What your non-HE marketing agency doesn’t know about Student Personas (and how to build them yourself)

In the mood for a little secret? Once upon a time, our Managing Director handled Global Student Recruitment for a leading private UK university. It rhymes with cult. 

Looking back, one of their biggest learnings was the lack of specialist marketing in higher education. If the world’s best agencies could understand how to sell soap, software, and everything in between — why couldn’t they crack the higher education sector? 

Here’s the thing: International student recruitment is a contact sport. You must (simultaneously) understand students from different markets, learn to work with and empower agents, deal with ridiculously long and laborious conversion cycles, and do it all while understanding the political, social, economic, and cultural fabric of multiple source markets. Not to forget the values and legacy (and limited budgets, woohoo!) of your institution that come into play.

Having a Student Persona for each market makes this process efficient. With information on student’s social, economic, and cultural backgrounds, you can understand what drives them, what makes them exceptional, what they fear, and how they can feel at home at the University of Whateverington. 

Now, many agencies believe this is an exercise in futility. Is it though? At Pink Orange alone, we’ve launched well over 300+ campaigns for institutions such as EF Rwanda, Bournemouth University, British Council, African Leadership University…the list goes on. The more honed the persona, the better the results. We’ve  got the data to back it. 

So how can you build a student persona? 

Let’s break it down into three simple steps any marketer can understand. 

1. Break down the target market before you build the persona

Take this for an example: Students in the MENA region are quicker to make decisions about where they would like to apply. Some students even apply just one month before the intake. Asian students, on the other hand, tend to spend 6-12 months conducting research. While there isn’t concrete research on why this happens, it’s likely due to the high value placed on academics in many Asian countries. Societal and parental pressures play a significant role, with students often preparing for entrance exams years in advance. This intense focus on education drives a thorough and extended research process, reflecting the importance of making well-informed decisions about their academic futures.

Another example is understanding the economic and political stability of a region. Generally, seasoned HE marketers prefer investing in new markets that have a booming middle class and relatively low political or economic stability. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t invest in other countries — universities should instead extrapolate application data to understand what will make for a diverse classroom and implement a strategy that resonates with their own goals. 

2. Understand student’s challenges, needs, fears, and desired outcomes 

Challenges, needs, fears, and desired outcomes are perhaps the most critical aspects of creating a student persona. Based on the programs that your university offers, these aspects stand to change. For example, the needs of an African student looking to pursue a technical degree can be vastly different from those of an Indian or Latin American student pursuing the same.

An African student may feel their country lacks the educational infrastructure or technical facilities to achieve their goal, so promoting your university’s technical infrastructure may be of importance in this case. Students from India or a Latin American country, on the other hand, might be more interested in the legacy or ranking of your institution, as their country already boasts of high-quality technical education. Hence, their desire becomes the prestige of the institution itself.

Similarly, consider factors like parental involvement, gender equity, cultural beliefs, and economic status when addressing challenges, needs, fears, and desired outcomes. When in doubt, conduct surveys, focus group discussions, and gather feedback from current students and alumni. 

3. Craft your hero messaging & content pillars 

Once you have identified the above, articulate your message. Offer scholarship advice to students who worry about their economic background, provide visa guidance to those concerned about travel logistics, and present alumni stories for those who want to be reassured about their career trajectory. 

Do not fall into the trap of generalizing these content pillars. Yes, all students want to obtain a great job after graduation, but some students might give more importance to cultural exchange and diversity Others may be interested in seeing the return on investment in monetary terms, or going back to an old job with a new perspective. 

Not convinced?

• Persona-driven websites are 2-5x times more effective and easier to navigate by their targeted audiences.
• Persona-based content further increased customer engagement by 6x when targeting cold leads.
• 74% of users feel frustrated when website content is not personalized.

Examples of Persona Cards (for the African market)

There you have it! Your own starter guide to building student personas for international student recruitment, country no bar. We know that it looks easy, but the truth is that each market is unique and has many different factors to consider. 

That’s where Pink Orange comes in. With over 50+ cumulative years of experience in this industry, we already have (and keep up with) the latest research in the HE sector. We’ve recently compiled 100+ reports from over 50 markets, too. You can access it for free here. 

If you want a free intro call with our senior leadership, please fill out this wee little form here and we’ll be happy to help.

Don’t forget to give us a shout (or your feedback) on social media if this is helpful. It keeps us on our toes! We’ll see you in the next one.