Stakeholder #2

This week I will be drafting a second direct mailer on behalf of OU Recruitment Services. For this piece, I have chosen a stakeholder with the most direct influence on my first stakeholder–mom and dad. More specifically, I have outlined their basic characteristics below:

• parents of college-bound high school juniors and seniors
• live in a Big 12 state
• enough income to sponsor a 4-year education

I’ve decided to target this group because often parents are the end-all be-all decision makers for their children–especially in situations where money is a factor. Most students at OU do not receive scholarship or financial aid amounts equal to the total cost of their education–that means that someone has to foot the bill. More often than not, it goes to the parents. Therefore, it follows that finances will be a major influence on the parents’ decision. However, parents also want to provide their children with a quality education. OU needs to sell parents on the value of enrolling in their organization and show parents how the benefits of attending OU outweigh the fiscal cost of attendance.