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| Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter |
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30 January 2008 Flying around the country, there’s always time to read newspapers and magazines in quest of signs about how higher education is faring in the public opinion marketplace. Lately, the overwhelming impression is about growing pressure to restrict the traditional independence of colleges and universities. Congressional explorations into endowment spending combine with hints about the less than sacred position of tax-exempt status. Extremely wealth institutions respond by reducing debt loads, and inspire the not-quite-so wealthy to similar moves. With tightening economic conditions, expect this trend to continue. Public relations marketing will take on new importance, as both public and private institutions work to justify and maintain as much independence as possible from state and national government scrutiny. It will be an interesting next few years. And now for our marketing news and notes for January, Ranking Online Degree Programs The Online Education Database has just released a 2008 ranking of online degree programs at accredited colleges and universities. The top five schools were Upper Iowa University, LeTourneau University, Liberty University, Nova Southeastern University, and California University of Pennsylvania. Data on 8 criteria from a variety of sources were used for the ranking, including: acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, and retention rate. You’ll see 36 more schools listed, including each one ranked according to the individual criteria if data was available, at www.oedb.org/rankings. Georgetown Struggles with the Elite Once upon a time, long ago, market position in higher education was measured by the number of applications received and the low number of admitted students needed to fill a freshmen class. Reputation was more important then financial aid, since people would bear considerable debt to enroll at prestigious universities. Then, in the new millennium, the world started to change. Gradually at first, more people became reluctant to accept high debt levels, no matter the prestige of a particular institution. From Princeton in 2001 to Harvard in 2007 and Yale in 2008, elite universities began to reduce the loan debt needed to graduate. And so today, Georgetown University, long among the elite by traditional admissions standards, finds itself in a challenging position. An endowment of “a little more than $1 billion” doesn’t permit Georgetown to play the “eliminate the debt” game that’s underway in earnest elsewhere. How will Georgetown cope to maintain market position? Read about the prospects online in The Hoya at www.thehoya.com/node/15161. Scan the Top Endowments For a quick review of the best endowed institutions in 5 categories (All institutions, private colleges, Canadian universities, community colleges, and historically black colleges) see the Inside Higher Ed article here. Hartford Courant Highlights Presidents Who Blog College and university presidents who blog can capture important exposure for their views and personalities in the marketing arena. While the absolute number writing blogs is not yet large, it is increasing steadily. The Hartford Courant reviews the serious issues covered by presidential blogs at Wesleyan University and University of Connecticut and more in Grace Merritt’s article, “A Flair for Blogs,” here. Continued public exposure like this is likely to move more presidents to start. And, for the right people with personalities that fit the medium, that’s a good thing. Competitive Search Marketing If you have a few major competitors and you’d like to know how they stand in search marketing compared to your own school, read “Spying on Your Paid Search Competitors” at searchengineland.com/080128-152513.php. You’ll find mini-reviews of what you can learn from three services, with links to the sites for each. If you’re just getting started, try the 3 free comparisons you can make at Compete to learn how you rank month by month against two other competitors. From a TV Ad to Your Inquiry Pool If you are thinking about advertising on TV or already have that in your marketing mix, take a look at the not-so-distant future in an AdAge article reporting results of a Harris Interactive survey. Most important finding is that most people are ready now to take an immediate online action prompted by a TV ad. Rates vary by the type of show that people watch, from 72 percent of reality TV watchers to 50 percent of drama watchers. How practical is this? Anyone with digital TV is capable of interacting as the result of a TV advertisement. Not long from now, they will be able add themselves direct to your inquiry database if your local TV ad motivates them to do that. Read more at www.adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=123335. Pew Internet Validates YouTube Marketing Online videos, and especially YouTube, are an important feature in online communications that will reward new efforts to tell your story online. This latest January report from our Pew Internet friends reports that 48 percent of regular Internet users have been to a video site. Daily traffic to sites like this has doubled in just about a year. It will continue to grow. Age makes a difference in frequency of video watching. In the 18-29 year group, 70 percent have watched video. In the 30-49 year group, the number is 50 percent. Those are prime recruitment groups for part-time Master’s programs, especially with the added information that people with a college degree are more likely to watch video online than those without a degree. Find the full report at www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/232/report_display.asp. 5 Criteria to Manage Websites for Customer Service One of the several people making comments said this column by Gerry McGovern was “your best post yet.” Gerry’s basic point is simple: not many people who manage websites have a customer orientation. He suggests that agreement with 5 criteria will tell you if a web manager is focused on customer service. The first is this: “The first thing I think about in the morning is my customers and the last thing I think about in the evening is my customers” and the last is this: “There is one thing I know more than anything else: I am not my customer.” Visit here for the full column at the Giraffe Forum and add your own comments to the discussion taking place now. Your website won’t maximize its marketing effectiveness without a web manager that agrees with customer-service criteria like these. Boost Your Email Marketing in 2008 One thing is certain in online marketing: what you did for success last year needs adaptation this year to continue your success. With that in mind, download the Marketing Sherpa report on “Email 2008: Top 10 Research Findings and Practical Ways to Increase Email Performance” at www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30249. Select between a basic PDF of the presentation or the audio version used online. You’ll find interesting and useful opinion about the relative marketing roles of email, text messaging, social networking and more as online communication continues to evolve. User-Generated Super Bowl Advertising If you’re watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, keep alert for user-generated content in the advertising. According to USA Today, you should see it in ads from Doritos, Canon, Coors Light, KFC, Upper Deck and maybe more. Details of some of the contests advertisers used to generate the content are here. Keep it all in mind as you plan future advertising efforts. The best way to tell your story is to let the people who have “real” experience in your programs tell others about it. 50 Spending Leaders in Online Advertising ClickZ’s January update on the “Top 50 (Internet) Advertisers by Media Value in November 2007” shows that the University of Phoenix continues to invest significant resources in online advertising. If you wander around websites these days, that’s probably not a surprise. Phoenix is, indeed, everywhere. University of Phoenix Online spent $8.6 million for 5th place while the University of Phoenix spent another $4.4 million for 20th place. To put that in perspective, the combined total for the 50 advertisers in November was $241.2 million. The complete list is at www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3628249. Newspaper Finds Colleges Adopting Marketing Practices Are you as bemused as I am by newspapers that somehow discover that colleges are adopting marketing practices to achieve stronger competitive positions? The latest example is from the January 21 Chicago Tribune, in an article that reviews changes at two Chicago colleges under the headline “Colleges take the business course,” with descriptions of changes that started in 1994. Nothing is wrong with the article, just as there isn’t anything wrong with news stories explaining that “The Earth Isn’t Flat” or “The Earth Isn’t the Center of the Universe.” See how it plays here. Web Manager Opportunity in Florida If you’re a web manager with a marketing orientation, Lynn University is searching for someone like you to join their marketing team. This is the responsibility I liked best: “Oversee the development and implementation of a comprehensive strategic Web plan to accomplish the shift from an institution-centered to a user-centered Web presence.” For more information on responsibilities and requirements, visit tinyurl.com/2n5v9d. My Upcoming Presentations in 2008 Share questions and answers with people like yourself who are building a competitive edge in higher education marketing. Hope to meet you at these events! February 11, London, ON: Colleges Ontario 2008 Conference, “Tech Talk: Are You Reaching Your Audience Effectively?” panel discussion. Check the conference highlights at www.co-conference.org. March 7, Harrisburg, PA: College and University Public Relations Association of Pennsylvania: “Communicating in Today’s World: The Challenge of Integrating Print, Web, and Email” and “Writing Right for the Web: Engage Your Visitors and Improve Your Search Engine Visibility.” Check the conference highlights at www.cuprap.org/default.aspx?pageid=14. April 8, Little Rock, AK: CASE District IV: “Search Engine Marketing” and “Marketing Communications and New Technology: Keys to Successful Engagement.” Program and registration details are at www.caseiv.org/conference/?CONTAINERID=95&CRUMB=3. May 29-30, Chicago, IL: The Aslanian Group Spring Seminar: Adult Student Marketing: Electronic, Mass Media, and Print Practices that Work. Session details are coming soon. June 3, Wheaton, IL: REACh Professional Development Day, “Using Technology to Attract and Recruit Adult Students.” Get a better ROI on your online marketing. Expand the writing, editing, and search marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus seminar on online marketing. Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com. That’s All for Now Be a marketing champion on your campus.
Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com) Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC Improve your online marketing success with these six services.
Marketing Communications Website Review Customer Carewords Research with Gerry McGovern Content Copywriting Services Competitive Website Reviews Writing Right for the Web On-Campus Workshops Start now at www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/whatwedo.html. Newsletter Archive
28 May 2008 |