Higher education marketing news and notes...
Note a new feature this month: the most popular item from the previous newsletter is now included at the end of each new one. Scroll down for social media predictions for 2012.
This year I will be doing a new conference session on digital marketing strategy. The first rendition is set for the J.BoyePhiladelphia2012 Web and Intranet Conference in May. For details on a superb event where you will share ideas with people outside higher education, visit the website at bit.ly/wRxeCi
Next week I will start on a new 2-day "Writing Right for the Web" conference, also in May. The outline that includes traditional, mobile, and social media is at bit.ly/AfVgk3
Do you have a friend or colleague who might like this newsletter? To subscribe, send them to bit.ly/aRePLm
And now, here are your marketing notes for February.
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32 Words "Lazy PR Writers" Should Avoid
Whether or not you work in public relations, if you have any role in creating or reviewing marketing copy you should review this list from Tom Gable. Tom starts with "best of breed" and ends with "world class."
You will not want to miss the 30 in between these at bit.ly/sKDAfS
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NAICU and Today's World
NAICU presidents are meeting in D.C. this week, just after President Obama's State of the Union and University of Michigan speeches made many of them nervous about the possibility of "price control" measures from the federal government. Some, but not everyone, gave a standing ovation to a speaker who urged them to resist the "juggernaut" of accountability headed their way.
Question for marketers: Can schools openly resist accountability today? More on the meeting at bit.ly/xvvBKr
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Elite College Fakes SAT Scores to US News
Claremont McKenna College has admitted that for the past 6 years it has inflated SAT scores of new freshmen reported to U.S. News and World Report.
Higher education does not need sad and silly news like this. Sad because it just should not happen, silly because the actual score inflation was so low. The details are at bit.ly/zcDybs
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Google Gives Direct Marketing a Boost
Google plans to change existing privacy policy and consolidate information about people using Google sites in a single data base is creating controversy.
The advertising community, on the other hand, sees this as an opportunity to more carefully place advertising based on known preferences of the people receiving it. If advertisers adopt the right direct marketing approach, they will stop blasting ads to everyone regardless of interest and more carefully use available data to get higher conversions from fewer people reached.
Careful targeting is what good direct marketing has always been about. Online marketing from colleges and universities can benefit from the change. Read more in an AdAge article at bit.ly/xQJt4q
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Who Owns Tablets and E-Readers?
Yes, the time truly is coming when print view books for student recruitment will vanish. Not today and not next year. But somewhere between now and 2020 it will happen.
The folks at the Pew Internet and American Life Project continue their fine reports with 5 demographic segments using tablets e-readers now: gender, age, race, income, and education level.
Holiday gift-giving was responsible for an ownership jump from 18 percent of the U.S. population in December 2011 to 29 percent in January 2012.
Note that e-readers are not about to disappear. Kindle Fire is selling well, no doubt in part because of the low price point compared to more fully featured tablets. Talk to agencies that do electronic view books for the iPad and be sure to ask them what they can do for a Kindle.
Check the details at pewrsr.ch/y1cm2t
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Growing Percent of Students Taking Online Courses
The Sloan Consortium reports that nearly one-third of all higher education students were taking at least one online course in fall, 2010. The 10 percent growth rate for online enrollment is much higher than the 2 percent growth rate for higher education overall. Expect demand to continue to grow and include students at traditional, residential institutions.
The free report is available as a PDF or for your iPad, Kindle or Nook. Download your preferred copy of the 2011 report at bit.ly/zsHYWc
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Noel-Levitz Survey: Mobile Marketing and Social Media
Later this month Noel-Levitz will publish the results of a new survey of college-bound high school students about how they use mobile devices.
For now, you can review an early slice of the results on how these students use mobile to access Facebook and YouTube: 76 percent access Facebook from a mobile device and 63 percent do the same for YouTube.
From that point, Noel-Levitz notes the critical implication for people using these social media sites in student recruitment plans. If you link from social media to your website, you are in for a major failure if the website landing pages are not mobile friendly. You will not survive the high bounce rates that will happen when people using a smartphone attempt to visit a traditional website.
Check the early survey results and pre-order your copy of the full report at bit.ly/A188mQ
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Writing Effective Website Links
In our Carewords partners' world with Gerry McGovern, we have done nearly 20 surveys of people using higher education websites. The number one problem among every audience is now predictable: confusing menus and links.
Why is that the result? Most links are written from the organization perspective, rather than from an attempt to think like the potential students (and their parents) using the site.
Gerry has just written a great column on how to write links that work, including why the link to Frequently Asked Questions is most often "a very poor one" to use.
For tips on effective link writing that start with an admonition to write links as if they were headlines, visit bit.ly/Ab9905
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State Appropriations for Higher Ed at a Glance
OK, you know what is happening in your state. Are you doing better or worse than other states across the U.S.?
Scroll down just a bit in this Chronicle of Higher Education article on declines in state funding until you see the map that shows the two states that have increased funding for 2012, the 19 that have decreased funding by 10 percent or more and those that fall somewhere in between.
The Chronicle article is at bit.ly/yfhrdt
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Yale University: Continuing Budget Gap
Why should you care about an Ivy League university with the highest paid non-profit sector president in the U.S.? Perhaps just to see how even the most affluent of universities still has major problems adjusting to post-2008 economic realities.
Do not skip the comments following the Yale Daily News article at bit.ly/zeKGTV
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Deceptive Advertising, Higher Education, and the FTC
Do use lead generation agencies to identify enrollment prospects? If you do, do you know what advertising is being used? Are you in danger of violating Federal Trade Commission rules on deceptive advertising if the ads are, shall we say, just a bit shady?
If you answered "yes" to the first question, read my mid-January blog post at bit.ly/y8pIE6
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Most Popular Item from the January Newsletter
"30 Social Media Predictions for 2012 from the Pros" had the most clicks in January. If you missed it, visit bit.ly/w6QOZ7
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Conference Presentations in 2012
Attend a conference in 2012 to share questions and answers with people who are building a competitive advantage in higher education marketing.
May 8-10, Philadelphia: J.BoyePhiladelphia12 Web and Intranet Conference. Tutorial presentation: "Digital Marketing Strategy: 2015 and Beyond." See all sessions and register at bit.ly/wRxeCi
May 24-25, Atlanta: Academic Impressions Conference: "Writing Right for the Web: Improving Your Content." Program details and registration at bit.ly/AfVgk3
July 11-13, Chicago: ACT Enrollment Planners Conference. Visit the conference website at bit.ly/tnvnhR
July 30-August 1, Boston: eduWeb2012. Conference website is at bit.ly/z391iU
Expand the marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus workshop on any of the conference topics listed here.
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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Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC
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