1 Weave promos into the life cycle of the student-school relationship. Think of this process as similar to how a business maps out an ideal user-experience trajectory. It’s “encouraging kids to apply, campus visits, value-added experiences for current students and alumni fundraising,” says Vaughan. “There’s so much opportunity here. It’s worth assigning an internal team to become a true strategy partner in the creation and execution of this recruitment, retention and alumni loyalty cycle.”

2 Cross-educate clients. Experiment with connecting clients who can learn from each other. “We’re all about collaboration,” Vaughan says, “so while each college is different, staff in similar roles may benefit from comparing notes on what’s working – and what isn’t.” Vaughan invites multiple clients to walk showroom floors with him, looking for ideas and brainstorming potential campaigns. When there’s crossover between target audiences, he protects any information that clients want to keep private.

3 Consider gifts with donation for alumni. Universities and boarding schools rely on alumni for fundraising, and they’re increasingly running gift-with-donation programs to encourage engagement. TK Promotions recently drop-shipped 2,500 custom coffee mugs as part of a give-to-get fundraising program for college athletes. “Partner with a fulfillment house if you don’t have those capabilities in-house,” he says. “Colleges have significant budgets for alumni relations, and there’s a lot of creative custom work to be done in this department.”