Episode 44: Leveraging Uncertainty — What Enrollment Marketers Can Do Today To Prepare For A Fall Recruitment Cycle Like No Other

Last week, 57% of high school seniors reported that they were reconsidering their college options in a survey conducted by Niche.com. Yup, you read that right...over half of high school seniors aren't sure where they'll end up this fall. On this week's episode, Zach engages Will Patch — who heads up enrollment marketing strategy at Niche (the largest school search site on the internet) — in a riveting conversation around the aforementioned survey results, Niche's latest education website benchmarks report, and strategies for rural student recruitment. Will Patch worked in enrollment marketing in a variety of roles at Manchester University for 9 years before joining the team at Niche. He is also the coordinator of the popular hashtag #EMChat and hosts the Enrollment Insights Podcast. Among others, Will answers the following questions in this interview: - Niche has been surveying students week-over-week since March 16th. Can you share any notable changes in response over the past 8 weeks? - What are 2-3 things enrollment marketers can do right now to improve their website performance? - At the end of April, you published a blog article on rural student recruitment. Can you speak to your findings on differences between rural populations in the college search process?- - - - Connect With Our Co-Hosts: Mallory Willsea https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/ https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea Seth Odell https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethodell/ https://twitter.com/sethodell About The Enrollify Podcast Network: The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too! Some of our favorites include Generation AI and Confessions of a Higher Education Social Media Manager. Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com. Attend the 2025 Engage Summit! The Engage Summit is the premier conference for forward-thinking leaders and practitioners dedicated to exploring the transformative power of AI in education. Explore the strategies and tools to step into the next generation of student engagement, supercharged by AI. You'll leave ready to deliver the most personalized digital engagement experience every step of the way. Register now to secure your spot in Charlotte, NC, on June 24-25, 2025! Early bird registration ends February 1st -- https://engage.element451.com/register