Jennifer Copeland's Blog on College and University Marketing

University online advertising can miss the mark....the enrollment mark, that is

A few months ago while reading an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution online (www.ajc.com), I ran across an ad for the EMBA program at Mercer University. Mercer happens to be my alma matter, so I was intrigued. I couldn’t resist the temptation to click to see how Mercer was using this ad to acquire inquiries.

 

The  ad was linked directly to the University’s main page for the Stetson School of Business. Since things like inquiry acquisition for higher education is among the things we do on a daily basis at DemandEngine, I couldn’t help but notice several things about Mercer’s approach:

News Alert: Protect Your Institutional Brand on Facebook and Twitter

On June 13 12:01am (that’s one minute after midnight tonight…or technically tomorrow) you will have the opportunity to create your own user name in Facebook. This will allow you to essentially personalize the url associated with your profile. Visit Facebook’s blog to learn more.

Attn: Higher Education ... New Social Web Tool in Development

Did you catch this last week? A hot new social web tool is in development that may transform higher education enrollment marketing.

A little social media fun with the Late Night Show's Conan O'Brien. ;)

Are We Abandoning Marketing Common Sense?

"All the world's a twitter." That according to a recent Newsweek article. And it seems that higher education is no exception. Just this week alone, I've run across two different items (from vendors) encouraging higher education leaders to jump on the Twitter/Facebook/social application de jour band wagon. All this hype about the latest and greatest magic bullet, I must confess, leaves a lingering twinge of doubt in my mind. Are higher education marketers (and some so-called experts) throwing common sense to the wind in their haste to jump on board with bleeding edge technologies?

Canada Proposes Its Own Version of CAN SPAM

Last week the Canadian government introduced the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA), their counterpart to CAN SPAM.  With similar regulations to CAN SPAM - it is legislation that will regulate commercial email communication, it include rules for opt-in and opt-out procedures, it requires sender identification and protects consumer privacy - there are also some important differences.

DemandEngine Client Wins MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Award!

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Department of Continuing Education has been awarded the Gold Award for Non-profit Email Newsletter by MarketingSherpa in their annual email marketing awards.

What made the UNCC newsletter stand out above the rest? "An entrepreneurial email newsletter strategy was the cornerstone of the continuing education department’s impressive growth in 2008,” according to MarketingSherpa’s website. “They grew their opt-in list 18%, and boosted average their average open rate 14.5%. The newsletter campaign directly delivered a 13% increase in enrollments, a 29% increase in revenue, and a 380% ROI for their email marketing department."

Congratulations to Lesley Snyder and Laurie Parker for their outstanding efforts!

SACAC 2009 Live Blog: Economic Impact on Students' College Selection Process

The hot topic around many admission offices and here in Raleigh this week is the impact the current economic situation will ultimately have on students' college selection process (and ultimately college enrollment numbers in the fall). Several sessions already have provided insight into this area with research from a variety of sources (focus groups and polls of prospective students). Both Creosote Affects and Royall and Co. reported that the economy is, in fact, having a pretty significant impact on how students are selecting a college this year. Consider the following:

How to Lose Friends and Alienate Students- Part 1 of the Socially Connected Series

Put the words 'social', Facebook, or Web 2.0 in the title of any higher education conference session and you are guaranteed a standing room only crowd (a tactic yours truly is taking early next week at SACAC in Raleigh...if you're coming, don't miss my session on How Students Actually Use Social Technologies).

HBR Article: How to Market in a Downturn

Targeted advertising using Google paid search (instead of general banner ads) is one of Seven Smart Ways to Economize Advertising list in the most recent Harvard Business Review. The takeaway for higher ed marketers is that relevance and precisely targeted messages are the key to success (any time, but especially in times like these).

In an article entitled How to Market in a Downturn, HBR provides suggestions for resisting the temptation to stick our marketing heads in the proverbial sand, but do so with confidence that you're making effective (albeit frugal) decisions. Keep reading the article online.

Live Blog: 2009 NCMPR- Google Geo-Targeting for Mobile-Question Answered

During my pre-conference intensive earlier today, I received a question about how geo-targeting works for mobile devices. I've researched the question and, according to Google, geo-targeting for mobile isn't as well-developed as traditional geo-targeting. This is an area Google reports they are working to improve, so it sounds like in the coming months this will become even more exact.

If you have more questions, just pass them along.

LIve Blog: 2009 NCMPR- Beyond the Click

I presented a pre-conference intensive session this afternoon on paid search marketing and cultivation strategies to yield those inquiries into enrolled students. Here are the main take-aways:

Live Blog: 2009 NCMPR

I'll be blogging live from NCMPR in Kansas City starting on Sunday. Be sure to check back for the latest from the conference on Sunday afternoon and throughout the day on Monday.

Learn more about NCMPR.

The Value of a Valuable Offer: Example from Kaplan

Last week over lunch I was reading the latest issue of Entrepreneur magazine and ran across an excellent ad by Kaplan. Say what you want about the for-profits, but traditional higher ed can learn a lot from how they market themselves.

The ad (click on graphic to see larger version) contained a call to action to receive a free learning assessment. See the learning assessment. Clearly tailored to their audience (who likely need more direction on their college path, etc), this assessment is a great tool for engaging prospective students on their website.

This sort of offer strategy works for all enrollment areas on campus. Undergrad enrollment marketers- give students a quiz or assessment that helps them narrow down their degree or the type of campus that best suits them; continuing, executive or professional education- how about a quiz or assessment to see if online or traditional lecture-style programs are best for the prospect.

The key here (and the main takeaway from Kaplan's example) is value- for the prospect. Focus on what want they want or need and then find a relevant way to deliver. And, don't forget- an offer strategy is an equitable dialog. You can ask them to self-identify (and research has shown time and time again that if your offer is valuable, prospects are willing to provide more information).

Have a better offer strategy than Kaplan's? Share by leaving a comment.

"Should continuing education units use Twitter?"

This was one of the most common questions/discussion topics I overheard (or received directly as a panelist on the Marketing 2.0 Trends Panel) at the recent UCEA Marketing Seminar in Scottsdale, Arizona.

I must confess that when I first heard how much buzz Twitter was getting at the Seminar, I rolled my eyes and said something to the effect of, "Here we go again chasing more shiny objects!" And, I'm not convinced that, for many higher ed marketers, Twitter doesn't represent just that- a new, "magic bullet" perceived to solve all that ails their marketing efforts.

So, how do we determine if Twitter (or any other emerging channels) are right for marketing higher education? I'd suggest you start with the basic approach you should take with every marketing project you develop (or at least I hope you take!).

Anatomy of Bad Email: An Example from Higher Education

In our study released in fall 2008, Death by a Thousand Cuts- The Email Practices of Undergraduate Admission Offices, we shared a an example of an email actually sent to a prospective high school study by a university that student was considering. To protect the guilty (institution) and innocent (student),  the names were changed.

Just how bad was this email? Pretty bad. Click on the icon to view the entire example. What you’ll see is that this institution completely missed the mark. Here are a few the problems we found: