I tried ReachBright – and here’s what I learned.
Today’s college students have more options for higher education than ever. Vying for the attention of potential students in such a crowded marketplace can seem nearly impossible and the same is true for when they graduate. When the right combination of informed data and marketing blend, though, it’s possible to cut through the noise to reach the right potential, current and former students with customized messaging.
I recently had the chance to demo ReachBright, a data and automated marketing platform tailored to colleges and universities. ReachBright has three separate systems based on which college marketing task is at hand. Those three are:
Enrollment management – It tracks website visitors and their specific areas of interest. From there, targeted emails based on interests are sent with the intent to start an admissions conversation. The platform works in conjunction with any major enrollment management software.
Campus engagement – This system designates campus “cheerleaders” who can up the motivation of disengaged students. It also asks students for feedback on a variety of topics that inform and improve their college experience. Social media is leveraged to boost the image of the college or university through student-generated social content.
Alumni development – Colleges can connect to alumni on the places they are already using – like Facebook. Alumni can then be matched to specific interests to increase the chances of giving. The platform is also great for targeted alumni communications with no donation ask that keep them engaged with their alma mater.
Where Data and Marketing Combine
ReachBright users can see the data related to their campaigns sliced and diced in many different ways. The email function works much in the way other popular email systems like Constant Contact and MailChimp work – by showing who is opening, clicking and otherwise engaging. This better informs future messaging to the individual recipients.
ReachBright users also have the opportunity to see the browsing history of website visitors to know how to best target them with messaging. This is especially effective for prospective students because knowing where they are spending time on the site can inform specific messaging from the college. There is even a “missed opportunities” option where the college can see what communication weaknesses exist and how they can be strengthened. ReachBright keeps all employees in different departments in the know on what communications have happened with which potential, current or past students so the marketing game plan can be unified.
The data itself is also impressive. ReachBright is built on the Google backbone, tapping the extremely powerful and effective data mastered by the search engine giant. Equipped with Google expertise, the data retrieval process is already tried and tested. The insights that ReachBright provides make marketing targeting plans more accurate and customized.
ReachBright: Specializing in Higher Ed
The thing I really found unique about ReachBright is that it is built solely for higher education institutions. Since the college and university landscape is so nuanced when it comes to what types of marketing work for specific goals, other generic data/marketing platforms aren’t a perfect fit. Instead of trying to make those broader systems work for a college settings, ReachBright is already tailored to the task. ReachBright works specifically in the higher education industry and can therefore bring more detailed and accurate offerings to clients.
This is just a small sampling of all the features of ReachBright. Request your free demo now by visiting the ReachBright site.
