How to connect with your parent audience: Duquesne University's implementation of a strategic family communications platform

The increasingly competitive higher education market demands that institutions adapt to and communicate effectively with the key audience of parents and families. As decision makers and influencers, parents are highly involved in helping their children manage the college selection process and navigate their academic journeys. This case study lays out how the Duquesne University Parents and Families Portal, built on the software platform by CampusESP, enabled the university to provide a modern, all-in-one communication and family engagement vehicle that shares personalised, timely content. The tool and vendor service team facilitate the needed support with guidance and relevant general content in furnishing a streamlined, main hub of information. The strategy empowers a point person working with the central marketing and communications team and engenders campus partners in a campus-wide collaborative effort to share inspirational communications that provide the greatest opportunity for brand and relationship building. Readers will learn how Duquesne University, a private, Catholic institution, with more than eight thousand students, implemented this strategic communication platform for parents and families that influenced student retention and recruitment, and exceeded expectations.