Bob Johnson's Blog on Higher Education Marketing

Writing this as the sun shines on the first March day in Michigan. Nice introduction to the arrival of spring not long from now. May all your marketing endeavors thrive in the new season.

Attend a web strategy conference with a strong international flavor here in the U.S. Check the program, with a higher education track, at J.Boye Philadelphia 2010 at bit.ly/bk5Yxz

Ready for webinars in April? Join me for "Web Analytics for Enrollment Success" (bit.ly/6y2l0A) or "Writing Right for the Web" (bit.ly/9ad2rj).

Here are your marketing news and notes for March.
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Update on Millennials from Pew Research

Most Millennials are out of their teens now (18-29 years of age) and many plan to continue in graduate or professional school after college graduation if they can balance that with work and finances.

Pew Research released a February report that describes Millennials, despite the current economic state, as "confident, connected, and open to change." Keep that in mind as you plan stories and outcomes information for your website and social media network.

If Millennials are important to your marketing plans, read the executive summary and download the 149-page report (with special attention to Chapter 5 on "Education and Work") at bit.ly/drDNVi
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Videos for Admission at Tufts University

Is this an exception or the start of a new wave?

For 2010 applicants, Tufts University is giving applicants the option of using a YouTube video as part of their admission application materials. According to a New York Times story, about 1,000 of 15,000 applicants have taken up the offer.

The NYT article at nyti.ms/d6iYw5 includes a link to the most popular video with nearly 79,000 views as I am typing this.

Will you be doing anything similar soon?
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Top 10 Online Degree Programs in January 2010

How many can you get right? Make a list before you visit.

The most popular based on online searches and inquiries reported by elearners.com are at bit.ly/cEFL8h
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Myths and Realities of Distance Education

A recent Chronicle of Higher Education explores what is true and what is not quite so true in the ongoing debate over distance education.

Just as interesting as the article by a Yale librarian are the comments that follow on the merits of everything from the motives of administrators who promote distance learning to the deficiencies of software used to run the courses.

Be better informed for your campus discussions after you visit bit.ly/dvXf1C
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Quick Test for Keyword Popularity

If you need a break for something that is both fun and informative, visit Googlefight.

Enter two competing keywords and see which is more often used on Google Analytics. Try your competitors, various academic programs combinations, or my old favorites, "scholarships" vs. "financial aid." Results just might help you plan title tags and key headings for your website pages.

Get the stats at googlefight.com/
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Short Forms Increase Online Inquiries

Does your online inquiry form ask for so much information that it discourages people from completing it? Direct marketers know that the shorter a form, online or not, the more people will use it.

If you want more people to leave stealth status and inquire online, make your form short enough to fit "above the fold" on your web page. Review elements to consider dropping and follow a link to one university's excellent online inquiry form when you visit bit.ly/cc0Vq2
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Pre-Paid Tuition Plans at Risk

The shaky future of pre-paid tuition plans in many states was the feature of a Wall Street Journal article that will make many readers who use them nervous about meeting higher education tuition costs in the future.

WSJ reviews various "shaky guarantees" in states "across the nation." The anticipated pattern: states will restrict the amount of tuition covered by the plans at the same time that public universities are raising tuition to offset declining state appropriations.

Read the full article at bit.ly/9nWRSe
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Marketing Wisdom 2010: Dark Space of the Marketing Universe?

MarketingSherpa is offering this collection of stories, notes, and observations from a long list of marketers for free. While this is not a detailed roadmap to marketing success, you will likely find worthwhile nuggets in the 34 pages to help shape your marketing plans.

The report notes a major change this year in attitudes toward social media: Social Media is viewed as "the dark matter of the marketing universe, filling the space between all other channels, and quietly shaping the activities that take place within them."

For more on that and many more topics download the report at bit.ly/99wiUn
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Nielsen on Website Usability Progress

In a recent Alertbox column, Jakob Nielsen outlined the progress he believes website creators have made over the last 10 years in creating a better online experience for their visitors.

His conclusion is that the glass is half-full rather than half-empty. How long will it take to fill to the top? About another 74 years.

Review the progress made and the hurdles to overcome at bit.ly/bsFtd8
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Higher Education Slips in Public Opinion

This might not be a surprise, but a new public opinion poll details how attitudes toward higher education institutions continue to deteriorate. While people continue to believe that a degree is valuable, most do not believe that universities are acting in the public interest. Most people believe that schools can make more cuts without hurting the quality of a higher education degree.

Check the important details at www.publicagenda.org/pages/squeeze-play-2010
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Middlebury Limits Tuition Increase to CPI + 1%

Can your college or university survive and thrive if tuition increases are limited to 1 percent above the Consumer Price Index?

That's the new strategy announced at Middlebury College, along with a series of other financial restraint measures that recognize that for most institutions the era of growth enjoyed for the past 15 years or so has ended and will not return soon.

Expect contraction more than expansion over the next 10 years. Middlebury has taken an unusual first step in recognizing the new reality. Details at bit.ly/b8itJl

If more schools did the same, public opinion polls might start to change.
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9 Tips for Social Media Marketing Proposals

Are you concerned that VPs and other "higher ups" at your school do not understand the realities of what is needed for effective social media communication, especially the budget?

I especially liked the note here about expected viral results: "It (viral) is as much a strategy as a lottery ticket is a retirement plan."

Find what might work well for you in "Tips for Talking to Your Boss About Social Media" at www.clickz.com/3639596
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Especially for Web Writers: Mission Impossible?

Is it impossible to write a Mission Statement that anyone will actually read and remember?

Especially online, where people have to scan and connect quickly, in about 5 seconds?

Note the difference between the examples from Brannigan's Restaurant and CARE: you can scan the latter but not the former. It would take about 60 seconds to make the weak example friendly for online readers with bullet points.

Dean Rieck offers worthy tips at www.procopytips.com/mission-statement
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My Upcoming Presentations in 2010

Share questions and answers with people like yourself who are building a competitive edge in higher education marketing. Join me at one or more of these events.

April 7, Magna Publications Webinar: "Web Analytics for Enrollment Success." Program details and registration at bit.ly/6y2l0A

April 20, Academic Impressions Webinar: "Writing Right for the Web." Check the outline and register at bit.ly/9ad2rj

May 4-6, J.Boye Philadelphia2010, Philadelphia, PA. Follow higher education track sessions at bit.ly/cYBLD5

June 3-4, Education Dynamics Aslanian Group Seminar, Marketing to Adult Students, Chicago, IL Check the topics and register at bit.ly/6RUBUi

July 21-23, ACT Enrollment Planners Conference, Chicago, IL

July 26-28, eduWeb2010, Chicago, IL Follow the conference program as it grows at www.eduwebconference.com/

July 29, Education Dynamics Aslanian Group Seminar, Marketing to Graduate Students, New York, NY

Increase ROI from your online marketing. Expand the writing, editing, and search marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus workshop on online marketing.

Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com
____________________________________________
That's All for Now

Be a marketing champion on your campus.

Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com)
President and Senior Consultant
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
__________________________________________
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Increase your online marketing success with these 6 services.
• Customer Carewords Research with Gerry McGovern
• Writing Right for the Web On-Campus Workshops
• Marketing Communications Website Review
• Competitive Website Reviews
• Content Copywriting Services
• Usability Analysis

Start now at www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/whatwedo.html

Online Inquiry Forms... Long Forms = Fewer Completions

Visiting several higher education websites the last few days inspired this mini-rant.

In the "stealth age" when potential students of all ages explore college and university websites as the first step in picking a school, concern has grown about how to get people to reveal their identities as early as possible. After all, if we don't know who a potential student is how can we put our carefully crafted recruitment commuications plan into action?

Not enough time is spent on removing barriers to getting an online inquiry. That remedial works starts with using the shortest possible online inquiry form. The evidence is clear: few schools pay attention to that, especially in the not-for-profit sector.

Direct Marketing Maxim: Shorter Forms = More Completions

One marketing maxim known to direct marketers for decades is still true today: the longer you make the form you want people to complete, the fewer people will complete it. Period.

With that in mind, visit your online inquiry page for potential new students now. Look at all the information that is "nice" for the organization to have, but not needed to respond to a simple request for more information about your school. Remove it. 

Here are a few of my special favorites to consider eliminating:

• High school attended or attending
• High school code (maybe my all-time favorite)
• "Where did you hear about us" lists (another favorite)
• GPA
• SAT or ACT score
• Phone number unless it is an integral part of your follow-up plan
• Athletics interest
• Other student activity interest areas
• Year of graduation
• Ethnic identity, however optional 

All of this information might be nice or necessary for your data files between the time of inquiry and enrollment, but you have plenty of time to collect it later. Don't put anything on the inquiry form that isn't needed to respond to the inquiry. Usually, that's name, email and street address, and program area of interest (if you're going to address that in the first response.)

Make it Fit "Above the Fold"

This last note: design your form so that a visitor can see the entire form when they first arrive at your web page. That sends the important initial message: "This won't take long to complete."

Creighton University Gets It Right

Creighton University knows how to do this right. Visit the Creighton online inquiry form and see a form that would make direct marketers proud.

If you have an online inquiry form as good or better than Creighton's, let me know with an email to bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com.

That's all for now 

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/newsletter-subscribe.html

 

Middlebury College: CPI + 1% = revolutionary tuition increase policy

Middlebury College is a remarkable place. And the president, Ronald Liebowitz, is a remarkable president.

I've never been to Middlebury and I've never met the president. (Although I did select the Middlebury website as a Link of the Week pick back on April 24 2009 for "frank talk on the financial crisis" by the president.)

The news broke in public this week that Middlebury has adopted an new, almost revolutionary tuition increase plan: tuition and other fees will rise no more than 1 percent above the Consumer Price Index (CPI), now and in the future.

The president addressed this and other financial issues on February 12 in a "Public Address on College Finances." You really do have to read his frank, realistic admission that the ways of the past 10 to 20 years (rising endowments, easy credit, and routine tuition increases sometimes as much as 4 percent above consumer inflation) are dead. From 1996 to 2008, FTE employment at Middlebury rose by 584 to 1,000 people, an increase of 72 percent as facilities, academic programs, and enrollment grew. The new target: 850.

The era of empire building is over in higher education. In many areas, Middlebury College will shrink. And it will be a better place for the early adoption of realistic plans to shape that shrinkage.

The change in tuition pricing is significant.

Private sector colleges and universities have used an "education price index" to justify raising tuition and fees far more than the CPI and the annual income of most American families. But not to worry: easy credit and a willingess to incur debt through low-cost loan programs combined with steep tuition discounting to shore up private sector enrollments.

Higher education had its own version of the housing bubble.

Tuition and fees increase: 1% above CPI

Liebowitz reminds us that Middlebury began to make severe financial changes in the summer of 2008. Today the college is projecting a reduced but balanced budget through 2015 with an FTE of 850 people supporting a slightly larger enrollment of about 2,400 students.

Today, the future of Middlebury is different but bright.

Read the entire presentation for a complete picture of the change underway.

See if you don't agree that Middlebury is indeed a remarkable place.

Public opinion poll: 60% of Americans don't trust colleges and universities

If other colleges and universities (public and private) adopt similar policies of fiscal restraint, public opinion might become more favorable than it is now. If you think that public opinion isn't a problem, read the new public opinion poll results just released: 60 percent of Americans believe that colleges and universities are "focused more on the bottom line than on the educational experience of students."

That's all for now 

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

 

 

 

Web Editor and Content Coordinator at Ithaca College

Here are details from a new listing at Ithaca College for a Web Editor to work with admissions for the benefit of student recruitment efforts. With the increasing importance of online marketing to effective student recruitment, positions like this should increase in the future even in the face of restrictive budgets.

Rather a formidable activity list here.

Summary of the Job Responsibilities

• Responsible for the day-to-day management of the Office of Admission website, portal-based recruitment environment (myIthaca), social media recruitment sites, and electronic marketing efforts directly related to undergraduate recruitment.
• Maintain existing sites and develop content through creative writing and/or editing of copy, coordination of multimedia and inclusion of links, determination of information architecture, and proofreading and testing of all content.
• Coordinate web marketing activities with other recruitment marketing strategies; direct student workers to create content for recruitment-related sites, online magazines, blogs, and social media networks; and manage College-owned social media communities.
• Assist with measurement of core site traffic and other web analytics.

Selection of "Specific Responsibilities"

• Research, write, edit, structure, update, and maintain the College's undergraduate admission website, myIthaca portal site, and other marketing efforts including e-mail campaigns, web-based magazines, and e-newsletters.
• Develop content through the creative writing and editing of copy; ensure proper communication with appropriate personnel to review the web publications for content, design, layout, and usability.
• Develop and assist in the creation of multimedia content for the website and other electronic marketing efforts, working with internal staff and third-party vendors, as needed.
• Coordinate internal staffing, facilitate community development, and moderate the College's accepted student social networking community, IC Peers.
• Keep abreast of social media market trends, new tools, and technologies for social media in higher education recruitment.
• Keep informed about best practices in recruitment web marketing, and assist with measurement of site traffic and other essential web analytics.
• Write and edit online copy for clarity, grammatical correctness, and consistency with Ithaca College's style guides.
• Proofread and ensure that all corrections, updates, and changes are incorporated into the final site. Maintain and update content on selected sites as needed.
• Work with the other web and print writer/editors in the marketing communications office to ensure accuracy and timeliness of content for both electronic and print publications.  

Salary Range: $42,000 to $47,000   

For now, there's more information about the position at the job announcement page. 

New Writing Right for the Web Webinar in April 

Writing for the web isn't quite the same as writing for print publications. Learn about the "5-second rule." The value of short paragraphs. Links that motivate. Basic steps for better SEO. And more. Register for my next "Writing Right for the Web" webinar on April 20.  That's all for now Join me on Twitter here at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/

Web Analytics: Bounce Rate and Mobile Access

Yesterday and today I've been updating a fall 2008 presentation on web analytics for higher education for a new webinar with Magna Communications in April.

The presentation is based on Google Analytics and uses examples from that system. Much of what's available from GA is of course available from other analytics programs as well.

Two different elements that stand out from the updating process:

• The "bounce" rate. In checking to possible update the source for an analytics glossary recommendation, I noticed that some glossary pages don't even include a definition of the bounce rate. For the record, the bounce rate is the percent of visitors to a website page who leave that page without continuing on to another.
• It is especially important for higher education marketers to track the bounce rate for new visitors from whatever entry page they start at.
• The entry page will most often be the home page, but it might also be the admissions page or the page for a favorite academic program. If more than 35 percent of new visitors are leaving their first page without continuing, you likely have a problem.
• You can also use the bounce rate to compare what happens at the entry pages for various academic programs. Note the highest and lowest and compare the strong points of the best performing pages with those that don't do as well. (We are assuming, as you probably are, that potential students who start at the MBA or Nursing or Political Science entry page should continue to other pages in the same area rather than flee the site.)
• Mobile access. Pay attention to the percent of new visitors who access the website from a mobile device. If that figure gets near 10 percent, check and see how your website works for people who enter that way. Since 2008, Google has made that report stand out under on the dashboard with a new "mobile devices" heading under "Visitors."
• Expect access from mobile devices to increase. The real question is how quickly that will happen (some say rapidly, others say slowly) and how much time web developers on your campus should spend in creating a mobile-friendly version of your website.
• Use the "mobile" report in GA and you'll be able to see just how quickly a change is taking place and you'll know whether access is from an iPhone, an Android or a Blackberry.

Register for "Web Analytics for Recruitment Success"

Check the webinar outline and register at Magna Communications.

That's all for now 

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

  

What's the state of higher education in the United States?

 

"Traumatic change" might be the best two words to describe what's taking place right now and will continue to take place in the immediate future as available resources continue to shrink and schools from Yale University to San Francisco Community College adapt to meet the shrinkage.

 

Are people at your institution still whistling past the graveyard?  

 

Over the last two days I've made a quick "copy and paste" collection of news stories that illustrate the change. Had I started a week ago, this would be a much longer list. Here's the array that's come along in the sources I monitor, presented in the order received. No doubt I've missed a few.

 

• Resistance to "hefty" salary increases for presidents in Idaho at a time of severe budget limitations, defended on the grounds that they are necessary to get the best leaders. Public universities everywhere can expect increased scrutiny of how money is spent. Stories like this only increase the intensity of that scrutiny.

• The largest endowment decrease since World War II, coupled with increased spending from remaining endowment resources on financial aid and general operations. InsideHigherEducation offered another review of the problem, focusing on the differences between small schools that never had large endowments and wealthy institutions entangled in hedge funds.

• A voluntary retirement incentive program at the University of Illinois flagship campus to reduce faculty and administrative numbers. In Michigan, we remember these well as part of an auto industry effort to reduce high salary commitments.

• Williams College ended the "no loans in our financial aid packages" policy that many predict is the first of more to follow at similar institutions. Princeton started the "no loan" trend back in the 1990s to get better yield from middle class students not willing to go into debt for a Princeton degree, partly in the face of generous merit scholarships from second-tier institutions. Both reflected a resistance to debt levels in the face of higher tuition. How high can tuition discount rates go in the private sector to maintain enrollment levels?
 
• "Soaring salaries" at the "very top of the pay scale" at regional Washington state universities from 2007 to 2009, compared to large tution increases at the same time. Another example of increased public scrutiny of how higher education spends money. 

• A "financial state of emergency" in Nevada declared by the Board of Regents. Will academic program reductions be far behind? Reducing programs is underway now at many private and public institutions at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

• Yale University freezes salaries for president, provost, deans and other high level administrators as a symbolic step to help cover a $100 million budget gap.

• Cancelling an entire summer session program at City College of San Francisco to help balance the budget there. 

Shrinking Resources of Every Type

 

Almost everyone can add similar stories from their own states. Resisting the change underway is a foolish enterprise. Helping to shape the change is not. Cutting salary costs is underway. Cutting academic program costs is underway. The resources available to virtually every college and university, from Yale to the University of Illinois to City College of San Francisco will not be the same over the next 10 years as they have been for the past 20 years.

 

A New Brand Reality

 

"Brand strength" will not save individual colleges and universities from change. 

 

Careful adaptation to new financial realities (lower private giving, lower state appropriations, lower endowments, higher resistance to debt) will force higher education to focus on the "best of the best" at every institution. "Brand" might actually reflect real differences from one place to another as academic programs offered are reduced. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

That's all for now 

• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/ 

    

 

 

 

February has arrived, telling us that 2010 is well underway and the recruitment cycle for traditional freshmen is nearing the final months. Spring arrives not long from now, a most pleasant prospect.

Two webinars are set for April. We start with "Web Analytics for Enrollment Success" at bit.ly/6y2l0A and continue with "Writing Right for the Web" at bit.ly/9ad2rj

Here are your marketing news and notes for February.
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Yale and YouTube: A New Admissions Approach

Watch this video and ask yourself the question: would my school use song and dance to explain why students picked my school? Would your version get 334,000+ views?

See the latest in 16 minute Ivy League admissions videos at bit.ly/5g1pjw
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Fast Track Applications: Questioning the Motivation

The NY Times took note last month of 100+ public and private sector schools spending increased admission dollars on "fast-app" mailings to high school seniors.

Mentioned in the article are Marquette, RPI, University of Minnesota, University of the Pacific and several others. The pre-completed, no-fee applications sent to seniors have resulted in large increases in applications pools.

Marketing goals vary from increased selectivity and ethnic and geographic diversity to more national awareness and, the Times suggests, higher US News rankings.

The article compares the practice to pre-approved credit-card invitations and cites "white lies" about the exclusivity of the mailings. It also reports enrollment results at the College of St. Rose that are positive enough for the enrollment management officer to call the program "priceless."

The story is at bit.ly/7KtpsE
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Apps Surge at Elite Schools as Admissions Budgets Shrink

If your reputation is strong enough you do not need more applications and reducing your admissions budget, especially for travel, will not have a negative impact on your applicant pool. Harvard travel dollars are down 50 percent and Brown by 30 percent. Applications have soared.

Bloomberg news service reports the details for record applications for 2010 admission for Harvard, Stanford, Brown, Chicago and several other top tier schools at bit.ly/5Ano87
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134 Higher Education TV Ads

Planning to add TV advertising to your marketing mix? Just like to watch TV ads?

Elizabeth Scarborough has started a collection of college and university TV ads with 134 entries so far at www.youtube.com/elizscar

If you have a TV ad that is not there now, why not upload it soon?
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101 5-Minute Steps to a Better Website

If you need proof that incremental changes can improve your website, take time to scan through this list and plan your web enhancement activities over the next few months.

Start with 19 writing tips and go on to 5 other categories: usability, SEO, accessibility, design and legal. Truly, there is something for everyone here.

Give yourself a score for what is already done or in progress when you visit klck.me/ASx
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Ready for the Splinternet?

Groundswell researchers are reporting the end of 15 "golden age" Internet years when everything was nicely integrated. In the future, say these usually wise folk, we will not have things as easy as we have had them in the past.

Marketing communicators had best take note. If this is correct, we have to learn new ways to do web analytics, search engine optimization, online advertising and more. Why has the Internet splintered? Blame the variety of social media and mobile devices now in play.

A synopsis of the report is at bit.ly/5l2FcZ
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Williams College Drops "No-Loan" Policy

InsideHigherEd reported yesterday that Williams College is dropping the "no loan" policy for financial aid awards, effective with the entering class in fall 2011. The announcement was made Sunday. That is a not surprising result of decreases in endowment revenue and other fiscal challenges. Will other "no loan" schools follow Williams?

As of Monday night, the Williams website had not quite caught up. Read about the "no loan" policy at
www.williams.edu/admission/finaid.php but do not get the wrong idea if you are a high school junior this year.
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Does "Branding" Work on the Web?

Do you make a special effort on your website to make sure people find what they want to find when they visit (the academic programs offered, the real cost of enrolling, the academic profile of people who attend)?

Or do you insist on telling visitors what you think they should know about you?

Branding on the web is all about creating the right experience for your visitors.

Gerry McGovern writes about the perils of annoying web visitors at bit.ly/8N8PE9
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Congrats to University Presidents in Oregon

Presidents of public universities in Oregon are taking pay cuts and freezing salaries.

The step is no doubt symbolic in the face of overall financial challenges, but the higher education sector can use more symbolism like this in the months ahead after a recent Chronicle of Higher Education report on a continuing trend to higher salaries.

Check what is happening at various schools as reported by The Oregonian at bit.ly/8RklOT
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Myths and Realities: Teen Media Use

Nielsen reviews the differences and similarities between teens and adults. Time spent on TV, radio, and the Internet might not be as different as conventional wisdom has us think.

Check a quick summary at bit.ly/2XNziS and move from there to download the 17-page PDF report.
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Mobile Marketing: Controlling Expectations

Yes, mobile marketing is growing in importance and marketers should not ignore it.

However, it is important to balance the actions of "early adopters" with those of most other people and keep expectations under control while we plan activities in this new sector.

Read the ReadWriteWeb report that 76 percent of people do not use their mobile phones to access the web. (Higher for teens but not yet 40 percent.) Mobile users will increase but the difficult question is "how far and how fast?"

More including pro and con comments is at bit.ly/6YrJYs
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Future of Marketing Communications

If you like to think ahead 10 to 15 years, then do not miss the NY Times article that imagines how 2-year old children will communicate not long from now.

That is not the only learning point. Equally important is the finding that important generation gaps in how people communicate are only a few years apart. If you think you know what works for a 17-year old, do not be silly and assume that it will work for a 14-year old three years from now.

Get ready for the future at bit.ly/882LFF
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Time on Social Networks per Person: What Country Leads

A quick-to-scan ClickZ chart lists the top 10 countries around the world. No, the United States does not lead. Japan is last.

Find the leader and the rest at www.clickz.com/3636321
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My Upcoming Presentations in 2010

Share questions and answers with people like yourself who are building a competitive edge in higher education marketing. Join me for one or more of these events.

February 2, ACT: "Social Media in Marketing Communications," Lansing, MI

April 7, Magna Publications Webinar: "Web Analytics for Enrollment Success." Program details and registration at bit.ly/6y2l0A

April 20, Academic Impressions Webinar: "Writing Right for the Web." Check the outline and register at bit.ly/9ad2rj

June 3-4, Education Dynamics Aslanian Group Seminar, Marketing to Adult Students, Chicago, IL

July 21-23, ACT Enrollment Planners Conference, Chicago, IL

July 26-28, eduWeb2010, Chicago, IL Follow the conference program as it grows at www.eduwebconference.com/

Increase ROI from your online marketing. Expand the writing, editing, and search marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus workshop on online marketing.

Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com
____________________________________________
That's All for Now

Be a marketing champion on your campus.

Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com)
President and Senior Consultant
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
__________________________________________
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Increase your online marketing success with these 6 services.

• Customer Carewords Research with Gerry McGovern
• Writing Right for the Web On-Campus Workshops
• Marketing Communications Website Review
• Competitive Website Reviews
• Content Copywriting Services
• Usability Analysis

Start now at www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/whatwedo.html

Private sector higher education: shrinking over the next 10 years?

In the proverbial interests of full disclosure, I am an Alfred University alumnus, have never attended a reunion event, and have been a very occasional donor. That last category was just frequent enough to keep me on the "alumni and friends" list of people who receive regular updates from the university president, Charles Edmondson. I read everything that arrives.

The president's Memorandum of December 11 focused on the "fundamental challenges" that Alfred had to meet to "remain the unique institution that you remember."

A quick summary of the future enrollment challenge:

• New York state high school graduates will decline nearly 20% by 2019. The decline is greater in the NY areas where Alfred has traditionally had its greatest recruitment strength.
• The projected decline is even higher among students most likely to enroll at a private sector college or university.
• Demographic trends are not much better in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.
• AU has never recruited well in the South and West and there's no reason to expect that to change enough to balance the nearby demographic decline.

For making public comments like these, the president tells us he's been accused of spreading "gloom and doom." I hope most people view this as trying to create a realistic view of what's possible and what's not in the next 10 years.

Tuition discount: $19 million from $54 million 

Tuition discounting plays a major role here. For the current academic year, the president wrote that $19 million from a total budget of $54 million is supporting financial aid awards. This year about 35 percent of the university budget isn't available for salaries or facilities or regular operations.

We as alumni are asked to "temper your distress with patience and understanding" as "probable" reductions in programs, "including a sports team," are determined.

With 2,100 graduate and undergraduate students, Alfred is several hundred students larger than when I graduated. It is more likely than not that in future years enrollment will shrink rather than stay the same. That's not "gloom and doom," that's a realistic interpretation of the likely impact of current demographic and economic conditions.

Survival in the Private Sector 

Private higher education is not about to disappear in the United States. But few instititions have the reputation and the resources to continue over the next 10 years as they have operated in the past 10 to 15 years. That golden era of enrollment growth and facilities expansion just about everywhere is over. 

If Alfred University and others like it survive and thrive it will be in no small part because presidents like Charles Edmondson are willing to talk about "gloom and doom" in public and ask "alumni and friends" to support uncomfortable change. 

That's all for now 

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Tuition Discounting Increasing in the Private Sector of Higher Education

Getting information about college and university tuition discount rates is as challenging as finding the Holy Grail.

Tuition discount rate (the amount a school has to reduce the "sticker price" to enroll students) is an important indicator of strength in the market place, for everyone from University of Chicago competing against Ivy League rivals to far less well-known schools competing against regional public universities. Not many people like to admit it, but without substantial tuition discounting the private sector of higher education would look far different than it does today.

The current financial crisis (and that's still very much the environment for both the public and private sectors) in higher education has placed even greater strains on tuition discount rates. That fact was confirmed at the 2010 meeting ("Securing a Better Future") of college presidents hosted by the Council of Independent Colleges on Florida's Marco Island.

A reporter for InsideHigherEd was allowed to sit in on a meeting where presidents talked about the need for higher tuition discounting to maintain enrollment for the freshmen entering in 2009. The reporter promised not to mention any individual colleges. No individual discount rates were reported.

Steady enrollment but less tuition income

Here are some of the important points of that meeting:

• "Most" colleges met enrollment goals.
• A "large majority" said their discount rates had increased.
• When talking about increased applications this year, a "bubble burst" as presidents acknowledged that there are not enough high school graduates to translate this increase into more students. (Without an increase in accepted students who are likely to enroll, pressure on tuition discounting will not ease.)

Other problems identified:

• Banks that have reduced lines of credit and increased interest rates.
• More reliance on "adult" students to maintain total enrollment levels and thus a change in the traditional profile of many colleges.
• Interest only in academic programs with strong individual reputations. Parents are reluctant to spend $$$ on private sector tuition for programs without perceived strong rewards.

Private Sector Transformation

While "paradigm shift" is an overused term, the college president who used those words at the CIC meeting was on target. Many if not most private sector institutions will be far different 5 and 10 years from now than they were 5 years ago.

Obviously, "securing a better future" isn't going to be easy. The journey starts with presidents who can talk frankly to faculty, staff, students, and alumni who may have different views of just what "better" means.

Tomorrow I'll write about one president who is doing just that: Charles Edmundson at Alfred University.

That's all for now 

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Website visitors... eager to offer improvement advice

Over the past year 16 colleges and universities have done Customer Centric Index surveys with various groups visiting their website here in the United States and in Canada, Sweden, Norway, and the U.K.

Until recently we didn't have an option for adding answers to an open-ended question, but several of the early participants asked us to include that feature. And so in three recent CCI surveys completed at Bemidji State University, Ball State University's School of Extended Education, and Rider University we added a question like this:

• "If there was one improvement you could make to our website, what would you do and why would you do it?"

50 to 75 Percent Response

While we didn't predict a response rate in advance, the actual level was a major surprise. For Bemidji and Ball State, about 50 percent of everyone completing the survey took the time to add a written comment. At Rider, the only one so far to use a prize incentive to encourage responses, the response rate from survey takers jumped to 75 percent.

The message seems clear: ask people to help you improve your website and many will take the time to do just that.

Highest Concerns: Search and Links

Results of these last three surveys continue to confirm that two items are most likely to stand out as needing improvement regardless of who is answering the survey:

• Search... in this age of "Google," people have high expectations that search will work well at their college or university. For most people, it does not.
• Links... dissatisfaction with link structure is a common concern. People often are happy with content when they can find it. But too often, finding what they want is a special challenge.

Nancy Prater, director of marketing and communications at Ball State's School of Extended Education, summed up the value of the CCI survey results: 

• "The CCI survey has helped us identify problems we did not know we had, verify customer service issues we suspected existed, determine what we are doing right, and give us important benchmarks for measuring future improvement. We are using this data to make adjustments to our navigation and Web site copy, especially as it relates to search terms. It is also helping us focus efforts on our most critical needs, so that we are tackling problems impacting the largest number of our Web readers first.
• "We added an open-ended question at the end of the survey to help us understand the "whys" behind some of the responses. This provided us with more helpful and honest feedback than we would have received in a whole series of focus groups.

That's all for now.

• Ask me about a CCI survey for your school at bob@bobjohnsonsulting.com
• Join me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HighEdMarketing
• Subscribe to "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" at http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/