Marketing to Latino Students and their Families

1. Marketing to Latino Studentsand their Families at Penn State Berks

2. Challenge: Future enrollment projections were uncertain due to: • shrinking pool of high school students in service area and throughout state • questions about the value of a four-year degree vs. the cost • competition from online institutions, including our own (World Campus)

3. Opportunity: Source:  https://datausa.io › profile › geo › reading-pa 

4. Expanding Horizons In an effort to recruit more Latino students, Penn State Berks decided to embark on developing a marketing campaign aimed at Latino students and their families. Since University Park and most other campuses did not have the same demographics in their service area, such a campaign did not exist for the University. Working with our Admissions Office, Strategic Communications developed a Latino marketing campaign for Penn State Berks in 2011. It has continued to evolve each year.

5. “For many Latino students who are the first in their families to go to college, the role of family is critical … Family bonds are strong for many Latinos, which reinforces both cultural ties and a family's sense of responsibility for success. Many Latino families have lower incomes and must struggle to cover college costs. Latino parents who immigrated to this country to provide more opportunities for their children are heavily invested in their success. There is a strong Latino family identity, and the success of children reflects upon the entire family.” –Deborah A. Santiago, Chronicle of Higher Education September 25, 2011

6. Identify Key Messages As a result of information gained from Latino marketing workshops and working with our Latino admissions counselor, the following key messages and factors were identified: • For Latino students, attending college is a family decision. • Many want to stay close to home (commute to save money, working to pay tuition, or help support family). • Academic and social support on campus is important.

7. Identify Key Messages • Scholarships and financial aid are crucial • Activities and social clubs are a bonus • Students are looking for a feeling of belonging ~ feeling at home • Message: ‘You can do it!’ (Students want to see others who look like them in ads)

8. Execution – Billboards We identified Latino students who were positive representatives of the campus, and then we developed our advertising campaign. One component is a series of billboards in Spanish in the City of Reading.

9. Execution – Video, Radio Working with Admissions and a video production company, we took the key messages, students, locations that we wanted to feature, etc. and produced a :60 TV spot / digital video. The TV spot ran on cable networks targeted to Latino viewers and the Spanish edition of the local news station, WFMZ-TV. The copy from the TV ads was also converted to radio ads, which ran on stations targeting Latino listeners. https://youtu.be/5FgBWegIVVM

10. Execution – Print Print ads were placed in a regional magazine for the Latino community, Palo Magazine.

11. Public Relations Campaign As part of our public relations campaign, we promote stories about our diverse student body.

12. Public Relations Campaign

13. Latino Web Page Penn State Berks has a web page dedicated to Latino students: Estudiantes Latinos.

14. Penn State Berks Demographics (2018–2019) Latino / Hispanic enrollment has increased every year. Currently 12.6% of the student population is Latino.