Inthink the AOs might genuinely be searching for oboe players or tuba players, but there’s no way they’d be transparent about it. That might decrease apps (and increase overall acceptance rate) from the oboists, and I think they prefer the admissions process to be mysterious to prospective students.
Go easy on the Adds like on Pandora and such. I remembering I was listening to music one day and it seemed like after every five songs the same commercial for a college (which shall not be named) would come up. At first I was interested in the school and checked it out but the Adds just kept playing over and over and over again to the point where I completely lost interest in the school. Now that might just be me, but I thought I would share anyways. I do however like receiving pamphlets in the mail that capture my eye. Like if they have a photo of the campus or something really captivating I look into that school.
My daughter visited and very much liked a match school last fall. She has since been inundated with mailings from them, encouraging her to “Come visit!!” With each invitation, her interest dwindles. It’s too bad there isn’t a way for schools (at least this one) to merge their mailing lists.
If you are asking about getting our attention other than through mail, I would read through the thread about colleges moving up or down on your list based on visits. I think visits (Admin officer presentations, tour guides, etc) make a big difference. One school we toured over Spring Break allowed us to arrange a tour by department. That was awesome!
Also, make it easy to find information on your website and make sure the people answering the phones are educated and helpful.
Free tee shirts 
They were being green. Printing is good for the tree population. Paper comes from renewable forests, not old-growth forests. The more people print, the more trees get planted and raised for the 20-40 years until they are cut down. Shipping the paper is an entirely different story.
Any substantive and objective information, especially statistics, would be helpful, even “my school graduated five U.S. presidents.”
Cutting down crop trees and replanting also helps to sequester carbon, removing some from the atmosphere. Buy wood furniture, use wood products! Sign up for college brochures, but have them shipped by Solar Impulse aircraft! 
Sally…
How can a college get my attention? Hmmm.
I would say by being honest.
I have found, as a student (and as a parent), that some colleges will lie like crazy to get your attention, then to find out they don’t have your major.
But it’s more than your major when it comes to honesty, but when they demand personal information they have no right to have. Such as medical records and Social Security Number. Financial Aid and FAFSA are the only departments in a college that need your SSN. Not Admissions. I have no problem giving it to those that have a valid lawful right to it. Claiming there is a law when there is none, that’s a problem. Claiming it’s to tell if you are a terrorist, that’s a problem. Claiming it’s to tell if you might be another school shooter, that’s a really big problem. SSN and medical records don’t show any of that. It does show how dishonest the schools are, however. If they are that dishonest, what is it they really do with your personal information? This affects students and parents.
I have been trying to return to college for over 15 years. I suppose if I spent every waking minute searching, I would have found a school that would accept me and my physical impairments a lot sooner than 15 years. But after a short bit, and not having the resources to move across the country, it makes it hard to do. And my God-Son sees that. He’s now 26 and aside from being in the USMC and getting schooling directly through them, he expressed his dislike for the civilian post-secondary educational facilities. He knows what he’s seen me go through. Take out loans so I can pay people money, only to be abused as a person because they do not or refuse to understand my physical impairments? You’re joking, right?
I found a decent two-year college that is honest (so far) and treats me like I’m human. My grades are ok. And when I graduate, I hope to have found a four year school that is as good and treats me decent.
So to answer your question Sally, honesty. Unfortunately that appears to be a dying trait.
As a parent I like to see what the current students at the school are doing and learn about their stories. My son received a nice postcard from Colgate with a student who was doing some sort of Animation project which is one his areas of interest. I think another good idea is to feature students in the prospective students general geographic region and with similar interests. Of course, this might be too large of a marketing campaign but maybe it can be a win-win if the students featured also get some sort of reimbursement or compensation for being featured on the college’s ad or postcard.
I also think another way to get our attention is to use current students from our district or general geographic location to personally reach out to prospective students. This past weekend we met with a young man who went to another public high school in our district and is now at Skidmore and answered all of our questions while also sharing his experiences.
In summary, I like the personal touch from the current students because it allows my son to see himself as a student at that college.
Most of the emails my first kid received were very poorly written and really didn’t say anything much about the college. Many of them were so similar to one another in every way that I believe they must have been outsourced to an email marketing firm that turned around and hired some middle school student to write them all. If the admissions office can’t put together an attractive and professional email about the college, why would we be interested in it? One of my kids says one of the gimmicks used by many of the schools links to the same lame online survey site.
I’d like to see easily accessible information in some kind of easy to use format. For example, you could list majors offered and allow students to click on them and find out, how many students are in that major (and give gender and racial breakdowns for those who don’t want to be the only X in their class), what are the basic requirements using the actual names of the courses–no one wants to waste time poring over course listings trying to figure out what the heck math 251 is, have as many profiles as possible of students in that major showing what coursework they are doing and what activities they do and what comments they have, and any relevant offerings the school has (eg. pertinent student groups and show us what they do, study abroad programs, lab research facilities, internship arrangements with particular institutions/companies, etc), listing of jobs or schools attended by recent graduates, and maybe a list of faqs developed by admissions and department advisors. Show what you really offer so applicants don’t have to waste time digging around trying to find out the info, if they even can.
Websites that are easy to navigate and logically organized are a huge plus.
Colleges that are transparent about their financial/merit aid policies - another big plus.
Student blogs are extremely helpful to get some sense of that elusive “student vibe.”
Selective, infrequent mailings are better than constant bombardment.
Frequent communications urging my daughter to visit the school when she already has done so are irritating.
The only college that caught my D’s attention with unsolicited mailings was U Chicago. Their mailings asked thought provoking questions, or they were interactive and asked students to tweet about some off the wall but thoughtful topic, or to create a picture and upload it, etc… In one case, they sent a flyer with my kid’s name spelled out in Gothic lettering, created of a photo montage. My D still has it. She decided the school wasn’t right for her, but we both loved the idea behind the mailings: get the attention of kids with high test scores by appealing to their intellectual curiosity.It nearly worked:-)
Full tuition scholarships would sure get my attention…
Seriously though, I think if a school contacted me with a letter that wasn’t blatantly a copy-paste thing, that would get my attention. Also telling me how much aid I would get based on grades or income in one of the mailed out things.
One more thought: there were a few schools we weren’t able to visit. And even if visiting the schools, it’s sometimes nice to have a preview. So, a virtual visit page with a good, informative, map of campus (not just a link to google or something where the building names aren’t shown), lots of campus photos, and detailed video tours of the campus, dorms, and inside buildings which might not even be included on the real tour would be very helpful. Show us the student center, the dorms, the large lecture halls, the research labs, the libraries, the sports facilities, etc. etc. Walk around the edge of campus and show us what’s next to campus on all sides and show us the most popular off campus housing areas.
There was a school my daughter wasn’t able to visit and I spent quite some time searching but nearly every single photo I could find was of the same building. It was like the rest of the campus didn’t exist. Gave up in frustration and she never did visit.
I would like actual information in those booklets instead of pretty pictures. Things like cost information(tuition, room & board). The different types of scholarships and aid they offer and if it’s automatic or competitive. A list of majors and minors and maybe a sample of course offerings. GPA and test score range of the last accepted class. Pictures of buildings and stories about the old guy they’re named after isn’t helpful information.
There were only three schools which caught my attention through unsolicited post-PSAT mailings. One of them (Fordham) rejected me in no uncertain terms EA, while the other two (Quinnipiac and Hofstra) gave me direct entry into their respective B-schools but gapped me so much for financial aid that I probably would have left by now if I attended either of them. The school I eventually chose sent me absolutely zero mailings before I requested info just prior to applying. So, there’s no tried and tested method for me, really. 
As a parent let me know what it will really cost me. Minimally participate in the FASFA redistribution scheme, instead take all grant money planned for that class and divide it by the class size and that becomes the discount for everyone. If that is not possible due to government rules, require the FASFA but take out all of the EFC’s and still divide it so the tuition comes down for everyone rich and poor alike.
My teenagers opinion is if it is not a local school breakdown # of kids from your immediate area. Might backfire or be great depending on the kid.
Are you calling financial aid a redistribution scheme? I guess that’s one way to look at it, if you have no problem with the destruction of socioeconomic mobility.
Making school cost the same amount for people who have money and people who don’t have money makes approximately zero sense.