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The Economy and Undergraduate Admissions - Poll Results and Comments from the Field

Guest blogger: Jade Murphy

The results are in. While key enrollment numbers are tracking ahead of last year, enrollment leaders express concern going forward. Respondents in our recent online poll commented on forecasting challenges given the number of soft applications in play, looming concerns over financing, and budgets and competition. 

Population on the Move: Millions Changing States

Americans are on the go again, moving across state lines at the highest rate since the early 1990s, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Census data. In an article in today's paper, Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg write that 20-somethings and immigrants are leading the shift. 

Managing Email Marketing: Ideas for the Institutional Marketer

Despite the plethora of new (and perhaps overhyped) technologies such as blogs, social networks, or podcasts, email has achieved the status of a proven channel on par with direct mail and advertising. In fact, enrollment marketers including undergraduate, graduate and continuing education professionals, athletic departments, and development offices are actively using email to engage their audiences and generate response.

The challenge for the institutional marketer is to provide support for critical enrollment and development email campaigns while maintaining brand image. Often, promotional email efforts are departmentally decentralized and it is not uncommon for an institution to use multiple email delivery applications including the standard campus email software. The end results are typically higher costs and diminished branding.

Five Email Marketing Resolutions for 2008

Starting to think about your new year’s resolutions? Makes sense, right? A new year represents an opportunity for a clean slate.

As you think about your 2008 continuing education outreach plans, consider the growing need to engage students in dialogue rather than marketing pushes, blasts, or broadcasts. With the increasing number of media technologies to share and access information, students are gaining more control – and are less tolerant of irrelevant information, and unidirectional marketing pitches.

Our experience working with colleges and universities across the country shows that a properly planned and executed email marketing program can start conversations, qualify student interest, and nurture relationships to achieve enrollment objectives.

As you think about your 2008 “slate”, erase your current email board and adopt the following resolutions to power your results:

Endless Email and Other Bad Ideas

E-blasts. Email blasts. Email broadcasts. These are a few terms I commonly hear to describe email marketing. I’ve even noticed one vendor recently who is touting endless email, going so far as trademarking the name.

Here’s a question. How often do you like to be blasted? And raise your hand if you want to receive never-ending email?

Guess what? Neither do students. Nor do they want to receive endless letters, brochures, and postcards!

Use Your Wireless Access to Conduct Research and Generate Leads

I was on a business trip recently when I stopped for lunch at my favorite fast-food chain Chick-fil-A. I noticed when I pulled into the parking lot that they offered free wireless access for customers. So, with my laptop in tow, I headed in for lunch a little work.

To the delight of this marketer, Chick-fil-A fulfilled their promise of complimentary wireless access, but they didn't miss the opportunity to learn more about who was using the service.

Breaking Down the Helicopter Parent: A New Study
An estimated 40% to 60% of college parents qualify as helicopter parents, and they come from all socioeconomic groups, based on a thought-provoking study of 75 officials, professors and staff at 15 universities, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article by Sue Shellenbarger.

Interactive Marketing Institute Q&A- May 2007

Take Your Email Marketing Program to the Next Level

Thanks again to everyone who participated in today's call and thanks to Lesley for sharing all of the great work that UNC Charlotte is doing with their email campaigns. Here's a recap of today's question and answer session:

Interactive Marketing Institute Q&A- May 2007

Interactive Marketing Channels to Watch for Continuing Education

Thanks to everyone for great questions today! Here's a recap of the entire question and answer session.

Email Marketing Best Practices: Three Tips for Success

More people are online than ever before and time in front of the computer rivals traditional television viewing time. Despite negative publicity of spam, consumer attitudes are more positive toward subscribed-to email than other advertising channels.

MarketingSherpa categorizes email marketers into two camps- those who complain about declining response, but who do very little to change their approach, and those who enjoy high response rates and work hard for them. Too often, enrollment marketers pull out the email shotgun and think in terms of generating immediate results at the lowest possible cost...and with increasingly diminishing returns.

Email marketing is not a quick fix or magic potion to solve enrollment challenges. Email success requires strategic thinking, an investment in resources, a long-term view, and a commitment to testing and refining your approach. So, what does it take to be successful? Let's take a look at three best practices for email marketing that can help put you on the track to success.

Undergraduate Admissions: Interactive Marketing Channels to Watch in 2007

So, what is interactive marketing and how can it make you a better enrollment marketer? I explored this topic earlier this week at SACAC 2007 with undergraduate admissions professionals from throughout the southeast. Here are the highlights from our discussion:

Success Story: Young Harris College

With an enrollment of over 500 students, Young Harris College is a private, United Methodist-affiliated residential two-year liberal arts college located in the Appalachian mountains of northern Georgia.

Challenges:
Like many institutions today, in recent years Young Harris found that deposited students were not enrolling at the same rate they had in the past. With more students submitting deposits at more institutions and more students canceling deposits after the May 1 refund deadline, the College was faced with a steadily climbing deposit cancellation rate.

When that cancellation rate hit 31% in fall 2005, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Clint Hobbs knew something had to be done. “Our staff was working as hard as they could to generate and then keep deposits, yet we kept loosing more and more of them each year. I knew we’d hit the point that we would have a very hard time generating even more deposits to make up for the loss. We needed a new approach to how we communicated with deposited students.”

Email Marketing Summit 2007

Building a Permission-Based Email List

One message that has come through loud and clear from the Summit is the need to pay careful attention to permission (and to people who aren't engaging with you via email). I attended the Interactive Marketing Lab for building a permission-based email list and here's what you need to know:

Email Marketing Summit 2007

Your Reputation Matters

Ever wonder what will keep your message from getting through the ISP's filters? Stefan Tounquist revealed data on how the major ISP's filter...and the news is that the majority of them consider your reputation more than they do the content of your email. Here's what you need to know:

Email Marketing Summit 2007

Today during the email bootcamp session when the second presenter walked to the podium, I have to say that I started off a bit doubtful of him. After all, he was wearing denim shorts and a t-shirt. Now, don't get me wrong, we are in Miami, and we did have record-breaking heat yesterday, but a presenter in shorts?? How much could this guy know about email marketing?

Boy was I wrong. Scott Cundill of Majestic Interactive (based in South Africa) knows quite a bit about email marketing. Here's what I learned: