Outreach Strategies Using College Access Marketing to Influence Collegegoing Behavior

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Outreach Strategies - Using College Access
Marketing to Influence College-going Behavior

• National Council of Education Loan Programs
• Spring Convention June 6, 2006

Ann Coles, Sr. Vice President, College Access,
TERI (The Education Resources Institute) and
Director, Pathways to College Network
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Pathways to College Network

• Goal to advance college access and success for
  under-served students
• Alliance of 40 organizations and funders launched
  in 2001
• Emphasis on using data and research to improve
  policy and practice
• Focus on youth (ages 12-25 yrs. old)
• Managed by TERI (The Education Resources
  Institute)

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College Access Marketing

• Definition and history
• Current campaigns
• Research findings strategies re reaching
  underserved students
• College Access Marketing Website

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Definition of College Access Marketing

• Social marketing that encourages people to
  prepare plan for college
• Aimed at getting target audience to take specific
  actions such as taking a college prep curriculum
  in high school, securing financial aid, or
  applying to college

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Social Marketing

• Concepts and tools applied to causes that advance
  the social good (anti-smoking campaigns,
  designated drivers, get out the vote)
• Aimed at convincing people to engage in a
  behavior that benefits both the individual
  society as a whole
• Focused on changing behavior, not just raising
  awareness
• Meeting the audience on their terms, not yours

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College Access Marketing Core Principles

• Research your audiences - look at everything from
  their point of view
• Be specific about what you want people to do
• Success depends on getting your audience to act
  make doing it easy and attractive
• Combine in the air and on the ground tactics
• Partner with others to deliver the message and
  support action
• Solicit continuous feedback
• Measure results
• Make a long-term investment at least 3 yrs.

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National Regional College Access Marketing
Campaigns

• College Goal Sunday
• Start Here, Go Further
• On the Road Paying for College Bus Tour
• Get It, Got it, Go
• think Education
• GO Alliance

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College Goal Sunday

• Goal Bring students families to an event to
  complete the FASFA
• Target audience Lower income students
  families
• Lead partners NASFAA, Lumina Foundation, State
  Financial Aid Associations
• Results helped 17,000 students in 25 states
  DC in 2006 increasing to 34 states in 2007

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Start Here, Go Further

• Goal create unified brand identity for agencys
  programs so they dont compete with each other
• Target audience general population
  underserved students
• Lead partner Federal Student Aid
• Results merged 70 web sites into a few. Made
  hundreds of publications look like each other.
  Launched action-oriented campaign.

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On the Road Paying for College Bus Tour

• Goal bring in-person bilingual financial aid
  information to low-income families
• Target audience Latino families
• Lead partner The Sallie Mae Fund
• Results Met with 33,000 students in 77 cities
  in 2005-06

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Get It, Got It, Go

• Goal shift attaining a college education from a
  dream to an action-oriented goal
• Target audience
• - Primary low-income, 1st generation students
  in grades 8-10
• - Secondary parents/adult guardian
• Lead partners Ad Council, American Council on
  Education, Lumina Foundation
• Results Launches in Fall 2006 at least 3 yrs.
  duration

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think Education

• Goals
• - Increase awareness of importance of completing
  h.s. ready for college and work
• - Direct students to supports they need to
  graduate from h.s.
• - Empower students to become advocates for change
  in their schools and communities
• Target audience 12-18 yr. olds
• Lead partners MTV, Bill Melinda Gates
  Foundation
• Results reached over 13 million viewers on air
  hundreds of thousands more online

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GO Alliance

• Goal support states in launching, improving,
  expanding college access marketing efforts
• Lead partner Southern Regional Education Board
• Activities sharing products, strategic plans
  providing training technical assistance
• Campaigns include
• Kentucky Go Higher
• College Foundation of North Carolina
• Oklahoma GEAR UP
• College for Texans

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Research Findings re Reaching Underserved Students

• Go to college too big a step need to focus
  on short-term , doable goals
• Most students have college aspirations but no
  idea of how to get there think college just
  happens if they get good grades behave well
• Target communities have negative perceptions
  about college
• Youth respond to positive messages, actionable
  goals, talking listening to other teens
• Urban, minority teens come from oral
  communication culture need to dialogue
  interact in order to be persuaded

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College Access Marketing Strategies

• Emphasize specific actions audience can take to
  plan prepare for college
• Pay attention to families cultural backgrounds,
  state regional differences
• Use in the air and on the ground approaches
• Involve audience you are trying to reach as a
  partner
• Messaging is key its not what you say, but
  what audience hears
• Spread message through word-of-mouth, using
  trusted peers adults

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Adult Learner Financial Aid Administrator GEAR UP
NC School Counselor College Redirection Downloadab
le Resources Test Prep
We believe every student should have the
opportunity to go to college. That's why College
Foundation of North Carolina created this site.
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College Foundation ofNorth Carolina (CFNC)

• Partnership College Foundation Inc., NC
  State Education Assistance Authority, Pathways of
  North Carolina
• Goals
• Primary - Help students plan for college and find
  best financial aid
• Secondary - Drive traffic to My CFNC website
  that has tools to do all these things (online
  applications, college searches, etc.)

www.cfnc.org
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CFNC Strategies and Tactics

• In the air
• Toll-free telephone information
• Ad campaign billboards, radio, TV
• Cool-looking new Website
• On the ground
• Training everyone they can get their hands on to
  help students use the website, including
  counselors, teachers, community leaders etc

www.cfnc.org
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College for TexansIn the air strategy

• Based on their research, Texas crafted a media
  campaign with two main themes
• Mentors aimed at parents, grandparents,
  community leaders
• Financial aid aimed at students
• Tagline Education. Go Get It.
• Television, radio, billboards
• Everything in English and Spanish

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College for Texanson the ground

• Paying for College workshops
• GO Centers in communities where students can go
  to get information and help about college
• Go Theatre motivational performances by
  first-generation college students
• Education Go Get It song a kids version and a
  high school marching band version

www.collegefortexans.com
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Pathways to College Network - College Access
Marketing Website

• Step-by-step guide for creating a campaign
• The Basics core principles criteria for
  effective campaigns
• Multimedia Gallery ads, posters, marketing
  materials
• Tools Resources
• Managed by Southern Regional Education Board

www.collegeaccessmarketing.org
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