We led a comprehensive rebranding initiative for Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU), revamping their logo, website, and entire visual identity to authentically represent their unique position in the educational landscape. Working closely with ECSU’s team, we crafted a refreshed brand that captures the university’s distinctive character and vibrant community.
At the core of ECSU’s new identity is its mascot, the Warrior, symbolizing strength and resilience. We integrated the Warrior’s shield into updated visual elements, establishing a cohesive emblem that reflects school pride across both digital and physical platforms.
To further this concept on campus, we designed and fabricated a series of Warrior Shield cutouts. These installations—some freestanding and others handheld—encourage student engagement, offering interactive opportunities for students to showcase their ECSU pride. This approach has added a dynamic, memorable layer to the rebranding, reinforcing a connection with the Warrior identity.
Are you ready to elevate your institution’s look and feel?Reach out to Mason Interactive to learn how we can bring your vision to life with a rebranding strategy that resonates!
Colleges and universities across the U.S. are grappling with declining enrollment, a trend fueled by demographic shifts, rising costs, and changing perceptions of higher education’s value. Here’s a look at the main factors driving this shift and what institutions can do to reverse it.
1. Shifting Demographics
High school graduates are projected to decline in the coming years, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest. This shrinking pool of traditional college-aged students is intensifying competition among institutions.
What Schools Can Do: Colleges should target non-traditional students, such as adult learners and career switchers, who often prefer part-time or online programs. Partnering with community colleges and recruiting international students can help fill enrollment gaps.
2. Changing Perceptions of Degree Value
With rising tuition and student debt, many prospective students are questioning whether a degree is worth the investment. A Gallup-Lumina survey found only 46% of U.S. adults now believe college degrees are worth the cost.
What Schools Can Do: To address this, schools need to clearly demonstrate the return on investment of their degrees by highlighting job placement rates, internships, and partnerships with employers. Offering hands-on training and “stackable credentials” that allow students to earn credits over time will also help.
3. Financial Barriers and FAFSA Delays
The simplification of the FAFSA process has caused delays, affecting many low-income and first-generation students who rely on timely financial aid to make college affordable. Rising tuition and student debt also contribute to hesitation about enrolling.
What Schools Can Do: Colleges should streamline financial aid processes and provide clear communication around aid options. Offering flexible payment plans and locked-in tuition rates can help ease financial concerns for prospective students.
4. Increased Competition from Alternative Education
Online platforms like Coursera and edX offer affordable and flexible certifications that many students are opting for instead of traditional degree programs.
What Schools Can Do: Institutions must emphasize the unique value they offer, such as networking opportunities, access to top-tier faculty, and personalized learning experiences. Creating micro-credentialing or executive education programs can also appeal to students seeking career advancement without committing to full degrees.
5. Mental Health and Wellness Concerns
The mental health crisis among students has worsened, with many postponing or abandoning education plans due to stress, anxiety, or depression. Nearly 60% of students report mental health challenges, according to the American Psychological Association.
What Schools Can Do: Institutions should offer comprehensive mental health services, flexible learning options, and foster supportive environments to help students balance their academic and personal responsibilities.
Conclusion
Colleges that adapt to these challenges by expanding their outreach, demonstrating the value of their programs, and supporting students’ financial and mental well-being will be better positioned to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Institutions that innovate in these areas will attract and retain students despite the challenges posed by demographic and economic shifts.
We are excited to join forces with the University of Florida (UF), a prestigious institution recognized for its commitment to excellence in education, to enhance their digital presence and elevate their academic mission. Through comprehensive branding, marketing, advertising, and related services, Mason is dedicated to crafting tailored strategies that showcase UF’s diverse offerings and effectively promote new majors or programs of interest.
“I’ve always believed that giving our students an amazing education and sending them out into the world with the tools they need to succeed is our No. 1 job. Now we’ve been recognized as being No. 1 for doing that. The people of the great state of Florida can take great pride in knowing that their tax dollars are well spent at the University of Florida. The best is yet to come.” – UF Board of Trustees Chair, Mori Hosseini
UF continues to evolve with UF Online, offering nationally acclaimed online bachelor’s degree programs, including business administration, computer science, nursing, and sport management. Ranked as the #1 online bachelor’s degree program by U.S. News and World Report in 2022 and 2023, UF Online is poised for further expansion and transformation in the dynamic landscape of higher education.
We look forward to a meaningful partnership that aligns with UF’s vision and contributes to their continued success in higher education.
On Oct 13th, Mason Interactive welcomed colleges, K-12’s, and more, to Google’s NYC HQ. We shared insights into changes in the Education industry since the pandemic, and talked about how schools can “future proof” against changing demographics.
Side note: It’s three years – to the day! – since we presented at the annual HighEdWed conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; we are thrilled to be back to hosting in-person events with industry leading brands and digital experts.
Even with the rise in important new platforms like TikTok, it is our perspective that the first marketing dollar should always go to Google. Google Search is where the search for a school begins, and it pays to be there, at the start of a prospective student’s journey.
Key Challenges & Observations
Demographic Trends: Due to declining birth rates post 2008’s “Great Recession,” there are fewer students in market.
This decline is causing a looming “enrollment cliff.” There is an expected 15% decline in college-going students over the 4-year period between 2025 and 2029.
Changing Behavior: Students are looking at investing in themselves, and see education as a cost/benefit analysis. They’re asking themselves “is the cost of this degree worth the money I’ll make from it?” This is reflected in changing search patterns.
Specific Brand Searches are down. People are not searching for specific schools as much as they were.
Traditional Schools: -3%
Community Schools: -7%
Career Educators: -11%
General Category Searches are flat/down. Interest in specific degrees are flat/neutral.
Programs: +12%
Degrees: +13%
Searches that reflect a student’s interest in a positive Return on Investment are up.
Students + Parents/Guardians are more ROI conscious than ever:
78% of students say that their degree, short course or bootcamp will be the most important financial expenditure they’ll make this year
There is a high correlation between earnings and growth in search volume:
Ex. music production certificate vs. wealth management certification programs – the first of those is seeing a smaller increase in volume than latter.
Students are looking for the certifications and short courses that are going to bring them the “biggest bang for their buck” not only in the questions that they are asking, but also in the subjects that they want to study.
Students still believe education is critical, with optimism for up-skilling and re-skilling. This is an opportunity for education leaders to drive strategies that focus on growing offerings in these areas and for students looking for these new learning opportunities to help them up-skill & re-skill.
Ways Your School Can Win
Be Early
The average student looks at only 3 schools. If your school is not in that three-school list, your chances of enrolling them drop dramatically, because…
75% of prospective students do not consider beyond their initial school & program list
Be Persuasive
You are competing with 2 other schools – get to the applicants before them. Speed matters.
Meet students where they are: flexible, part time, hybrid demands are here to stay
Match degree offerings to job and student demand > push to short course / micro-credentialing
As competition for student consideration increases, double down on brand awareness / upper funnel media
77% of prospective degree and non-degree students agree that it is important for the school they select to have a strong national reputation
Add value during the admissions process
Set Goals
We have clients who are growing enrollments in this environment.
The #1 thing these clients have in common, is a set of clearly-articulated, globally-shared goals.
“More” is not a goal.
“I want ‘R’ incremental enrollments, I want them from ‘X’ location, I need them by ‘Y’ date, and I can afford to pay ‘Z’ for them” is a goal.
Goal Setting:
Set a goal for incremental number of new students
Melt Rate: The Student journey is not linear. Supply valuable and reinforcing content based on where they are
Budget: Use seasonality data to your advantage
A Look Back + Look Forward – Quick Stats with Google:
The decline in college enrollment is something higher education leaders have been expecting for some time.
Even before the pandemic, enrollments were already on a downward trajectory and admissions professionals have long been aware of the enrollment cliff projected for 2025.
Universities will need to be nimble and make sure their strategy is aligned with the ever-changing market
33% increase in students reporting that their graduation plans have changed:
There’s a 33% increase in students reporting that their graduation plans have changed, with a third of students reporting that they will be delaying their graduation, transferring to another school, or dropping out completely.
83% increase in current degree students reporting that they are spending more time digitally:
Google Search and YouTube are the most used applications among current and prospective students
79% of students using YouTube use no other video platforms for supplemental learning, 10% use TikTok.
58% of students watch YouTube daily (vs. 44% of general population)
36% of students watch vlogs / influencer videos weekly (vs. 27% of general population)
If you’re not already a Mason client, book a consultation with our team and we’ll work on a tailored approach for your school, together.
We’re thrilled to announce that Mason Interactive has won an RFP from Robert Louis Stevenson School to deliver a best-in-class paid media and email marketing strategy for the New York City-based independent private school.
Stevenson is an independent college preparatory school with therapeutic components designed to promote academic engagement and social-emotional connections.
“Stevenson’s small, specialized learning environment resonates with students of varied backgrounds, and, time and time again, students have demonstrated a proclivity for finding and valuing commonalities in each other’s life experience.“
Chris Ongaro, EdD – Head of School
The Robert Louis Stevenson School was founded in 1908 with a mission to promote the emotional mastery needed for learning and living. By bringing students into a strong academic and therapeutic environment, Stevenson works to propel them towards postsecondary independence and success.
This exciting new partnership will focus on building the foundation for a long-term digital marketing strategy that will support lead generation and family nurturing. The Mason paid media and email strategy teams will be responsible for increasing brand awareness, and working with the Stevenson team on audience insights, with an emphasis on profitable new student acquisition and retention.
Contact us to schedule a free consultation with our digital experts, and take the first step on your journey.
Read more about Stevenson, and learn about this post-secondary success, here.
When done right, SEO can yield an ongoing, free source of high-converting organic traffic for colleges and universities. More than half of prospective students begin their enrollment journey using search engines like Google.
But while students rely on search engines to find top schools, many higher education marketers overlook the importance of SEO. We listed 6 tips to get back on track with SEO best practices and climb search rankings.
Why is SEO So Important for Colleges and Universities?
Search engine ranking matters more than you may think. Statistics show that 28.5% of searchers click the top result, while only 4.8% make it to the second page of search results. The higher your college’s or university’s website ranks, the more prospective students will click on your website. But if you rank on page two and beyond, searchers may never find your institution.
Let’s do some math: The keyword “culinary school” gets ~8,100 searches per month. Assuming 28.5% of those clicks go to the first result, ranking for that term will give you ~2,308 clicks. Assuming a conversion rate of 10%, ranking for that term would give you an extra ~230 enquiries per month!
Being that all those clicks are “free”, in the sense that you don’t need to pay for the clicks, organic traffic is a valuable lead generation channel.
5 SEO Tips for Colleges and Universities
1. Perform a thorough SEO audit
Before you can build an effective SEO strategy, you need to understand which areas need work. That’s when a SEO audit comes into play. Tools like SEMrush, ahrefs, and Screaming Frog are a great starting point providing insights about your website’s health. If you want to dive deeper, we recommend working with a SEO professional who can read all technical and structural aspects of an audit.
Sign up for a free SEO audit, performed by Mason Interactive’s SEO experts.
2. Build content around searcher’s intent
It’s not uncommon for a higher education marketing professional to write site content that doesn’t align with search intent. A website like this can’t rank high, would you agree? A little research helps. Start by investigating your prospective student’s intent. Why did they perform a search?What are they looking to learn? Then, identify what search queries users type into the search box. This exercise will help you build a list of keywords to use across your site.
Identify a keyword strategy that involves a healthy mix of industry-standards and how prospective students may refer to programs or topics. Think “Industrial Organizational Psychology Degree Program” vs. “I/O psychology program”.
3. Optimize for local search to rank in local searches
When prospective students are looking for colleges or universities in a certain region, you want to make sure your institution is front and center. Claim your Google My Business listing and work on achieving NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency across your contact page and other local business directories.
This local SEO tactic can be automated using a local business management platform, such as Yext. Does your school have multiple campuses or offices? Create an individual Google My Business listing for each location.
Add each location as its own Google My Business listing.
4. Analyze and improve page speed
Let’s face it, nobody likes a slow loading site. But, besides upsetting users, slow page speed impacts SEO performance. Google’s Algorithm Speed Update announced page speed as a direct ranking factor. It also impacts search ranking indirectly because slow page speed increases bounce rate and reduces dwell time.
Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool analyzes your site’s speed and even provides recommendations for how to optimize it.
Image compression is an easy first step to reduce a page’s loading speed. Try free online tools like TinyPNG to quickly resize images before uploading them to your website.
5. Maintain brand consistency in Google search engine results page
How your institution is represented on Google search engine results page (SERP) is often a student’s first touchpoint with your brand. So, you should aim to give a good impression. While you can’t control what information things like Google Knowledge Panel pulls in directly, there are steps you can take to ensure accuracy:
Update Wikipedia and ensure all data is accurate and up-to-date
Claim your Google My Business profile and keep information up-to-date
Claim the Google Knowledge Panel to make recommendations and send feedback to Google
Consider paid partnershipswith ranking sites that Google pull information from (such as US News and World Reports) and pay attention to how you’re submitting information
This is what Google SERP looks like for Miami International University of Art & Design.
6. Remove problematic subdomains that damage SEO performance
Lastly, review all existing subdomains. Are they currently managed and kept up-to-date by someone? Remove abandoned subdomains that can cause a bunch of technical SEO issues for a school’s website. Typically, these subdomains are for internal purposes, or course catalogs, but house the most critical SEO implications, potentially damaging SEO value and ranking ability.
How to Implement SEO Best Practices for Higher Education?
Dedicate some time every week to optimize your college’s or university’s website for SEO best practices. The tips we listed in this article are easy to implement in-house and are guaranteed to improve your site’s SEO ranking. If you’re finding SEO too tricky, contact Mason Interactive’s higher education marketing experts for additional support and guidance.
