In my previous blogs, I’ve talked about how direct mail can be an effective advertising avenue if used in the right circumstances. For example, postcards can be a gold mine if used to push some sort of event being held by the school (an open house or carnival for example). Now I’d like to push everyone to make sure they are tending to their old leads by remarketing to them.

Remarketing is a great way to reconnect with individuals who have already expressed an interest in furthering their education. Too often it seems that previous leads that fail to convert to starts fall by the wayside. Don’t be one of those schools that forget about past leads that didn’t convert. Maybe the time wasn’t right when those leads first contacted you. Maybe your school offers new programs that your old leads might be interested in. There are many reasons to make sure you follow up with old leads in an attempt to get them to start.

We have found that the typical response rate in our industry for standard search mailings is .3%, which is less than half the return we see on remarketing drops. Think about it, you’re mailing a piece to an individual who has already expressed an interest in your school.

Another positive to reaching out to your old leads is you don’t have to pay for a new list. You already have your list, so that’s money you don’t have to fork out. In addition, you’re not sending pieces to random people on a bought list.

This is a great time of the year to also make sure you are remarketing to high school students. A lot of high school kids are still trying to figure out what they’re going to do next year, so why not get your school fresh on their mind? Again, these are kids that have expressed some kind of interest in your school, so hit them again while they’re trying to make their future plans.

In conclusion (I haven’t said that since 10th grade English), make sure you’re not forgetting about prior leads that didn’t convert into starts. The average response rate for remarketing drops is more than double the average for standard search mailings and you know you’re hitting individuals who have already expressed an interest in your school at some point.