Download Developing Program-Specific Marketing Campaigns

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS FORUM
Developing Program-Specific Marketing
Campaigns
Custom Research Brief
Research Associate
Anna Krenkel
Research Manager
Nalika Vasudevan
October
2012
Education Advisory Board
2445 M Street NW ● Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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© 2012 The Advisory Board Company
Education Advisory Board
2445 M Street NW ● Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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Table of Contents
I. Research Methodology ...................................................................................................... 4
Project Challenge ............................................................................................................. 4
Project Sources ................................................................................................................. 4
Research Parameters ....................................................................................................... 4
II. Executive Overview .......................................................................................................... 5
Key Observations ............................................................................................................. 5
III. Strategies to Promote Individual Programs ............................................................... 6
Digital Media .................................................................................................................... 6
Open Houses .................................................................................................................... 7
Traditional Media ............................................................................................................ 8
IV. Operations of Marketing Campaigns .......................................................................... 9
Decision-making Behind Featured Programs .............................................................. 9
Campaign Timeline ......................................................................................................... 9
Budget and Resources ................................................................................................... 10
V. Assessments of Marketing Campaigns ...................................................................... 11
Measurements of Success ............................................................................................. 11
© 2012 The Advisory Board Company
Education Advisory Board
2445 M Street NW ● Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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I. Research Methodology
Project Challenge
Leadership at a member institution approached the Forum with the following questions:
 How do academic leadership, enrollment management, and marketing offices determine
which programs to feature in promotional materials?
 What strategies do marketers use to promote lesser-known or under-enrolled programs at
their institution?
 What types of media do administrators find most successful for promotion?
 What is the timeline for marketing campaigns for new and under-enrolled programs?
 Which office oversees marketing campaigns?
 What is the budget for program specific marketing? Which offices contribute to this
budget?
 What metrics do administrators use to evaluate the success of a marketing campaign?
Project Sources
The Forum consulted the following sources for this report:
 Advisory Board’s internal and online research libraries
(www.educationadvisoryboard.com)
 The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com)
 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (http://nces.ed.gov/)
Research
Parameters
The Forum interviewed marketing directors at small, technical institutions and institutions
recognized for innovative marketing strategies.
A Guide to Institutions Profiled in this Brief
© 2012 The Advisory Board Company
Approximate Institutional
Enrollment
(Undergraduate/Total)
Institution
Location
Type
Classification
University A
South
Public
25,200 / 34,800
Research Universities
(very high research
activity)
University B
MidAtlantic
Public
6,000 (all
undergraduate)
Baccalaureate/Associate’s
Colleges
University C
Midwest
Public
32,000 / 40,900
Research Universities
(very high research
activity)
University D
Midwest
Public
12,300 / 13,500
Master’s Colleges and
Universities
University E
Northeast
Private
3,800 / 5,800
Doctoral/Research
Universities
Education Advisory Board
2445 M Street NW ● Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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II. Executive Overview
Key Observations
Departmental open houses are the most common form of program-specific marketing and
allow deans and faculty to interact one-on-one with prospective students. Open houses
occur throughout the academic year, but the majority occur during September to November
and March to May when prospective students typically visit institutions. During open houses,
faculty present their research and demonstrate laboratory equipment and experiments to
emphasize institutions’ technical focus.
Marketing staff prefer digital media advertising campaigns because these campaigns are
easier to assess, require fewer resources, and offer a higher return on investment than
traditional media and paid advertisement. Traditional media (e.g., print, television, radio,
billboards) direct prospective students to departments’ web sites, where students submit
contact information and marketing staff can track their web site usage (e.g., how much time
they spend on a web page, which links they click on, etc.).
Department-driven marketing campaigns last between two and 18 months, depending on
the type of media and amount of new advertising content to develop. Between two and
three weeks after an academic department contacts the marketing office, the specialized
marketing staff (e.g., web developers, videographers, photographers, etc.) and department
determine the scope of the marketing project. During the remainder of the campaign,
representatives from the marketing office and academic department meet to discuss
deliverables and whether the project timeline will change.
Departments either pay the marketing offices to conduct marketing campaigns, or an
institution-wide committee determines which programs receive central marketing funds.
The decentralized model allows innovative departments to communicate with marketing
departments and communicate the success of their faculty and students. The centralized,
committee-based model encourages coordination among programs, which saves resources.
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Education Advisory Board
2445 M Street NW ● Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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III. Strategies to Promote Individual Programs
Digital Media
Marketing Offices Create Institutions’ Online Media Content
Every institution uses social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Four Square, Tumblr, YouTube
etc.) to attract prospective students. Typically, the enrollment management office supervises
the institution-wide social media accounts, while academic colleges and departments also
maintain individual social media pages. At University B, staff in deans’ offices maintain the
social media presence for the college, and department chairs may also manage social media
accounts. Additionally, the marketing office helps develop content for different social media
and distributes it to staff who maintain social media accounts across the institution. Student
workers post content to college and department social media websites. Usually, social media
outlets link to content hosted on the departmental web site.
Strategies to Attract Prospective Students through College- and Department-level
Digital Media Content
Link to Faculty
Research
At University A and University E, colleges and departments
highlight innovative research from faculty on the departmental web
site that they link to from Facebook and Twitter. These highlights,
such as developing GPS for firefighters and prosthetics for pets, catch
the attention of prospective students and demonstrate research to
which they may contribute.
Tell Personal
Student Success
Stories
All contacts recommend focusing on personal stories that
demonstrate specific strengths of the program, rather than general
statements. Potential stories include student internship experiences,
research with professors, conference attendance, and involvement in
academic organizations on campus. These messages allow
prospective students to visualize themselves on campus.
Use Employers to
Emphasize
Program Impact
At University B, marketers use sound bites from interviews with
employers in marketing campaigns. These include higher placement
rates and salaries for program graduates. Contacts find that
featuring these quotations in YouTube videos and traditional media
campaigns leads to increased popularity for previously underenrolled programs.
Department Websites Collect Prospective Students’ Personal Information
Marketing office staff often assist departments and programs with web site development to
attract new students. Marketing departments support academic department web sites by
increasing visitor activity, developing content, and tracking student activity on the web site.
Marketing Support for Department and College Web Sites
 Increase Visitor Activity: At University C, the marketing department develops web sites
that will appear on the first page of certain Google searches to increase traffic to the web
site and raise awareness of the program.
 Assist Academic Departments in Content Development: Some faculty resist web sites
they believe include too many human interest stories (e.g., stories about student success,
department interactions with the local community, social events the department hosts,
etc.) because the content does not reflect the integrity of their research. However,
marketing staff understand the demographic of students they hope to attract and write
web site content that is relevant and attractive to students with some faculty input.
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Education Advisory Board
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Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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 Track Web Site Usage: Marketing staff can easily track the way prospective students and
other users interact with digital marketing campaigns because web site and social media
analytics tools, such as Google Analytics and Facebook Insights, allow marketing staff to
view what links prospective students click on and how long they spend on each page.
Students more often submit their contact information to learn about the program through
digital media tools.
Online Paid Advertising Results in Brief Impact
Marketing staff at University D do not encourage online paid advertising (i.e., banner
advertisements on web sites) because the impact of these campaigns is temporary.
Paid advertisements only operate for a limited amount of time and reach a smaller
audience. Marketing staff report a higher return on investment from developing
digital infrastructure (e.g., websites, social media, etc.) because the content is more
permanent.
Open Houses
Departments Host Open Houses to Raise Awareness with Prospective
Students
Department and program-specific open houses are the most common form of program-specific
marketing. Prospective students meet with faculty and deans one-on-one, who explain the
opportunities (e.g., research opportunities, internships, job placement, graduate school
admissions, etc.) their department or school offers. Faculty and deans represent their
departments at open houses, and marketing staff provide signage and collateral (e.g.,
postcards, brochures, etc.) for representatives to give prospective students. Most institutions
schedule departmental open houses to coincide with designated prospective student
weekends. Departments host open houses during the spring and fall because prospective
students visit institutions at this time. These programs occur year-round at University B.
Faculty participation in open houses increases applications. Strategies to increase faculty
attendance for open houses include:
 Emphasize the relationships faculty will have with students during their time at the
institution and the importance of attracting intellectually engaged students.
 Rotate mandatory attendance.
 Highlight the opportunity to discuss their research with a captive audience.
Hands-on Demonstrations at Open Houses Attract Prospective
Students
At University E, engineering programs that develop flame-retardant materials set
products on fire to demonstrate their resistance. Similarly, surgical assistant programs
allow student to wear scrubs and use real tools.
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Education Advisory Board
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Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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Traditional
Media
Paid Advertisements and Traditional Media Offer Little Return on Investment
Institutions rely less on paid advertisements on
television, radio, and print media than previously,
because:
 Constrained budgets for marketing at the
institutional and departmental level lead
marketing staff, deans, and department chairs to
seek alternative, cheaper forms of promotion
(e.g., social media, websites, etc.) with higher
returns on investment.
 Digital media allows marketing staff to assess the
results (e.g., number of unique web visits, web
site pages attract the most views, etc.) of
marketing campaigns more precisely than
traditional media platforms.
Paid Advertisements Lead
Prospective Students to Web
Sites
Paid advertisement in traditional
media list institutions’ web site
address and occasionally host a
QR code which directs
prospective students to
institutions’ web sites. After
students visit the web site,
institutions request more
information and document
prospective students’ web
activity.
Departments place paid print advertisements in trade
specific publications, such as gaming and robotics magazines, to attract students who already
express interest in a particular field. Although University D attracts graduate-level students
through such media, the director of marketing at University E places advertisements for
undergraduate programs in magazines.
At University C and University E, marketing staff employ paid, traditional advertising for
specific events. At University E, the marketing office advertises open houses through direct
mailings, emails, and flyers around the community. Institutions also place paid print
advertising to recognize the accomplishments of prominent alumni and use the connection to
call attention to programs. University C paid for a full page in a national newspaper to
publish a memorial for a prominent alumni after his death, as a way to commemorate his life
and raise awareness of the institution.
Market Research Informs Paid Advertisement
At University A, marketing staff analyze demographic information of historically
represented states and emerging markets (i.e., North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Texas and the west coast) for prospective students. They collect data on
which regions produce certain majors. Paid advertising in those regions focuses on
historically strong programs at University A and programs popular with students in that
specific location.
© 2012 The Advisory Board Company
Education Advisory Board
2445 M Street NW ● Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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IV. Operations of Marketing Campaigns
Decision-making
Behind Featured
Programs
Annual Program Reviews Dictate Targeted Marketing Efforts
At University B, an executive-level marketing committee convenes monthly to discuss the
institution’s marketing strategy. Members of this committee rotate on a biannual basis (except
the director of marketing) and include representatives from:
 Academic affairs
 Marketing office
 Admissions office
 Faculty
This committee determines which programs to highlight in advertising after the annual review
process. The committee automatically selects newly launched programs to highlight, and
deans can nominate one other program from their college for increased visibility. Annual
program reviews identify under-enrolled programs to receive additional funding. The
committee continues to meet monthly during the year to review the impact of additional
promotion for specific programs. If a program meets or exceeds enrollment goals the
committee will reduce the additional marketing resources the program receives.
Proactive Deans and Department Chairs Can Initiate Marketing for Their
Program
Deans and departments chairs can initiate program-specific marketing when they reach out to
the marketing department to develop traditional and digital campaigns. At University C,
University D, and University E, departments approach marketing staff with proposals to
reinforce marketing campaigns such as a print paid advertisement, web site re-design, or
research to feature in direct mailings.
At University C, the University’s central marketing office assigns a staff member to each
college to serve as a marketing consultant and develop a strategic marketing plan for the
college. The strategic marketing plan outlines the marketing campaigns needed to achieve the
college’s overall strategic plan (e.g., increasing enrollment). After the college approaches the
central marketing office with an idea, the specialized marketing staff (e.g., graphic designers)
design mock-ups of final products and meet regularly with representatives from the college
over the course of the campaign to discuss progress and present deliverables.
Campaign
Timeline
Marketing Campaigns Last Two to Twelve Months, Depending on Creative
Content
Contacts recommend campaigns that peak during the spring and fall, when high school
juniors and seniors select to the institutions to which they will apply. However, to ensure that
new websites and campaigns have no technical errors during these times, they advise
launching the programs in the summer or winter. For example, if a department wants a new
web site by September, the marketing department launches the web site in August to correct
any errors before traffic to the site increases in the fall. Additionally, to launch a program in
the fall semester successfully, admissions staff who recruit students to new programs need all
marketing materials completed by fall of the previous year.
The timeline of a creative campaign to raise program awareness depends on the type of media
desired, amount of content to develop, and level of engagement from the academic
department. For example, developing new content for a structurally sound web site can take
© 2012 The Advisory Board Company
Education Advisory Board
2445 M Street NW ● Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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as little as two months. However, if the web site requires more significant mechanical
changes, development can take up to 18 months because of slow communication between
academic and marketing departments.
Timeline for Website Development at University C
Dean’s office staff and marketing office staff create strategic marketing plan
Dean’s office staff approaches college-specific marketing office staff with proposed
marketing ideas
Marketing office staff audit existing web site, estimate the total cost of the project, and
present estimate to department
Departments decide which components of proposed project they will implement based
on available resources and inform marketing office of decisions
Marketing office creative staff outline plan for marketing project in creative brief
Representatives from the dean’s office, college-specific marketing staff, and creative
staff meet to discuss project (two to three) weeks after first project-specific contact
Representatives from dean’s office and college-specific marketing office staff meet at
previously agreed upon points throughout the project for updates
New website launched (two to 18 months after dean’s office staff initiates project)
Budget and
Resources
Departments, Marketing Offices, and Enrollment Management Share Costs of
Marketing Campaigns
To coordinate marketing campaigns, marketing offices identify opportunities for colleges and
departments to share costs. At University A, coordination is especially common for paid
advertisements. For example, if the dean of the college of engineering wants to place a paid
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Education Advisory Board
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Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com
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print advertisement in Newsweek that costs $25,000, the dean will collaborate with the college
of applied math and science, enrollment management, and marketing to share the costs.
University A, University C, University D, and University E use an “agency model,” through
which colleges and departments contract work and pay for the services they commission from
the central marketing office in the same way they would contract work from a third-party
marketing agency. Departments and colleges pay the marketing office for creative services and
collateral they commission. However, enrollment management may cover some costs for
marketing campaigns that relate to institution-wide initiatives. The marketing office will also
help departments identify potential partners for marketing campaigns.
V. Assessments of Marketing Campaigns
Measurements of
Success
Digital Media Offers Free Access to Analytics Tools that Measure Returns on
Investment
Across institutions, marketing offices consider the number of prospective students who
request additional information or submit data to the institution as indicators of success.
Marketing offices track the success of open houses and print media through attendance rates
and returned postcards sent through direct mail, respectively. Non-digital media campaigns
also direct prospective students to digital media because marketing staff can more easily
determine user interaction with the web site. Specifically, Google analytics tracks what links
web site visitors click on and how long each visitor spends on a unique web page. Facebook
Insights analyzes the popularity of social media posts and number of followers. Marketing
staff also measure return on investment through the number of prospective students who
follow links and then submit applications or forms to collect their contact information.
Contacts at University B recommend Robert Sevier’s Integrated Marketing for Colleges,
Universities, & Schools: A Step-By-Step Planning Guide to determine metrics for the annual
program review and metrics to assess the success of marketing campaigns.
Analytics Tools Determine Outcomes of Strategic Marketing Campaigns
At University E, the advancement office launched a campaign with help from the
marketing office to raise funds from alumni using a direct mailing. Recipients could
either send back direct mailing with donation or scan a QR code (i.e., a square barcode
smart phones scan) to access an online donation form. The marketing office staff found
that although many recipients used the QR code to access the online donation form,
most recipients did not actually donate money after arriving at the site. Marketing
office staff concluded that QR codes effectively direct students and alumni to the web
site, but may not result in additional action.
© 2012 The Advisory Board Company
Education Advisory Board
2445 M Street NW ● Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: 202-266-6400 ● Facsimile: 202-266-5700 ● www.educationadvisoryboard.com