Recruiting Out-of-State and International Students

How you can leverage Omni CMS powered by Instinct to recruit modern learners—in hyper-personalized, engaging ways

Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts that demonstrate how marketing and web teams can bring the power of personalization to life at their college or university. The series follows the staff at a fictional school, Gallena University, on their journey to attract, convert and engage learners using practical personalization techniques. Each blog is accompanied by a worksheet and online workshop so that you can make the Gallena experience a reality for your school.

State funding cuts have slashed Gallena University’s budget, so the president has directed Sahni, director of admissions, to strategize ways to attract international and out-of-state students, as they can generate extra revenue. 

Sahni and her staff walk through a variety of tools and scenarios that can help them achieve their goal. They decide the easiest and most affordable way is to use a tool already built into their Omni CMS: Modern Campus Instinct™. With Instinct already in place, all Sahni and her staff have to do is to create specific messaging targeting out-of-state and international students.

The Instinct Advantage for a Modern Campus

Sahni and her staff make a list of the most important information that international and out-of-state students want to know about Gallena. This includes tuition discounts and merit aid, information and experiences from current out-of-state and international students already at Gallena, and information about housing and dorms.

Using segmentation based on GPA and geolocation, Sahni and her staff create dynamic content blocks and banners to promote tuition discounts for elite out-of-state and international students. Then, when these prospects click on housing/dorm link, the page automatically forwards to a designated page for high-achieving out-of-state or international students that also contains testimonials from other high-achieving students.

Another option is to clarify special application processes or needs, such as VISA and standardized test requirements. Once again, using geolocation or segmentation based on student location, if known, Sahni and her team can create customized messages for students with a link to a dedicated application page for international students and another for out-of-state students.

Christine, a high school senior, is eager to go away to college—but not too far away. Her state has a tuition-reduction program so she must find comparable aid if she wants to attend college out of state. When she visits the Gallena University website to explore financial and merit aid opportunities, she sees that Gallena offers tuition discounts for out-of-state students. This piques her interest and, on her next visit, she learns about housing and dorm fee reductions for students with high GPAs and test scores. On subsequent visits, she sees stories from students like herself about their experiences on campus and how Gallena was the right fit.

Are You Ready to Supercharge Your School’s Enrollment and Admissions Process?

Like Sahni and her admissions team, your college or university can use Instinct to do big things to increase out-of-state and international student enrollment. Even before you know your website visitor’s name, Instinct helps you understand their interests and then uses that information to offer tailored content and messaging that the student is looking for—at the right time.

Don’t wait. It’s time to transform your website into a next-generation digital experience with rich personalization that dramatically increases digital engagement.

Get started on making Instinct work for your institution. Register for our free online workshop on April 20 at 12pm ET.

We've even created these customizable worksheets to help you follow along during the webinar:

Website Content Management Website Personalization

Last updated: April 12, 2022