Current and potential community college students dealing with life’s challenges can be difficult to connect with through traditional marketing messaging. They may lack the confidence in their ability to succeed because of the challenges they face. Marketers can be more effective when they have an emotional connection to those they are trying to reach, when marketers can see materials through the lens of those potential students.
And those potential students are diverse, even if that diversity isn’t immediately noticeable. It’s easier to consider how diversity can benefit a situation when that diversity can be seen or heard; but what about demographic information like education, upbringing, living conditions, socioeconomic status, family and friends, sexual orientation, religion, disability or marital status? Traits that are not easily visible or apparent to others but can shape a person’s character – whether they’re called “invisible,” “unperceived,” “unseen” or “hidden” – can be as valuable as those traits that are easily visible or apparent.
Why it’s important
Hiring teams with a diversity across all these areas is especially valuable at community and technical colleges, which are known for welcoming all regardless of their “wealth, heritage or previous academic experience,” as identified by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).
This article is part of a monthly series provided by the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR), an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges.
In fact, AACC’s 2024 Fast Facts illustrates the diversity of community college students:
- 32% are first generation.
- 23% have disabilities.
- 13% are single.
- 59% are part-time students who also work part-time.
“Embracing invisible diversity can help bring diverse perspectives to the workplace, leading to more creative problem-solving and innovation,” reported Diversio, an organization with clients in 35 countries and a mission to make every workplace more inclusive. “This can help organizations stay competitive and adapt to changing business environments.”
Plus, marketing team members who can empathize with the potential student they aim to reach are more likely to create more effective, relatable messaging and visuals.
When building a marketing team over time, it’s fairly easy to look at a résumé and determine an applicant’s education, address and work experience. However, because it’s not legal to ask about many invisible forms of diversity, it’s that much more important for teams to learn about each other.
“Getting to know each member of the team and determining how their skillsets and experiences can impact the college’s marketing efforts is extremely valuable for a marketing team,” says Matt Pahmeier, talent acquisition coordinator at Lakeshore College in Wisconsin.
Tapping different life experiences
Diversity of all forms generates more diverse ideas within a marketing team, which can lead to more effective development of marketing strategies and deliverables to meet goals. Marketers who can emotionally connect with future students facing various situations, including obstacles, can be more successful reaching those goals.
Consider the marketing team at Lakeshore College (Wisconsin): The team of six consists of an executive director, a manager, a digital marketing specialist, a digital analyst, a copywriter and a graphic designer. Collectively, team members share many commonalities. They have a diverse range of experiences:
- The team members range in age from 24 to 58.
- Two are in their first professional jobs after college. The other four have marketing experience in hospitality, start-ups, healthcare, banking and retail.
- Education attainment includes associate and bachelor’s degrees. One has completed some graduate studies. Not all went straight to college after high school.
- Some were raised in economically disadvantaged families.
- Marital statuses cover the gamut.
- Some have no children. Others’ children range in age from 2 to 27.
Having a diverse team that knows each other benefits the college because each individual has personal experience or knowledge from a wide range of situations – situations that students and prospective students also face. When targeting low-income residents, for example, it can be helpful for marketers to have life experience as part of that group. When targeting working parents in low-paying jobs or those who started college but had to stop at some point, it can be helpful to have first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to have faced those situations. And Lakeshore staff has faced everything from car accidents to managing a lack of quality, affordable childcare. The team has dealt with medical issues, sick children at school and daycare, a shortage of affordable housing, caring for grandchildren and elderly parents, the death of loved ones, and questioning whether they should return to college.
It may be natural to think working side by side every day with people who share similar backgrounds would be more comforting and easier than working with people with such varying experiences. However, comfort and ease can be pitfalls in the workforce.
“Though you may feel more at ease working with people who share your background, don’t be fooled by your comfort,” warns the Harvard Business Review. “Hiring individuals who do not look, talk or think like you can allow you to dodge the costly pitfalls of conformity, which discourages innovative thinking.”
For community colleges that value innovation, it’s vital to develop and maintain a marketing team that is diverse on all levels.
