How Colleges & Universities Can Promote Their Scholarships

The key to getting the most out of your scholarship program is to have as many qualified applicants as possible, which starts with making sure potential applicants hear about your scholarships in the first place.

Higher education institutions of all types usually have direct contact information for a pool of current and prospective students; employing classic direct marketing strategies with this captive audience is an effective way to spread the word about your program.

Direct Marketing Strategies for College & University Scholarship Programs

Marketers know that it can take between 5 and 20 touches – or experiences with a brand – before a prospective customer is ready to buy. How many times do you think a student needs to hear about a scholarship before they take the time to apply?

No matter what your answer is to that question, you can begin thinking like a direct marketer by creating as many touch points, or opportunities for prospects to hear about your scholarships, as possible.

• Text and Email Campaigns

If you collect student and prospective student phone numbers and email addresses, you can send messages through both of those channels to promote scholarships. Just make sure you receive permission from students to contact them in this way. You’ll have a lot of competition in the email inbox, so you’ll need to do what the best marketers do to get results: use a concise, intriguing, and informative subject line paired with a clear and simple call to action in the email body. You may want to resend emails to those who don’t open, send regular reminders, and track your email performance to see if there are certain days and times that get better engagement than others (and amend your email schedule to suit). Text messaging generally garners better response rates but be careful: using this channel too often will annoy students and lead them to unsubscribe. If you have a student population that used to hearing from your school to their campus-issued .edu email address, you’ll likely have more success with open and click-thru rates using these addresses.

• Social Media Campaigns

Social media advertising is another way you can reach students directly. Its primary benefit is that you can target a very specific market in terms of age, location, and interests. You can also fine-tune your promotions based on budget and need. For example, you can promote all of your scholarships continuously or only those scholarships that are lacking qualified applicants as the deadline nears. The key to a successful social media campaign is to check in your ads’ performance regularly to make sure you’re getting the results you want. Learn more about using social media platforms to reach prospective scholarship applicants. Remember generational differences in social media use – administrators and executives might live on Facebook and LinkedIn, but students tend to gather in places like Instagram and Twitter.

• Community Outreach

If your student body tends to come from your immediate area, Senior Days and similar events in your community provide the chance for you to talk to potential applicants face to face. During your presentation, you can ask students to text a friend or two to spread the word about your scholarship opportunities. High school counselors can be a great resource, too.

• Institutional Word of Mouth

Instructors have a lot of face time with students, so they’re well-positioned to promote your scholarships for you. Make sure to inform campus staff if your scholarships are available to part-time students, too. Since part-time students don’t qualify for financial aid, they may be extra motivated to apply for scholarships. Create a few images or short messages that can be shared on social media, via email, or in a printed flyer and send them to anyone who may be inclined to promote your scholarship program. This tactic is also extremely important in helping students separate the signal from the noise – they get a lot of information in email and social from the school, partners, potential employers and spam – so hearing about your scholarship program in person will support its validity and importance.

These classic direct mail strategies can help drive more awareness of your scholarship program and increase the overall number of applications you receive, which is a great first step to ensuring a successful scholarship cycle. To make sure your applicants are well qualified, read our guide to increasing qualified applicants, too.