Did you know that colleges are huge direct marketers?
My daughter is a high school senior.
She applied to a variety of colleges, and the acceptances (and some rejections!) have been received. She is weighing her options in an attempt to make the right choice regarding what is the biggest decision of her life so far.
Direct marketing campaigns from colleges begin with a deluge of direct mail after SAT scores are distributed. The volume of mail from colleges across the country was overwhelming, and went unopened. It is my observation that teenagers don’t do direct mail. At least the ones in my house don’t.
The actual college acceptances arrived primarily as e-links, with passwords provided prior to receipt. Some colleges sent mail packages.
The clever marketing took place after acceptance. “Personal” letters from parents of current students, phone calls from actual students, invitations to join Facebook clubs and skype chats are all part of the campaign to entice the accepted student to commit to the individual colleges. My daughter tells me that she was able to learn quite a bit about the culture of each college through interaction with other enrolled and prospective students on Facebook. In fact, many students are connecting with future college roommates through social media sites.
I learned early on in my own direct marketing career to reach out to subscribers in the marketing channel of their choosing; ie, if the subscriber initially subscribed through direct mail, send them a renewal through direct mail. If they called in their order, call to ask for their renewal. In this case, the language of most teenagers is social media. My daughter walks right past the pile of mail in our front entryway, but would never go a day without Facebook.
Interestingly, social media cuts parents out of the equation. When I was going through the college decision process, my father was aware of every letter I received from prospective schools. Today, I only know what my daughter chooses to share. The “direct” aspect of direct marketing has eliminated the parent from the equation.
Well, I do know when I will receive direct communication from the school of my daughter’s choosing…and it won’t be an invite to join a Facebook fan page. It will be a good old fashioned tuition bill!
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