Are you in education marketing or student recruitment? Despite the handy “M&R” phrase, we meet so many colleagues who talk of each component as two entirely separate planets.
Given how competitive things are in education, we think it's vital for education institutions to understand the link between marketing and recruitment and to make sure they are working and communicating hand in hand.
If we go back to basics and define the terms, marketing in education refers to the strategies and tactics that educational institutions use to promote themselves to prospective students, parents, and other stakeholders. Recruitment, on the other hand, refers to the process of attracting and enrolling new students to the institution.
Even stripping them back to their elemental forms, they completely overlap. While to some, marketing and recruitment may seem like two different things, they are both part of the same process: catching new students' attention and enrolling them.
Marketing and recruitment have more in common than we might think. Both require a deep understanding of the target audience and the ability to connect with them on a personal level. In both cases, it's all about building relationships and creating a sense of community. Both also require a keen eye for detail, whether it's analyzing data or reviewing applications.
So, are their differences really so significant in reality?
