For business schools and universities, PR plays a critical role in shaping perceptions, enhancing visibility, and engaging prospective students. An interview may be brief, but the article that comes from it can have long-lasting effects.

When effectively integrated into an admissions strategy, PR can significantly boost enrolment numbers, enhance diversity, and elevate your institution's overall reputation. After all, without recruitment and admissions, there's no business! There are so many more reasons why your PR strategy is key to is key to your admissions strategy...

Why should we include PR in our admissions strategy?

Enhancing visibility and awareness

Securing media coverage in newspapers, magazines, and online platforms can elevate your institution’s profile. Press releases about new programmes, faculty achievements, major student success stories, and campus events can attract the attention of journalists and, subsequently, prospective students. On top of that, because the media landscape is so diverse, if there’s a certain demographic or background you want to attract into applying to your school or university, targeting related publications will directly translate into engagement with your desired audience.

Moreover, social media platforms are also crucial for reaching potential students, especially with every new generation to come into adulthood becoming the most digitally literate yet, including Gen Z. By sharing engaging content, such as campus life photos, student testimonials, and media coverage, you can create a dynamic online presence that makes your audience think ‘Hmm, I’d like to study there...’

Building and maintaining reputation

A well-coordinated PR strategy ensures that your institution’s messaging is consistent across all channels and stakeholders, helping to build a strong, recognisable brand identity that prospective students can trust.

Use PR to showcase what sets your institution apart. Whether it’s innovative programmes, distinguished faculty, research opportunities, appealing location, or inspiring alumni, highlighting these strengths can make your institution more appealing.

PR is also crucial during crises. Effective communication strategies can help manage and mitigate negative situations, protecting your institution’s reputation and maintaining trust with prospective students.

Engaging more directly with prospective students

Powerful storytelling can make your institution’s brand relatable and memorable. Share stories of current students, alumni, and faculty to give a human face to your institution and inspire prospective students. And good PR will be at the centre of all this...

Ok... Convincing... But how can we measure its effects?

Measuring the impact of PR is important in evaluating its role in an admissions strategy. To effectively measure PR’s impact, start by defining clear short- and long-term objectives for your admissions strategy. These goals will help you determine what success looks like and how to measure it.

Focus on relevant metrics that provide insights into PR’s value. Key metrics fall into three categories: brand impact, digital impact, and revenue. These will help assess the true effectiveness of PR efforts, unlike statistics such as Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE), which can be misleading.

For student recruitment, track changes in application numbers before and after a PR campaign. Analyse variations in applicant locations and industries and assess the quality of candidates that are applying to your business school. Moreover, when promoting new programmes, focus on increased student awareness and application rates.

Keep in mind that both the quality of media coverage and quantity can be useful. Effective PR should align with your admissions goals and provide high-impact, relevant coverage, and while a high volume of media attention can be beneficial, it can be the quality and relevance of that coverage that truly matters.

In all of these points, conducting student surveys will be of value, as it will provide feedback from prospective students about their perceptions and experiences of your institution. This information can then inform your PR and admissions strategies, ensuring they align with student expectations and preferences. And the cycle continues!

Umm, not to doubt you, but do you have any proof?

Yes! So glad you asked. We have over a decade of experience in delivering coverage that translates into material success for business schools and universities.

Take this article in Study International, featuring three students from Vlerick Business School. The article details what they learnt, how they benefited from their education, and talks about the impressive start-up they co-founded together. Study International’s audience is primarily current and prospective students, so exactly the type of publication you may wish to target as part of your admissions strategy.

Another great example would be this feature in the Financial Times, which includes comments from Professor Martin Brigham, Academic Director of the International Master's Program for Managers (IMPM). Remarkably, the connection and mention of the IMPM in the article was brought up in the next round of applications to the programme, directly showing the connection between PR, recruitment and admissions.

I’m sold. How do we start?

Not sure where to begin? We’ve got plenty of content that can help you get started. Why not start by trying these key steps...

1. Identify interesting students, faculty, research, and/or stories that will be of interest to the media.
2. Think about which journalists and media publications you want to target. This will help with the next step.
3. Craft a compelling pitch or press release, depending on which avenue you want to go down. They each have different purposes, so keep that in mind.
4. Tailor them to the journalists you’ve identified and send them off!
5. We’d recommend only following up once with them, and being very responsive if and when they say yes!

Struggling, or in need of more support? Get in touch now!

Author: Alexandre Lopez

Having studied at top institutions including Sciences Po, City University of Hong Kong, Oxford Brookes University, KIMEP University and having completed his Masters at the University of St Andrews, Alex’s insider knowledge means that he genuinely understands the inner workings of universities and higher education institutions. Alex has won awards for his academic writing and is fluent in both English and French, and proficient in Spanish.