Tim Copeland's Blog on College & University Marketing and Enrollment Management

New Study Finds Skills More Important Than College Majors

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) released today a report, It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success, summarizing the findings of a national survey of business and nonprofit leaders.

Among other things, the survey reveals that 74 percent of business and nonprofit leaders say they would recommend a twenty-first century liberal education to a young person they know in order to prepare for long-term professional success in today’s global economy. The key findings include:

• Nearly all employers surveyed (93 percent) say that “a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than [a candidate’s] undergraduate major.”
• Even more (95 percent) say they prioritize hiring college graduates with skills that will help them contribute to innovation in the workplace.
• About 95 percent of those surveyed also say it is important that those they hire demonstrate ethical judgment and integrity; intercultural skills; and the capacity for continued new learning.
• More than 75 percent of those surveyed say they want more emphasis on five key areas including: critical thinking, complex problem-solving, written and oral communication, and applied knowledge in real-world settings.
• 80 percent of employers agree that, regardless of their major, every college student should acquire broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences.

“While policy leaders have been focused intensely on what college students are choosing as their majors and what salaries they are being paid shortly after they graduate, business leaders who actually hire college graduates are urging us to prioritize the cross-cutting capacities a college education should develop in every student, in every major,” said Mildred García, president of California State University, Fullerton and chair of AAC&U’s board of directors.

For a copy of the full report from the national survey of employers, e-mail: Carrie Johnson (johnson@aacu.org) or Debra Humphreys (humphreys@aacu.org). 

Using Enrollment Marketing QR Codes - Is It Time for the Print Unsubscribe?

QR codes – valued marketing innovation or passing marketing fad? That’s the question that many enrollment marketers are asking across the country.

A QR Code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is a type of matrix barcode or two-dimensional code. First designed for the Japanese automotive industry, QR codes are popping up in consumer and higher education promotional marketing as a way to connect 'offline' communcation such as print ads with digital marketing. With the dissemination of smartphones and mobile applications, the opportunity is that the general public essentially has a potential barcode reader in their pocket.

14 Million Mobile Adopters

In June 2011, 14 million mobile users in the US – that’s about 6.2% of the total mobile audience in that country – scanned a QR or bar code on their mobile device, according to a study by comScore. The study also found that these scanners were more likely to be men (60.5% of scanners) and aged 18 to 34 (53.4%) and have a household income of $100,000 or above (36.1%).

While QR codes today are the purview of early technology adopters, what role – can, should, will – they play in marketing.

The capability itself is seemingly not enough.

According to Ekaterina Walter, a social media strategist at Intel, the ability to access information won’t drive customers to a product’s site unless there’s a reason for them to do so.

“Will QR codes reach widespread public consciousness, or are they destined to be a quirky aside for mainstream promotional campaigns? The trend towards increasingly complex personal technology suggests that the potential is there, but the question remains whether marketers will fully exploit the opportunities QR codes have to offer,” wrote Walter in a recent blog post.

 

How to Use QR codes in Higher Education Marketing

To capture some of this aforementioned potential, I considered three ways for higher education marketing professional to utilize QR codes today:

Here’s a bold idea … it’s time for the QR Code print unsubscribe

Every recruitment cycle students are inundated with letters, viewbooks, and registration brochures. While email has long provided a means for uninterested students to opt-out, unwanted print publications – more often than not – are placed in the real-life “spam folder” or trash can.

Add a QR code (linked to a subscription web page) to your print pieces allowing prospective students to customize their communication preferences or simply opt out from receiving more of the same.

Save a tree, stop annoying students that are not interested, and qualify which students are real prospects – and not – by the inclusion of a QR unsubscribe code.

Offering real reasons to respond

Too often, marketing innovations are used to simply transfer one channel experience onto a newer channel platform. Consider the early efforts with social media where some institutions simply transferred web site content onto the Facebook platform, while others distributed press releases via Twitter.

QR codes can work if they become entry points to unique content that may not be accessed through other channels.

Providing real-time information – campus tours, college fairs, community events

The value of the QR code is to connect marketing efforts across online and offline channels.

Use QR codes to offer real-time information during institutional events including community functions, campus tours, and college fairs.

 

Moving Forward with Recruitment and Marketing QR Codes

To move forward with a QR code marketing initiative, strategic-thinking enrollment marketers will use research, define clear objectives, identify value, and measure and adapt their plans.

1. Conduct Research

Any marketing strategy worth its salt starts with a firm foundation of research. Consider the following questions to support a QR code initiative:

· What percentage of the target audience uses a smartphone?

· How often does the target audience use a mobile app – daily, weekly, monthly, rarely or never?

· Does the audience use a QR code mobile app reader? Why or why not?

2. Define Objectives

“Everyone’s doing it” is not a rationale for adopting QR codes. Start by clearly defining the QR code in your enrollment marketing. Are you looking to:

· Drive conversions?

· Increase engagement?

· Support the decision process?

3. Identify Value

While communication innovations make life interesting for marketers, it is not often clear what value these “innovations” offer the end-user.

Ask yourself, what value – unique content, offer, or experience – can you deliver through the use of a QR code? Simply connecting a print piece to your home page is akin to asking prospective students to fill out a card so they can “receive more information.”

4. Measure and Adapt

Finally, have the discipline to objectively evaluate results in light of your research and marketing objectives. Connect the dots between strategy and results and adapt your efforts accordingly.

Whether QR code use grows beyond the digerati of early technology adopters will depend on how strategically marketers apply the channel.

Tim Copeland is the CEO of DemandEngine, a consulting, marketing, and e-marketing services company for higher education.

Top Enrollment Marketing Blog Posts of 2011

As 2011 winds down, here's a look back at my most trafficked blog posts of the year:

Over the past few years, it’s been difficult to attend a higher education enrollment management or marketing conference without at least one ‘expert’ spouting that [insert age group] doesn’t read/use email anymore - this despite actual research from my own company, DemandEngine, as well as Noel-Levitz demonstrating otherwise.

In Who Says Email is Irrelevant? Not Facebook, a January 2011 post, I wrote about Facebook's June 2010 'about-face' on the topic of email marketing and their announcement of facebook.com email addresses.

Marketing to adult learners has traditionally been a 'build it and they will come' proposition. Colleges and universities carve out institutional access by creating new enrollment pathways outside of the traditional day-student undergraduate model. Q&A: The New Enrollment Marketing Plan for Adult Learners posted in February 2011 is a question and answer transcript for a webinar I presented on behalf of the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA).

In April 2011, I wrote about how associations across the country are reporting declines in renewals and new member growth. In Does Membership have Its Privileges? Raising the Bar for Today's Higher Education Association, I raise the question for colleges and universities considering their memberships and offer some ideas in a DemandEngine white paper.

Given the interest in higher education CRM, this next article was the most heavily-trafficked posting of the year. In Five Things Your Higher Education CRM Vendor Doesn't Want You to Know, I write about topics any college or university should consider if a purchase is under consideration including CRM's checkered past and how many higher education CRM vendors don't even use their own technology.

One of my personal favorite postings of the year comes courtesy of Craig Maslowsky, VP of Enrollment Management and Marketing at Excelsior College. In Social Shilling and the Temptation of the Higher Education Vendor, I wrote about Craig's posting in a LinkedIn group for references and recommendations on CRM technology and the aftermath that follows. Sorting through the ridiculous (example: Leads360-"We are the only enrollment management solution designed for schools that compete for students"), I contacted Craig along with Keith Hampson, the founder of the Linkedin Higher Education Management Group for their thoughts.

The year 2011 saw a wave of higher education vendor mergers and acquisitions ranging from Datatel-SunGard Higher Education, Oracle and RightNow Technologies, and most recently, Hobson's acquisition of Intelliworks. In August 2011, I reported on a 'tip' I received through web analytics prior to the Datatel-SunGard Higher Education merger announcement.

Finally, I believe that it's always instructive to watch how other industries tackle similar questions and challenges. In Social Skepticism? Research Note from the Nation's Retailer, I write about retail eCommerce trends and recent report from Forrester Research including an increased level of skepticism around the role of social networks in driving sales.

Thank you to the many loyal readers of my blog. If you are not a subscriber, I invite you to enter your email address in the top, right-hand corner of the screen to receive automatic updates of new postings.

Merry Christmas and have a safe and enjoyable New Year.

Do You Love Your Enrollment Marketing Job?

Do you love your marketing job?  If you do, you might be in the minority, according to CareerBliss, an online career community dedicated to helping find workplace happiness. I found a piece by blogger Selena Blue about the perception of marketing jobs ... and one where I was quoted.

CareerBliss determined the top 10 hated jobs by analyzing hundreds of thousands of employee-generated reviews from 2011. And, two marketing management positions landed on the list.

Director of Sales and Marketing hit at number two, with only IT Director beating it out. Ouch. And Marketing Manager slipped on the list at number 10 spot.

What makes marketers dissatisfied with their jobs? Read the following post excerpt ...

“A LACK OF DIRECTION FROM UPPER MANAGEMENT”  As Tom Fishburne, Founder & CEO, Marketoonist, depicted in this cartoon, sometimes Marketing is expected to create magic out of nothing. Marketing directors and managers noted the lack of direction from higher up the hierarchy as major factor in job dissatisfaction.

And, seeing both directors and managers feel this way, you can spot the domino effect. Executives give no direction to upper management (i.e., the director of sales and marketing); so then, upper management gives middle management (i.e., marketing managers) no further direction than they had received themselves.

Upper management is where the change needs to begin. If receiving direction is a problem, work to fix it. The job of upper management should be to establish clear goals for the rest of the marketing department. Where do those goals come from?

Additionally, upper management should work with the C-suite to completely align the company’s goals with the customer’s needs. Marketing is about listening. As Kristin Zhivago, President, Zhivago Management Partners, said at B2B Summit 2011, “Current customers will teach you how to sell to new customers.” The C-suite doesn’t always get immersed in what customers are thinking and saying. So, it’s up to marketing to listen and translate those messages.

From there, the clear goals should be relayed to middle management. Managers can then translate those overarching goals into actionable and attainable goals for employees. They should break down barriers and open a flow of ideas. An environment with idea exchange will not only be a happier one, but a more effective one as well.

But, what if you’re in middle management and you director doesn’t keep with this ideal strategy? From CareerBliss’ most hated jobs study, we see many middle managers place all t's phe blame on upper management for their lack of direction. If direction is not relayed, look differently at the situation.

Tim Copeland, CEO, DemandEngine, suggested that “you have a responsibility to fill in the blanks.” Managers are not there to simply pass off assignments. Instead, he says, they’ve been hired to fix problems.

Well, it may be a rather large problem, but no direction is still a problem. So don’t gripe about your job; do something about it.

You can read Selena Blue's original piece over at the Marketing Sherpa Blog

Social Skepticism? Research Note from the Nation's Retailers

With the promise of social networks, many colleges and universities have gone 'all-in' creating institutional and departmental presences on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Yet, at least one industry is starting to question their social investment. In a research report on five 2011 retail eCommerce trends, Forrester Research found an increased level of skepticism around the role of social networks in driving sales.

While the hype of social networks in commerce has created a frenzy around S-commerce" (social commerce) and "F-commerce" (Facebook commerce), the reality is that those buzzwords have been more speculative than proven.

For two years running, Forrester's research with Shop.org has shown that retailers have all created presences on social networks, but most have been unable to quantify the return on this investment and even fewer have found that social networks grow their business.

According to Forrester, fifty-nine percent of retailers surveyed in an annual survey with Shop.org said that the returns on social marketing strategies are unclear, while 28% said that social marketing strategies broadly have helped them grow their businesses to date.

To the degree that retailers find any benefit at all from social strategies, it is most frequently driven by tactics like ratings and reviews on a website rather than activities on social networks.

Finally, what may put the nail in the coffin: Social networks in fact ranked dead last on a list of 10 customer acquisition tactics when retailers were surveyed in our 2010 Shop.org survey. 

As higher education enrollment marketers are faced with an ever-expanding communications toolbox, take time to consider the implications. Raise your line of sight and consider the following questions:

1. What are your interactive marketing objectives? Listening? Supporting? Talking? Embracing?
2. Are you set-up to manage (planning, people, processes, and technology) a true multi-channel experience for your prospective students?
3. What enrollment metrics can you reverse engineer (and measure) from the desired end result?

Balance innovation and hype by focusing on fundamentals.

Five Emerging Trends in Business Education

What trends are shaping business education today?

I found an interesting read in the September issue of Sky, Delta’s inflight magazine. Writer Anna Befort identifies 5 trends including: 1) Interdisciplinary; 2) format; 3) competency-based outcomes; 4) “big ideas;” and 5) ethics.

1. Interdisciplinary

Paul Danos, Dean of Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business

“Globalization is a massive movement for the businesses that hire our students and the business schools in this decade. Technology allows us to reach the world and offer more services than we could before. For example, we are launching a program with the medical school to offer a Master of Health Care Delivery Science to people who are running hospitals and clinics around the world. We’ve created a program that’s multidisciplinary, international, done at a distance and allows people to work in teams but still be apart. It’s the first of its kind that I know of.”

2. Changes in Format

Anjani Jain, Vice Dean of MBA Programs, Wharton MBA Program,

University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School

“There is growing demand among our students for firsthand exposure to emerging business issues in different parts of the globe. During the academic year that just ended, our faculty created eight new mini-courses – from health care innovation in India to technology entrepreneurship in Israel – that they taught in different parts of the world. The courses were offered in an accelerated format, each occupying no more than a week. Many students said that they were some of the best courses they had taken in their educational careers and they could not have learned as much in a conventional setting.”

3. Competency-based Outcomes

Richard Lyons, Dean of University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business

“Almost all business school mission statements talk about producing leaders. But then the fundamental question becomes, what type of leader are you producing, and how? Different schools have different answers. There were 10 competencies we used in our curriculum, including experimentation, problem-framing and influence without authority. The top business schools going forward are less likely to differentiate themselves by choosing a particular function than by choosing a particular flavor of general manager or leader. Taking a stand on a leadership type and then delivering that is a macro trend.”

4. Big Ideas

Peter Henry, Dean of New York University’s Stern School of Business

“The major issues of our time – from fiscal sustainability to the economic rise of emerging markets – cry out for leaders who can think integratively and work collaboratively to harness the power of markets for the good of the world. At NYU Stern, our mission is to develop people and ideas that transform the challenges of the 21st century into opportunities to create value for business and society.”

5. Ethics

Christopher Puto, Dean of University of St. Thomas’s Opus College of Business

“After the latest financial debacle, there’s been a permeation of ethics across the curriculum. Students want help understanding their own values, recognizing whey they are in a values conflict and how to deal with that on the job. The Ethics and Compliance Officer Association has an annual ethics case competition, and we’re seeing a great increase in students wanting to participate. We see this as a really positive thing, and for us a very strong trend.”

Old Media is Dead? Not So, Says Facebook

Online advertising is the economic engine of Internet power houses such as Google and Facebook. Their reach extends the planet earth with millions upon millions of eyeballs searching content, reading status updates, and watching video every day. Google processes an estimated one billion Internet searches daily, while over 750 million people are Facebook users.

Given the sheer volume of people, it’s only natural to believe – and for many ‘experts’ to proclaim – old media is dead and marketing only happens in the ‘cloud.’

Why then is Facebook advertising in the September 2011 edition of Entrepreneur magazine … a publication with an estimated circulation of 600,000?

 

Old Media Best Practices

In this ad, Facebook promotes an introductory offer to try Facebook advertising for free. Why Entrepreneur Magazine?

There are an estimated 28 million small businesses in the US and what better channel to reach their owners than a magazine focused on small business concerns.

Notice the elements of the advertisement: 1) targeted to a well-qualified audience; 2) a clear message; 3) a strong marketing-focused offer that is easy to access; and 4) a tracking response mechanism (think marketing return-on-investment).

 

The Art of Selling the Marketing Offer

This Facebook ad also focuses on selling the offer with 5 Reasons to try Facebook Ads including:

Your ads only appear to the customers you want to reach  

1. Works for any budget
2. Also get a FREE Facebook Page for your business
3. People can spread the word about your business
4. Enjoy Repeat Business

 

In a Multi-Channel World, Your Enrollment Marketing Objectives Matter

In January, I wrote about similar direct mail offer I received from Google (Who Say’s Direct Mail Doesn’t Matter? Not Google).

Both marketing examples are instructive for higher education professionals. Enrollment marketing efforts should be balanced across a number of channels depending upon your objectives. And in these examples, with a clear objective to uncover prospective new customers, direct response is a winner.

College Advertising Everywhere! Getting the Word Out in Non-Traditional Ways

Colleges and universities continue to ramp up their efforts to get the word out. While many rushed to social spaces such as Facebook and Twitter, others are leveraging offline media to accomplish their enrollment marketing objectives. Within the last six months of my travel, I've picked up some interesting examples of colleges using airports ... and the New York Yankees.

Lack Famous Alumni? Here's an Approach ...

In this Port Columbus International Airport ad, Ashland University touts the famous world leaders that have lectured on their campus. It's quite clever.

 

Looking for Busy Professionals? Try the Airport People Mover

Queens University of Charlotte uses the Charlotte Douglas International Airport people mover (or conveyor belt) to get in front of busy professionals moving from terminal to terminal. This banner was one of several progressive messages along the mover.

Need to Find Your Alumni? Look in Airports???

In this Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport ad, Michigan State seeks its graduates (over 500,000 worldwide) to upload and share their stories of how their are making a difference in the world.

For me, this marketing initiative is a bit of a head scratcher. Do you need to advertise in airports to find your graduates? Either someone in the Alumni office has dropped the ball on tracking their graduates or someone in marketing (or their agency) thought this would be a really cool idea.

Looking to Link Your Brand? What Better Choice Than the New York Yankees

Okay, this one comes courtesy of the YES network, the MLB Extra Innings package, and my flat-screen television. As Yankee ace C.C. Sabathia delivers the pitch, Oakland University is delivering theirs.

Just a few of the ways colleges and universities are using offline media. If you are using offline media as an enrollment marketing strategy, I would welcome any examples.

 

Looking for Adult Student Inquiries ... In All the Right Places

While I'm not much of a country music fan (to the chagrin of my wife), I have to borrow a line from country singer Johnny Lee for today's post.

Unlike high school students, finding prospective adult student inquiries often takes more elbow grease than simply placing your search data order with the College Board.

While it is possible to find potential students through GRE or GMAC testing data, most colleges and universities offering professional- and continuing education-oriented academic programs have to work harder at inquiry generation.

Consider the recent marketing effort from the Savannah College of Art & Design.

SCAD has been known to excel in high school classroom presentations across the country to build a portion of their inquiry pool. In this direct response letter, the director of recruitment is writing to employers to explain their eLearining capabilities and offering to arrange a 'lunch and learn' on-site.

Click on the image for a .pdf copy of the letter.

Kudos to SCAD for their effort.

What I learned from Two Weeks, Three Cities, and Three Conferences

What five things do over 500 conference attendees of three recent conferences have in common?Well, for one thing they saw me.

From Tuesday, March 22 to Friday, April 2, I spoke at three higher education conferences presenting some 12 hours of content, including one pre-conference workshop, one all-day marketing and sales institute, and three concurrent sessions. My travels took me to Dublin, Ohio to the Ohio Continuing Higher Education Association (OCHEA), to Orlando, Florida and the Association of Collegiate Conferencing and Event Directors International (ACCED-I), and finally to Chicago, Illinois for the Aslanian Conference for Adult Marketing.

OCHEA 2011 was about ‘driving excellence through innovation.’ ACCED-I? ‘Creating Magic.’ And Aslanian? ‘Converting Credits to Degrees: 38 Million Students to Recruit.’

Outside of catchy themes all three conferences had five things in common:

1. Everyone is Interested in Growing …

From continuing education units focused on workforce development and non-credit courses to colleges offering degree completion programs, from universities offering online degree programs to higher education institutions providing conferencing and event services, everyone is interested in growth. In fact, Carol Aslanian noted that their conference had more four-year public institutions than in years past.

Yet, many lack goals or have been presented ‘stretch’- or as I like to call them unrealistic – goals. A few participants report that budget targets are handed down with no discussion – or resources.

Others report a more ‘rah-rah’ approach. Simply gathering the troops and suggesting a target with little idea of how to get there neither motivates staff nor provides much hope for success.

2. Yet Many Are Not Sure Where to Start

Where will the growth come from? Most are not sure. For some, it’s new programs. For others, it’s crafting a new tagline. Maybe it's more research. Others believe the answer is in social media marketing … somewhere.

When I shared an example of one institution’s multi-step follow-up process, one senior manager fretted about contacting prospective students too much.

Perhaps, we have 38 million adult students with degree credit and no degrees because of this type of thinking.

3. Despite Growth Objectives Many Colleges and Universities Simply Don’t Respond … or It’s Hard to Find Them

Prior to the OCHEA conference, we submitted student inquiries at ten institutions scheduled to participate. Only three (30%) bothered to respond. Not so fast … one of the 3 ‘responses’ to our inquiries looked like this:

With most of the attending OCHEA institutions offering workforce development programming, a simple Google search did not yield a single 1st page response from the participants:

At ACCED-I, we secret shopped 31 institutions prior to the conference. For this conference, sixty-four percent responded to our inquiry. Some of the responses to our attempts to book campus meeting space came back two and three days later!

Using these same institutions and regional locations, we performed Google searches using ‘Conferencing’ and ‘Conference Center’. Why these terms? Because there are an estimated 6.6 million searches annually. For the term ‘conferencing’ plus the institution’s city and state, approximately ½ of the institutions were not found on the first page of the search results. Conference center? Sixty-percent of the institutions were not listed.

Finally, at the Aslanian Conference, we attempted to submit online inquiries at 18 institutions. We heard back from 11 or 61%. The average response time for web form inquiries? 21/2 days. By email?  1 day and a half. We performed a Google search on a relevant keyword phrase. Only 5 of the 18 institutions appeared in our page 1 search results.

A few participants at the Aslanian Conference wondered allowed if we had submitted an inquiry to their units or someone else on-campus. Another participant asked, 'does it matter?' The bottom line is that prospective students and businesses were not being followed-up with in a systematic fashion.

4. Few Understand Their Pipeline

From our inquiry shopping efforts alone, it was clear that most of the institutions that we shopped simply do not value the ability to understand their demand pipeline. Undergraduate enrollment managers understand the funnel concept well. But for whatever reason those working with adult learners (or business) are not reverse-engineering their enrollment or business results and managing acquisition, conversion, and yield.

5. Technology is an Inhibitor

At two institutions, we were unable to submit inquiries due to technology problems. The problems extended across three well-known, higher education technology vendors. The Elgin Community College site was down for two business days. When I asked the conference attendee what the problem was, he reported a problem with their student information provider.

Zane State Community College’s ‘request information’ web site function was down two weeks ago when we attempted to shop the school. It's still down as of Sunday evening, April 3.

Finally, another institution reported that they do not accept online registrations for their adult students because of a vendor's student information system limits. For this institution, it's more important to have one centrally controlled technology rather than providing convenience for students.

Ah, the promise of technology. These are just a few examples of what happens when your efforts are IT-driven, rather than business-focused.

It's always more fun to throw the long pass, hit the grand slam homerun, or sink a game winning three-pointer, yet more often than not success comes from mastering the fundamentals.

Great trips. Met some nice people and caught up with past acquaintances.

I'm glad to be back.