Jennifer Copeland's Blog on College and University Marketing

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!

Four Interactive Marketing Resolutions for 2009

Another new year has started and like many of us, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon of committing to personal and professional improvements in the coming year (and this year, I’m determined these resolutions will extend beyond mid-January!). On that note, I’ve created a list of interactive marketing resolutions that each of us working in higher education marketing and enrollment management should take to heart in 2009.

Best of 2008

With the start of the new year, I thought we'd take one last look back at the best posts from 2008. Here are my personal favorites:

#1: How Students Actually Use Social Technologies


#2: ACHE 2008 Live Update: Stanford Shares How to Make Online Learning Work

#3: Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Email Marketing Practices of Undergraduate Admission Offices

In addition to the top three, I couldn't resist the urge to include (as my personal ultimate favorite post!) the post about the big change in my life in 2008 (Baby Copeland).

Happy new year and here's to a prosperous 2009!

AMA Live Update: Taking Email to the Next Level

Presented by Karlyn Morissette, Dartmouth College

A good overview of email marketing best practices, this presentation provided good fundamentals (which, unfortunately, are overlooked time and time again). Here are the 5 best practices covered:

AMA Live Update: Beyond the Click: Strategies to Generate and Cultivate Online Inquiries

Presented by Jennifer Wooley, Georgia Tech Distance Learning and Professional Education and yours truly

Our presentation this morning focused on 3 main topics:

1. The marketing playing field has changed - institutions must now engage prospective students, customers, donors, and other constituents on their terms...not ours.
2. Paid search marketing represents an opportunity for higher education to engage prospects when they are looking for what you have to offer.
3. To get the most out of your paid search efforts, marketers must develop strategies to move students beyond the click and to conversion (i.e. application, enrollment, registration, etc).

Using institutions experiencing success as our model, primarily the Global Learning Center at Georgia Tech, we provided multiple examples of cultivation once the inquiry has engaged with the institution as a result of a paid search ad.

How can you make paid search work?

Live Blog: American Marketing Association- Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education

This week I'm in Chicago at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. I'm presenting on Monday morning, but will also be blogging from the conference on Monday and Tuesday. Here are the topics I have planned:

• Beyond the Click: Strategies to Generate and Cultivate Online Inquiries
• Taking Email to the Next Level: Practical Advice for Creating an Integrated Email Marketing Program
• The Campus Visit: Who Controls
• The Method is as Important as the Message: You are How You Market
• Effective Marketing Strategies for Adult Students

Questions or comments in advance? Post a comment or email me directly at j.copeland@demandengine.com.

Record University Enrollment in Georgia

A new report from the state shows enrollment at Georgia’s public colleges and universities grew nearly 13,000 students this fall compared to last year. This according to a November 11 article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

The report shows the University System of Georgia has hit a record 282,978 students. That’s nearly 5 percent more than last year.

Black student enrollment increased 7.5 percent, or nearly 5,000 more students. Total black enrollment is 69,700.

The University System has gained 32,000 students in five years, the equivalent of the enrollment of the University of Georgia. That’s an overall increase of 13 percent since 2003.

Most of that growth has been at the state’s smaller campuses.

How to Use Email to Start Your Social Networking Engine in Higher Education

With the popularity of social networking, colleges and universities understandably are interested in participating. Increasingly, colleges and universities are asking how to start social communities, measure a return, and sometimes why to start them. In our experience, the "how" to do it unfortunately often comes well before the "why" or the "should."

As part of a larger outreach strategy, communities can an effective channel to deploy, but managed improperly, they can backfire, or fizzle out from the large amounts of institutional time invested, producing very little measurable benefit.

Email Marketing Best Practices: Three Tips for Success

More people are online than ever before and time in front of the computer rivals traditional television viewing time. Despite negative publicity of spam, consumer attitudes are more positive toward subscribed-to email than other advertising channels.

MarketingSherpa categorizes email marketers into two camps- those who complain about declining response, but who do very little to change their approach, and those who enjoy high response rates and work hard for them. Too often, enrollment marketers pull out the email shotgun and think in terms of generating immediate results at the lowest possible cost...and with increasingly diminishing returns.

Email marketing is not a quick fix or magic potion to solve enrollment challenges. Email success requires strategic thinking, an investment in resources, a long-term view, and a commitment to testing and refining your approach. So, what does it take to be successful? Let's take a look at three best practices for email marketing that can help put you on the track to success.

Online Marketing Institute for Continuing Education: Survey Winner Announced

Thanks to all of the Institute attendees who responded to our evaluation survey. We really do read your feedback and when we run across a good idea, we do our best to incorporate it into future events!

As promised, one survey responder has been drawn at random to receive a $25 Best Buy gift card. And the winner is.....Rachel Berger from Temple University.

Congratulations, Rachel, and best wishes to everyone for online marketing success!