As business schools expand their focus on enrolling a diverse student body, the work of finding and nurturing suitable candidates becomes more sophisticated.

Market Segmentation

Approaches to market segmentation vary as much as institutions vary. The trick for institutions is to think about slices of the potential pie in ways that mesh strategically with institutional mission and goals. It is important to figure out what information you have access to, and what you will do with it. Will you market to each population differently or have one cohesive campaign?  It’s important to understand the preferences and implications for each sub-group that you are interested in recruiting to your program.

Door-to-Door or the Mall?

There are different paths to finding candidates. One strategy is to adhere closely to a hands-on, individual approach—reaching out to nurture candidates one at a time. In some cultural settings, that’s a proven way to engage potential students and, importantly, to enlist help from their mentors. That’s not to say, though, that a mass-media approach can’t be effective. As one diversity officer suggested, “sometimes you can sell a whole lot more shoes in a mall in a day than you can sell going door to door.” The point is that there are many channels for reaching out and getting your message across. Finding the right mix means tailoring strategies that will work best for your institution’s unique circumstances.

Grass-Roots Recruiting

Despite the potential of broadcasting your message widely—in an advertising campaign, for example—experience at many schools shows that, often, traditional marketing goes only so far. You will definitely want to consider grass roots marketing—doing your outreach through community connections, word of mouth and local partnerships.

One colleague's perspective:

Marketing for Cultural Change

Many schools want to shape institutional cultures that nurture diversity and support inclusiveness. The marketing process itself can provide insights. One school, for example, measures its progress in diversity in part through student satisfaction surveys. In the past, it found a disparity in satisfaction on diversity issues between majority Caucasian students and their colleagues from underserved groups. One of the school’s goals then became working to close that gap. That helped inform and focus overall marketing messages, including targeted messages tailored for segments of the intended market. The school’s dean also reached out to alumni for ideas and help in improving the culture.

• Find the right creative and marketing talent. Creating the right messaging for diversity is critical. Whether you are working with in-house staff or outside resources, make sure that writers, designers, and agencies fully understand the nuances of diversity and inclusion. Make sure they also have in-depth knowledge about the diverse markets you want to reach.
• Nurture the next generation. The work of recruiting MBA candidates starts early. Many diversity officers focus almost as much on "building the pipeline," a phrase that you will often hear, as they do on candidate recruitment for a given class. That means reaching out to students early in their academic training—in middle school, high school, and college. The idea is to educate students early about the MBA and to motivate them to consider careers that may benefit from graduate management education, including the careers that are not most traditionally MBA feeders. One of the most important things, especially when you’re dealing with groups with little or no previous family history of college and/or higher education is to grab their attention any way you can. You get specific later, however, you will need to ensure that you track these students, or at least get them into other programs that can help nurture their interest and talents until the point when they become eligible to apply to your program.
• Nurturing current students. Your connection with students you have successfully recruited doesn’t end with orientation. Check back often with current students to make sure they are doing well. If necessary, help them plug into support networks that can help ensure their success. Reach out also to help them meet personal needs, such as finding financial resources, housing, or simply acculturating to a new environment. These students will be a KEY resource to helping you recruit the next generation of MBAs, so ensure that they are engaged in your recruitment efforts while on campus, and also as alumni.

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