Oh, the holidays; the hustle and bustle, the lights, the music, and who could forget the shopping mania! As we think about that perfect gift, it’s a good time to remember that your prospective students are shoppers too … educational shoppers, that is.

Instead of shopping for sweaters or the latest must-have gift…they are shopping for educational opportunities and experiences. You know, like the ones you offer.

What is their shopping experience like? Here’s hoping it’s nothing like the madness at the mall with the slew of tired workers and excess of disorganized offers. Too often, we spend all of our time on getting out the new marketing campaign to entice students to contact us … but what actually happens when they do? Read more… »

A few months ago while reading an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution online, I ran across an ad for the Executive MBA (EMBA) program at Mercer University. Mercer happens to be my alma matter, so I was intrigued. I couldn’t resist the temptation to click to see how Mercer was using this ad to acquire inquiries.

The ad was linked directly to the University’s main page for the Stetson School of Business. Since things like inquiry acquisition for higher education is among the things we do on a daily basis at DemandEngine, I couldn’t help but notice several things about Mercer’s approach: Read more… »

The 2009 American Marketing Association (AMA) Symposium for Higher Education included an incredibly engaging keynote speaker, a bevy of college and university marketing professionals ready to share their experience and expertise, and a bounty of vendor-sponsored refreshment breaks (keeping us all well-fed and caffeinated).

The topics today ranged from social to direct marketing, Gandhi to Google, and high tech to high strategy. One of the overarching themes was a pleasant surprise – measurement.

It seems that in the mayhem of technologies amidst goals to increase enrollment and decrease budget there is a sudden awareness of the staying-power that measurement vision provides. Brand marketers are moving – sometimes uncomfortably – toward the quantitative realm. Read more… »

If we’ve heard it once from customers this year, we’ve heard it one hundred times. “My [insert name of college official here] wants to know what we are doing on Twitter.”

With the media hype, celebrity attention, and general curiosity, this funny-named phenomenon that simply lets us answer the question, “what are you doing?” is riding the tidal wave of novelty. So, is Twitter a channel that works for higher education marketing and recruitment?

Here are two thoughts to keep in mind if you choose to leap into the Twittersphere:

Read more… »

Social technologies?

With the interest in Twitter and Facebook, colleges and universities are understandably interested in participating. But what are your students ready for? How do they want to learn about you? Do you know?

It’s easy to jump off into the deep end of the pool with the popularity of social technologies. Many are free, and in 15 minutes or less in some cases, you can have your college or university in the middle of the social fray. You have many ways to attract and engage students … the key question is which ones makes sense?

Today, we announced some research we are doing in the adult learner market to better understand: 1)  how this student population wants to learn about colleges and universities through interactive marketing channels, and 2) how they participate online. We have ten research partner institutions from across the country involved in the effort.

The purpose of this study is to understand how adult-learners WANT to communicate with institutions at various points in their decision process, from initial awareness, to registration or application. We will also look at how this student population participates in online activities ranging from posting social status updates and listening to podcasts, to using email. Understanding behavior as well as what students want may provide some guidance (or perhaps restraint) in the social ‘arms’ race.

The official study will be released in early 2010.  We will be sharing some early results later in the fall. At the time of this posting, some 4,000 adult-learners have responded to the survey. The results so far … are enlightening.

One of the hottest topics these days among higher education marketers is the adoption of social media in marketing and recruitment efforts. At DemandEngine this is a topic that we actively research including: writing and presenting about social enrollment, the current efforts of colleges and universities on social networks, and how prospective students want to be engaged by institutions.

Our work caught the attention on Inside Higher Ed, an online new source of higher education. Today, writer Steve Kolowich writes about The Social Media Maze, an article in which DemandEngine managers were quoted and our research was referenced.

Read Steve’s article …

Are events part of your annual enrollment marketing efforts? IDo you use campus visits and receptions as part of your undergraduate recruitment arsenal? Do you use information sessions for adult learners?

Regardless of the type of student you are responsible for enrolling, chances are events play a significant role in prospective student acquisition and cultivation.

Since the recession of 2000, Webinars, or online presentations or meetings  have been a viable alternative to in-person field events for business. And today, a number of higher education vendors (including DemandEngine) use webinars as a strategy to uncover demand and generate leads using thought leadership to sell products and services.

Yet, for some reason, colleges and universities have not added webinars to their enrollment marketing mix … to date.

Let’s look at some of the advantages of webinars. Read more… »

Earlier this summer, Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, revealed that he had recently left Facebook. Why? Too many ‘friend’ requests. Gates commented, “…that technology has been hugely beneficial but, all of these tools of tech waste our time if we’re not careful.”

Similarly, colleges and universities – encouraged by a rising number of higher education (ahem) social experts – too are rushing into social technologies to ‘friend’ their students with little idea of how they participate, what objectives they will accomplish, and with no strategy … well, other than ‘everybody’s doing it.’

Read more… »

Asked by a college administrator last year during a SunGard Higher Education technology demonstration, it’s a common question raised by those using promotional email marketing for enrollment.

The answer (in this instance) included a lengthy description of the technical considerations taken into account to prevent this from happening.

The problem with technology-centric view  is that it represents only one part of the answer. Unlike the postal service – which is under charter to delivery every piece of stamped mail you can send – the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have no such obligation.

In another example, we recently had an enrollment marketing practitioner ask, “How can I make the ISPs take my messages?” It doesn’t work that way.

Simply focusing on the email marketing delivery system is not the answer. Keeping out of the SPAM folder has a whole lot less to do with your software and everything to with your email marketing program. Read more… »