We were hired by one of Canada’s smallest universities to help them build their image and enrolment. Although the university had over 40 years experience in offering undergraduate liberal arts and science programs and offered more than 30 academic programs taught by internationally known experts it suffered from its small size and small city locale.

The project had some very specific information needs including;

• How staff viewed the current brand
• The process students used in selecting a university
• The impact of key influencers on their decision
• Articulating the university’s marketable value proposition
• Profiling of the current student population
• Profiling of the target student
• The satisfaction that current and past students had with the institution
• Perceptions toward the current brand and logo

We worked with the administration to develop executive interviews, a quantitative telephone and web-based survey as well as focus groups and one-on-one interviews.

Our Findings

• Program offering is more important as an influence to targeted students
• Appeal of a small school is relatively low
• Class size and faculty ratio are also more appealing to students from smaller geographic locations
• Reputation is more important to target audience than current student base
• Attracting students is a tall order
  • The university must realize that larger universities with onsite colleges are making many of the same claims about small size, faculty to student ratio, residence guarantees, and safety/security
• Strengths and weaknesses are just different sides of the same coin…

Our recommendations involved Target Market Identification, Alumni Leveraging, Branding Refinements, Marketing Enhancements and specific Recruiting Tactics.

The university has successfully extended its reach as its enrolment grows.