Enrollment Marketing for Higher Education

When Pittsburgh’s downtown school claims its turf.

Big things start to happen, like energy, optics, and enrollment start to surge. This is what happened when Point Park University unlocked its brand attributes and integrated the city of Pittsburgh into its enrollment marketing strategy. As the second largest footprint in the downtown area, Point Park stopping defining itself by its structural campus, and embraced instead an urban experience within one of the nation’s most livable cities.

Research uncovers, branding illuminates.

Point Park University is so integrated into the city that the University’s campus pathways and the city sidewalks are one in the same. While the uniqueness of the University’s location was obvious to everyone on campus, it was never recognized as advantage.

As part of a market research perception study, Paskill Stapleton & Lord could identify that not only was the school’s location unique, it was also a differentiating benefit that separated Point Park from other Pittsburgh institutions. But location was only the beginning. Research revealed other brand attributes: Point Park offers an affordable education that is also a good investment; the academics and social environment provide students the opportunity to explore their academic, career, and life ambitions; the spirit of the individual is alive and thriving at Point Park; and creativity plays an integral role in defining the Point Park University experience.

Stronger messaging delivers.

The University did not have to spend millions in infrastructure, change academic offerings, or invest in new athletic programs as ways to attract attention and increase enrollment. All they needed to do was discover their inherent, pre-exiting attributes and articulate them in a way that resonated internally as well as with prospective students.