We love when our clients are curious about their audiences—because we have answers. And these answers let us leap ahead to new questions, getting us straight to the heart of what audiences want. Here are some of the insights that informed conversations with college and university enrollment marketers and advancement leaders in recent weeks:
- 14 percent of Millennials with college degrees say they feel financially stretched and are living check-to-check—even though the federal student loan repayment hiatus is still in effect. (Accrual of interest on federal student loans will resume on Sept. 1; suspended payments will resume in October.)
- Gen Xers are twice as likely as the average adult to have kids in high school or college. They’re also 24 percent more likely to name “happy hour” as a top hobby.
- Almost one-third of adults 78 and older say climate change is a top societal concern. Only 19 percent of Millennials feel the same.
- In the northern Midwest, 65 percent of students and young alums in Generation Z say they are heavy or medium daily users of online video content.
- In NYC and Philly, 18 percent of people 25 and older who intend to get a college degree say it’s because they’re changing careers.
In today’s world of expertly managed, large data sets, research that once required weeks of labor-intensive surveying can now be completed in hours.
To make that point, Vice Presidents Andrew Teie and Colleen O’Grady accepted an invitation to present, in July, at the annual CASE Summit for Leaders in Advancement. Andrew and Colleen explored how five generations of college-educated adults see themselves and the world. Using an AI-driven tool to capture real-time views of over 230 million consumers, our presenters uncovered, and shared with attendees, rich veins of insight.
The payoff? AI tools can help us get to the good stuff faster.
Engaging target audiences with custom content is a simple two-step process: understanding which subsets of reachable people are favorably inclined to value what our clients are offering and identifying media platforms and channels used by each well-defined and well-understood target audience. With this knowledge, we can engage audiences with or without email addresses.
AI tools aren’t magic. Like all tools, they perform best when used skillfully, creatively, and with a critical eye. Be mindful about the potential for bias when using AI tools. And lean into collaborative dialogues with marketing leaders who rely on us to reach their goals.
Got a burning question you’d like to investigate? Get in touch.
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