Every enrollment season, numerous higher education institutions compete over the same pool of prospective students. Any edge can make the difference between meeting enrollment goals and falling short. But with already stretched budgets, finding that edge can be harder than it sounds. However, there is one easily accessible, and often overlooked, option that can do both: B2B data. B2B data can unlock new targeting methods that will make your institution stand out in a crowded field.
Email your prospective students at work
Email marketing is already a great tool for marketing in higher education. It hits the rare balance of being both cost-effective and simply effective. However, the email lists you use can make a big difference.
If your institution targets prospective students using B2C email addresses, your emails are facing stiff competition. That’s because your competitors are doing the same thing, as well as countless other companies. In fact, in 2019, over 293 BILLION emails were sent and received each day – with 121 emails received daily by your average office worker.
By targeting B2B email addresses, your emails will compete with far fewer other offers. However, there is another reason B2B email targeting can be a valuable addition to your marketing plan: workers spend a lot of time looking at their emails. Consumers survey admitted to spending an average of 2.5 hours each day checking their personal emails while at work. That, along with the fact that prospective students are more likely to be thinking about their professional development while they are at work, makes B2B targeting a natural fit for higher education.
Unlock more advanced targeting
Using B2B data also enables you to target prospective students by job title. That opens up significantly more advanced targeting opportunities, particularly for grad schools and training programs. Examples include targeting managers for executive training programs and targeting nurses with LVN certifications for RN programs.
Additionally, targeting by job title opens new possibilities for personalization. When you segment by job title, your ads can speak to the specific conditions that are unique to certain positions.
Conclusion
Many institutions already have robust B2C lists. If yours does, you are already well on the way to targeting your audience in their less crowded B2B in boxes. Our own StiristaLINK product can match your B2C contact information to B2B email addresses. Contact us to learn more.
