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With much excitement, we are launching the first inbound marketing web resource for higher education marketers and enrollment marketing teams. It’s free and comprehensive. As the old era of traditional college search comes to an end, inbound marketing heralds the new era of authentic, high-quality, content marketing that deepens brand trust, secures SEO rankings, and fosters social sharing with the spirit of attracting more of right-fit prospects. Colleges are not only recruiting students to meet their enrollment goals, they are also recruiting future brand ambassadors and life-long donors. The Inbound Marketing For Colleges Flashcards website includes five sections: audiences, strategies, tactics, tools and ROI, so those working in higher education marketing can understand how inbound marketing works. Inbound marketing is magical because it’ll impact the shape of the admissions funnel and student life cycle in four different ways: Because prospective students will discover the college using Google search, it’ll bring seekers and right-fit prospective students to your website. These prospective … Continue reading
Posted in: Enrollment Marketing, higher education inbound marketing agency, Higher Education Marketing, Inbound Marketing
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Here are Q2 charts from Google that shed light on what’s happening with higher education related searches:
Posted in: Higher Education Marketing
When budgets are shrinking, competitors are multiplying and program offerings are expanding, this higher education marketing strategy will help you outsmart competitors without outspending them.
Three simple reasons we love working with colleges and universities: It keeps us smart One of our favorite parts is working with smart professors, which perpetually keeps us at the edge of digital knowledge and emerging ideas. It keeps us sharp Because colleges and universities don’t have big budgets, we have to constantly help them outsmart, outwit, and outcompete without outspending. Now that’s a great discipline: do more with less. It keeps us empathetic To be great at it, we have to really understand people from all generations. Marketing to undergraduates keeps us as tech savvy as Gen Y’ers and millenials; marketing to their cost-conscious boomer parents keeps us connected to the craft of articulating value; and marketing to adult and graduate students keeps us deeply connected with what tickles Gen X’ers. The discipline of working with colleges and universities serves us well when we are serving other industries such as manufacturing, business services, community banks and nonprofits. Learn more … Continue reading
Posted in: Higher Education Marketing
The litmus test for greatness of a web design agency is how well it can operate in tight spaces. We were recently asked to create miracles in extremely small spaces, within the constraints of pre-existing templates and CMS for Carnegie Mellon’s Masters in Software Engineering program. Yes, we redesigned their logo, rewrote the critical copy, fortified the calls-to-actions and strengthened the information architecture of their website, but we were really proud of the headers we created for them. They are confident, tell stories and invite prospects to explore the programs. Judge for yourself: Now, who wouldn’t want to join the club of these smart software engineers? Even though the jury is still out, it appears that these miracles in tiny spaces have led to an increase in applicants. Wow, indeed. More to come. As our prestigious 2009 Interactive Media Awards show, we are one of the top higher education web design agencies and in the US. We share this limelight … Continue reading
Marketing of Christian colleges is a nuanced art. It requires a sensitive touch and storytelling that answers two big questions. The first one is a burning question that haunts all of us at some deeper level: how do we reconcile Scriptures/faith with modernity? The second question is an institutional one: how can we define our flavor of Christianity that is narrow enough to attract the right-fit Christians and broad enough to attract other denominations and people of different faiths from around the world? If you survey Christian college websites, you will see a few flavors of treatments: (a) Address perfect-fits, but ignore others. (b) Beyond the logo and tag lines, don’t address Christianity at all. (c) Caricaturize the college’s flavor of Christianity by leaning on a picture of their beautiful chapel. (d) Mention the Christian roots only in the history of the college. You will be hard-pressed to find instances of colleges that are comfortable unapologetically embracing the roots of … Continue reading
Because I present and visit so many conferences in higher education, many people ask me what’s hot right now in higher education marketing world. Here are a few trends that I am seeing these days: 1. Responsive website design is picking up steam, after the launch of Notre Dame and UC San Diego responsive websites. 2. The war is on for claiming the top rankings on search engines. 3. Web analytics are the rage, specially because they are self-service tools. Basics, mind you. Not connecting the dots and answering tough questions such as how should we allocate the marketing budget. 4. Branding of colleges and universities is moving full steam ahead. 5. The search for the CMS holy grail continues. 6. Mobile development is all the rage. Lots of mobile framework talk at every conference. 7. Marketers are struggling to figure out social media ROI. They simply don’t know the extent to which social media efforts help achieve enrollment, advancement, … Continue reading
Posted in: Higher Education Marketing
At the last AMA Higher Education Marketing conference, President Mark Putnam of Central College, profoundly claimed that he could know the health of any college by looking at just two metrics: yield and retention rate. This led me to a hunt for other metrics that college presidents consider indispensable. Here is what I have found so far: 1. Size of endowment, the war chest to attract the most talented students and faculty with financial aid and salaries. 2. Geographic reach of enrolled students, which is a measure of diversification and college reputation. 3. Average test scores, which pegs a college’s brand position in the prestige hierarchy. 4. Discount rate, the difference between the sticker price and what a student actually pays, directly impacts the net revenue or financial health of a college. 5. Acceptance rate, or conversely rejection rate, is a direct measure of school’s reputation and selectivity. Understandably, the more a college rejects, the better its reputation gets. 6. … Continue reading
Gods smile on colleges and universities that pursue and achieve top organic rankings on Google, Yahoo and Bing. Prosperity takes many shapes and forms for colleges ranked on page #1 of search engines. e.g. 1. Prospective Students find the college, inquire, show up at open houses, apply and enroll. 2. Prospective Parents find the college and suggest their kids apply there. 3. Prospective Talented Faculty and Staff find and apply for open job postings at the college. 4. Corporations, Nonprofits and Government Agencies recruit graduates and connect with faculty for consulting engagements and R&D. 5. Enrollment Officers boast a low acceptance rate and shape classes making the college more exclusive. 6. Financial Aid Officers extend aid by design not compulsion. 7. Media and Journalists find faculty experts. 8. Ranking and Rating Agencies discover rank the colleges higher in their rankings. 9. Presidents and Cabinet Members are invited to speak at top conferences for their genius. 10. Vice Presidents for Advancement see … Continue reading
Savvy higher ed leaders realize they need to add search engine marketing (SEM) to their overall marketing plans. But several common mistakes can hinder efforts.