Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the way various industries approach marketing. For higher education institutions seeking to engage with their audience effectively, AI offers many opportunities to create personalized, data-driven campaigns. 

In this blog, we'll explore six powerful marketing strategies tailored to the needs of higher ed, utilizing artificial intelligence to enhance engagement, boost conversions, and build lasting connections with students, alumni, and other stakeholders.

Why We Need AI For Higher Education Marketing

Meeting Today’s Student’s Changing Expectations

Attracting and retaining students is crucial for higher education institutions. Today’s students have changing expectations — they expect personalized and quick responses around the clock. They also want the content to be specific to their unique needs.

Increasing Staff Productivity Amidst Staffing Challenges

As budgets decrease and staff turnover, information hoarding can result in a loss of institutional knowledge, making it difficult to maintain consistent and high-quality services. This can lead to errors in communication and an inability to address students' inquiries effectively. 

Inefficient staffing and lack of expertise can lead to delayed responses to student inquiries, slow campaign execution, and missed opportunities to engage with prospective students, affecting overall institutional efficiency and effectiveness.

Know What’s Working With Easy-to-Understand Insights

Data-driven decision-making is essential for higher education institutions to allocate resources effectively, optimize marketing strategies, and improve student outcomes. Without comprehensive data, institutions may make decisions based on incomplete or inaccurate information.

By leveraging artificial intelligence technologies, higher education institutions can deliver personalized and efficient communications to students, improve staff productivity, and gain valuable insights from data analysis.

Let’s explore six types of marketing ideas institutions can implement with the help of artificial intelligence tools.

AI-Generated Email Campaigns

AI-generated email campaigns offer a solution to the real challenge of overstretched staff by providing quick, personalized, and efficient communication. 

With AI analyzing student behavior and preferences, institutions can craft emails that resonate with individual interests, leading to higher open and click-through rates. By automating the content creation process, AI ensures that emails are delivered in a timely manner, allowing higher education institutions to be there 24/7 with real and accurate answers.

Artificial intelligence enables proactive outreach, ensuring students receive relevant information even before they ask for it. This personalized and proactive approach enhances the overall student experience, fostering stronger connections between the institution and its audience.

• Audience: Prospective students and leads interested in specific programs.
• Goals: Increase program inquiries, drive website traffic, and nurture leads.

AI Tool Recommendation: AI-powered tools like email marketing platforms Phrasee or Persado can help draft compelling email subject lines and body content. Element451's Bolt Copilot can generate personalized, outlined, and written campaigns.

• Utilize AI to analyze user behavior, preferences, and historical data.
• Segment the audience based on their program interests, location, and stage in the enrollment process.
• Use AI-generated content to craft personalized email subject lines and body text.
• Implement A/B testing to refine email content and optimize open and click-through rates.
• Automate follow-up emails based on user responses to keep the engagement alive.

AI-Driven SMS Campaigns

AI-driven SMS campaigns directly address the student experience challenge by providing quick and efficient communication via mobile devices, which is the preferred communication method for many students. 

With artificial intelligence analyzing user interaction patterns, higher education institutions can schedule SMS messages at optimal times, enhancing the likelihood of engagement. Additionally, AI-powered chatbots integrated into SMS provide instant support, offering real and accurate answers 24/7. 

Institutions can be multilingual and ensure personalized information for each individual, further improving the student experience and facilitating a smooth communication process.

• Audience: Current students, event attendees, and prospects who have opted for SMS communication.
• Goals: Improve event attendance, enhance campus engagement, and promote time-sensitive updates.

AI Tool Recommendation: Twilio and Element451's Bolt Copilot can generate and automate SMS campaigns effectively.

• Leverage AI to analyze user interaction patterns and preferences.
• Schedule SMS messages at the optimal times for maximum engagement.
• Create personalized and relevant SMS content based on user data.
• Incorporate AI-driven chatbots within SMS to provide instant support and answer FAQs.
• Measure campaign performance through click-through rates and responses, adjusting strategies accordingly.

AI-Powered Chatbots for Website Interaction

AI-powered chatbots offer a solution to the staffing challenge by providing continuous and consistent support to students and website visitors. 

As staff turnover and open positions increase, chatbots can step in to provide real-time assistance, ensuring there is someone available 24/7. AI-driven chatbots, like Element451’s BoltBot, possess a vast knowledge base and can be trained to respond accurately and helpfully to common queries, ensuring the right information is readily available. 

This eliminates the friction in the student experience, allowing students to access information and support whenever they need it, without relying on staff availability.

• Audience: Students and website visitors seeking information.
• Goals: Enhance user experience, provide instant support, and increase lead generation.

AI Tool Recommendation: Deploy an AI chatbot platform like BoltBot to create an interactive experience.

• Identify the common queries and FAQs of website visitors and prospective students with a Draft Reply feature.
• Train the AI chatbot to respond accurately and with a friendly tone to these queries. Grow the knowledge base to ensure accuracy and consistency in answers.
• Implement a seamless handover from the chatbot to a human representative when needed.
• Use chatbot analytics to gain insights into user behavior and improve the chatbot's responses over time.
• Encourage users to engage with the chatbot by promoting its presence on the website and social media.

AI-Enhanced Blog + Website Content Curation

AI tools can analyze student behavior and interests, curating content from various sources that align with individual preferences. This ensures that students receive valuable information tailored to their specific needs, leading to higher engagement and satisfaction. 

Additionally, AI-powered content creation tools can assist in generating blog posts that resonate with the target audience. AI-enhanced content curation and content creation tools can significantly help busy staff produce lots of content quickly and efficiently. 

By leveraging AI technologies, staff members can streamline their content creation process, freeing up valuable time and resources for other essential tasks.

• Audience: Current students, faculty, and prospective students interested in academic and campus life.
• Goals: Increase website traffic, improve engagement, and showcase institutional expertise.

AI Tool Recommendation: A content curation platform like Curata or Scoop.it, augmented with AI capabilities, can efficiently curate and create content.

• Utilize AI to analyze user interests, preferences, and browsing behavior.
• Curate relevant content from reputable sources based on the AI's recommendations.
• Use AI-generated content to create engaging blog posts, infographics, and articles.
• Optimize content with SEO keywords for better search engine rankings.
• Share the curated and created content across social media channels and newsletters.

AI-Generated Video Content

By using AI-generated videos for various purposes, such as program introductions, virtual campus tours, or course previews, higher education institutions can effectively communicate with potential and current students. 

By incorporating elements of personalization, such as addressing students by their names, AI-generated videos create a sense of individual attention and relevance. This approach captivates the audience and fosters a stronger connection between the institution and its students.

• Audience: Prospective students, parents, and alumni interested in campus life and academic programs.
• Goals: Increase brand awareness, foster emotional connections, and showcase campus culture.

AI Tool Recommendation: An AI-driven video creation tool like Lumen5 or Wibbitz can help produce engaging video content.

• Gather relevant data, images, and text to serve as the foundation for the video.
• Utilize the AI tool to automatically generate video content from the provided assets.
• Customize the video with your institution's branding and voiceover (optional).
• Distribute the video on social media, your website, and email campaigns.
• Monitor video engagement metrics to assess its impact and refine future video content.

AI-Generated Visual Content

AI-generated visual content addresses the student experience challenge by providing eye-catching and personalized marketing that resonates with students.  AI tools can generate visual content, such as infographics, social media graphics, and promotional images, that align with individual tastes. 

The use of AI-generated visual content doesn’t just free up busy staff to focus on one-to-one relationships; it also enhances the overall student experience, making marketing efforts visually appealing, engaging, and tailored to individual interests.

• Audience: Prospective students, alumni, and stakeholders interested in the institution's achievements and initiatives.
• Goals: Enhance visual storytelling, showcase accomplishments, and boost social media engagement.

AI Tool Recommendation: Design tools like Canva or Adobe Sensei can be enhanced with AI capabilities for efficient visual content creation.

• Identify the key messages and data points you want to convey visually.
• Utilize AI-powered design tools to create visually appealing infographics, charts, and illustrations.
• Incorporate your institution's branding elements into the visual content.
• Share the visual content on social media, newsletters, and presentations.
• Monitor engagement and feedback to fine-tune future visual content.

By harnessing the power of AI, higher education institutions can develop highly effective, personalized marketing campaigns tailored to their audience's needs. 

From personalized email campaigns to interactive chatbots, AI-driven content curation, and engaging video and visual content, artificial intelligence enables institutions to create meaningful connections with their community. 

Embrace the era of AI-assisted marketing efforts and unlock the potential to attract, engage, and retain students and stakeholders in the ever-evolving landscape of higher education.

If you’re ready to incorporate AI into your workflow, schedule a call with Element451, the only CRM solution to fully harness the power of artificial intelligence.