A potential student can ‘Google’ university open day dates, book their travel, read the prospectus and review peers’ comments - all from the comfort of their own bed. Therefore, it’s safe to say technology helps students choose their university. But the question is, does it help keep them there?

A new dawn
We’re entering a new dawn where Generation Z (and soon Alpha) live differently, have different values and a much wider choice than any generation before. It’s a dawn that universities and the wider public sector have to wake up to…and soon. There is no longer online or offline – simply a single way of life for young people who use technology to live easier, faster and to achieve more. By ignoring the new dawn, you are asking your consumers to suspend the way they have grown up and live, for three years.

Only remarkable brands will retain loyalty
Working extensively across industry, the public sector and education, my experience is that many senior teams in FE/HE do not understand how their future consumers use technology to live a more connected and enabled lifestyle. This is not the case for brands like Nike, Instagram, Sky and Fitbit who understand and respond to their consumers’ changing lifestyle. They retain a loyalty not seen by many and they are lighting the path for other sectors to follow, including education. If you think universities are not brands, ask Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and Google.

At a time when brand loyalty is dying, organisations following that path have the best chances of survival in the new dawn. When you can buy anything online and it’s delivered seamlessly across the world in 48 hours, why would students accept a fractured journey through university? Do students need to queue for stage two registration? Are they starting day one of a three-year journey with a poor experience? Is there a single app that delivers value across the entire academic year? There should be. Why are students still carrying cash on campus? Do you stay loyal to brands that make your life harder? Why should students?

Smart tech – time for something different
Smart technology must play a major part in improving the student’s life, be it a card, an app or a completely new approach. The sharpest, brightest universities are already grabbing this chance to improve their students’ lives and are using technology as a tool to show they understand their consumers’ lifestyles and priorities. It’s part of their offer and appeal.

So if we know technology is a key tool to encourage, entice and enable the new generation of students, why aren’t more universities utilising it and putting smart technology at the frontline of marketing and brand development.

• How many universities think about the speed of their Wi-Fi as essential marketing on an open day?
• A great university app or smart card programme will enable much valued transition between work and play for students – at home and at university.
• If students feel enabled by the university, it becomes an intrinsic part of life both as a student and as a graduate. It understands what’s important for the young person.
• Smart technology can create a legacy for alumni and untold marketing opportunities.
• Why wouldn’t universities have a smart recruitment, retention and absenteeism strategy?

So now is the time to adopt smart technology and put I.T. teams on the marketing frontline. The trouble is where do you start? Here’s a few suggestions to help kick-start your thinking:

Understand your consumer’s culture and what’s important.

• Without being ageist (maybe a little), many Vice Chancellors and senior teams can be 25-30 years older than their consumers and even ten years older than the parents. While Paul Weller, Jonathan Ive and James Jebbia prove you can successfully bridge the age gap, how many senior teams spend time understanding youth dynamics and drivers? Universities must invest resources to understand what drives young people and their decision-making, and then harness it…from the top down.

Understand your consumers’ journeys and where the service can be improved.

• Student journeys help universities get under the skin of their consumers and understand where the opportunities and challenges lie. Every provider should have one. From personal experience, here are a few fatal flaws to avoid:

• First and foremost, it’s about the students’ journey through the university, not the university’s journey with the student. IT’S VERY DIFFERENT!
• A good student journey is an independently developed one. Experience has shown me that universities are siloed and hard questions have to be asked and answered. Rarely does anyone internally have sight of the whole journey, even if some think they do. For example, do you see a link between alumni and rent? Perhaps not, but many students do!
• Make sure the journey covers all departments and services. This is about how the student travels through the university and interacts – the process bits are important but so is the ‘soft stuff’. Christmas and exams impact on stress and retention; it’s fundamental to a young person’s decision-making. When you’ve completed the journey – be brave and act on it.

Put I.T. teams front and centre to understand how technology can make a difference.

• Technology should be at the centre of your marketing and collegiate strategies, so make sure the experts are at the table. They will build your app, commission services and manage the networks, so having I.T. in the room – from start to finish - is crucial.
• Take time out to know what can be achieved through cutting edge technology. Make sure marketing and collegiate working groups understand the parameters of what technology can deliver. It is ever changing and I.T. teams have a huge role to play in understanding what is available and what can be achieved.
• Do your research on technology social trends – what are young people using as life tools?
• Ask your I.T. teams what their peers are using across other universities and sectors.

Make the most of your data and use technology smarter!

• Universities have huge amounts of data, but it is often used badly. Your data underpins students’ lives on campus, so use it to understand exactly what you have and then you can act on it.
• Ensure your data is a core part of the student journey mapping to give depth to the research. Only then can you start to look at solutions to the challenges facing the university.
• Use your marketing data better. Understand why people are coming to the university and as importantly, why they are not. Also, don’t forget to analyse your web traffic and app data, which will give crucial intelligence.

Finally, understand yourselves and what you stand for.

• Universities need to understand their own offer – is it a smart, technology-driven university or one that relies on doing it the way it’s always been done? What is it known for? What is its narrative? Look beyond the meaningless ‘business-facing’ brand because universities are amazing at many things, you just need to uncover and project them better.

We are entering an unprecedented and unforgiving era of choice. So if universities want to be remarkable in producing the entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow, they need to react to the developing culture of today. Society is only moving in one direction: faster and more enabled. So ask yourself the question, which universities will capture the value of smart technology, market it appropriately and survive the great cull of the mundane? It’s time to act now.

This article is built from over 25 years experience of working with young people, brands and campaigns.  The afh. team and our partners care passionately about what we do, and importantly, who we do it with and are proud to have worked with clients across education, technology, health, sport and wellbeing. Focusing on work that delivers in the community has given us our unique insight that our clients value - whether it’s delivering a renewed strategic approach, a targeted campaign or creative project.