Erasmus School of Economics

Erasmus School of Economics launched with Unibuddy in Spring 2018 with 6 ambassadors. Since then, they’ve grown the platform to 19 enthusiastic students connecting with prospects.

Have you read about Avinash Kaushik’s ‘See, Think, Do, Care’ model for internet based marketing?

• The ‘See’ stage looks at the brand’s largest potential audience (e.g. all possible prospective students).
• The ‘Think’ stage is the segment of customers thinking about a particular thing (e.g. applying to university).
• The ‘Do’ stage deals with those ready to buy (e.g. about to apply).
• The ‘Care’ stage is those who are your regular customers, who love your brand.

For universities, those at the ‘Care’ stage are your students. And they are very important, because they are committed, love your university and can become powerful brand ambassadors.

Erasmus School of Economics have used this model in their online marketing, and in particular launched with Unibuddy, so that they can connect those at the ‘Do’ stage, directly with those at the ‘Care’ stage.

As Aleksandra Stuip, Online Marketing Adviser says:

“We received a lot of requests from prospective students who wanted to get connected to our current students, but we couldn’t find an efficient and effective way to do this until we came across Unibuddy. Then it all fell into place: prospects could get all their answers from our students and we as an institution get to see all the stats and measure the outcome.”

Erasmus School of Economics launched with Unibuddy in Spring 2018 with 6 ambassadors. Since then, they’ve grown the platform to 19 enthusiastic students on the platform, embedded in their website. These ambassadors are students who are already engaged with open days and other recruitment activities. They have actively promoted the platform through:

• Banners on important landing pages
• Social Media posts (organic and paid)
• Strong SEO for the website
• Newsletters to prospects and applicants
• Word of mouth and printed promotion of the platform at recruitment fairs

To complete the ‘care’ element, they provide strong support for their ambassadors, including regular training (online and in person) and social events.

Students are talking! To date (January 2019) 231 prospective students have signed up and in excess of 2,300 messages have been exchanged. They have been talking about everything from the toughest courses (macroeconomics apparently!) to the price of avocados (very cheap!) – giving prospects real, authentic insight into their courses, study and future life – thereby increasing their confidence about their decisions and in their future.

Aleksandra sums it up:

“I love seeing the real engagement between students, whether it is about the serious business of study, or the excitement of a new life in a new city! Unibuddy helps students find answers to questions they won’t ask of staff, and to start to build a sense of belonging in what we hope will be their chosen university.”