6 Best Student Recruitment Strategies for Higher Education

If everything were simple, your college could send a message to interested students, have them enroll, and that would be the end. When it comes to college recruitment, though, competition is tough, which means colleges need a top-notch strategy for how to recruit students.

Which college recruitment strategies should your college focus on, though?

That’s what this article aims to answer, sharing the best options for recruiting high school students for college, as well as adult and international students.

Keep reading to learn how to attract students to your college!

For professional help with how to recruit students for your college or university, connect with WebFX. We feature an experienced team with a background in higher education marketing that can help achieve your enrollment goals through online marketing.

6 effective student recruitment strategies

A few effective student recruitment strategies include:

1. Offer free webinars

A low-cost but highly-effective way to showcase your expertise and build trust with students and their families, webinars are online lectures or presentations that are viewed over the Internet. Consider any topic that is of high interest to your prospects, such as applying to college, dorm life, academics, and financial aid.

If you’re curious about how to recruit international students, you can create dedicated webinars that focus on the most common questions international students have about becoming a student in another country.

2. Provide ebooks and other downloads

Offering informative content that users can download via your website is another great way to share helpful information. It’s also a great answer to how to recruit students for university. Consider asking for an email address in exchange for the download so you can form a line of communication with the prospective student.

3. Send newsletters

Provide interested parties with information that they can’t get anywhere else. Delivering news and other information straight to their inboxes saves them time and provides them with something they want. Newsletters today can be interactive and contain more than just words on a page. You can add enticing images, links, and video as well.

4. Create and share infographics

A high-quality infographic is both visually appealing and informative. There are many infographics out there today, but they’re not all of the same quality. Couple relevant facts and statistics on your infographic with high-quality images, and you’ll draw attention from a lot of new potential students.

5. Make information helpful and student-focused

Choosing a college is stressful, but this fact gives you a chance to meet a need for prospective students. They likely have questions about financial aid, the college application process, and many other topics that come with enrolling in college.

You should aim to provide them with information they need. You will build trust with these potential students and their families if you provide them with helpful, relevant information. No matter which college recruitment strategies you use, make what you offer useful.

6. Use clear call to actions

Regardless of your college recruitment strategy, it’s important to use clear call to actions (CTAs). Your goal is to find people who are interested in your college. Once you reach them online, you have to give them a way to express their interest.

For example, if you provide an ebook packed full of helpful advice to new college students, you should make it clear that you want prospects to download it.

If the ebook was about the financial aid application process, you should include a line or two of information about the help students can expect to receive during that process if they enroll at your college. You should also include a clear CTA makes them take the next step toward becoming a student.

FAQs about recruiting high school students for college

Got questions about recruiting high school students for college, as well as adult and international students? Check out this quick FAQ:

What is lead generation for college, or student recruitment?

Lead generation is a marketing process that entices potential new students in hopes of getting them to enroll.

That’s also the end goal for each lead you receive — enrollment. With more students enrolled, you can grow your college with more money from tuition, expand, and continue to attract more students each semester.

Why is student recruitment for colleges important?

Marketing your college is all about attracting the right prospects.

To foster the best relationship possible with those prospects, it’s vital to understand them and their needs. You also need to decipher between prospective students who are genuinely interested in your college and those who are only browsing. Proper lead generation will help you home in on the right prospects so you can focus on the people who are most likely to become students.

Recruiting a student means getting some kind of information about a person so you can follow up with them about new information. Usually, educational institutions start recruiting high school students for college by receiving an email address from a prospect who wants to receive newsletters.

When prospective students opt into learning more about your college, it means they’re interested in enrolling. Some might only be curious, others might be comparing your college to other educational facilities, and others might be just a step away from applying.

Regardless, they’re all worthwhile investments since they could all wind up applying.

Get started with these college recruitment strategies today

At WebFX, we have a full team of digital marketing experts that have worked with colleges around the country to attract students. They know the best methods to use to get the new recruits for your school, and they’ll ensure your website gets as many leads as possible.

Contact us today to set up a student recruitment strategy that’s unique to your college!

We Drive Results for Higher Ed Centers

• 188+ education industry experts
• Renowned for our communication and transparency

Get a Proposal