personas haven't been updated in a decade. Regardless, let's talk about how to create personas – and what you should (and shouldn't!) do when infusing them into your overall marketing strategy.
What is a student persona?
- fictional, generalized representations of your ideal target students.
- reflections of a composite of traits, behaviors, and characteristics that typify segments of your prospective student population.
- containers for detailed demographic information, educational backgrounds, goals, challenges, personal aspirations, and the types of messaging that could resonate with them.
In short, student personas enable marketers to better understand the diverse needs and preferences of their audience, create more relevant and targeted messaging, and forge an emotional connection that can be pivotal in the decision-making process.
Stakeholders vs personas
Unlike personas, stakeholders are not fictionalized; they are individuals or groups who have a direct connection or interest in your brand. Stakeholders can be internal (faculty, staff, etc.) or external (vendors, donors, prospective students, etc.). There are many personas within a stakeholder category, as you can see in the example below.
DD Agency actually goes one step further when we work on higher education branding projects. We identify stakeholder mindsets as part of our analysis, especially since the prospective student stakeholder category is so large. This helps us craft messaging that aligns with the concerns or motivations of that particular mindset we’ve identified. Then, within that mindset, we identify specific personas.
How to gather effective student research to build your personas
The first step in student personas, as with many strategies, is excavating demographics such as age, gender, location, income level, and educational background to help you understand the landscape of your target audience. Perhaps more importantly, student demographic data serves as the foundation for building more nuanced aspects of the personas.
The second step is to dig deeper. Arm yourself with insights into the behaviors and preferences of your target demographics by analyzing current student data, surveying prospective students, and monitoring trends in higher education.
The first step: quantitative research for student personas
Quantitative research (i.e., research you can count or measure using a numerical value) can supply the cumulative results you need to prove the general idea of your research. This includes (but isn’t limited to) finding demographic information and trends.
So, where do you get all this data from in the first place?
1. Mine your institution's historical record
If you have access to existing records, great! (Not everybody is so lucky.) You don’t have to be a data wonk to analyze student records; all you need is an Excel spreadsheet, some basic math, and a bit of curiosity.
Once you learn about the basic demographic makeup of your institution as a whole, start filtering information by specific identifying information — by year, by gender, by income, etc. Are there any trends you should note once viewing the data through a different lens? In addition to student records, you can also use alumni outcomes reports, current student surveys, or any other surveys you can get your hands on. (Be sure to comply with the FERPA regulations at your institution.)
2. Survey students (alumni and current)
Whether you have historical data or not, you can create an original survey that asks the questions you need to fill in the blanks about your audience. Structured questions with predefined response options allow for numerical analysis; you’ll want to be able to derive statistical insights that can inform each student persona.
Know that you can also include open-ended questions in your survey to dig into the “why” behind some of your findings. Consider also surveying prospective students or even accept-rejects to learn more about how your institution is perceived.
3. Dig into market research
Find out if there is relevant research that you can use to help flesh out your audience. For example, an MBA program might be interested in the findings from the Graduate Management Admission Council’s report on the demand for MBA and Business Master’s programs. You can also use government data on job growth and salaries from the BLS or workforce intelligence data from Lightcast, or similar labor market analytics agencies.
4. Use audience intelligence tools
While these are pay-to-play, an audience intelligence tool can crawl social media profiles and web pages to learn more about who and what your audience is liking, watching, and interacting with.
Dig deeper: qualitative research for student personas
Qualitative research provides a deeper understanding of behaviors, motivations, concerns, and emotions. From the outset, the data you’re working with is different. Rather than numbers, you’re measuring opinions, views, and attributes, which means your takeaways will be harder to analyze by design. That’s why it’s so important to pair the two research approaches. There are a few ways to gather qualitative data…
- In-depth interviews: Where brand advocates of different backgrounds can share what it is — or isn’t — that led them to your institution.
- Focus groups: Where students from different backgrounds, programs, and journeys can answer your need-to-know questions (often for a small reward).
- Student perception surveys: Where you can find raw and honest answers in an anonymous survey (and target the students you need, too!).
- Online communities and social media analysis: Where you can engage with and observe student discussions, interests, opinions, and sentiments, uncovering student experiences and perceptions you might not have done otherwise.
By capturing the voices and emotions of real students, personas become more than just data points. They turn into stories that can inform and inspire your marketing strategies to increase student enrollment.
Building your student personas
There are various templates and approaches to creating a student persona. But generally, there are a few main categories and questions you’ll want to answer.
Background (or demographics):
- How old are they?
- What level of education do they have?
- Where are they located?
- What is the typical socioeconomic background of your prospects?
- Do they have a job, and if so, what is it?
- What’s their marital status?
- Is there any additional info to note? (For example: Who is the prime decision-maker?)
Psychographics (essentially a person’s beliefs, values, and goals):
- What do they value? (general)
- What do your students value most about your school and their experience?
- What are their interests?
- How do they see themselves? What’s their self-image?
- What are their long-term aspirations (career or otherwise)?
- What are their fears or concerns? (general)
- What are their concerns about going to school (or about your school in particular)?
- What motivates them? (general)
- What’s their underlying motivation for going to school (particularly important for the grad audience)?
- What do they dislike?
Behavior (optional, but recommended):
- What’s their web use like, generally? Do they go online daily? What do they use to do so?
- When they’re online, what are they typically doing?
- What competitors to your program are they considering?
- How do they conduct research on schools and programs?
- What do they like and connect with when it comes to receiving marketing materials?
- What are they irritated by when it comes to receiving marketing materials?
Marketing strategies to increase student enrollment: consulting "Chicago Carter"
For someone like “Chicago Carter,” messaging around support services, social life, and campus experience might be an important consideration for him (and his dad, for that matter). If you want to speak directly to the distinct needs of segments like prospective college students hailing from a big city, your student persona might look something like this:
Tips for incorporating personas into your enrollment marketing
Now that you have your personas, the real fun can begin. It’s important to find what works for you — or rather, your prospective students — and try out a few things:
1. Align personas with the enrollment funnel
Map personas to the "buyer's journey" stages—awareness, interest, evaluation, application, and decision.
Each stage involves different informational needs and mindsets — and tailored content ensures a cohesive experience. For instance, "Community College Carly" in the interest stage may explore seamless transfer options and scholarships for transfer students.
2. Speak directly to personas through targeted channels and messaging
It might be easier said than done, but using language, visuals, and content reflecting student persona interests, backgrounds, and motivations will make all the difference.
Your website could have a page for "Gap Year Grace," showcasing study abroad, experiential learning, and unique offerings. Email campaigns can segment and tailor messaging to each persona's needs. Social media can feature current students reflecting different personas.
3. Continuously evolve personas as audiences and your institution change
People change, and so does the world (sometimes they change simultaneously). The COVID-19 pandemic is a great example of how the higher education industry, students, faculty, and decision-makers underwent rapid change.
That’s why it’s important to update personas regularly with new market insights, student feedback, and higher ed trends to maintain accuracy and relevance. You may need to add new personas or retire outdated ones as the landscape shifts. For example, the rise of remote learning and homeschooled prospective students likely necessitated new personas, even just a few years later.
Enrollment marketing is better together
Creating and applying student personas can be a great display of human cooperation — administrators, students, and department faculty gather together to make their community a place where students want to be.
But it can quickly become a big lift for many higher ed institutions. Even if you’re unsure if student personas are right for you at this time, reach out to one of our experts and start a conversation. We’re here to help!
