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The Enrollment Marketer's Guide to the 4 Ps
- Will Patch
- Feb 28
- 5 min read
You might know the 3 Ps of marketing (product, price, and promotion), or the other 3 Ps (people, personalization, and privacy). You might even be familiar with the 3 Ps of real estate (plocation, plocation, plocation). Well, maybe not the third one.
Even if you know the first two, do you know the 4 Ps of marketing messaging?
The great Tom Voller-Berdan taught me the first three and the last I added after secret shopping and not knowing how to code some of the messages without a clear purpose.
The 4 Ps of enrollment marketing messages
When you look at contacts from colleges to students the messaging tends to fall into one of four buckets:
Promotional
Process
Personalized and Relevant
Pointless
Your blend of messages changes over time, you need to adapt your messaging to meet students with the right message, on the right channel, at the right time. Let’s look closer at each message type, shall we?
Promotional marketing messages
Promotional messages highlight something, they’re your basic sales touchpoints. Ideally, they are heavy on value and proof points, but the goal is to share something you want the recipient to learn and remember.
There might be a lot you want to say, but keep each contact focused and succinct, and avoid the siren song of long bulleted lists of facts that look just like everyone else’s. Whenever possible you should show instead of tell.
Examples of promotional messages
Stories about student experiences and outcomes
Key proof points and stats
Rankings and third-party support for your excellence
Process marketing messages
There are steps students have to take to enroll and there are steps you want them to take. Processes need to be addressed, but it’s always helpful to do so in a way that shares what benefit the student will see and connects it to their interests and other information you have.
Examples of process messages
Apply
Visit
File a FAFSA
Deposit
Fill out your enrollment paperwork
Personalized and relevant marketing messages
These are the most important types of messages and the best marketing work you can do. Personalized and relevant messages must address the key criteria and sticking points that students face.
Addressing key criteria means understanding what they want out of their experience.
What are they most excited about?
What do they say their college experience has to include?
What programs and activities are non-negotiable?
The sticking points are the hard conversations. Most counselors shy away from uncovering and addressing the sticking points, to your institution's detriment. If left unaddressed you will see higher melt and lower retention.
Concerns about going to college in general
Issues with your institution (i.e. location, campus culture, major)
Financial concerns
Social concerns
Health (mental and physical) concerns
Academic concerns or support needs
Examples of personalized and relevant messages
Information about the indicated major or program
Stories and information about interests the student has
Financial aid information at the right time and in easily understandable language
Information about the local area and culture to students who can’t visit
Pointless marketing messages
Pointless messages should be avoided like the plague, much like clichés. Sending information that isn’t meaningful or helpful in any way, doesn’t add value or proof points, or otherwise just sends a message for the sake of doing so is a pointless message.
Unfortunately, in my most recent secret shopping, almost 20% of messages fall into this category. The calls, texts, and emails to check in without actually asking anything or enticing interest are pointless. Telling a student about a major they didn’t indicate interest in is pointless. Emails that are all over the place and we can’t determine what the goal is or what the next step should be are pointless.
Examples of pointless messages
“Just checking in”
Sending information about the wrong major or interest
Confirming inquiry without adding value
Sending information to the wrong segment (transfer to high school students, international to domestic, etc.)
Throwing data around without a clear goal or takeaway
How to build the right blend of enrollment marketing messages for your comm flows
I’ll start with the obvious: there should never be messages in your comm flows that are classified as Pointless.
Consideration phase messaging
When you’re working with prospects and suspects, students who haven’t inquired and need to know who you are and what your institution has to offer, the emphasis should be on earning their attention. In that vein, you should forego Process messages until they have converted to an inquiry or applicant and focus heavily on Personalized and Relevant and Promotional messaging.
Remember: Promotional messages still need to be differentiated. At this point you’re just a college they haven’t asked to contact them and they might not have heard of you before. Claiming small classes with caring faculty, lifelong friendships, and skills to help them excel in the job market makes you sound like everyone else.
Nurturing phase messaging
Once a student has inquired, or converted to an inquiry from a prospect or suspect, the mix needs to be bullish on Personalized and Relevant early with relevant Promotional messages sprinkled in.
Only after you’ve served them up a hot plate of value do you bring in the Process messages telling them to apply and visit. If you do a good enough job making them want to apply and visit you won’t need to send them the messages asking them to.
Yield phase messaging
They’ve applied — either out of excitement or attrition — so now it’s even more important to focus on their key criteria and sticking points. The messaging needs to be about them and as 1:1 as possible. Stealth apps, in particular, need your attention. They’ve missed out on all the nurturing and background information in your comm flow.
All messaging should be Personalized and Relevant and Process messages can be sprinkled through as timeline reminders when needed. If they haven’t visited you can connect them with relevant group visits or tell them how visiting will help them learn more about what they care most about in ways they wouldn’t be able to from their phone or computer. Deadlines should be emphasized in relation to their needs and sense of urgency, not yours.
Onboarding and melt prevention messaging
We’ve already written a whole guide on melt prevention so if you want more depth that is a great starting point. Communication should still be 1:1 and Personalized and Relevant, but this is where you can lean back into some Promotional contacts. Reaffirm their decision and highlight connections on campus with experience and outcomes stories. Don’t let them second-guess themselves into melting.
Final thoughts
Enrollment marketers should focus on creating a blend of promotional, process, personalized, and relevant marketing messages to engage prospective students. Promotional messages should highlight key selling points and proof points, while process messages should guide students through the enrollment process. Personalized and relevant messages are essential for addressing students' key criteria and sticking points, such as financial concerns or academic needs. Finally, pointless messages should be avoided, as they do not add value or entice interest. By focusing on the right blend of messages, enrollment marketers can effectively communicate with prospective students and increase enrollment rates.