A Quick Guide to Promoting Your Graduate Program

Marketing is an important part of your department’s recruitment efforts, and it can be hard to know where to start. As you think through your marketing strategy, consider these foundational pieces of digital marketing as your starting point for creating a formalized plan.

Step One

Update and/or revamp your website. This is the most critical piece of your marketing repertoire.

Graduate students will do digital research for anywhere from 6 to 18 months before applying. And your website is the “digital storefront” to your program. Some of your applicants will only view your website and nothing else before applying to your program. Your website needs to answer their main questions, such as:

  • How much does it cost me?
  • How long will it take me?
  • What do I get for it?
  • Who will I work with?
  • Who will I study with?
  • What are my prospects when I am finished?
  • Who will I become?

Action Item: Do an audit of your website. Look for the answers to these questions, from the perspective of a prospective student. Are the answers to these questions easy to find? Could a student summarize or define a degree based on what they can find on the website? Make sure you web materials answer these questions and make the value of the degree obvious.

Action Item: Create and post student and alumni profiles and stories. These provide first-hand accounts of the program’s value to prospective students. These are especially important for those who are unable to visit campus (both due to the pandemic and other reasons).

Step Two

Email is not dead. A study by Blackboard said graduate students still prefer to engage with programs via email, and our automated emails in Target X are an easy way to make sure you’re staying in touch with students throughout the application cycle.

Action Item: Review Your Target X Inquiry Comms Plans. We typically do this each year in July, however if you feel that your email content needs to be refreshed sooner, we can do so. When reviewing your content, consider:

  • Is the content up to date and consistent across all platforms and communications?
  • Does the tone of voice match your other materials?
  • Do you have a clear CTA (call to action)?
  • Would you, as a prospective student, be engaged enough by the content to click through any “read more” links or to begin an application?
  • Are there specific points in the application cycle where you know students need more support? For example: if you receive multiple emails from prospective students near the application deadline about your program’s required CV or resume, consider creating an email that addresses those common concerns and including it in your plan to be sent to all students.

Step Three

Invest time in your social media channels and post regularly to grow your organic reach.

Social media is an excellent tool, and it must be used correctly in order to reap its benefits. Get faculty, staff, and students engaged with your content. Vary the content of your posts, and stick to a posting schedule.

Some content ideas are:

  • Share things happening on campus AND things off campus. Prospective students want to know what your faculty and students are doing in the classroom as well as in professional spaces.
  • Highlight successful alumni, faculty research and expertise.
  • Promote events in your program’s community.
  • Share your positive press.
  • Share your conference experiences. Let students see the work that is happening in association spaces and research trips.
  • Profile current students.

Action Item: Create a content calendar for social media and assign ownership of the channel(s). Designating someone to create, post, and monitor your social media feeds is critical to your channels’ success. Create a plan for the first months of post topics, ideas, and even a loose schedule of posting. Reach out to the CHSS marketing and communications team for further support (chssmc@gmu.edu).

Step Four

Decide where to invest your marketing and recruiting funds, ideally in time for main recruiting cycle for your program.

Options include:

  • Bringing potential students to campus for visits (post-COVID)
  • Paid social media ads when the fall recruitment cycle begins
  • Recruitment Videos
  • Attending or sponsoring events
  • Direct mail or email campaigns

Read some more tips here. 

Want to dive into your program’s marketing efforts? Reach out to Sarah Holland, CHSS Marketing Specialist, (sholla4@gmu.edu) or Felicia Carr, CHSS Assistant Dean for Strategic Communications and Marketing, (fcarr2@gmu.edu). They are happy to help!