Website Development for an International, Heterogeneous Audience

Canadian universities are increasingly aiming to engage audiences that are abroad and/or international by background. These include not only prospective students and their families, as well as alumni, but also faculty for recruitment and international research collaboration, as well as global organizations that can benefit from our research expertise.

The University of Toronto re-launched its international website, in late 2023, in a highly strategic manner that segmented the very distinct target audiences – (prospective/) students / researchers / organizations – and built a unique click-through-path for each target group. The website is an example of a site that successfully addresses the challenge of marketing to multiple, highly disparate, stakeholders, as well as promoting U of T’s core culture as a global university. In line with the university’s Defy Gravity campaign, it is a tool specifically developed to harness the power of our global community.

The session will showcase how to:

1) be strategic about designing a website, including the use of click-through-paths and multiple touch points,

2) to efficiently utilize a website as a marketing tool, rather than an information warehouse, all while elevating and enforcing branding standards,

3) how to address the challenge of website development for an international and highly heterogeneous target audience.