High school students have a variety of options when choosing where to attend college, so making the college experience at UNA stand out is important.

A line of new marketing techniques including videos on the UNA website and 30-second TV commercials will soon roll out as part of the university’s new digital approach to marketing.

“One of the issues that we find in higher education is that we’ve got a lot of competing factors going against us,” said Interim Director of Communications and Marketing Bryan Rachal. “We’re like anybody — we understand the trends — and digital marketing is one of the main trends you have to deal with, especially in higher education.”

The My!UNA campaign, which includes billboards and online videos highlighting personal aspects of the university and student experiences and programs, is one way the university is trying to compete with other universities, Rachal said.

Today’s students are about making things personal, said Nikki Yarber, enrollment marketing coordinator.

“The idea behind the My!UNA campaign is that every story to UNA is unique,” Rachal said. “So whether you’re a friend of the university, an alumni of the university or a student at the university, your story is unique to you and we want to hear those stories.”

Rachal said an online and on-air presence is being implemented with the help of Armosa Studios in Florence. 30-second TV commercials are set to start airing in October in the Shoals area, Huntsville, Cullman, Decatur, Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.

The studio will also produce a video to be taken to high schools and other hot spots for recruitment, he said.

“We’ve also done digital marketing. We’re working with Facebook and Twitter to kind of do some digital ads,” he said.

Freshman Kaleb Smith said social media is the way to go when marketing to high school students.

Students do not read emails and information sent to them on paper, Smith said.

“People in high school don’t read,” he said. “But if it’s right in our faces on Twitter and Instagram, we’re going to see it.”

Social media advertising will target students in Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia to attend UNA especially since the adoption of House Bill 424 that “allows out-of-state students who have received a UNA scholarship of $1,000 or more to receive in-state tuition,” Yarber said.

Current students are encouraged to share their stories and pictures via social media and to tell others about their experiences at UNA.

“I think, OK, if I’m a student, then what is it that’s going to grab me online,” Rachal said. “I think really what they look for is what other students are doing.”

“We like to think that everybody from the university is an ambassador, and we would hope they would represent the university well where they go and tell people about it,” Rachal said.

The university website was recreated to be visually more appealing, easier to navigate and easier to access, he said.

“One of the aspects of the movie that we’re making with Armosa is they’re going to have a special page on our website where we tell the stories,” he said. “We’re asking students and faculty and staff to submit stories about their UNA experiences,” Yarber said.

Rachal said improving the universities marketing strategies will not take place over night.

“We’ve got a ways to go, don’t get me wrong, but we’re working diligently at it, and I think we’re taking the necessary steps,” Rachal said. “I think we all know that UNA has to do a better job of making itself known. If you’re not from the area, it’s hard to know about us,” he said.