In the following post, I will break down the components of a mail campaign by Baylor University in Texas. Many of the top universities have similar personalized mailers going to millions of high school seniors.
The letter below is a great use of Inbound and Content Marketing. At the end of my article I will post a better view of the letter.
1. College Logo
College and universities always have to be thinking of their brand. Students and alumni are very passionate about their schools. Word of mouth and family traditions can play a big role in the decision making process. However, branding (and how well your football team plays on Saturday) can be a big factor as well. Make sure to develop a logo and brand that sets you apart from the competition.
2. Advertise Your Lead Magnet
Content marketing is not just for big corporations with 20 blog writers. College use it, and so does our district. In Baylor's letter, they waste no time introducing their piece of content. Baylor's contents is called, "5 Strategies for Choosing a Major". What a great piece of useful content for high school seniors and juniors. How does a 17 year old kid really know what they want to do in life. Baylor is attempting to help them. And help is all what Content Marketing is about.
3. Personalized Greeting
This is not 1978. Computers and computer programs have made it very easy to personalize your letters. A generic form letter is not going to cut it. Always, always make sure you address the letter to the student. And make sure to spell their name right.
4. Landing Page - Get Their Email
The key to Inbound Marketing is to get their permission to send them more stuff. Baylor does a great job setting up a simple "Landing Page" website for students to get their Major Guide, and at the same time collecting information about interested students in their school. We use LeadPages in our district to create slick micro-content websites to build our email database.
5. Personalized Password - Make them Feel Special
This is a great way to add more exclusivity to your marketing. Giving each student their own password makes them feel special like they our in a secret, exclusive club.
6. Strong Introductory Sentence
You need to spend a great deal of time developing your opening sentence of your letter. many students won't read pass your first couple of lines. Make sure they are strong to keep them reading. Tell them how you are going to help them.
7. Formally Introduce the Lead Magnet
Baylor teased the "Free Prize" earlier in the the letter. Now it is time to expand on what you can offer them to make the best choice when choosing a college. You must tell them why your content marketing piece is so useful. How is it going to change their lives?
8. Discuss Your Benefits
Hopefully Baylor sold their recipients on the benefits of downloading their lead magnet. Now it is their opportunity to sell the students on their university without getting long winded. It is a great idea to tie-in the lead magnet you are offering. Baylor uses two paragraphs with a couple of sentences each to sell their school. This is not a dissertation. The whole point is to get them to take the next step, and then send them additional content in the future.
9. Close with Your Lead Magnet
Just like a good English paper, always restate your opening paragraph to close your letter. Baylor uses the last paragraphs to once again remind the reader about their awesome college major guide. Hopefully, one more reminder will encourage the readers to take advantage of the free content.
10. Personalized Signature
Take the time for someone important to offer a signature. It doesn't have to be fresh ink, but it better look that way. If students think the Senior Director of Admissions at Baylor took the time approve this message, it might feel a bit more important to the student. Have your superintendent or principal sign your letters. They are more important than you... haha.
11. P.S. Remind them How Great You Are
Baylor takes the opportunity to remind the reader how great they are and reminds them of the "Lead Magnet". And to tell you the truth, the post script might be read first by some students. Make it strong, and sell your program.
12. Contact Info
Make sure you give them some contact information for your program. It won't be read much, but some of your more anal students will take advantage of knowing your address.
Colleges and universities are starting to spend big bucks to market to high school students. It is a great source of inspiration for K-12 School Public Relations and Marketing.
Here is a closer look at the Baylor letter:
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