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Ideas, musings and inspirations.

Five W’s of Measuring Digital Marketing Campaigns

April 9, 2013
by Amir Mirza

Although marketing creativity is a right-brain activity, in today’s digital realm marketers are also responsible for the left-brain activity of measuring, analyzing and reporting on the effectiveness of their marketing programs. One of the most common web traffic measurement techniques involves the use of the Google Analytics tool.

Google Analytics is widely used on websites to track visitor activities on the site. It is freely available, easy to implement and is preloaded with many useful reports. However, online marketers struggle with making sense of the numerous reports offered by Google Analytics. To make sense of the available data, digital marketers should ask the following questions:

1. Why should we continue with this digital initiative?

Comparing visit trends before and after a campaign launch, checking out the traffic sources, locations and behavior are some of the useful reports to unravel the mysteries of online activity.

2. Who are our online audiences?

Google Analytics provides many different reports on audiences by demographic profile, platform and behavior. Utilize custom tags or filters to segment them in different ways to extract information relevant to you.

3. What channels are performing best?

Understanding what channels are sending the right-fit visitors is very important. Comparing direct, search, referral and social visits gives you an idea of which channels are important for your marketing campaign.

4. Where is our traffic originating?

The use of link tagging to pass campaign related information via shared links in emails, social media posts, ads, etc. is one technique that helps create clean reports within the analytics reporting console.

5. When to optimize to produce the best ROI?

Combine calendar options and segments to find the best time for conversion activities. The reports will help fine tune strategies for cost reduction and effectiveness of the digital campaigns.

Drilling down into reports, using available or custom filters and A/B testing results (aka Experiments), can be quite rewarding in answering the above questions in meaningful and tangible terms.

The outcome: fact-based reports on your digital marketing activities that will assist in measuring marketing ROI or help identify the un-noticed trends from site visitors.

Weave online measurement and A/B testing as part of your marketing planning efforts. It requires the same discipline, thought process and planning as the marketing initiative itself.

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Creating Mid-21st Century Higher Education Branding

April 9, 2013
by R. Todd Erkel

One of the tensions we hold at Elliance has to do with the pros and cons of specialization. While most of our work focuses on higher education marketing — where we have deep experience — we also meet a wider set of client challenges in manufacturing, banking, non profits and other worlds far from campus.

Google’s search engine bot and people generally, favor simplicity. Elliance gets it — we know why many higher education marketing firms keep a singular focus. We also know first-hand the many ways that our higher education clients benefit from our broader exposure and reach.

In the end, we find that higher education branding and marketing clients have plenty in common with clients in other verticals when it comes to solving the essential marketing challenge: turning awareness into inquiry, inquiry into conversation and conversion, and conversion into engagement, community and lasting brand loyalty.

That premise led us recently to ask a bigger question: “What does it mean to be a “mid-21st century brand?” We roughed out criteria, concluding that mid-21st century brands routinely:

  • display mastery of owned and earned media, bringing the two into a more mutually reinforcing relationship
  • regard storytelling and content as the essential currency of any ongoing brand conversation
  • flash quick and agile orchestration and deployment of all content assets, with a keen sense of timing
  • reconcile the singularity of a brand position and voice — and the complexity that comes with articulating what you stand for in new, unexpected and revealing ways
  • give tireless attention to detail and go the extra mile to raise the level of discourse across touch points
  • keep a far horizon and an optimistic sense of purpose — measuring success as more than just sales
  • never lose sight of the higher good — creating community

It’s a topic we will revisit, but for now, we look beyond the Elliance portfolio for two examples — one from higher education and one from retail/banking — of how to get moving in the right direction.

RISD…Art School Revival

Widely regarded as America’s oldest and “best” art school, the Rhode Island School of Design — RISD — fit all too easily into the “cobbler’s children have no shoes” fable. Steady enrollment demand enabled brand complacency to creep in, until one day RISD looked in the mirror of its own website and no longer recognized itself.

That identity crisis led to self-study, and some wide-ranging conversations about how to position itself among prospects, donors and the public, and decisive action to bring the school’s reputation and its communication into accord.

Today, RISD leads from the front. It’s website captures the brand essentials both the in the simplicity of its architecture, the beauty of the design and the raw emotional power and boldness of its point of view and story telling. RISD extends the approach and high standards to its undergrad viewbook and alumni magazine.

The RISD academic culture of iteration — an openness to constructive critique and a summons to fail harder, when necessary, to find greatness — has not been lost on the school’s marketing and communications team.

RISD is also taking on the challenge of building community, laying conduit between prospects, current students, faculty, alumni and friends. RISD is winning, now and for the future, by creating a strong community of artists at every stage of their craft  — who draw inspiration and support from one another, and who carry the RISD brand forward.

Umpqua… the un-bank

Imagine a bank so widely loved that it sparks equal brand loyalty and word-of-mouth fervor among idealistic young employees and demanding entrepreneurial customers.

Launched in 1953 as a backwoods cash-checking and deposit window for piecework loggers, Umpqua grew from a single location and six employees to nearly 200 branches across the Pacific Northwest and Silicon Valley.

With board approval, Umpqua CEO Ray Davis took a cue from market-leaders such as Starbucks and Nordstroms and re-imagined the retail banking paradigm, flattening the organization, re-launching branches as “retail financial stores,” and setting a five-star standard for staff development and customer service. Assets grew from $40 million to $7 billion in just over a decade.

The Umpqua story has its share of converts and critics. Regardless, they continue to walk the talk.

Umpqua’s newest location in San Jose aims to fuel Silicon Valley innovation with its industry shaking “mi casa, su casa” approach, offering start-ups and giants alike free business lounge and conference space, a recharge bar for coffee and wi-fi, after hours art talks and yoga classes, and a monthly showcase of local products, this month featuring long-bard maker Knotty Boards.

A special thank you to Brian Clark, Senior Director, Digital Media/Communications at RISD MEDIA GROUP, for his insights on how the institution established strategic goals and set a number of changes into motion.

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Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing

April 6, 2013
by Abu Noaman

Traditional outbound marketing relies heavily on interrupting prospective customers with advertising, direct mail, etc. Inbound marketing takes a much different approach: earning attention and trust by providing valuable content and embracing personal interaction. Inbound marketers help clients “get found” via search engines, word-of-mouth and the sharing of content. These tactics also tend to engage prospects who already have an interest or inclination toward a particular offering, resulting in a pool of high quality leads who are more likely to convert.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing involves the continuous creation of relevant and high quality content, such as PR2.0 assets, articles, social posts, blog posts, videos, infographics, white papers and thought leadership events, and igniting that content through promotion and conversation-starters to encourage peer-to-peer sharing. Carefully curated content is distributed through channels you control (your “owned” media, such as your website and social networks) and the channels you don’t control (the social media of people/organizations in your network), where our content strategists spark conversations on your behalf. Carefully managing the content you own allows you to influence the content you “earn” and reputation you build. Search engine rankings and social connections (“likes,” “shares,” etc.) are among the most most trusted endorsements online today. Managing your content and your interactions carefully allows you to maximize your success in SEO and the social world. Finally, advanced analytic approaches allow you to improve your understanding of the content and communications your prospects value.

Inbound marketing creates a hub of value and trust. As this foundation is established, the cost to build upon it naturally drops. This means a very strong ROI over time for an inbound marketing focused approach.

Metaphorically speaking, an inbound marketing strategy is simply the act of gathering combustible firewood and igniting it.

Elliance has been practicing inbound marketing since 1995, long before the term was coined. Learn more about our digital marketing services.

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The Timelessness of Good SEO

April 4, 2013
by Alex

If done right, SEO will literally outlive your website.

On the internet, we don’t often think of our media as having any intrinsic permanent value. News headlines are expired within minutes; tweets are gone in a flash. Blogs squabble and compete for our momentary attention before disappearing again into obscurity. Even websites rarely stand the test of time: In a survey of over 160 companies, more than one third said they had redesigned their website within the last three months.

In recent years, marketers have played along. They’ve taken to social media and “#hashtag” campaigns, with performance measured in durations of days or hours. They’ve pushed press releases onto the digital wires, to watch traffic spike for a day or two at best. An occasional campaign may outlast expectations — a viral video might last a few weeks before falling out of fashion — but then it’s back to the drawing board for another short-lived campaign push.

Search engine optimization is the single greatest marketing tool for achieving permanence on the web. A strong organic search ranking can last for years (if it is nurtured through link building and on-page optimization). A website can become the authority on a niche topic, achieve that coveted page one ranking in Google, and maintain that authority well into the future. Even when competition is fierce, the payoff for good SEO is undeniable: in one study, 40% of SEO campaigns achieved an ROI in excess of 500%, nearly double the rate for PPC campaigns. SEO also grants permanence to brands: that page one ranking will elevate your brand’s awareness and improve name recognition and authority over time.

Since 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, there’s little doubt that the search engine will outlive today’s newest social media fad. Organic is more trusted than any paid marketing initiative, as evidenced by the fact that 80% of search engine users say they only occasionally/rarely/never click on ads. SEO is not only the best long-term strategy for marketing — it might be the best strategy there is.

If your marketing game plan is missing SEO, you’re have no long-game. Marketing isn’t a sprint to the finish. Don’t neglect SEO for a quick fix; instead, be sure to include organic SEO as a component of all your major marketing initiatives.

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Enrollment Marketing: Three things that you would never do with your print collateral (but that happen every day on your website.)

April 3, 2013
by Scott Rhodes

Every day I visit the websites of potential clients who are looking for help with enrollment problems. We all know that the website is your best recruiting tool. It’s an essential part of your institution’s enrollment strategy, for attracting and the recruiting of prospective students. In almost every case, I’m amazed to find problems that most schools would never allow with the coveted print collateral. So I wonder: what makes it ok on your website?

Have a look at some of these examples. (And sorry, WVSU, but you are a great example of what not to do. Call me! We’ll talk it over.)

1. Mislabeling or not labeling page or section titles

Come on ….Would you ever let this happen to your view book? Page titles are one of the most powerful on-site search engine ranking factors and a guide to students that are navigating your website. A common mistake is having duplicate page titles. This makes it difficult for students—and search engines—to determine which page is which.

2. Poor use of photography

Wow. This institution is using a single image for all of the program pages.  Could you image a series of program brochures with the same image on the cover? I don’t think so! If you have the budget, hire a professional photographer.  If you don’t have the budget, find one. You must have a collection of photos that relate specifically to your school and have subject matter that your audience can identify with. Most people don’t read all the text on websites so the photos you choose really matter. You want to use photos to reinforce your message, not to simply decorate your page.

3. Not enforcing basic roles and responsibilities

Call to action is at the bottom of the page. Really? As important as a website is, many institutions struggle to maintain website quality, consistency, and timeliness. Website maintenance and the use of best practices need to be enforced to guarantee the operational integrity of a site.

Most of these problems are content related. Content is still king and is the core building block of any website.  Your institution’s website is also now the heart of your brand and the bridge to your community. Content management systems are put in place to combat this but most schools don’t enforce basic roles and responsibilities.  As the number of content providers on your website increases, be sure to set standards about how the site will be set up and maintained. Don’t let these problems happen to you!

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How Important is Pinterest to Higher Education Marketing?

April 1, 2013
by Zahra Qureshi

Amy mentioned in her last post the strength of Pinterest as a marketing channel. Pinterest is now the third-largest social network behind only Facebook and Twitter. For marketers, Pinterest is one more channel in the marketing toolkit that we need to think (and worry) about. In the realm of the higher education marketing industry, Pinterest presents an interesting opportunity, which can help reach a completely different segment of your prospect population.


But how do you use Pinterest to give a sense of who you truly are as a brand? The first step is to figure out the core of your brand. The next step is to share that brand ideology, and that’s where Pinterest can be very powerful. Here are five things to keep in mind when sharing that ideology on Pinterest:

  1. Truly represent brand culture: Trying to choose which college to go to is a big decision. What a prospective student needs to feel is comfort with the brand, a feeling that says – ‘this is where I belong’. Creating ‘on-campus’ boards will help invoke those feelings. Boards about campus and location photos, on-campus events, and student stories all give a true sense of the brand.
  2. Tell “people” stories: Your people are your best asset, be it alumni, current students or faculty. Use their stories to attract similar people to the brand. Prospective students will connect with this human element. Some ways to represent people stories on your Pinterest channel could include creating an ‘alumni stories’ board or an ‘I Teach’ board for faculty members.
  3. Put your best face forward: Attract prospects with high quality images which truly show the strengths of your people, your campus and your city. Prospective students looking for a potential school might love one of your images and repin it on their boards. Make it look pretty: use good, high quality images.
  4. Use “all” visual content: Use images, videos, infographics or any other visual media which helps impart the personality of the brand. Use it to romance and engage your prospects.
  5. Represent thoughts and ideas inherent in the brand: There will be many issues that your brand supports. It could be service to the community, green living, environmental issues, etc. Bring those to the front. For example, if green living and sustainability is a part of the culture, create a board about that to represent that ideology.

Here are some examples of Pinterest profiles from the higher education industry which are worth noting:


Duke University’s Pinterest channel is very distinctly Duke. There is lightness and playfulness represented by the ‘Travelin’ Blue Devil’ board but at the same time there is a depth to the brand, communicated through the ‘Service & Engagement’ board. My personal favorite is the ‘Culture of Champions’ board. One can see at a glance where the strengths are.



The Concordia University Irvine ‘Student Stories’ board is very interesting in how they represent some of their student stories. They’ve used both images and videos which makes it very engaging to see how each student’s story is so different yet similar.


The Texas A&M Pinterest channel just exudes confidence and pride. Everything is “Aggie” centric. Who would not want to be a part of this group?


Ideally, these guidelines should be considered before starting your Pinterest initiative. Once things are in place, it becomes extremely challenging to make changes and turn things around. The strategy of what needs to go on the channel needs to be thought through with as much depth as any other marketing or branding decision.

Learn more about our higher education marketing services and social media services.

Amy mentioned in her last post [KJ1] the strength of Pinterest as a marketing channel.

[KJ1]Link here?

Amy mentioned in her last post the strength of Pinterest as a marketing channel. Pinterest is now the third-largest social network behind only Facebook and Twitter. For marketers, Pinterest is one more channel in the marketing toolkit that we need to think (and worry) about. In the realm of the higher education marketing industry, Pinterest presents an interesting opportunity, which can help reach a completely different segment of your prospect population.

But how do you use Pinterest to give a sense of who you truly are as a brand? The first step is to figure out the core of your brand. The next step is to share that brand ideology, and that’s where Pinterest can be very powerful. Here are five things to keep in mind when sharing that ideology on Pinterest:

1. Truly represent brand culture: Trying to choose which college to go to is a big decision. What a prospective student needs to feel is comfort with the brand, a feeling that says – ‘this is where I belong’. Creating ‘on-campus’ boards will help invoke those feelings. Boards about campus and location photos, on-campus events, and student stories all give a true sense of the brand.

2. Tell “people” stories: Your people are your best asset, be it alumni, current students or faculty. Use their stories to attract similar people to the brand. Prospective students will connect with this human element. Some ways to represent people stories on your Pinterest channel could include creating an ‘alumni stories’ board or an ‘I Teach’ board for faculty members.

3. Put your best face forward: Attract prospects with high quality images which truly show the strengths of your people, your campus and your city. Prospective students looking for a potential school might love one of your images and repin it on their boards. Make it look pretty: use good, high quality images.

4. Use “all” visual content: Use images, videos, infographics or any other visual media which helps impart the personality of the brand. Use it to romance and engage your prospects.

5. Represent thoughts and ideas inherent in the brand: There will be many issues that your brand supports. It could be service to the community, green living, environmental issues, etc. Bring those to the front. For example, if green living and sustainability is a part of the culture, create a board about that to represent that ideology.

Here are some examples of Pinterest profiles from the higher education industry which are worth noting:

Duke University’s Pinterest channel is very distinctly Duke. There is lightness and playfulness represented by the ‘Travelin’ Blue Devil’ board but at the same time there is a depth to the brand, communicated through the ‘Service & Engagement’ board. My personal favorite is the ‘Culture of Champions’ board. One can see at a glance where the strengths are.

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The best admissions yield piece ever?

March 25, 2013
by Ed Macko

To higher education marketing pros, April & May is “yield season.” It’s the culmination of all their marketing and relationship-building efforts to convert a suspect to a prospect to an applicant to an admitted student.

Yield is the percentage of admitted students who actually decide to enroll. This is a big deal in enrollment marketing – having knowledge of where the yield percentage might fall provides a target of how many students the admissions office needs to, or is willing to, accept. Tracking the tuition deposits as they begin to trickle in is a daily process for admissions, and is why the final piece of marketing communications – the admissions yield piece – is so important.

Over the years I have seen all kinds of yield tactics from fact sheets to multi-page brochures. They all seem compelled to give the prospect ‘one more reason’ to consider their school. (As if two years of curated courtship through the admission process has managed to somehow leave something out.)

I learned a great lesson about admissions yield a few years back when North Central College decided to go forward with an idea I had for a book that communicated only what people loved about the college. No information about programs, no facts about student-faculty ratio, nothing about financial aid. In fact nothing “institutional” at all. Only actual voices – of students, faculty and staff.

“i speak” was, and is, a 100-page book full of impressions, emotions, and photographs. Think Twitter and Instagram – dealing with a single topic and delivered in a single volume at yield time. At a time when everyone else sends ‘one-more-reason-you’ll-like-our-college-type’ tactics, “i speak” delivered what I call “thud factor” (the sound of the book being dropped on a table). It was phenomenal success – the most successful marketing piece North Central has ever done (their words, not mine). “i speak” upped their yield percentage by 3% and is credited with delivering 53 additional students.

Why did it work? In my opinion, it resisted the trap of telling prospects the ‘one more thing’ they didn’t want to know anyway, and it simply reintroduced them to everything they had already experienced and loved about the college in the first place. Plus…this book was seen as a gift, not a marketing piece. (After three years, many upperclassmen I spoke to still have it on their bookshelf.) Not surprising that we’re doing it again for yield season 2013.

The lesson for everyone? Know your brand well enough, and respect your audience deep enough to not be compelled to “sell” at every juncture. Relax. Let them see you at your best. This is a book that smiles at you and embraces you – exactly what a prospective student experiences when he or she visits North Central.

Enjoy this advanced peek, by way of a few select spreads, of the upcoming second version of the 100-page “i speak.”

admission yield

admissions yield

college yield

enrollment yield

admissions-marketing-yield

student admissions yield

college marketing yield

Learn more about Elliance’s higher education marketing and branding services. And, if you would like to see ‘i speak’ for yourself, contact us. You may just think it’s the best admissions yield piece ever.

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Let’s Talk

March 22, 2013
by Katie Jennings

As the director of new business development, I do a little bit of problem solving and a little bit of matchmaking. It’s my job to do everything I can to help contacts clearly articulate their challenges and then to determine if and how Elliance can help solve those problems. The best part of my day is introducing a prospective client to the colleagues who I know will be able to help.

If you’re considering a project with Elliance, I’d encourage you to think about a few things first.

First, we’ll probably talk about who you are, and what your company or institution stands for. I’m also interested in finding out how you came to Elliance, who we might be working with within your organization, and what you’re looking for in a partner. A great collaboration is a meeting of the minds. Let’s talk about whether there may be one between us.

Next, what do you need? Chances are, you’re thinking about a solution. You know you need a website, for example. Or you’re finally ready to start some search engine marketing. I’d encourage you to take a step backward. Focus instead on the problem that you’re trying to solve. You’ll get the most from Elliance if you identify your challenge and maintain an open mind about the solution. Perhaps a website is what you need, but what if combining website and social strategy can take you even further?

Finally, remember the triangle: time, cost and scope. Almost every project is going to require flexibility in at least one of these areas. Consider the “musts” in your project. If you have a firm deadline, are you prepared to adjust scope to achieve it? We’ll probably be talking about all these things, and the more you know and are willing to share, the more likely I am to be able to help.

If you’re interested in working with Elliance, we have a lot to talk about! Call me when you’re ready: Katie Jennings, 412-586-1480, extension 648.

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Pinterest gets a new look

March 21, 2013
by Amy Sicilia

After a three-month test period with select members, Pinterest announced Monday that it will begin rolling out a new site design to the rest of its 48 million+ users.

The design changes are relatively subtle. In the newsfeed, amount of space bordering pins has been reduced to allow for larger images and a cleaner layout. Profile pages have likewise been condensed to show more pins in less space.

Easier to get around – the navigation is more intuitive

Pins are bigger and they’ve added more information related to pins, so it’s easier to find things you’re interested in.

One of my biggest pet peeves was losing my place while browsing on the mobile app. Now, when you scroll through pins and click on something that interests you, the back button lands you right back where you were no matter how far you’ve gone.

Why should Pinterest be a part of your digital marketing plan & SEO efforts?

Pinterest is becoming more important on the social front. It was reported recently that Pinterest had 25m unique monthly visitors and made comScore’s top 50 web property list.

According to Mashable, Pinterest is the third-largest such network behind only Facebook and Twitter. The start-up recently closed a $120 million round of funding and is looking to expand into overseas markets such as France, Germany and Japan.

Several colleges and universities have already begun to take advantage of the opportunity on Pinterest.

Texas A&M University is showcasing their campus through one of their boards. Duke University’s Pinterest account is full of things that are fun and showcase life as a Blue Devil. Savannah College of Art and Design is using some of their boards to showcase student work, exhibitions, and events.

Pinterest is a great way to incorporate higher education branding efforts into boards that showcase culture.

Have you noticed any brands or institutions who are making impressive use of Pinterest?

Learn more about our higher education branding and social media services.

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Elliance SEO Services: A Part of the Larger Picture

March 20, 2013
by Zahra Qureshi

At Elliance we work with clients of all shapes and sizes, from many different industries. Regardless, it’s our passion for the work that helps them to reach their potential and beyond.

One of our core beliefs is that SEO is a part of the larger picture. Instead of thinking of SEO as its own silo, we believe that SEO, content, story, brand and UX should be mutually supporting. We believe in tying it all together.

Here are five principles that are at the core of Elliance and affect our work with all our SEO clients:

1. Quality Matters, Not Quantity.

We spend hours coming up with great content for all our clients. Whether it is copy for a single page or an overhaul of a full website, our copywriters, strategists and search team work in tandem to make good content.

2. One Size Does Not Fit All.

Every client has a unique problem. This means that every single client requires a unique solution. We carefully assess what we can do for each of these challenges to get our clients the success that they deserve.

3. Right-Fit Connection.

A central theme to the thinking at Elliance is “right-fit.” Finding a “right-fit” prospect or customer is like making a good friend: there has to be a connection.

4.    Searcher Experience is the Goal.

For each client, one of our main considerations is the target audience. Be it social campaigns, link baits, videos, or any other type of content; we always think about the final audience. What will they get out of this? Will this help them solve their problem?

5.    Keeping Up, and Ahead of the Industry.

The fast pace of changing algorithms in the face of a fast-changing technological world keeps us all on our toes. But we make sure that we stay on top of our game and are current with changes happening in the industry. Our campaigns have the fluidity needed to keep up with these external changes.

Learn more about our SEO services and SEM services.

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