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5 e-Newsletters to Send this Fall
1.
Search/Prospect Emails
Going back to school gets high school juniors and seniors
thinking about where they want to go to college. If you haven’t
done so already, get your e-search pieces finalized now! The
earlier you start a connection with a potential student, the
longer you have to build the relationship. Email makes it
easy to reach students who may have been difficult to find
with traditional print materials alone.
2. Counselor Emails
Are you going to the NACAC (National Association of College
Admissions Counselors) National Conference this fall? Let
all those high school guidance counselors know where they
can find you! Don't forget to send a reminder email the week
before. Timing and a little repetition may lead to your capturing
better share of mind with counselors.
Send your email early in the morning or towards the end of
the school day when counselors are less likely to be meeting
with students and more likely to check email. Tell counselors
about scholarships, financial aid, and fast facts specific
to your school. But don’t make it too long and complicated.
It should be designed as a quick reference for these busy
professionals.
3. Open House Invitation and Reminder Emails
Supplement a paper invitation with an email invitation to
your fall open house sessions. As with search/prospect email,
these are much cheaper to produce and send online and often
yield a higher response rate. Students can click directly
to your online sign-up form rather than sending back a postcard
or calling to schedule an appointment. Provide information
such as local hotels for parents, special events for the open
house, and an itinerary for the day.
4. Athletic Event Invitation and Reminder Emails
Fall is always a great time for school spirit. Students just
returning to campus are excited about the upcoming year and
love to show support at sporting events. Do you have an annual
football game that cannot be missed? Send students and alumni
an invite with this event information.
5. Parent Emails
Parents love to feel connected to their children away at school.
Parents Weekend invitations and newsletters are a great way
to keep this very important group informed. As with Open House
invitations, parents can click directly to the sign-up form
on your website to register for Parents Weekend. Also, keep
parents “in the know” about campus events and
student life with regular newsletters.
Planning
Tips for this Fall's Email Campaigns
Would
you advise a student to wait until the last minute to write
a term paper? Of course not. Likewise, we recommend planning
your email programs in advance to ensure they yield the best
results.
For
example, not every day of the week is created equally.
Tuesday
and Wednesday see the greatest volume of email sent because
marketers know that mid-week is a productive time for busy,
working audiences. Conversely, Monday is a catch up day from
the previous weekend, and Thursday begins the wind-down to
the next weekend.
A
little advanced planning may help you launch on the most effective
day (and even time of day!) to achieve the highest open and
click-thru rates possible.
Planning
ahead also allows you to put more thought into your message.
For example, right now you might consider students’
fall schedules in choosing your email topics. Towards the
beginning of the year, students are finding classrooms, starting
to study, and reconnecting with friends. Freshman are finding
the best places to eat, learning their school's sports cheers,
and considering clubs and activities. Planning allows you
to better tailor the information in your email.
Likewise,
keep high school students' schedules in mind for prospect/search
emails. High school students typically return home in the
early afternoon, so sending big prospect emails around 1pm
will put you at the top of their inboxes when they check email
after school.
Finally,
create a calendar. Put email alongside your print campaign
calendar and see what synergies you find. Email is an additional
channel that makes print even more effective (and vice versa!).
Sometimes the one-two punch of a postal piece and an email
communication reinforce a message and better drive a prospect
to action.
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