A study of promotional marketing methods of contact and college-choice preferences among freshman community college students

Marketing efforts are becoming increasingly prevalent on college campuses. As colleges have become more competitive for the students they recruit, marketing efforts have evolved into part of the admissions process. In particular, promotional marketing has become a more common practice for colleges and universities.; This quantitative study focused on community college's promotional marketing efforts. The purpose of this study is to determine the similarities or differences among demographic and geographic student groups in relation to both the promotional marketing methods to which they are most receptive and their college-choice preferences, and to analyze the relationships between promotional marketing methods of contact activities and college-choice factors and activities. The questions under study include: (a) Which promotional marketing methods do students prefer, from which do they obtain the most information, and which influenced most effectively their decision to attend?; (b) Which community-college choice factors and activities influenced the students' decisions to attend their respective community colleges; and (c) How did promotional marketing methods of contact activities relate to students' choices in attending their respective colleges?; The survey was completed by 753 freshmen at first-time student registration sessions. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson Correlations. While there were consistent results among demographic and geographic groups' first choices of promotional marketing activities and college-choice factors and activities, some differences did result for the choices subordinate to the students' top choices. While differences exist among some of these geographic and demographic segments, the study suggests that direct mail, brochures, and radio spots are the most effective methods of reaching the greatest number of students to promote a community college's low cost and convenient location.; Little research has been conducted in promotional marketing to examine demographic and geographic segments in higher education concurrently. This study confirms some of the similarities among these groups, and finds new distinctions. In addition, it provides a model for future research in this area.