51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏ

Below are some ways to prepare your marketing recruitment journey from discovery to outreach and evaluation, which involve planning and strategy development.

It can be daunting to decide how and where to start developing appropriate content and materials to make your graduate programs stand out. This is where it’s important to undertake a competitive analysis of your program(s). Doing so helps you and your team align your interests and create a strategy to meet your recruitment goals.

There are a number of tools to help you in this process. We are only sharing two tools with you here.

Discovery Tools

SWOT Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Using what you learn from your competitive analyses, work on developing goals and a strategy to help you meet those recruitment goals and leverage your strengths in your content for your outreach activities.

Smart Goals

Your recruitment goals should be S.M.A.R.T: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound. Review how you can use .

There are a lot of options for you to consider using for your outreach in your recruitment strategy. There are several tools available to you, depending on your resources, time and support.

These include (but are not limited to):

• your website
• print/digital collateral
• email campaigns
• in-person opportunities
• webinars/information sessions
• paid/unpaid advertising

Note: this section is still under development and we will add content when complete

Website

Your faculty, department, unit and/or program website is your face to the world and should be your top priority in your recruitment strategy. Ways to improve your website include the following:

• Branding
• Visuals
• Voice/Tone
• Stories & Ambassadors

Review your website periodically to ensure things are up to date and hyperlinks still connect to the correct place. Units within 51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏhave been updating their websites to the latest version of AEM. In doing so, some of the different sites’ URLs may have changed and you may end of up with broken links on your site.

Questions to ask yourself (and others) when reviewing your website to make it more user-friendly and aligned with your recruitment goals:

• As a prospective graduate student, how easy is it to find information on your webpage?
• How many clicks does it take to get there?
• Ask people who are not familiar with your page to try to find information. Ask current students for their input.
• Use Google Analytics to determine which pages people frequent the most, how long people are spending on your page, and where people seem to be getting lost. 51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏCommunicators have someone who can help you set up Analytics on your website and you can learn more about how to read the .

If you are planning a website re-vamp or an upgrade from to CLF4, please visit the 51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏCommunicators Toolkit for information about how to update your website.

Key Information Potential Students Need to Have Easily Accessible

In general, most information provided by academic units includes the basics of what potential students need to know. This includes:

• What the program(s) is about and program expectations
• Important dates (application open/close deadlines, information/webinar sessions, timelines for students to receive their application decisions)
  • Clear Calls to Action (CTAs), if applicable (e.g. Apply Today, Sign up for an Info Session, Download a flyer, Sign up to receive emails, etc.)
• How to apply (if there any specific instructions applicants need for your program(s), please include them on your website)
• University and additional program requirements to apply
• International student requirements
• Program Tuition and Fees (clearly identifying if there are tuition differentials for domestic vs. international students, is something international students want to know)
• Financial Supports (including awards and scholarships)

Linking to the Grad Studies website and the 51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏCalendar for some of this information is helpful and encouraged. However, the more information that you can provide to potential students from your program(s) perspective, in a clear, concise and engaging manner, the easier it is for these potential students to apply.

Examples of 51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏGraduate program websites incorporating some or all of these principles and practices:

• Faculty of Science
• (Application deadlines in their application process, )
  
• Faculty of Health Sciences (Particularly, Ask a Student)

Print/Digital Collateral