Ideas, insights and inspirations.

Olds College of Agriculture & Technology sits in the center of Alberta, at the northern edge of North America’s Wheat Belt, a vast swath of the Great Plains. The school’s Smart Agriculture Ecosystem — with labs, 3,600 acre Smart Farm and researchers — plays an outsized role in advancing a range of digital agriculture innovations designed to sustain Canada’s position as one the world’s largest agricultural producers and exporters. The Olds College leadership team turned to Elliance to translate a new public-facing name and brand position into a full website relaunch focused on clear business goals: Grow the number, geographic reach and diversity of its prospect pool. Increase research funding, industry partnerships, major gift donors. Leverage digital content as a catalytic force to secure non-branded, organic page one Google rankings The Elliance website team prioritized the following site features and outcomes: Transform oldscollege.ca from a quiet enrollment website into a true digital content platform and conversion machine, capable of expanding the reach and … Continue reading

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Website projects are huge undertakings. What ultimately matters is not the effort you put into them but the return-on-investment you derive from it. Making a business case for investing in a comprehensive website redesign to bottom-line-driven, quant-minded manufacturers requires hard-nosed, disciplined thinking. Remember that what you invest in a new website design will determine the returns you can expect from it. Assuming you have baked all the best practices into a redesign project, you can and should expect solid returns. Here are five ROI metrics that we have used to justify the investment in a comprehensive website redesign: 1. Increase in Inquiries and RFQ’s: Website projects should always result in quantifiable increase in inquiries and RFQs. For clients who have been re-packaged as solutions providers, the thickness of their RFP’s should grow in size. All clients should expect to see an increase in PDF downloads and event signups. By elevating your brand during a website redesign, the increases should not just … Continue reading

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Today, more than any other touch point, a website is the digital soul of an organization. As one of Pittsburgh’s longest standing manufacturing website development agencies, Elliance has been delivering prosperity to regional and national industrial companies for the past 30 years. Our arsenal of website development best practices includes: 1. Start With a Smart Strategy and Plan Revenue Strategy, Communication Strategy and Search Engine Ranking Strategy are the three pillars of a smart manufacturing website development strategy. Bake each of them into every stage of website development. A good website development project begins with a thoughtful plan. Map out and outline all of these facets up-front: Ambitious goals and objectives – for inquiries, revenue, communications and search engine Target audiences – buyers, influencers, specifiers and talent of all ages you plan to recruit Requirements and needs – for users (stated and unstated), business, content administrators Content strategy – in service of delighting each target audience Specifications – for user … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education enrollment marketing agency, has built a reputation by both increasing and growing enrollment for more than 100 colleges and universities. Founded on the principle of right-fit matchmaking, our recommended strategies revolve around six core beliefs. First, if they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. Second, if they do find you, you can’t bore them into buying from you. Third, back your claims with proofs. Fourth, ensure that students are able to see themselves at your institution. Fifth, pursue right-fit students at all cost. Sixth, you must be easy to do business with. All our recommended actions for increasing and growing college enrollment revolve around these core beliefs: 1. Activate a Winning Strategic Plan Winning, not playing and optimizing, is what successful college presidents focus on. To create an inflection point, they sometimes deepen their competitive advantages and at other times disrupt and challenge the status quo. College presidents lead strategic planning based on thorough, objective … Continue reading

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As a leading social media agency for manufacturers and industrial companies, we are frequently asked to share our best practices. This is part of a series of posts to explain how social media audit can serve their interests. A social media audit involves a comprehensive review of a industrial company’s primary social media channels, profiles, activities, and performance. The goal is to assess the effectiveness of the current strategy and identify areas for improvement. After gaining access to a manufacturer’s social media management software or accounts, we conduct a twelve-point social media audit to assess the following: 1. Profile Information AuditWe assess all official social media profiles to ensure accurate and consistent information is presented, including logos and colors, profile pictures, cover photos, about information, and contact details. 2. Platform Presence AuditWe identify all social media platforms where the manufacturer has a presence. This includes major platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, etc. 3. Content AuditWe … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education enrollment marketing agency, has built a reputation by both increasing and significantly growing undergraduate student enrollment for more than 50 colleges and universities. Founded on the principle of right-fit matchmaking, our recommended strategies revolve around five core beliefs. First, if they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. Second, if they do find you, you can’t bore them into buying from you. Third, the students must be able to see themselves at your institution. Fourth, you must pursue right-fit students at all cost. Fifth, you must be easy to do business with. All our recommended actions for increasing undergraduate enrollment revolve around these core beliefs: 1. Invest in Branding: Babson has positioned itself as THE college for entrepreneurship, American University as THE supplier of “wonks” to the political and governmental establishment, Drexel as THE university that mandates coop experience, and so on. Investing in a strong brand can lift a college from obscurity to national prominence. … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education enrollment marketing agency, has built a reputation by both increasing and growing online student enrollment for dozens of colleges and universities. Founded on the principle of right-fit matchmaking, our recommended strategies revolve around six core beliefs. First, if they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. Second, if they do find you, you can’t bore them into buying from you. Third, the students must be able to see themselves at your institution. Fourth, you must pursue right-fit students at all cost. Fifth, you must be easy to do business with. Sixth, you must be supportive and understanding of life constraints of online students. All our recommended actions for increasing online enrollment revolve around these core beliefs: 1. Offer Online Degrees in Ideal Formats and Starts: Offer your online programs in formats that are convenient for working professionals. Online students prefer frequent starts for courses, ideally every 8 to 12 weeks, and need the flexibility to pause and … Continue reading

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In the age of Google and AI, a manufacturing and industrial marketing strategy is incomplete without a blogging strategy. We will first share several good reasons why manufacturers must include blogging in their marketing mix. Why manufacturers should blog? While a blog does require some time and effort, it is well worthwhile for these five reasons: 1. Provides the fresh content that Google and Bing rewards with page one rankings. 2. Significantly cheaper than annually paying third parties for links. 3. Conveys subject matter expertise, which buyers reward. 4. Builds topic authority, which Google and Bing reward with higher rankings. 5. Expands website real estate which grows your brand impressions and reach in the age of Google, Bing and AI. Best practices in industrial blogging Next, we’ll share eleven best practices we’ve seen work for many industrial companies. 1. Goals: Could be a combination of communicating subject matter expertise, reputation building or humanizing your company. 2. Name: A good blog name … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education enrollment marketing agency, has built a reputation by both increasing and significantly growing graduate student enrollment for more than 50 colleges and universities. Following are some of the most successful strategies that our university clients have activated to unleash enrollment growth in the past two decades: 1. Invest in branding. In the sea of sameness, brands win. When the University of Delaware College of Business and Economics wished to create a rising tide for its vast portfolio of graduate business programs, Elliance crafted and paid off their new brand line “Opportunity, Inc.” It worked attracting students from across the nation and across the globe. 2. Bake research about student behavior and what they value into website, microsite snd landing pages. When we reflected GMAC research findings into Carnegie Mellon’s MS in information systems management program microsite, its applications grew by 118 percent within one year. 3. Tell a better story. Romance prospects and show that the … Continue reading

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Elliance, a higher education enrollment marketing agency, has increased and significantly grown graduate student enrollment for more than 50 colleges and universities. Founded on the principle of right-fit matchmaking, our recommended strategies revolve around four core beliefs. First, if they can’t find you, they can’t buy you. Second, if they do find you, you can’t bore them into buying from you. Third, the students must be able to see themselves at your institution. Fourth, you must pursue right-fit students at all cost. All our recommended actions revolve around these core beliefs: 1. Know that you become the story you choose to tell. It’s how institutions make meaning from the arc of their history, and operate with a sense of destiny to create purpose that propels them into the future. This story is what students and employers buy into. You must articulate your story so it’ll appeal to your right-fit students.  2. Celebrate students, not the institution, as the real heroes of your … Continue reading

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