Higher Education Marketing Firm Launches New Wave of Recruiting Tools for Colleges and Universities

Interactive marketing company TargetX has unveiled the first comprehensive suite of products aimed at attracting and recruiting students online. "We see this as a revolution in student recruiting," said CEO Brian Niles.

BRISTOL, PA (PRWEB) November 2, 2005 -- Interactive recruiting company TargetX has unveiled the first comprehensive suite of products aimed at attracting and recruiting students online.

A long-time leader in email recruiting, TargetX now offers a complete lineup of electronic tools needed to communicate with today's Web-savvy students.

"Colleges and universities finally have a one-stop shop for everything from podcasts to blogs to email broadcasting to chat sessions and more," said TargetX CEO Brian Niles.

The suburban Philadelphia company introduced the new eXpressSuite at the 61st Annual Conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the nation's premiere event for college recruiters.

One of the strengths of TargetX's suite of electronic products is integration, said Niles.

"We built the eXpressSuite so that for the first time these powerful recruiting tools can work together," he explained. "Now you can plan, email, chat, host all kinds of events -- and everything coordinates with everything else.

"For example, you can promote an event online, track the response, register people, send reminders, record cancellations, follow up with those who attended and those who didn't, and manage all these activities through a Web-based planning tool."

TargetX was founded in 1998 to help higher education take advantage of the power of email to communicate with prospective students. Over the years, the company has developed other products and services to make it easier for colleges to use the Internet as a recruiting tool.

"Research shows that 75 percent of the time students spend looking for the right school is spent online," Niles said, "yet colleges continue to rely heavily on traditional recruiting tools like publications and postal mailings.

"The main reason for that, we believe, is that it's easier to do things the way they've always been done. Using electronic recruiting means finding the right technology and developing the necessary skills and expertise to communicate effectively online. On top of that, colleges have had to use a variety of electronic tools from different companies, which can be very frustrating."

All that changes with the introduction of eXpressSuite, Niles said.

"We see this as a revolution in student recruiting," he explained. "Instead of using the Internet to supplement their brochures, letters and telemarketing, colleges will use the traditional tools in support of their online activities."

TargetX is a leading provider of interactive recruiting solutions to higher education, helping colleges lower their costs and strengthen their connections with prospective students. In 2004, TargetX launched a new division called iRecruit to help colleges use the full power of the Internet to recruit today's Web-savvy Millennials.

The company offers communications planning, creative services and proprietary technology to such clients as Columbia University, the University of Miami, Drexel University, Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Oregon and Ohio State University.

TargetX has also developed a reputation in higher education for objective and expert counsel. The company offers a popular series of one-day workshops for admissions and marketing officers, provides presentations at dozens of conferences, seminars and workshops around the country, and produces a weekly online newsletter containing tips and trends for college recruiters and marketers.

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