Starting out slow is one key to enrollment success

Everyone wants instant results. That's why people check their smart phones 30+ times a day, or drive 10 miles/hour (or more) over the speed limit, or get frustrated when getting a Latte and they have to wait for an extra 4 minutes for the person in front of them to get their custom order. I would say that it's time to slow down. Why? When waiting for a Latte, or driving fast may get you results more quickly, you are also not committing to getting a degree that will take years, and cost tens of thousands of dollars.

So, what can you do? I would propose that there are three basic types of people out there. The first are ready to move forward, They have made the decision to complete their degree, or get an advanced degree and it's all a matter of picking the best school for them! Second, are those that have flirted with the idea of going back to school but haven't decided on committing the time and energy needed to get a degree. This is a harder sell and is filled with people with MANY reasons not to go back to school. Third are those prospects who have NO interest in going back to school. The time, effort and money don't seem to meet their needs.

So, what can you do about group two? My guess is that there are two approaches to this group. The first is to mail them, email them, see if you can give them a reason to go back to school through the long process of beating down their defenses until they block you, or register. The second, and I think the best way, is to offer an incremental step for them to get back to school. Beyond the cost of getting a degree, you will have family, job responsibilities, lifestyle/recreation conflicts. Until most of these are analyzed and resolved, the prospect will have a great deal of difficulty in returning to school.

So, how do we do an incremental prospecting program? Start small, offer a low cost entry level class for them to take so they get used to being on campus. Make it easy for them to return to school, make the credits apply to their ultimate degree and see what happens. Think about this for a minute. You're a retailer looking to attract new customers and you sell $2,000 televisions. Do you push the $2,000 system up front? Maybe you do one time, but the best way is to offer a smaller item first, maybe a $75 pair of ear buds. then the next sale is a $250 clock/radio/alarm. From there you increase the offers to something in the $1,000 range and finally their prospect is ready to buy the $2,000 TV.

The point is, you get them used to the fact of buying, going to school. And over time, up sell them to getting their degree. Instead of them committing to a $40,000 degree program, they are committing to a $1,500 class that can lead to the full degree. Quit thinking about what the institution needs (I know, that's hard to do), but rather, think about what your prospect is thinking and what their needs are.

Start small, one step at a time, and ultimately you will have full classrooms. In the mean time, you will have new students to "sell" on the idea of coming back and completing their degree.

For more information or to visit our website go to www.marketmappingplus.com/education. or write david@marketmappingplus.com.

What medium works best for different Adult Prospects?

I find this an interesting topic. When I started Market Mapping plus back in 1990, one of my mantras over all these years has been "Track response". Why? If you don't track where your prospects and students are coming from, how do you know where to allocate resources?

Yes, 26 years later I keep asking clients "what gives you the best response?" and they have no idea. The opportunities for spending your marketing dollars are expanding significantly. In the past, you had direct mail (postal) as one of the only and primary methods of advertising. Since then the market has expanded to include Billboards, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, the CAS Devices (like the Amazon Echo) which are new technologies that dilute your marketing budget. But how do you decide which method to fund?

I had a client many years ago who hired me to evaluate their Adult Student marketing program. I evaluated all of the methods of advertising, told them to start keycoding ads/direct mail pieces to identify where a lead came from. After the first quarter of testing this new coding system I had a meeting with the VP of Enrollment Management and asked him which methods were the most effective? He gave me his top 3. Of his top 3, there were zero leads from the top two. The #1 method of advertising was direct mail postal postcards. Marriage mail and newspaper insert programs generated nothing in terms of response. So they reallocated their budget to become more effective in their marketing efforts.

The ultimate question is "How do we track all of these marketing programs?". The key is integrating some method of knowing where a lead came from. For printed marketing materials a user code to identify the source of the lead, and in some cases, the source of the name. Where did it come from? What list? For Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter use a unique code to identify where a lead got motivated to contact you and enroll.

There is an easier way to track campaign success. For every Adult Student who enrolls, give them a short survey. Ask them what got them to enroll to get their degree. This is the best and easiest method of finding out what's working.

If you need help setting up a quality tracking program give me a call. David Fant, Market Mapping plus Inc. at 616-956-7129, or write me at david@marketmappingplus.com.

Increase response by creating an emotional appeal

It’s interesting to work with so many different institutions of higher education. Each one looks at their programs from a unique perspective and feel that they have the best degree programs in their area. I am not qualified to determine if that is true or not, but I do know that finding adult degree completion prospects is a never ending fight for every institution.

 

What makes my job difficult is that everyone creates marketing plans that focus on the institution and on some of the roadblocks that people have for returning to school to complete their degree. They talk about: 

·         Flexible classes

·         Fast degree programs

·         Convenient location

·         Some mention daycare

·         Low cost is referred to by most 

Yet, the one thing that most marketing campaigns miss is EMOTION. People frequently make decisions based not only on facts, but on their emotional feelings toward a given subject. Take a quick look at Harley Davison. What is it that they sell? In their ads, in their stores? Motorcycles? Not exactly. If you ask Harley Davison that question they will tell you they are selling a lifestyle. A way of living that INCLUDES a motorcycle. 

So, the question is, what is YOUR emotional message?  

US News and World Report recently published an article that referenced the fact that college graduates will earn an average of $20,000 per year more than not having a degree. My question is, what could someone do with $20,000 per year? Strike an emotional note with the following approach: 

Life is filled with ups and downs. What is it that you would like to do in your life that you can’t afford to do today? Maybe you are looking to: 

·         Take that historical trip to Machu Picchu.

·         Buy that one car that you’ve always wanted.

·         Invest in a house for you and your family.

·         Visit every baseball stadium in the country.

·         What is YOUR dream activity if you had the money? 

No matter what your dream is, a degree will allow you to earn as much as $20,000 more per year compared to not having a degree. Attend Xyz College and let us help you attain YOUR dreams. 

Emotion, draws them into thinking about what they can do with a degree and increased income. Benefits, not features. Focus on what they will get out of their degree and how you will help them achieve all that they want to do.

What makes a strong offer?

The first questions is, what is an offer? We all know the answer to that so I won't go to the Dictionary to give you the formal definition of an offer. Yes, is the word "offer" the right word? The offer states what you would like someone to do. Whether you are selling toothpaste, a car, a college education the offer creates the groundwork for a prospective student to decide to move forward and actually buy.

Remember the offer is the first step in the sales process. Your goal is to get people to buy, not browse and "kick the tires" so to speak. So the offer has to have some serious incentive to get someone to move forward. Let's look at a couple of examples.

You are selling a tube of toothpaste for $2.95/tube but the offer is $.50 off the retail price. The savings is 17%. Not an insignificant savings.

You are going to buy a car, It's retail value is $15,000, you offer a $1,500 discount plus a trade-in guarantee of $1,000 for a total savings of $2,500. The savings for this offer is 16.6%.

Now, you send out a mailer, offering a student a degree completion offer with a total projected cost of $20,000 and you offer to waive the application fee (estimated at $75). The total savings for this offer is .37%. Pretty pathetic when you compare your offer to offers people see every day in the overall marketplace.

People have come to expect something for their investment. Whether it's toothpaste, a car, or an education. I find, that most Higher Education institutions don't recognize the fact that to attract more students (note, I did not say prospects) they have to give them something that they consider valuable! And keep in mind, that doesn't have to be money. Meeting the needs of a busy family, a tiring job, a busy work schedule and around hobbies and other areas that conflict with them completing their degree can be more valuable than a cash outlay. However, it's YOUR job to translate the intangible benefits of your institution into a strong offer.

One negative example comes to mind. I have a good friend, single mother, child under the age of 10, who was working on completing her degree. She registered for a class, started taking it, and due to a work/child scheduling problem missed two classes. When she returned to class after her mini crisis she was told by the professor, she had been dropped. She knew, going in, that she was only allowed one absence/semester. Now, this may have been a totally unreasonable professor (by the way, it was a required class) yet, had the institution had a resource to help her work through that issue this could have been a huge offer to make. We have an office to help you with a flexible schedule. Had this institution done that she would have remained in school or that class she would have felt wonderful. As it was, she finished her other class, dropped out and completed her degree at another local institution.

On the other hand, a positive example. A Midwest University wanted to increase enrollment to their degree completion program. After three email deployments, 75,000 each they ended with 112 new REGISTERED students. How? They offered each of them a $1,000 scholarship, no strings attached. It's the offer and how you communicate the offer to your client that makes the difference.

My recommendation is, don't think institutionally, think like a prospective student. What do they want and from there, create the best offer possible. The offer is what get's them to buy.

When did you last talk to one of your adult students?

When did you last talk to one of your adult students?

This is an interesting question that often goes unanswered. Why? Most of us are sitting in our offices, toiling away at each daily project given to us by our boss, a department head or some other project that is critical for our institution's success. We know there are adult education classes on campus (or on a nearby campus) and we know that there are students in those classes (after all, we in Marketing were instrumental in getting them there) yet, we rarely if EVER go talk to them! The excuses are many. "These are night classes, I have to be somewhere." or "What can they tell me? What would I ask them?" or maybe "I don't get paid any extra to stay late and track down these classes, talk to the professor, get permission to talk to a few of the students either before or after class, what a hassle!"

Well, let me tell you, you are missing a fabulous opportunity for some primary market research. Research that will answer any of the following questions:

·         Why did you decide to get your degree from XYZ University?

·         Was cost an issue to you?

·         Who influenced you in your decision to attend our school?

·         Have you had a good experience while attending classes here?

·         What were your expectations when you first started and what are they today?

·         Is there anything specific that you can tell me that made our institution stand out in your mind when looking for a (degree completion, advanced degree) program?

Imagine what you could do with all of that information! Say a majority of the students reference location as a key motivator. If there are a few students who have that point of view, I guarantee there are others who have the same issue. What if they say "fear" was a roadblock to going back to school. Fear of failing. Fear that they will be the oldest person in the class. Fear of not having enough time for work, class, family and hobbies. Ask them how they conquered their fear. Learn from them.

As with direct marketing, each mailing is a new test. What are you testing? If you don't know the answers to the above questions (and those are the tip of the iceberg) you have NO idea how to market your institution. Ask, learn, grow, test new ideas. That's what direct marketing is all about. The ability to test new ideas, new thoughts, new markets. But without a sound basis for the testing you're just wasting dollars and time.

Focus on learning as much as you can about your audience, not only demographically but also psychographically. Get out of your office. Walk around campus, set up a routine EACH semester to visit at least three different adult education classes and talk to the students. If you feel up to it and have the budget (ok, stop laughing now) invite a class to dinner on marketing. A small investment in a few meals will reap huge rewards with marketing success.

Contact David@marketmappingplus.com for more information on how to identify and reach your target markets.

Have realistic expectations.

Expectations!

What is it about marketers and marketing that makes us suddenly think we are the exception to the rule. What I mean is, we market our University in a way that we ourselves would never respond to. This may be a bit of a stretch, but let me offer a story to help explain my position.

You're sitting in your home either reading the mail, or scrolling through e-mails. There in front of you is an offer from a local car dealership (one you know well). The marketing piece goes on to explain that you can purchase a brand new car, with great features, mileage, styling for only $28,500. You, of course, have been thinking about a new car so you head to the dealership, walk in, tell the salesman you'd like one of their cars and put down your check for $28,500.

Interestingly enough, I doubt any of you would do this. You research the car, IS IT your style? Does it get good gas mileage? What is the repair history on the vehicle? Will it suit your family either in size or comfort? So you research,  check to make sure that THIS is the car for you.

Now, let's fast forward to marketing your University. You prepare what you think is the perfect e-mail campaign, or postal campaign, You drop one message and expect people to flock to your door eager to plunk down $28,500 in tuition for an institution they may know of, but actually know nothing about. How do students actually make a choice as to what school to attend. Either to complete a degree or to get an advanced degree. They do exactly what you would expect them to do. They research, look at who attends your institution, what graduates have done, how much will it cost, will it fit in the family schedule or lifestyle.

There was a time when the expectation was that you needed three contacts before someone was willing to make a buying decision. Yet, most Universities market once, maybe twice and expect prospective students to sign up and attend. Today, the rule of thumb is more around 20 impressions. Now, don't get me wrong, but reality is more than 3, less than 20 for most people. But this includes all forms of impressions. Radio, television, billboards, web surfing, direct mail, e-mail, personal referrals, LinkedIn, Face Book to name a few. All of these give the prospect some idea as to what your institution is all about. So, why do schools constantly do a single, or two marketing campaigns, get few if any responses and then dub "direct mail", "e-mail" a failure? In fact, it's not a failure, you simply didn't give the prospect enough information or time to make an informed decision.

As with buying a car, students need to focus on their needs. For example, if a student is concerned about going back to school they may be asking themselves "Can I do it?". You should offer them a free course to take as a warm up. A course that WILL apply to their degree! You invest in them, they will invest in you. It's in a way, a two month free trial. It's time that schools focus on what it really takes to sell someone on attending their institution. Information, frequent contacts and understanding that THEY are the most important person attending your institution. Give them a free class, one that will get them used to coming on campus, sitting in class and I will bet they will keep coming back.

Targeted E-mail campaigns are the key to success

I have been running a number of E-mail campaigns for Universities across the country. An interesting phenominon has occured in that the smaller the campaign, the higher the response. The key has become how to focus on the EXACT market segment you want and then focusing your message on those prospects. I have recently gotten over 50% open rates and as high as a 32% click through rate for two schools on highly targeted campaigns which delivered over 1,200 new prospective students to these schools.

What are the keys to their success?

1) Their market segments they are reaching were very specific. RN's and MBA degree prospects.

2) They identified the benefits of attending their school over their competitors. BENEFITS, not FEATURES.

3) They know who their key competitors are, and focus on pointing out why they can exceed their competitors programs.

4) The message is simple, 5 or 6 bulleted points at the most.

You don't need to have a complex message filled with graphics and images. Keep it simple, to the point and those who have an interest will follow.

If you need to learn more about E-mail marketing and prospect development contact us today and we will be happy to help you acheive your admissions goals.

David Fant
Owner
Market Mapping plus LLC
David@marketmappingplus.com

E-mail campaigns designed for success

We have been doing a number of e-mail campaigns for clients of late and always hear the same question. "We have over 800 or 1000 click throughs but don't see anyone responding. Why?" The answer is mulitfaceted but has two fundamental answers.

First, prospects are used to seeing a message more than once, particularly for something that is time intensive or potentially expensive. They need an incentive to take the next step and give you their information for follow-up. Basically, what this means is that you don't just want to send a message out using e-mail and hope for the best, but you need to give some incentive to complete the form with their name and contact information for follow-up. Remember, you want THEM to select you to be their school of choice to complete their education.

What this means is, multiple deployments should be considered for the maximum response. Give them a STRONG reason to contact you and register, which means a discount on the first semester's tuition, discount on books (don't give them a sweatshirt, or travel coffee mug), it's insulting considering what you are asking them to spend on their further education. Give them something of substance to convince them to learn from you.

Second, and most importantly, use a unique code or process to identify who is applying. If you offer a discount on tuition, use a discount code (for example, AE1020 may reference Adult Education 10/20/10 campaign. That way you know the source of the new student. Make this unique for EVERY campaign.So, if you do three deployments over 2.5 weeks, the first may be AE102010, the second AE102610 and the third AE103110. That way you will be able to track performance by deployment.

As an example, here are some actual numbers from a client who did a campaign like the one described above.

Each of these deployed 75,000 e-mails, spread over six days.

Deployment 1
   Opens 13,471 or 17.9%
   Click Throughs 1015 or 7.53% of the opens
   Confirmed registrations 4

Deployment 2 - 2 days later
   Opens 16,004 or 21.3%
   Click Throughs 1855 or 11.59% of opens
   Confirmed registrations 33 new students

Deployment 3 - 4 days later
   Opens 17855 or 23.8%
   Click Throughs 2280 or 12.76% of opens
   Confirmed registrations 75

They used a unique registration/discount code for each deployment and offered a discount on tuition for this campaign. The acheived 112 new students from this campaign and are now rolling out this program for every recruitment semester.

Learn how a program like that can assist YOUR institution. Contact us today for a count and quote.