Beyond Your Backyard: Low-Cost Strategies for Geographic Expansion

Please provide a one-paragraph overview of the session.‎ (200 words or less): With the graduate demographic cliff upon us and local candidate pools shrinking, Lehigh University and University of Michigan Flint will showcase how transportation routes, commuter behaviors, and tuition patterns can be leveraged to identify and engage expansion markets—moving beyond broad, costly billboard and mass advertising. This approach enables precise targeting of individual prospective students, such as working professionals with specific connections to the university's region. Attendees will see how candidates can be qualified and selected based on employer, functional area, industry, career progression, and educational background—while excluding investment in pursuit of those who already hold a degree. Participants will leave with concrete examples and actionable strategies for designing cost-effective, highly targeted outreach that drives regional and national growth.

Session Agenda/Outline (200 words or less): 1. Framing the Challenge
Shrinking pools and the limits of traditional outreach

Why programs must look beyond local markets.

2. Identifying Expansion Markets
Leveraging commuting patterns, regional employers, and industry hubs to uncover overlooked pools of working professionals.
Risk-averse methods to spot growth opportunities.

3. Decision-Making Frameworks
Practical approaches for weighing trade-offs.
Securing leadership buy-in and setting realistic goals.

4. Low-Cost Strategies in Action
Targeting prospects by employer, functional area, career progression, and educational background.
Examples of outreach that extend reach without heavy budget investment.

5. Takeaways & Q&A
Actionable strategies for designing precise, cost-effective campaigns that drive regional and national growth.
Participants will leave with tools to analyze, prioritize, and act on expansion opportunities confidently and efficiently.