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Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter
28 March 2006
Greetings from Michigan, where we are still waiting for spring flowers to break out as many of you start careful counting of enrollment deposits for next September. May you all achieve higher yields and lower discount rates among the students you most desire to enroll.
If you are looking for a great conference to attend in April, join me at the CASE Internet Marketing event. Details are at www.case.org/conferences/cmcyber/frames.cfm.
If you recruit “adult” students, mark your calendar for June 21-23 and the “Day with an Expert” in NYC offered by the Aslanian Group. I’ll do a day on “Electronic Marketing” and you can include two other days on “Print/Mass Media Promotion” and “Market Research.” Details are at www.aslaniangroup.com/events/default.asp. If you want to get ahead of your competitors, these three days are a valuable investment.
Do a favor for a marketing friend. Invite them to subscribe to this newsletter. Send them to www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com to sign up with name and email right on the front page.
And now, here are your marketing news and notes for March.
What Are People Saying About Your College?
In today’s world, colleges and universities increasingly cannot control what people are saying about them. For one example, visit talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6 for the college discussion forums of College Confidential.
Individual colleges are grouped as 19 “Top Universities” and 30 “Top Liberal Arts Colleges,” and everyone else is presented in alpha order. Search for yours to see how many people are participating and what they are saying. Pay attention for parents responding to queries from prospective students by recounting how well their children like the college they attend.
Presidential Podcast for Admissions
Does your president do podcasts?
It might be too early to say if Fitchburg State College (MA) is starting a trend, but not long from now Fitchburg will invite admitted freshmen to hear a podcast from the president telling them of their admission. Visit web.fsc.edu/fscnews/index.cfm?detail=259 for the full press release.
Remember the consternation some felt not too many years ago when email was first used instead of letters to announce a favorable admissions decision? The times keep changing and new technologies will assume a larger role each year in the recruitment communications mix.
Marketing to Transfer Students
Topping the list of what most transfer students want to know about another college is a simple question: “How many of my credits will transfer to your school?” The answer is a good indicator of the time and cost of making a transfer, but it isn’t something you can learn very much about at most college websites.
Visit www.spu.edu/depts/sas/transferguide05.asp?state=WA&sbgi=4303 for the Seattle Pacific University (WA) difference. Pretend you are a transfer student in Washington or California thinking about a move to SPU. Scroll to the drop down menu, pick your current state and see if your school is listed. If it is, an easy to read list of course equivalencies will appear.
You won’t find colleges in every state, but the list for the West Coast is impressive. This is a good example of how websites can help students help themselves.
Apollo Group Going Online for High School Students
When you are a for-profit company like the Apollo Group and your stock price falls because your growth rate at the University of Phoenix is slowing, what do you do? Invest more in new markets. Not long from now you can expect to see web ads for Axia College, a venture designed especially for high school graduates.
A day before sending this newsletter, I was able to access the website at www.axiacollege.com but today you’ll find only a page announcing that the site is “coming soon.”
When I visited the Axia website, a link in the left hand column titled “Are you still in high school” went to a page that told high school students how they could earn up to 18 credits from 11 online before graduating. We’ll have to see if this feature is still present on the new website.
The website said Axia students could earn associate degrees in six areas: accounting, business, criminal justice, general studies, health administration, and information technology. If you assume that bachelor’s degrees are not far behind, you’re probably right. Perhaps on the new website?
Integrating Print and Electronic Communications
If the impact of the web world on traditional print media interests you, read the “Special Report: Across the Web/Print Divide” that recounts in fascinating detail the move of newspaper publishers onto websites and the challenges this is bringing to people who must make the transition. If you have a public relations or journalism background, don’t miss this.
More and more, major stories are breaking on the web before they appear in print. Journalists are reporting their personal version of events before they write the story for their paper. The article at www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/ reviews activities at a great variety of papers throughout the United States.
Stanford Ends Tuition for Some
Wealthy universities continue to respond to the impact of rising tuition by reducing the amounts paid by families with lower income levels. Stanford University (CA) is eliminating tuition for admitted students with family incomes below $45,000 and reducing tuition to $3,000 for families with incomes up to $60,000.
Details at news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/march15/tuition-031506.html put the first year cost of the program at $3 million.
Integrated Marketing Not Strong at Major Ad Agencies
If you ever despair over the slow development of integrated marketing communications at colleges and universities, then the description within “Why Ad Agencies Need Chief Integration Officers” at adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44573 will make you laugh or cry.
For the moment, media players are dominant and creatives and strategists are in disarray. According to this report from a recent media conference held by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, “marketing professionals are not reaching out across functions and domains, but scurrying for cover in their familiar precincts” at a time when integration of effort is more necessary than ever.
When will that change? Don’t wager more than you can afford to lose.
Get Ready for Podcasts in Recruitment Advertising
If you recruit high school students, you’ll want to pay special attention to the ground work being started now by the Walt Disney Corporation as it prepares a new advertising campaign for six to 14 year olds. Disney reports that people have already downloaded 170,000 ad-free podcasts from its website and demand continues to rise. Disney expects that in many cases parents will select the podcasts. The campaign starts in June.
Go to adage.com/news.cms?newsId=48320 to learn more.
Start planning now to add this to your recruitment communications mix in the next two years.
Google and Local Search Advertising
For an overview of what’s available now and future possibilities, visit www.clickz.com/experts/search/local_search/article.php/3591521 and read the interview with Shailesh Rao, director of local search and third-party partnerships at Google.
Expect “local search” to expand as MSN and Yahoo prepare versions to compete with Google. The article notes that spending for this ad form is expected to double in 2006 to approximately $987 million. Still a very small portion of all advertising, of course, but one that continues to offer future opportunities as use of the Internet for daily news and entertainment continues to grow.
Top 50 Internet Advertisers in January
University of Phoenix Online holds down the 10th spot, with a $6.3 million commitment. Other higher education marketers making the list include FindtheRightSchool.com in 40th place at $2.7 million and Strayer University in 46th place at $2.5 million.
Review the list at www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/advertising/article.php/3591576.
Find the Right School is an advertising consortium of eight for-profit schools that offer “highly respected” and “premier” degrees from the associate to the doctoral level. Learn more at www.findtherightschool.com/ch1/index.jsp?CLK=0&redirected=Main where it “It only takes a minute” to complete the first part of the inquiry form.
Most Liked TV Ads in February
We continue a popular feature with the Ad Age report of the 10 "Most Liked" and 10 "Most Recalled" TV ads in February. In a rare twist from the usual, this month’s Most Recalled ad is also Number Five on the Most Liked list. See a video of the winning ad and review the others at adage.com/news.cms?newsId=48129.
$3.4 Billion Investment in the For-Profit Sector
A private investment group, convinced of the long-term growth opportunities for online education in the U.S. and abroad, has spent $3.4 billion to acquire Education Management Corp and operate it as a privately-held firm immune to shareholder chagrin about short-term limited growth. Business Weeks provides the report at www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/.
Education Management’s programs are described at www.edmc.com and you’ll also find an annual report showing steady growth from 2001 to 2005. That includes most recent net revenue of just over $1 billion and net income of just over $100 million from an enrollment of about 66,000 students.
Cost of College Recruiting Survey
As you no doubt suspect, private colleges and universities continue to spend far more to recruit a student than publics. Noel-Levitz has a 4-page summary of a November 2005 poll available at www.noellevitz.com/Papers+and+Research/Research/Cost+of+Recruiting+Report.htm.
The summary includes the 163 schools responding to the survey. The mean per student reported by privates was just over $2,000, while four-year publics were at $455. Two-year publics spent by far the lowest amount on student recruitment, at a mean of $74 per person.
My Upcoming Presentations in 2006
Plan now to attend an upcoming event. Share questions and answers with people like yourself who are building a competitive edge in higher education marketing. Hope to meet you soon!
April 20-21, Denver, CO: CASE, Conference on Communications, Public Relations and Marketing on the Net. Register at www.case.org/conferences/internetsplash/default.cfm.
June 14-15, Kerhonksen, NY: SUNY CUAD, “Getting and Keeping Alumni Loyalty: 11 Tips for Success in an Electronic World” and “Writing for the Web.”
June 21-23, New York City: Aslanian Group, Day with an Expert Series: “Guide to Success in the Interactive World.” Details of the Day as well as days with Carol Aslanian and Patti Georgevitch are at www.aslaniangroup.com/events/default.asp.
July 14, Washington, D.C.: Law School Admissions Council, workshop on recruiting and communicating with Millennials.
July 19-21, Chicago, IL: ACT Enrollment Planners Conference. Session details will come along later. Early information is at www.act.org/epc.
Start a marketing buzz on your campus. Select from the topics here or ask about creating a seminar especially for you. Write to me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com.
That’s All for Now
Be a marketing champion on your campus.
Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com)
President and Senior Consultant
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
On-Campus Presentation
April 14, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY: Writing for the Web
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
We stand outside your forest, review your marketing plans and communication materials, and recommend strategies to enhance your competitive strength. We specialize in short term, cost effective consulting assignments that jump start key ventures on your campus and identify barriers that might slow your progress.
Consulting services are offered directly to colleges and universities and together with the marketing experts at these partner firms.
Aslanian Group offers market research and enrollment management services to colleges and universities to increase their market share of adult students. Learn more at www.aslaniangroup.com.
Creative Communication Associates is a 22-year leader in the design and implementation of marketing communication strategies for colleges and universities. Learn more about CCA at www.ccanewyork.com.
mStoner helps colleges and universities with Internet strategies and website development to meet changing audience expectations, technologies, market pressures, and institutional positioning. For the details, visit www.mstoner.com.
TargetX brings the power of the Internet to recruit students and communicate with alumni through higher education’s only integrated suite of online tools. Explore what’s possible at www.targetx.com.
Newsletter Archive
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