Bob Johnson's Blog on Higher Education Marketing

May greetings to everyone. We finally have spring in Michigan and I hope you are all enjoying something similar wherever you are.

I am on my way today to the J.Boye Web and Intranet Conference in Philadelphia where I will be doing sessions on web management, top task website design, and the role of speed in creating effective websites for the mobile world. Check the sessions at bit.ly/TAHnAA and follow us on Twitter starting Tuesday at #jboye13

Registration discount for Writing Right for the Web in Boston May 30-31 lasts until May 10. Act now at bit.ly/VgmRpA and join us for facts, fun, and a better website.

The ACT Enrollment Planners Conference always is a great gathering for people with a special interest in enrollment management and marketing. If that sounds like you, plan to join us July 10-12 in Chicago. Descriptions of the pre-conference sessions including mine on online advertising are at bit.ly/10tlgMR

July 29-31 are the dates for the 2013 eduWeb Conference. Check the full schedule starting with pre-conference workshops at bit.ly/XCPFer

And now here are your marketing news and notes for May.
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University of Leiden: 500 Universities Ranked for Strength in Science

Based on scientific publications and the university affiliations of their authors, the Center for Science and Technology Studies has ranked 500 universities around the world for strength in the sciences. You can review overall rankings as well as 5 divisions within the sciences. You can sort by region and country if you wish.

Overall, MIT is first, University of Melbourne is 100, Joseph Fourier University is 200, Kansas State is 300, University Modena is 400, and Ankara University is 500. See where your university fits at bit.ly/16J4CiW
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Are You a Marketer? Do You Want to Get Fired?

When it comes to web analytics, Avinash Kaushik is a genuine guru in a world where that term is used far too loosely. It is well worth the time to review why he believes marketers with an inordinate belief in "Eight Silly Data Myths" will get themselves fired.

You start with "real time data" and end with "demographics and psychographics" but do not skip the 6 points in between those. Protect your job. Start reading at bit.ly/ZJOjPa
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Infographic: Major Players in the Tangled MOOC University

If you have any interest in how MOOCs might impact the future of higher education you have to see this infographic from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Venture capitalists, universities, corporations, non-profit foundations and more are all playing in this game. Get insight into how it all fits together at bit.ly/ZXlDhQ
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Secret to Marketing Success: First Focus on Helping the Converted, Not Making New Converts

Everyone with enrollment or annual fund goals should read Gerry McGovern's latest column: From Conversions to Task Completions at bit.ly/11955tJ

The bottom line is this: people come to your website to do something they already have in mind. Focus your content on helping people do the tasks they came to your site to do. Applications and enrollment will increase. Annual fund contributions will rise. Count on it.
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Decreasing Summer Melt: What Works Best with Low-Income Students?

Here is a fascinating article in Harvard Business Review reporting the results of research on how to best decrease the summer melt of low-income students accepted to a college.

The answer: a text messaging program had a higher positive impact than a peer mentor program in some areas. In every area the cost of a text messaging program was far less than a mentor program. Check the details at bit.ly/XC5OQ5 and think about adjustments in your final conversion efforts.
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Website Speed: Can it ever be Too Fast?

The answer is no. Google knows that. Amazon knows that. More people in higher education should pay more attention to the need for speed, particularly when making plans to use responsive design to convert desktop websites to the mobile world.

If you need help convincing people on your campus to make speed a priority, read and distribute "Why You Need a Seriously Fast Website" at bit.ly/18ofphI
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Net Price Calculator: On the Home Page at Truman State University

Schools that dare to put a link to the Net Price Calculator in prominent position on the home page truly are rare. And so recognition to Truman State for having the marketing sense to facilitate a top task of many potential students and many of their parents at bit.ly/126gQOz

Truman joins only two others I have seen so far who dare to be different: University of Delaware and Lynn University. If I missed you, let me know. Help me start another Honor Roll.
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Facebook and Enrollment Marketing

How much can Facebook help increase inquiries, applications and enrollment conversions?

Jens Larson has researched in depth just how that works at Eastern Washington University. The short answer: not as much as you might think. But in other ways, Facebook has been a valuable marketing tool. One person's in-depth look at his own university results should help others refine their social media efforts to build enrollment.

Find more on how what to expect and what not to expect from Facebook at bit.ly/17Gpplh
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Parents and Price in Student Recruitment

When I analyzed responses from 6 colleges and universities in my secret shopping project from June 2012 to last February, two missing elements were a surprise. No school sent an online communication to parents until well after Labor Day. And none made any contact related to cost before October.

Read more about how you can gain competitive advantage by recognizing that cost is important to many parents. Start a parents communication program that takes advantage of price interest right from the time of first inquiry. More at bit.ly/ZwAZON
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Marquette University VP for Marketing and Communication

If you are a "dynamic, innovative and visionary" person with the right skill set and experience in "marketing, communication, and branding strategies" you might be interested in this position. For more details check the posting at bit.ly/ZJK0Dk
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Most Popular Topic Last Month: IPEDS Competitive Intelligence Ratings

Smart work by Jon Boeckenstedt at DePaul University with IPEDs data gives everyone a chance to enter up to 8 schools at a time and compare admission and graduation rates, ethnic diversity, endowment, and Pell Grant enrollment percent.

Check on your competitors at bit.ly/16gbvUp
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Conferences and Webinars in 2013

May 7-9, Philadelphia: "5 Top Web Management Principles: Achieving Consensus within Your Organization" and "Winning Friends at Your Website: Use Top Task Design for a Great Experience,"
J.Boye Web and Intranet conference. Program and registration starts at philadelphia13.jboye.com/

May 30-31, Boston: "Writing Right for the Web: Improving Your Institution's Web Content," Academic Impressions Conference. Details are online at bit.ly/VgmRpA

June 25, Webinar: "Improving Your Website to Increase Adult Student Enrollment," Academic Impressions. Description and registration are online now at bit.ly/YRHRC0

July 10-12, Chicago: "Advertising Online for Student Recruitment" pre-conference workshop and "Increasing Conversion: The Best (and Not So Best) Email Marketing Plans," ACT Enrollment Planners Conference. Workshop details are at bit.ly/10tlgMR

July 29-31, Boston: "Advertising Online" workshop and, with David Marshall, "An Admissions First Mobile Site," eduWeb 2013. See all the sessions at bit.ly/XCPFer

Plan a custom presentation on your campus. Host a workshop on any of my conference presentation topics. Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com or call me at 248.766.6425.
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That's All for Now  

Spring is at last emerging in Michigan. The crocuses are chilly but out of the ground. Tulips must be coming along soon. 

Just as the flowers are blooming, I hope that enrollment conversion efforts at your school bring deposits from new freshmen between now and May to match your goals. 

The J.Boye Web and Intranet Conference will offer international insights, superb organization, stimulating sessions and great social events in May. Review the program and register atbit.ly/TAHnAA

Workshops and regular session titles for eduWeb 2013 are online now at bit.ly/XCPFer 

If I have a favorite conference topic it is "Writing Right for the Web." Join us for the next event in Boston May 30-31. Check how you can make your website a better place to visit at bit.ly/VgmRpA

And now here are marketing notes and news for April.
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Competitive Intelligence: Try this Tool from Jon Boeckenstedt

IPEDS information can offer marketing strategists valuable insight into key differences between their own institutions and their primary competitors if they take the time to wade through the data.

Jon Boeckenstedt at DePaul University has done everyone with a competitive intelligence inclination a favor by creating a format to check up to 8 schools for information on new student test scores, admission and graduation rates, ethnic diversity enrollment, and endowment and Pell Grant levels.

When Jon's chart opens you will see stats for 8 Ivy League universities. Look in the right column for detail on how to delete those and add your own school and any others up to a total of 8 that interest you.

See how it works at bit.ly/16gbvUp and send Jon a note of thanks at JBOECKEN@depaul.edu
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Higher Ed Sticker Prices: Still Important for Parents

A new survey of the parents of college-bound high school students here in the U.S. shows that sticker price is still an important factor as families decide what college or university a child might attend.

Despite continued efforts to spread awareness of various financial aid programs, people like Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges, admit that an "affordability mental block" still exists. 

Here is a modest proposal: public and private sector universities should follow the example of the University of Delaware and Lynn University and put links to their net cost calculators on the home page. It is past time for marketers to take a leading role in increasing the visibility and ease of use of a tool that can reduce the "affordability mental block." If your school does not do this, you cannot complain about "affordability" mental blocks.

Spread the research around your campus after you learn more about parents and college selection at bit.ly/X4186w
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Coursera Online Courses: Only 62 Universities Can Play

Some might call it necessary quality control and others might call it controlling competition but whatever the you call it your university is not likely to get approval from Coursera to join in offering online courses unless it is one of 60 U.S. and two Canadian universities that are members of the Association of American Universities. 

Schools outside the U.S. and Canada will need to be a "top five" university in their own country. Waivers from an advisory board are possible but rare. Courses for the masses, offered by the elite.

Read more about policy at bit.ly/ZhlMuY 
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Gerry McGovern: Why Content is Not a Strategy

If you are planning a website revision or just tuning up your current site, create your improvement strategy by identifying the top tasks your visitors want to complete before deciding what the top content should be.

To better present that position to everyone involved, read an interview with Gerry McGovern atbit.ly/WDGQMq 
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Tuition Increases: The Impact of Declining Teaching Loads

This has the potential to cause public relations nightmares for higher education leaders: the extent to which lower teaching loads have spread throughout higher education from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, resulting in a loss of income from tuition that has forced higher overall tuition rates.

The charts in this report are fascinating: from genuine research universities with important research responsibilities to nearly every other type of institution, a modest restoration of teaching loads would produce significantly more revenue and lower overall teaching costs. 

Download your copy of "Selling Students Short" at bit.ly/ZEKg4A 
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Higher Education in Alberta: Public Sector Future in the U.S.?

Just as state governments are doing in the U.S. so too are provincial governments reducing higher education funding in Canada. And in Alberta, the Advanced Education Minister is mandating review and elimination of academic programs based on criteria that include duplication, low enrollment, and quality. 

Read more about an unusually vigorous intervention in higher education planning at bit.ly/16hgc1U 
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Tablets vs. Smartphones for Website Visits: Are Tablets Winning?

Adobe is reporting that around the world Internet visits from tablets have overtaken visits from smartphones. Overall, tablet users now make about 8 percent of website visits while smartphone visits are at 7 percent.

Here in the U.S. it is also true that for teens a smartphone is more valuable than a tablet for daily communication. But is that true when researching higher education choices? Marketers will want to watch closely this year their analytics reports about how new visitors are accessing their websites.

More on the Adobe report at adobe.ly/12I3U4D 
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Facebook Advertising for Mobile: Think Newsfeed

Are you advertising on Facebook? If you are and you want to engage the growing number of mobile users, the only place way to do that is by placing ads in the newsfeed. That was the advice of Facebook executive Nicholas Franchet at a conference in March.

Not only is the newsfeed the only place mobile visitors will see ads, it is also the most engaging place to put them. See more about the ad types available in the Mobile Marketer report atbit.ly/YnXl1N 

And of course remember that people are still not overly happy about social media and mobile advertising. That does not mean you should not do it. It does argue for careful selection of where your ads will appear so that your ad content matches the interests of those who see it as closely as possible.
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Responsive Design: The Dartmouth College Example

Work is in progress on a responsive design remake of the Dartmouth College website. Visit my blog for Q&A with Gene Lewis, creative director at Digital Pulp, to help you draft a realistic plan if responsive design is in your future. 

Start with "Responsive Design: Not a Magic Solution" at bit.ly/ZhnQ6d 
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Pinterest: Analytics for Marketers

If Pinterest is part of your social media marketing plan, visit "The Complete Guide to Using Pinterest's Free Analytics Tool" at bit.ly/YWRpLz for review of basic but important stats. 

Before you get to see results you have to verify your site and switch to a new Pinterest design. If you do not like the new design, you can change back to the old one.

Is Pinterest important? That depends on your marketing plans. The very large majority of people using it are women. Hitwise reports Pinterest is the fourth most popular social media site in the U.S. at 1.17 percent of visitors at the end of March. That is still well below the 25.2 percent of visitors to second-place Yahoo.
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Most Popular Topic Last Month: Monsters University Website

Laugh and weep as you see how the folks at Pixar accurately captured just about every brand cliché you can find on a higher education website when you visit bit.ly/Xryx7u 
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Conferences and Webinars in 2013

May 7-9, Philadelphia: "5 Top Web Management Principles: Achieving Consensus within Your Organization" and "Winning Friends at Your Website: Use Top Task Design for a Great Experience," J.Boye Web and Intranet conference. Program and registration starts at philadelphia13.jboye.com/ 

May 30-31, Boston: "Writing Right for the Web: Improving Your Institution's Web Content," Academic Impressions Conference. Details are online at bit.ly/VgmRpA 

June 25, Webinar: "Improving Your Website to Increase Adult Student Enrollment," Academic Impressions. Description and registration are online now at bit.ly/YRHRC0 

July 10-12, Chicago: "Advertising Online for Student Recruitment" pre-conference workshop and "Increasing Conversion: The Best (and Not So Best) Email Marketing Plans," ACT Enrollment Planners Conference. Workshop details are at bit.ly/10tlgMR 

July 29-31, Boston: "Advertising Online" workshop and, with David Marshall, "An Admissions First Mobile Site," eduWeb 2013. See all the sessions at bit.ly/XCPFer 

Plan a custom presentation on your campus. Host a workshop on any of my conference presentation topics. Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com or call me at 248.766.6425.
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That's All for Now 

Be a marketing champion on your campus.

Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com) 
President
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
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As I finish this newsletter we are having a rare sunny day in Michigan. Bright enough to make me realize spring is indeed almost upon us. May you all be having equally fine weather as you read this.

The latest update to my secret shopping reports on email response to an online inquiry takes a close look at the 31 Fast-Forward Application emails sent from one college between September and February. Read the subject lines and count the deadline changes at bit.ly/YARjtm

The Call for Papers for eduWeb2013 is open until March 8. Details at bit.ly/11EvfhY

My first conference presentations this year are at the J.Boye Web and Intranet Conference in Philadelphia in May: a tutorial on building web management consensus and sessions on responsive design and top task website design. More on the tutorial and the entire conference at bit.ly/TmJ0mk

My 2-day conference on Writing Write for the Web moves to Boston, May 30-31. Details for 2013 and video from the 2012 event are online now at bit.ly/VgmRpA

And now here are your higher education marketing news and notes for March.
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Start with a Laugh: Visit Monsters University Website

What do you get when you assemble every cliché about a higher education website in a single parody?

Monsters University website at bit.ly/Xryx7u

Do not miss the intro to Academics with an opening video "Message from the Dean for Prospective Students" but also be sure to include the entry pages for About and Admissions on your visit.
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Where Have the Full Pay Students Gone since 2005?

For insight into the changes since 2008 in the percent of new freshmen who pay full tuition and the average size of institutional scholarships and grants awarded to freshmen, visit bit.ly/VXH7N2

Group schools by public or private not-for-profit and by state or region. Or you can create a custom group of your competitors. Comparison years, from IPEDS, are 2005 and 2010.
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Email for Mobile Marketing in 2013

Mike Hotz offers insight into key changes you need to make for effective email marketing in 2013.

My favorite was the need to apply responsive design to your email and not just your website. Make sure you read, or try to read, your email on your smartphone. If you cannot do that without finger flicking to enlarge the text, your email marketing will suffer in 2013.

More on email marketing and mobile apps from Mike at bit.ly/YAQGQC
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Selective Colleges and Universities: An Ongoing Lack of Socioeconomic Diversity

Is socioeconomic diversity a more important goal in the future than ethnic diversity?

That is the question Richard Kahlenberg asks in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education column after being "dumbstruck" by an open discussion of that topic at a talk he was giving at Middlebury College sponsored by a new student group called Money at Midd.

The result is a fine overview of economic vs. ethnic diversity in admission goals that prompted at least 60 comments in response at bit.ly/YRpjTc
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Strategy for Creating Responsive Design Websites

Are you planning to jump on the responsive design bandwagon this year? Be sure to read Jared Spool on strategy points to consider as you start the process. Two of my favorite points: you will need to reduce content and pay special attention to images.

A website that is not marketing strong before responsive design will not be marketing strong after it. Check more good advice in "Devising a Strategy for Responsive Design" at bit.ly/Zf4qRQ
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The High Cost of Brand Position: 60+ Percent Tuition Discounting

Imagine you worked at Top 25 National Liberal Arts College with an endowment of about $1.4 billion and had to discount more than 60 cents of every tuition dollar to enroll a freshmen class. Would that be a sustainable financial model at your school?

More about the high cost of maintaining brand position and how one board of trustees hopes to change the financial model in my blog post at bit.ly/WoXV2h
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Social Media Demographics

Social media marketing is important, but depending on your goals not all social media sites are equally important. If you want to reach men, for instance, Pinterest will not have a large role to play. Only 5 percent of men online use Pinterest compare to 25 percent of women.

The folks at the Pew Internet project bring us that information and more on 5 popular social media sites in their February research report at bit.ly/XJM10g
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Graduate Student Enrollment: Advertising on LinkedIn

If ambitious young professionals looking for career advancement are a recruitment target for your master's degree programs, LinkedIn is expanding online advertising opportunities with special attention to smartphones.

Read more about what is planned for 2013 at bit.ly/W3GC2K
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The Marketing Power of "You" in Writing

In my Writing Right for the Web sessions I always try to include an example of a page that uses "you" to speak to the people who are reading the page. Pages like that are not easy to find.

Perhaps more people will start making their websites visitor-friendly by adopting a "you" approach after reading Tim Riesterer on "Nine Common Phrases Made Great by Using 'You' Instead of 'We'" at bit.ly/Vduz3H

Reducing the amount of organization-centric writing is one way you can start improving the marketing strength of your website tomorrow.
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Blessedly Brief Online Inquiry Forms: 3 New Honor Roll Members in February

The Honor Roll started in October with an original 6 members and more have surfaced since then.

Three more were added in February: a music school, a continuing studies program, and an undergraduate admissions site. See the new and the earlier winners at bit.ly/OYZeBb

If you have one similar to these, send me the link.
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Most Popular Topic Last Month: City University of New York Landing Page

CUNY creates great landing pages that repeat and reinforce advertising messages. See the landing page and the original ad for "At CUNY, the Legacy Continues" at cuny.edu/news/features/legacy.html
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Conferences and Webinars in 2013

Look for presentation details in the February newsletter.

May 7-9, Philadelphia: "5 Top Web Management Principles: Achieving Consensus within Your Organization" and "Winning Friends at Your Website: Use Top Task Design for a Great Experience," J.Boye Web and Intranet conference. Program and registration starts at philadelphia13.jboye.com/

May 30-31, Boston: "Writing Right for the Web: Improving Your Institution's Web Content," Academic Impressions Conference. Details are online at bit.ly/VgmRpA

June 25, Webinar: "Improving Your Website to Increase Adult Student Enrollment," Academic Impressions. Description and registration are online now at bit.ly/YRHRC0

Also plan to attend one or more of my favorites... ACT Enrollment Planners Conference in July, and/or eduWeb Conference also in July.

Expand the marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus workshop on any of my conference presentation topics or "Writing Right for The Web." Scan the presentation topics at bit.ly/NVQR8c

Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com or call me at 248.766.6425.
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That's All for Now

Be a marketing champion on your campus.

Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com)
President
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Is it February already? If you are like me, 2013 is moving rapidly along and I trust good things are happening as your marketing plans move forward this year.

The January update in my secret shopping series on email response to an website inquiry is online now. Visit and follow the ongoing tale of the ever-changing Fast-Forward Application deadline. 14 emails are reviewed at bit.ly/XYy2QY

The Call for Papers for eduWeb2013 is open until February 15. Details at bit.ly/11EvfhY

Gerry McGovern will host a free webinar on February 7 to review results from over 1,000 web professionals on what they believe are the most important web management principles. Register at bit.ly/11x5PHn

My first conference presentations this year are at the J.Boye Web and Intranet Conference in Philadelphia in May, stating with a tutorial on building web management consensus among developers, marketers, content specialists, and managers. More on the tutorial and the entire conference at bit.ly/TmJ0mk

Our 2-day conference on Writing Write for the Web is in Boston this year, May 30-31. Details will be online later this month.

And now here are your higher education marketing news and notes for February.
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Endowments Flat in 2012: See Results from 833 Schools

Last year was not a good one for most higher education endowments. And that will add to the financial pressure felt by colleges and universities fighting in the tuition discount wars to maintain enrollments and academic profiles. Above the $1 billion mark are 71 schools. Just 145 schools are above the $500 million mark.

Endowment income, in other words, is not going to provide serious budget support to very many colleges and universities. Check to see how your endowment compares to those of your competitors among the 833 colleges and universities at bit.ly/UJezGo
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Responsive Design Websites: Pros and Cons

Responsive design websites can help make your web content work better as the number of people visiting on smartphones continues to increase. But responsive design is not a magic cure for whatever ails your site, particularly if your site suffers from great quantities of little-used content.

To help set realistic expectations, read "The pros and cons of responsive Web design" from Mobile Commerce Daily at bit.ly/12Y5AV1
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Advertising Landing Pages: CUNY Does it Right

If you spend money on advertising to bring people to a website, the landing page should repeat and reinforce the message in the ad that motivated the move to the website. Sounds simple, but too many ads still drop people on a regular website page. That is guaranteed to reduce conversion. In other words, guaranteed to waste money.

City University of New York ran a centerfold ad in the February 3 NTY Education Life supplement that does not make that mistake. Visit the landing page at cuny.edu/news/features/legacy.html where you can also download a PDF copy of the ad.
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Gates Foundation Report: Major Overhaul of Financial Aid System

If people on your campus still do not think that the wind is blowing higher education toward dramatic changes, add a new report sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to their reading list.

Changes in Pell Grant duration and the amount that students and parents can borrow are just two of the areas to read about in the report from InsideHigherEd at bit.ly/126NJwh

If you want to plunge right into the full "Rebalancing Resources and Incentives in Federal Student Aid" report at bit.ly/XZ0eU3 you can download a 41-page PDF at the same location.
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Advertising Online: A New Opportunity from Facebook?

A new "Custom Audiences" feature from Facebook will let organizations upload their CRM database and deliver ads directly to anyone in the database with a Facebook account.

While the devil always lurks in the details, including costs and privacy, this is a promising feature that would let colleges and universities focus advertising efforts directly to people in their inquiry pool who had not yet become applicants.

The service is not operational yet. Read more about it from AdAge at bit.ly/WxCF7C
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Direct Marketing Follies: The PSAT January Contact Season

How far has direct marketing advanced in higher education?

Not all that far if the deluge of email arriving these last few weeks to the son of a friend in the direct marketing business is any indication. Read his comments and my own about the 60 or so emails received from schools the son has never heard of, nearly all using very similar marketing messages, at bit.ly/YnLlAt
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Recruiting Geography: How Far From Your Location?

If you are a regional public university or a private sector college with limited brand recognition far from your campus in an area where demographics do not work in your favor, you will not like results from the latest annual survey of new college freshmen from UCLA.

Simply put, most of today's freshmen are little more inclined to travel far to attend college now than in 1972 or at any time since then. Many want to stay within 50 miles of home and for many others 100 miles is the limit. Unless you have a strong brand reputation and attract more affluent students the 30 percent willing to travel over 500 miles are not likely coming to your campus.

For more on changes over time, check the chart at bit.ly/YpEsyr
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Net Price Calculators: More Complex than Necessary?

Publicity for net price calculators increased when the New York Times ran a January story highlighting the challenges people face in using them: a wide variety of forms requiring different information producing different results. The impact: many people start the forms without finishing them and others do not trust the net cost received.

The article mentions in passing another major drawback: many net price calculators are hidden away where they likely will not be found. I still suspect that is the desired result at some colleges and universities. The NYT article is at nyti.ms/XcVCsm

The Institute for College Access and Success reported last fall on a random study of 50 net price calculators, with questions numbering from 8 to 70. Two, at Grinnell College and Milliken University, were cited as especially easy to find. Only one, at University of Tulsa, received praise for featuring the true net price as the most visible number on the results page.

Download the Institute report at bit.ly/WJ9cHy and see how your calculator compares.
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Law School Applications: 20 Percent Decrease from 2012

All but a handful of law schools around the country are expecting a second year of serious application decreases. Expensive tuition combined with poor job prospects and high student debt are fueling an ongoing decline that is expected to shrink students, faculty and staff at many schools and close some.

The New York Times reports the University of Illinois law school is discounting tuition to maintain enrollment. More details in the NYT story at nyti.ms/Xu0OKg
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Jakob Nielsen Alertbox: The Perils of Auto-Rotating Images

Jakob Nielsen is out with a new Alertbox report warning of the dangers of auto-rotating images on the home page. Nielsen recommends putting visitors in control by letting them view a single image as long as they want.

Nielsen details the negative impact of auto-rotation at www.nngroup.com/articles/auto-forwarding
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Most Popular Topic Last Month: Video Introducing New UCal Logo

Introducing a new logo is always a challenge and this video did not help. Most popular topic last month was a University of California video dismissively brushing aside the old image at bit.ly/133wAT6
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Conferences and Webinars in 2013

Look for presentation details in the February newsletter.

May 7-9, Philadelphia: "5 Top Web Management Principles: Achieving Consensus within Your Organization" and "Winning Friends at Your Website: Use Top Task Design for a Great Experience," J.Boye Web and Intranet conference. Program and registration starts at philadelphia13.jboye.com/

May 30-31, Boston: "Writing Right for the Web: Improving Your Institution's Web Content," Academic Impressions Conference. Details will be online soon.

June 25, Webinar: "Recruiting Adult Students: Top Website Features to Increase Enrollment," Academic Impressions. Description and registration will be available later in February.

Also plan to attend one or more of my favorites... ACT Enrollment Planners Conference in July, and/or eduWeb Conference also in July.

Expand the marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus workshop on any of my conference presentation topics or "Writing Right for The Web." Scan the presentation topics at bit.ly/NVQR8c

Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com or call me at 248.766.6425 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 248.766.6425 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
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That's All for Now

Be a marketing champion on your campus.

Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com)
President
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

A Happy New Year to everyone. Here we are in 2013, ready for another year of change and challenge in higher education around the world. Best wishes to all of you as you seek to navigate to success these next 12 months.

Spending time at the conferences that best fit your interests is an important part of learning new navigation skills and hearing from friends and colleagues about what has worked best for them and what has not. Three of my favorites the first half of the year are down below at the end of the newsletter.

One of those, eduWeb, the Call for Papers for the 2013 eduWeb conference in Boston opened today and will run until February 15. Visit www.eduwebconference.com/attend/present for details.

My secret shopping series on email inquiry responses from 6 colleges and universities is winding down. For a new report last week that includes the application deadline that was not really a deadline visit bit.ly/UICHsi

And now here are your marketing news and notes for January.
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Kiplinger's Magazine: 2013 Public Sector Best Value Schools

January brings the new Kiplinger edition of the best values in public universities. The first 100 start with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and end with Missouri University of Science and Technology.

The report includes not only in-state and out-of-state total costs and costs after need-based financial aid, but also average loan debt. The debt leader among the first 100 schools is University of New Hampshire at $34,194. The lowest average debt was at North Georgia College and State University at $10,128.

Check for your school when you visit www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/
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University of California: A Video to Fan the Flames of Logo Change

The University of California will not be using its new logo after all, given the huge negative response to the new symbol. That announcement came in mid-December. Logo change is never easy, from the internal deliberations to the first public exposure.

One thing you do not want to do is create a special promo video that seems to (literally) dismissively brush aside the old in favor of the new in an effort to shed light on a university that few believed was in the dark before the new logo appeared.

Watch the official UC promo video at bit.ly/133wAT6 for an example of how not to introduce a new logo.
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New from Mobile Marketer: The Classic Guide to Mobile Marketing

As a marketer, you cannot escape the mobile element today. One good place to refresh and renew is with the new 5th edition of the Classic Guide to Mobile Marketing, released in late December. The collection of short articles includes several on the challenges of advertising successfully in the mobile world.

Download your copy of the 46-page PDF at bit.ly/SYTRUo
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MOOCs Search for Business Model

If you thought the providers of Massive Open Online Courses were oblivious to the potential of making a financial profit, read the Wall Street Journal article outlining the interest of venture capitalists to invest large amounts of money in the expectation that profits will indeed be realized.

The path is not yet clear. But initial steps are underway and those who venture are optimistic. Learn more from the WSJ at on.wsj.com/VEbJQ7
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Advertising ROI: 10 Landing Page Tips to Increase Inquiry Conversion

As many of you know, I collect examples of the landing pages that follow after an online ad. Often those landing pages seem designed by people who are afraid of receiving too many inquiries. The inevitable result: too much money spent on creative and media buys is wasted.

To increase your conversion rates, check "10 Ways to Optimize for Lead Generation" from Website Magazine. The first tip: "Focus on Simplified Design." In the higher education world that means do not ever take a potential student to a regular website page.

Read more about the value of simple design and 9 other steps to increase your inquiry pool at bit.ly/ULS9DP
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False Information Reported Again: Tulane MBA Admission Stats

Will we have more revelations in 2013 of false information reported to US News and elsewhere to gain ranking points?

In late December Tulane became the fourth well-known school in 2012 to make a public admission. This case involved GMAT scores and application numbers for the MBA program. Details from Inside Higher Ed are at bit.ly/UabuBe
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Online Advertising: Debating the Value of Banner Ads

In a December column for AdAge, Jeff Rosenblum was direct in his opinion that banner ads are "worthless real estate" bought my marketers who do not know how to use them online.

On major point: banner ads in traditional marketing work best to move a person to action when there is already awareness of a brand and appreciation of what it has to offer. Many marketers, on the other hand, buy online banner ads to create initial brand awareness. And in that case, most people ignore banner ads.

Do you agree? Be sure to read the comments to his article as well as more of the Rosenblum analysis at bit.ly/V3ARmf
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Mobile App for Admission and Financial Aid: New at Harvard University

If you have the resources, a mobile app can still be a better way to cover specific tasks for mobile visitors than a responsive remake of your regular website. At Harvard, a new mobile app is available for smartphone users: Harvard College Admissions and Financial Aid.

Review 6 mobile apps that cover things from the university as a whole to the Law School, the School of Public Health, and the arboretum when you visit hvrd.me/UYWaWs
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Trustees & Higher Education: My School is Good, Others Not so Much

Trustees at U.S. colleges and universities seem to agree with much of current public opinion about higher education: cost is too high and schools are not doing a good job of preparing people for career success. Those are some results from a survey of trustees taken by the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities.

Thanks change when AGB asked trustees to differentiate between their own school and others. In that case, for instance, 45 percent felt their schools were doing a good job of career preparation compared to only 18 percent who felt that other schools were doing the same.

Download the 18-page PDF report from AGG at bit.ly/13cGctQ
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Wish I Had Said This: Deb Maue on MOOCs, Napster, and Higher Education

Today starts an occasional new feature for the newsletter: a direct link to something I have read that I wish I had written.

This item is for deniers who still think that the way higher education is delivered is not about to go through serious change much faster than many anticipate. Deb has picked up on an important recent event. The American Council on Education is undertaking a study about whether or not it is OK to give credit for MOOC courses. That's the end of the story. The end game is upon us.

Deb tells us how MOOCs are the Napster event of higher education at bit.ly/Zdn2QQ
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Most Popular Topic in the December Newsletter: NSSE Student Survey Results for 2012

The most visited item in the December newsletter let people download a copy of the 2012 undergraduate report on student engagement. Get your copy and see if your school participated at bit.ly/T01Hbn
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Conferences and Webinars in 2013

Look for presentation details in the February newsletter.

In the meantime, do plan to attend one or more of my favorites: J.Boye Web and Intranet Conference in May, ACT Enrollment Planners Conference in July, and eduWeb Conference also in July.

Expand the marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus workshop on any of my conference presentation topics or "Writing Right for The Web." Scan the presentation topics at bit.ly/NVQR8c

Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com or call me at 248.766.6425 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 248.766.6425 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
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That's All for Now

Be a marketing champion on your campus.

Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com)
President
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
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