University Keep Warm Campaigns

Nurturing leads who are interested but aren’t ready to buy. That is the definition of a “keep warm” marketing campaign. With such a long decision-making process in university undergraduate degree choice, the nurturing of leads - or keeping prospective students interested - is incredibly important. From the moment your university is chosen as one of the five UCAS options - assuming an offer is made - the race is on to be one of the student’s top two choices. The goal is to be chosen as either the firm or the insurance offer and in the popularity contest that ensues, being proactive and making the student feel special is (I think) part of an arsenal of important tactics.

Higher education UG choices

Having been on both sides of the coin – ie, in the meetings deciding on the “keep warm” marketing for undergraduate nursing and midwifery students, and as a parent of a sixth-former going through the UCAS process - my personal opinion is that making the prospective student feel special has got to be at the centre.  

UCAS’s Project Next Generation report shares that 89% of students’ main reason for applying to university is to “follow their passion / dreams” or do something they “will enjoy”.

Note that these polled students weren’t giving reasons related to data. These students weren’t (necessarily) choosing subjects that would statistically earn them the most, get them the biggest house, afford them a sports car. Doing something they will enjoy is a feeling, an emotion. So, making a prospective student feel wanted, feel pleased with their choice, feel celebrated, and feel special seems like a good place to start with the keep warm marketing. 

Celebrate the student

This is such a good example of “keep warm” university marketing - sent to my son after receiving an offer from the University of York.

With loads of universities “world leading”, “top whatever on whatever league table”, or “global this that and the other”, how do students actually decide their firm university choice?

I really like how the University of York team thought to send this mini, fold-out leaflet. There’s no hard sell, no “boring” stats to sell the university, just a simple (and personalised) message of congratulations and celebration at this nerve-wracking stage of the UCAS process.

I’m sure they’ve sent out thousands of these - but it has done its job and created warm and happy feelings towards this particular university and maybe a good feeling about a place is what tips the balance in the end?

There’s even a little gold scratch card to-do list on the back, helping you through the potentially overwhelming process of starting at university and leaving home for the first time.

Feeling special

“You’re invited”. I love this from the University of Leeds. An exclusive event just for offer holders - it makes the prospective student feel special and welcome. These offer-holder events aren’t unique to this university, in fact I suspect every university does this, but this postcard just sums up a good example of how simple wording can work well. It’s also a huge, in-person, event from the university, an opportunity to showcase their offering - but it starts with making the student feel welcome and special.

Keep everyone warm

There’s many statistics from the UCAS report pointing to a huge parental influence in student undergraduate choices. So, there’s little surprise that universities put an emphasis on keeping parents and carers “warm” as well.

The University of Liverpool’s offer holder information really stood out for me. Not from an HE marketing outlook as such, but more from a personal perspective. With so much information now on the student UCAS hub, making sure nothing important gets missed is a) reliant on me regularly reminding my son to keep checking the UCAS hub during a really busy Year 13 and b) knowing what I’m even reminding him to check for.

For me, anything hardcopy has now become keeping-in-the-loop gold dust. The main thing that really stood out for me from the University of Liverpool (that I’d not seen from other applied-for universities) was the full A5 back page dedicated to information for parents and supporters.

Yes, all the information is no doubt available online if you search enough, but they’ve collated all the important areas, where to look for it, plus a QR code to sign up for their parents’ newsletter. I found this really thoughtful - yes the student is front and centre, but they’ve acknowledged that parents/carers generally play a huge role in the entire process, not least the final decision-making regarding university choice.

Final thoughts on undergraduate “keep warm“ marketing

For the majority of the undergraduate intake, it will be a huge transition from school to university and from home to another city. All the information about career prospects, future earnings, and graduate employment are (of course) important, but I feel a focus on emotion-led marketing is particularly important for undergraduate marketing. This is in stark contrast to postgraduate and executive education marketing.

These prospective students are making very grown-up decisions but are barely out of adolescence. There’s a great line in the UCAS report that I particularly like that I think sets the whole tone, “So, when they’re making adult decisions, we mustn’t forget childhood tendencies – like enjoyment, fun, play, spontaneity, joy, and entertainment.”

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