The demand for educational printing at colleges and universities, secondary schools, and even elementary schools has always been high. Whether you are talking banners around fields, student organizing planners, branded promotional items for staff, students and fans alike, or environmental graphics, print has a huge role to play.
And that’s just the practical operational uses for print.
When we start talking about marketing, fundraising, and alumni relations, we take this conversation to a whole other place.
Higher education marketing influences students at every level, from attracting new students to enhancing the student experience while on campus and encouraging alumni engagement. It can even draw top-tier staff.
The higher education market has become increasingly competitive in recent years as schools compete for prospective students. Students, however, aren’t the only audience that schools must reach. Beyond students, the community that comprises a school’s broader support network includes parents, alumni, donors, faculty and staff. Colleges and universities have the unique challenge of developing a brand that appeals to all these audiences and generations.
Even if you’re targeting an individual, you’re never speaking to just one person. According to Adams, print speaks to a student’s whole family.
“You’re also trying to talk to their influencers, which can be Gen X or Baby Boomers,” she says, “The younger students are very mobile-invested but they’re also very influenced by parents and family members.”
Let’s look at 5 core product areas that education can leverage to reach and smash goals, optimize the student experience, and continue a lifelong relationship with a person once s/he graduates and becomes alumni.
There are many reasons to use direct mail as a recruitment tool, because it lets you target the students that meet specific criteria, allowing you to target them avoiding wasting time and resources. Direct mail gets noticed and has a proven record of response generation.
Additionally, as admission is the end goal for a prospective student, it is more likely to create a response as they will be compelled to seek further information or engagement. Printed direct mail has more staying power and tangibility than digital marketing tools like social media or emails.
Campus marketing initiatives begin before a student enrolls and continue into adulthood as student graduates, becomes alumnus and ultimately a potential lifelong donor and attendee of other university events.
Promotional items are excellent for raising awareness, developing unity, promoting programs, instilling school spirit, and persuading new students to apply. New products and trends emerge on the regular, so finding partners that can help you navigate the promo landscape is a must.
In a nutshell, wayfinding merges information and visual design helps people find their way through complex environments more comfortably and more successfully. By tying the wayfinding logic to all forms of communication that a visitor experiences as they come into contact with your organization, your students, visitors and other folks are assured to interact with your environments in a positive way.
Whether a delivery vehicle or a bus transporting student athletes, fleet graphics are a great way to “mobilize” your messaging (see what we did there?)
Simply put, Environmental graphics refers to all the different ways we use graphics to enhance, beautify and improve our spaces. Signage, art, and wallcoverings are all at your fingertips and can be leveraged to decorate your world. Libraries, common areas, student unions and dormitories can all benefit from intentional design.
