Can I change the ads?
An interesting by-product of behavioral targeting (BT) is that I get a lot of ads from the same industry. Over the last couple of years I've worked with clients in the education space - particularly around graduate degrees from for-profit institutions. The side-effect: I see a tremendous disproportionate number of ads from the likes of GCU, Western Governors, etc. whenever I surf for interesting news stories.
It seems that a weakness of BT is that just because I visited a site it doesn't mean I'm interested in buying the product. There are numerous reasons to visit a site and only some relate to the purpose of display ads - driving traffic. Since I rarely (never?) go to the "Apply Now" pages and only review course descriptions the systems should infer my intent as something other than a prospective student.
I wonder what ads I've been missing.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Branding, Content and Segmentation
Is there a single voice?
We often talk about using a single voice and message as a means of conveying a brand to an audience. This recommendation is based on the argument that we do not want to create dissonance and confuse the market with various and conflicting messages. But what happens when there are several potential segments, each with their own view of the world and needs? As an example, education deals with a very diverse set of segments, even within the same degree program.
So, let's revisit the question: How do we portray ourselves to different segments?
Creating different brand promises is not the answer. All great brands have a single point of view or essence; often defining the category. They own one and only one idea, e.g. Red Bull is the "energy drink." There are few brands that mean radically different things to different groups - Yamaha being a successful example in pianos and motorcycles.
Audience segments are often described in terms of demographics and lifestyles. But there is another potential dimension to explore: need. What underlying benefit does a degree provide? Is it skills to do something or is it a sense of accomplishment or is it fulfilling a life-long dream? If we can get a prospect to talk about their vision of the future then we can better understand why they go back to or continue school. If these views can be reduced to a small set of outcomes then a new possibility arises for developing content: Write the content in a way that reflects the underlying need. Two really simple examples to illustrate the point:
Skills: describe the practical tools they gain; expertise of faculty
Achievement: provide job and career options; testimonials of successful placements
In this day of landing page optimization and dynamic key word insertion it isn't hard to envision an environment that works more like face-to-face selling. By sensing what is important to prospects and responding with appropriate content we might be able to improve conversion.
We often talk about using a single voice and message as a means of conveying a brand to an audience. This recommendation is based on the argument that we do not want to create dissonance and confuse the market with various and conflicting messages. But what happens when there are several potential segments, each with their own view of the world and needs? As an example, education deals with a very diverse set of segments, even within the same degree program.
So, let's revisit the question: How do we portray ourselves to different segments?
Creating different brand promises is not the answer. All great brands have a single point of view or essence; often defining the category. They own one and only one idea, e.g. Red Bull is the "energy drink." There are few brands that mean radically different things to different groups - Yamaha being a successful example in pianos and motorcycles.
Audience segments are often described in terms of demographics and lifestyles. But there is another potential dimension to explore: need. What underlying benefit does a degree provide? Is it skills to do something or is it a sense of accomplishment or is it fulfilling a life-long dream? If we can get a prospect to talk about their vision of the future then we can better understand why they go back to or continue school. If these views can be reduced to a small set of outcomes then a new possibility arises for developing content: Write the content in a way that reflects the underlying need. Two really simple examples to illustrate the point:
Skills: describe the practical tools they gain; expertise of faculty
Achievement: provide job and career options; testimonials of successful placements
In this day of landing page optimization and dynamic key word insertion it isn't hard to envision an environment that works more like face-to-face selling. By sensing what is important to prospects and responding with appropriate content we might be able to improve conversion.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Match Making in Edu
Can we redesign a match-making service for education?
In "Fiddler on the Roof" Hodel sings about match-making:
In some ways lead generation vendors in the education space think they're a modern day Yenta (the match maker in Fiddler) by offering site visitors a matching service. With a few exceptions this is pretty much a smoke screen and gimmick. If anyone has looked at the form that prospects fill out it is pretty easy to see that there isn't much to go on. Contact information and year of graduation just isn't very good to pick an institution. How'd you like to be served up a list of cars to choose from based on the same information?
To make matters worse for the prospect, many options run with caps so when a school hits a budget goal for the month the spigot is turned off. What other high-consideration industry turns away potential customers just because the quota is full?
There are a couple of additional issues relevant in this day and age.
Just need to find a better word than 'match'; that's been abused.
In "Fiddler on the Roof" Hodel sings about match-making:
Matchmaker, Matchmaker,
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Look through your book,
and make me a perfect match.
In some ways lead generation vendors in the education space think they're a modern day Yenta (the match maker in Fiddler) by offering site visitors a matching service. With a few exceptions this is pretty much a smoke screen and gimmick. If anyone has looked at the form that prospects fill out it is pretty easy to see that there isn't much to go on. Contact information and year of graduation just isn't very good to pick an institution. How'd you like to be served up a list of cars to choose from based on the same information?
To make matters worse for the prospect, many options run with caps so when a school hits a budget goal for the month the spigot is turned off. What other high-consideration industry turns away potential customers just because the quota is full?
There are a couple of additional issues relevant in this day and age.
- Where is the personality, values and brand connection?
- Where is the ability to compare and contrast?
- Just what do the myriad of degrees and specialties actually mean?
- Compatibility is based on alignment. If the key values of an institution don't match with a prospect's the outcome is predictable - "it was not a good fit". These values are often best communicated by the deans of various Schools or Colleges whose vision and passion creates a connection.
- Satisfaction is based on fulfillment. With the rapid proliferation of degrees, specialties and courses it is increasingly difficult for prospects to understand which option is appropriate. "What will I learn?" and "How can I use it?" remain questions.
- Success is based on the delivery of a benefit. Whether the goal is an introduction to Fortune 20 CEOs or reinforcing the belief that "I can change things, even if I'm not in charge" an institution must understand what the metrics of success are. (Hint: it is not really a career or better job.)
Just need to find a better word than 'match'; that's been abused.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Job Swap: Education and B2B Marketing
Why should education institutions hire B2B marketers?
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to write two guest posts recently. The first was for myUsearch and focused on battling the sameness of branding and admissions marketing in the education space. The second was for Content Marketing Institute that offered a way of segmenting prospects based on their need state using the B2B market as an example.
The education piece argued that the 'sameness' of their marketing reduces colleges and universities to the lowest common denominators of cost and convenience - not a position many schools actually want, nor where they can actually survive. The B2B piece suggested that at any point in time prospects are in one of several need states with respect to a given problem, e.g. think of a pain as being latent, chronic or acute.
Since both markets consist of high-consideration products where the decisions are made by a very social group there could be some complementary thinking. What would B2B marketers bring to education?
The best B2B companies, and particularly technology-focused ones, identify or create the category they want to dominate and compete in. They are often experts at setting the rules that establish how their offerings are perceived. 'Industry leading', while over used, does reflect an understanding that it is critical to know what category prospects put them in. In comparison, education institutions rarely can articulate the category in which they compete. Instead they rely on a mantra of 'education is good for your career'. True, but not very helpful - it is like saying 'shampoo gets your hair clean' or 'cars are safe'. There is no attempt to differentiate nor is there an equivalent to "industry leading" and there should be.
In addition, while educational institutions have a brand that would make most B2B firms envious they often treat all their prospects as if they're all on the same time frame. If the prospect doesn't apply and enroll within 60 days they are often relegated to the rehash or forgotten bin. In contrast, B2B understands the value of nurturing because not everyone is ready right now. The marketing objective is often to raise a pain to level of where action is taken - and this takes time. Nowhere is this more important to understand than in the marketing of Master's degrees.
So, the next time you need a marketer with a fresh perspective for the edu space look no further than the B2B sector.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to write two guest posts recently. The first was for myUsearch and focused on battling the sameness of branding and admissions marketing in the education space. The second was for Content Marketing Institute that offered a way of segmenting prospects based on their need state using the B2B market as an example.
The education piece argued that the 'sameness' of their marketing reduces colleges and universities to the lowest common denominators of cost and convenience - not a position many schools actually want, nor where they can actually survive. The B2B piece suggested that at any point in time prospects are in one of several need states with respect to a given problem, e.g. think of a pain as being latent, chronic or acute.
Since both markets consist of high-consideration products where the decisions are made by a very social group there could be some complementary thinking. What would B2B marketers bring to education?
The best B2B companies, and particularly technology-focused ones, identify or create the category they want to dominate and compete in. They are often experts at setting the rules that establish how their offerings are perceived. 'Industry leading', while over used, does reflect an understanding that it is critical to know what category prospects put them in. In comparison, education institutions rarely can articulate the category in which they compete. Instead they rely on a mantra of 'education is good for your career'. True, but not very helpful - it is like saying 'shampoo gets your hair clean' or 'cars are safe'. There is no attempt to differentiate nor is there an equivalent to "industry leading" and there should be.
In addition, while educational institutions have a brand that would make most B2B firms envious they often treat all their prospects as if they're all on the same time frame. If the prospect doesn't apply and enroll within 60 days they are often relegated to the rehash or forgotten bin. In contrast, B2B understands the value of nurturing because not everyone is ready right now. The marketing objective is often to raise a pain to level of where action is taken - and this takes time. Nowhere is this more important to understand than in the marketing of Master's degrees.
So, the next time you need a marketer with a fresh perspective for the edu space look no further than the B2B sector.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Separate Marketing of Master's Degrees from the Rest
Should we continue to market the vertical stack of degrees?
For any given month, they say there are 2 million leads and 100,000 people who will enroll - for a 5% conversion rate.
The historic thinking for growth has been to increase the payout and buy more leads, this in turn funded the tactics used to grow the size of the pool. The usual focus was on acquisition and taking one's fair share of the conversions. But at some point, either the increasing cost per lead or a slower growth rate suggests that we need to think about converting more than our fair share.
If we take the point of view that in a given month there are a fixed number of people who will enroll, then the question becomes: How do we differentiate ourselves in order to grow? Some suggestions.
Like many other categories, fragmentation is coming to education - I think it is time to adapt our marketing accordingly.
For any given month, they say there are 2 million leads and 100,000 people who will enroll - for a 5% conversion rate.
The historic thinking for growth has been to increase the payout and buy more leads, this in turn funded the tactics used to grow the size of the pool. The usual focus was on acquisition and taking one's fair share of the conversions. But at some point, either the increasing cost per lead or a slower growth rate suggests that we need to think about converting more than our fair share.
If we take the point of view that in a given month there are a fixed number of people who will enroll, then the question becomes: How do we differentiate ourselves in order to grow? Some suggestions.
- Brand - Be known for something - there is simply too much sameness across institutions making it difficult to break out the mold.
- Message - Move beyond 'ease, convenience, and cost' - there are segments of the market where more specific messages and benefits work well.
- Proof Points - Targeted content - augment the good strides in identifying specific niche groups of potential students with customized content for each program segment combination.
Like many other categories, fragmentation is coming to education - I think it is time to adapt our marketing accordingly.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Five Easy Pieces: Ideas for Marketing Education
What were we thinking?
Walking around the Career College Association convention we had an iPad with a number of short presentations. They were ways to engage in discussion around some fresh ideas we've been working with and sharing with clients. Here is a brief summary and links to individual posts where the presentation can be found.
Walking around the Career College Association convention we had an iPad with a number of short presentations. They were ways to engage in discussion around some fresh ideas we've been working with and sharing with clients. Here is a brief summary and links to individual posts where the presentation can be found.
- Positioning Programs - a way to look at individual programs based on how graduates intend to use their degrees.
- Leveraging the Curriculum - thoughts on how the course catalog can be used to battle 'sameness' and differentiate a program in prospecting, admissions and remarketing.
- Marketing by Degree - a look at the emotional needs of prospects across levels of education and by interest stage. Fragmentation is only going to continue.
- Organizing an FAQ - there are a 1,000+ questions prospects have. Here's a simple suggestion on a way to organize content to answer them.
- Syllabus-Week - Master's degree seekers are different, they need to compare and think. This one is an idea for creating a consumer-facing site where prospects are matched with faculty and programs.
Leveraging the Curriculum
How can we better use the course catalog?
Battling Sameness. Once the big three questions are answered (financing, timing, and credit transfer) prospects end up with several schools in their consideration set. And as Seth Godin argues, they all look pretty much the same at this point and it is up to the sales skills of admissions to turn interest into enrollment. Courses and faculty can help make the difference.
In prospecting, conversion and remarketing curriculum-based content can help meet objectives.
Key Message: free the course catalog from the shackles of a 19th century document to help differentiate your programs.
This is the second of Five Easy Pieces
Battling Sameness. Once the big three questions are answered (financing, timing, and credit transfer) prospects end up with several schools in their consideration set. And as Seth Godin argues, they all look pretty much the same at this point and it is up to the sales skills of admissions to turn interest into enrollment. Courses and faculty can help make the difference.
In prospecting, conversion and remarketing curriculum-based content can help meet objectives.
Key Message: free the course catalog from the shackles of a 19th century document to help differentiate your programs.
This is the second of Five Easy Pieces
Positioning Programs Based on Outcome
How do we use a degree to get a job?
Differentiation. We all make the claim that an education leads to a better career. But exactly how does that work? This presentation provides an answer to the question "How Do Prospects Use a Degree?" When a competitive set of programs are plotted according to the specialty of the curriculum and the specialty of the institution four different segments are created.
Key Message: prospects choose a program based on how they expect it to help them.
This is the first of Five Easy Pieces
Differentiation. We all make the claim that an education leads to a better career. But exactly how does that work? This presentation provides an answer to the question "How Do Prospects Use a Degree?" When a competitive set of programs are plotted according to the specialty of the curriculum and the specialty of the institution four different segments are created.
Key Message: prospects choose a program based on how they expect it to help them.
This is the first of Five Easy Pieces
Marketing by Degree
How do emotional appeals vary by degree level?
Fragmentation. All categories splinter into sub-categories, each with its own strategy, audience and market leaders. Eduction is no different. However, all too often the same approach is applied to both the level of degree (Associate, Bachelor, and Master's) and stage of the relationship (inquiry, admissions, and remarketing.)
A simple framework looking at the needs of prospects is provided to help refine and improve creative plans.
Key Message: segment by degree and stage as you develop marketing campaigns
This is the third of Five Easy Pieces
Fragmentation. All categories splinter into sub-categories, each with its own strategy, audience and market leaders. Eduction is no different. However, all too often the same approach is applied to both the level of degree (Associate, Bachelor, and Master's) and stage of the relationship (inquiry, admissions, and remarketing.)
A simple framework looking at the needs of prospects is provided to help refine and improve creative plans.
Key Message: segment by degree and stage as you develop marketing campaigns
This is the third of Five Easy Pieces
Organizing the Myriad of Questions
What three folders of content do we need?
FAQs. Like any high-consideration product, education spawns 1,000+ questions from prospects. To ensure that they are all adequately planned for this presentation introduces a simple way for organizing your content..
All prospect questions can be reduced to three topics:
Key Message: build out a content library around the 3 Ps of education marketing: Program, Placement, and People.
The fourth of Five Easy Pieces
FAQs. Like any high-consideration product, education spawns 1,000+ questions from prospects. To ensure that they are all adequately planned for this presentation introduces a simple way for organizing your content..
All prospect questions can be reduced to three topics:
- Program - Institutional
- Placement - Career or job centric
- People - Social
Key Message: build out a content library around the 3 Ps of education marketing: Program, Placement, and People.
The fourth of Five Easy Pieces
Marketing Master's Degrees with the Syllabus
How can we use Syllabus-Week as a recruiting tool?
They are Different. All the research, both real and anecdotal, suggests that people seeking Master's degrees don't think or behave like other prospects. They tend to be more deliberate in their process and often have a longer time horizon. If Master's Degrees weren't the new black maybe we could get by with traditional marketing. But this sector is one of the most attractive segments to focus on.
Maybe what the industry needs is a comparative shopping engine or matching program that focuses on the prospect's decision-making process.
Key Message: facilitate the natural tendency of Master's seekers to compare programs.
The fifth of Five Easy Pieces
They are Different. All the research, both real and anecdotal, suggests that people seeking Master's degrees don't think or behave like other prospects. They tend to be more deliberate in their process and often have a longer time horizon. If Master's Degrees weren't the new black maybe we could get by with traditional marketing. But this sector is one of the most attractive segments to focus on.
Maybe what the industry needs is a comparative shopping engine or matching program that focuses on the prospect's decision-making process.
Key Message: facilitate the natural tendency of Master's seekers to compare programs.
The fifth of Five Easy Pieces
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Lessons from Mirren: Cheat and Make it Up
How should we tackle new business?
Alex Bogusky recently spoke at the Mirren New Business conference. The two key points from the videos:
Alex Bogusky recently spoke at the Mirren New Business conference. The two key points from the videos:
- Cheat by breaking the rules: smart is being different, not the same
- Make it up 12 hours before the meeting: new is better than a rehash
- Don't focus on generating and selling leads to schools, focus on helping prospects choose one school over another
- Syllabus week is a new way and better way to market master's degrees because this segment researches like crazy
Monday, June 14, 2010
Notes from the Exhibit Hall
What did we learn walking up and down the aisles?
Last week at the "Career College Association" (CCA) conference in Vegas there was a lot of talk about the big three issues:
Consider the following companies that are doing things just a bit differently:
Maybe our thoughts about comparing curriculum and faculty across schools in a 'syllabus week' isn't such a radical idea. And the thought of an 'on-demand' education taking courses from a variety of institutions isn't such a wild idea.
Prediction: Openness in education will lead to building your own program and degree.
Last week at the "Career College Association" (CCA) conference in Vegas there was a lot of talk about the big three issues:
- Impending regulations for the inquiry (lead) environment.
- The risks posed by loan defaults; or the 'new subprime market'.
- The opportunities created by rising costs and decreasing quality.
- Technology that makes delivery and consumption simple and foolproof.
- Sufficient numbers of non or over-shot consumers to create momentum.
- A business model that changes the economic model and prevents incumbents from fighting back.
Consider the following companies that are doing things just a bit differently:
- StraighterLine - focuses on delivering education starting at $99 a month.
- Zinch - reverses the recruitment process by making high-school students the center of the universe.
- Instructure - a learning management system that gives its product away to teachers.
Maybe our thoughts about comparing curriculum and faculty across schools in a 'syllabus week' isn't such a radical idea. And the thought of an 'on-demand' education taking courses from a variety of institutions isn't such a wild idea.
Prediction: Openness in education will lead to building your own program and degree.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Impact of TV on Search
What happens to intent when one broadcasts loudly?
Search and television advertising are often held out as the ends of the communication spectrum - personal and full of intent on one side vs. shouting from the largest platform possible on the other. But sometimes we get to look at the intersection.
The chart below is for search traffic from Google Trends for "Kaplan University" (a former client) over the past several years.
We see slow, organic growth for two years followed by a step change at the beginning of the third year (week 104 is Jan 2009) and another change at the beginning of this year (week 156). What caused the increase?
My guess: TV
In January 2009 Kaplan launched the 1-month "Talent" (see below) campaign with two commercials around the idea that traditional education has failed today's students. They reintroduced the campaign in January of this year for a 3-month run. What's interesting is that the 2009 media burst lifted the search volume not only during the campaign, but also for the rest of the year. While it's too early to tell what the impact in 2010 is, there are some clear questions for marketers and agencies:
1. How will we pay off the interest of a break-through branding campaign?
2. How can we take the essence of the spot into interactive, social and digital realms?
3. What content would best support this type of interaction?
4. What is the long term value of branding?
5. How and what do we measure beyond the end of the campaign?
6. When do we get rid of the silos?
Search and television advertising are often held out as the ends of the communication spectrum - personal and full of intent on one side vs. shouting from the largest platform possible on the other. But sometimes we get to look at the intersection.
The chart below is for search traffic from Google Trends for "Kaplan University" (a former client) over the past several years.
We see slow, organic growth for two years followed by a step change at the beginning of the third year (week 104 is Jan 2009) and another change at the beginning of this year (week 156). What caused the increase?
My guess: TV
In January 2009 Kaplan launched the 1-month "Talent" (see below) campaign with two commercials around the idea that traditional education has failed today's students. They reintroduced the campaign in January of this year for a 3-month run. What's interesting is that the 2009 media burst lifted the search volume not only during the campaign, but also for the rest of the year. While it's too early to tell what the impact in 2010 is, there are some clear questions for marketers and agencies:
1. How will we pay off the interest of a break-through branding campaign?
2. How can we take the essence of the spot into interactive, social and digital realms?
3. What content would best support this type of interaction?
4. What is the long term value of branding?
5. How and what do we measure beyond the end of the campaign?
6. When do we get rid of the silos?
Monday, May 17, 2010
Forget the Funnel
When was the last time we thought of ourselves as being in the funnel?
Joseph Jaffe's "Flip the Funnel" and Seth Godin's "Flipping the Funnel" both make sound arguments for working from the customer outwards - reversing the traditional sales funnel by focusing on customers as fans first. No argument there.
But I for one have never thought about being in a funnel or at some stage of the buying process. I am just where I am, doing what I'm doing without concern for gates or acronyms; I don't think in terms of....
In short, I'm beginning to believe that the proverbial funnel exists solely in the minds of sale and marketing as a means of measuring progress against their objectives not mine.
Joseph Jaffe's "Flip the Funnel" and Seth Godin's "Flipping the Funnel" both make sound arguments for working from the customer outwards - reversing the traditional sales funnel by focusing on customers as fans first. No argument there.
But I for one have never thought about being in a funnel or at some stage of the buying process. I am just where I am, doing what I'm doing without concern for gates or acronyms; I don't think in terms of....
- AIDA (awareness, interest, decision and action)
- BANT (budget, authority, need and timing).
- Get in the Consideration Set - this is the ultimate gating factor. If a product isn't in this select group, then there will be no decision or sale.
- Engagement - this is where the rubber hits the road. If a brand, company, or product doesn't get to an emotional connection there will also be no decision or sale.
In short, I'm beginning to believe that the proverbial funnel exists solely in the minds of sale and marketing as a means of measuring progress against their objectives not mine.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Gaining Access to the Consideration Set
How does a product get on to a prospect's short list?
For any given business need a myriad of potential options exist making the potential consideration set too large to manage. Hyper-choice, or having too many options, creates a kind of paralysis in the decision making process. So we need to winnow the list down.
Since we've moved past the basic need stage of our lives to focus on wants and desires we're in the realm of emotions, perceptions and beliefs. From a product marketing perspective this means providing more than just feature check lists. In fact, facts alone are insufficient for an individual or group make a decision. There must be more.
I had the chance to talk recently with a client about their white paper. While written in impeccable prose and marketing terms, it fell short as a tool for generating interest and leads. Here are my observations:
For any given business need a myriad of potential options exist making the potential consideration set too large to manage. Hyper-choice, or having too many options, creates a kind of paralysis in the decision making process. So we need to winnow the list down.
Since we've moved past the basic need stage of our lives to focus on wants and desires we're in the realm of emotions, perceptions and beliefs. From a product marketing perspective this means providing more than just feature check lists. In fact, facts alone are insufficient for an individual or group make a decision. There must be more.
I had the chance to talk recently with a client about their white paper. While written in impeccable prose and marketing terms, it fell short as a tool for generating interest and leads. Here are my observations:
- The pain wasn't agitated enough to create urgency or action. It was a nice-to-read piece and I learned some things but could easily have filed it away without further thought.
- It lacked the empathy required to base a relationship on; the tone was sterile and distant. I didn't feel like the company was somebody I could easily explain the issues to.
- There was no follow-up plan or next step. I was left with: "OK, now what?" on my mind. And given the objective of generating leads it should at least facilitate the prospect's buying process.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
The Race to Rapport
How does a someone choose a college?
The college search and admissions process pretty much ends when a prospect feels like a school is the 'right choice' for them. While often backed up with facts and figures, this is an emotional decision. Therefore, the institution that builds rapport first usually wins.
So how do two common tactics used to start the admissions process differ in terms of establishing rapport?
Direct mail allows for more creativity in demonstrating why a school is different. Although I may have to retract that a bit after seeing the picture to the left: This is what Emmie, a high-school sophomore, has at home. It also supports a little more of a broadcast or outbound approach; buy a list and send a piece to prospective students - who may not even know the college exists. A serious drawback of direct mail is that there is a disconnect between the piece on the counter and the cell phone in a prospect's pocket.
Leads from an online source can be routed directly to call centers or admission reps for follow-up. And we're talking sub-10 minute follow-up, not in the next day or so. But this approach requires the prospect to first raise their hand first and hit a submit button on one (or many) of the myriad of education sites and portals. The fact that every institution can appear on a portal levels the playing field in terms of awareness while at the same time diminishing the chance to differentiate one from another. Most portals show a list of school banner ads along with a small amount of text associated with the "request more information" form. There really isn't much there to help a person choose one option over another and get to that gut feeling that the school is the right one. That's not a portal's job.
If time to rapport is the critical success factor for admissions then some more thinking is required to get from point A to point B. Online prospects should have more information, maybe delivered in the 10 minutes between submit and hello. Direct mail recipients, while often seeing personalized URLs, may need a different delivery form or connection method.
The college search and admissions process pretty much ends when a prospect feels like a school is the 'right choice' for them. While often backed up with facts and figures, this is an emotional decision. Therefore, the institution that builds rapport first usually wins.
So how do two common tactics used to start the admissions process differ in terms of establishing rapport?
Leads from an online source can be routed directly to call centers or admission reps for follow-up. And we're talking sub-10 minute follow-up, not in the next day or so. But this approach requires the prospect to first raise their hand first and hit a submit button on one (or many) of the myriad of education sites and portals. The fact that every institution can appear on a portal levels the playing field in terms of awareness while at the same time diminishing the chance to differentiate one from another. Most portals show a list of school banner ads along with a small amount of text associated with the "request more information" form. There really isn't much there to help a person choose one option over another and get to that gut feeling that the school is the right one. That's not a portal's job.
If time to rapport is the critical success factor for admissions then some more thinking is required to get from point A to point B. Online prospects should have more information, maybe delivered in the 10 minutes between submit and hello. Direct mail recipients, while often seeing personalized URLs, may need a different delivery form or connection method.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Story Telling with Curriculum
How can we improve the marketing of education programs?
Seems to me that there is an opportunity to use a course catalog to tell a story to prospective students about what they'll cover and accomplish in a given program. Too often the really interesting material a college or university has to offer is locked up in a document not really fit for marketing purposes. A couple of examples:
When it comes to building rapport with prospective students, which is the most critical factor in the admissions process, sometimes the answer to the question "What will I learn?" will tip the balance in favor of one institution over another.
Seems to me that there is an opportunity to use a course catalog to tell a story to prospective students about what they'll cover and accomplish in a given program. Too often the really interesting material a college or university has to offer is locked up in a document not really fit for marketing purposes. A couple of examples:
- For a large online university, the descriptions for a particular program start on page 261 of a 400+ page document.
- For a local school, what I'd learn in a web design course are spread across departments. And this is after all the admissions, policy and graduation bumpf.
- For a school with both online and ground-based programs the descriptions for a history degree were at least in their own document; but that was several clicks away.
When it comes to building rapport with prospective students, which is the most critical factor in the admissions process, sometimes the answer to the question "What will I learn?" will tip the balance in favor of one institution over another.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Continuous Content Consumption
What do we do with our remarkable content?
The success of content marketing programs rests as much on contact strategies as it does on the content itself. In high consideration categories, where the research process is intense and occurs over a period of time, distributing high-value content to high-value contacts requires more than an eblast or a download.
In looking around for a framework on content marketing, I stumbled upon this one from the folks at Merkle.
I like it because it starts with the business objective: What are we trying to achieve? and goes through a structured approach to creating and measuring the impact of how content works. However, the big boxes along the top seem to be missing a critical component: Content Distribution or Consumption.
In B2B technology, education, and numerous other categories content consumption is a continuous process as options are considered, needs are crystallized and benefits weighed. To nurture interest the where, when and with whom of content consumption must be mapped out as much as the other areas of the strategy. The role of content, be it stories or facts and figures, is to help the recipient feel more comfortable about one option over another. In categories where personal sales ultimately close the deal, content should focus on getting you in the consideration set.
In the end, the role of a content contact plan is not to help people decide, but rather to help them choose.
The success of content marketing programs rests as much on contact strategies as it does on the content itself. In high consideration categories, where the research process is intense and occurs over a period of time, distributing high-value content to high-value contacts requires more than an eblast or a download.
In looking around for a framework on content marketing, I stumbled upon this one from the folks at Merkle.
I like it because it starts with the business objective: What are we trying to achieve? and goes through a structured approach to creating and measuring the impact of how content works. However, the big boxes along the top seem to be missing a critical component: Content Distribution or Consumption.
In B2B technology, education, and numerous other categories content consumption is a continuous process as options are considered, needs are crystallized and benefits weighed. To nurture interest the where, when and with whom of content consumption must be mapped out as much as the other areas of the strategy. The role of content, be it stories or facts and figures, is to help the recipient feel more comfortable about one option over another. In categories where personal sales ultimately close the deal, content should focus on getting you in the consideration set.
In the end, the role of a content contact plan is not to help people decide, but rather to help them choose.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Content Marketing and Lead Generation
Are lead generation and content marketing compatible?
Often when discussing 'lead generation' we fall into the trap of thinking that it is about driving traffic to a form. That is certainly one aspect, but in the grander scheme of things there are other aspects of lead generation. The following illustrates one way to break down lead generation into various segments based on the business goal and focus.
There are two possible goals: lead origination or lead conversion. For each there are two possible ways to view the marketing focus. We can strive for quantity or quality of new leads. We can strive for leads that require nurturing or those that close fast.
And yes clients will want it all - "lots of well qualified leads that close fast because they have a connection with the company."
The reality is that any company will have prospects in all four segments because of the different stages of demand that they are in. Content plays different roles in each of the possible group.
However, in many categories where prospects need to consider their next step in the choice process the Quality - Nurture combination may be a better approach. High value contacts deserve and respond to high value content. Content marketing of a different form is required for this type of lead generation.
As content marketing matures we will be segmenting the lead generation pool according to their needs and developing content accordingly.
Often when discussing 'lead generation' we fall into the trap of thinking that it is about driving traffic to a form. That is certainly one aspect, but in the grander scheme of things there are other aspects of lead generation. The following illustrates one way to break down lead generation into various segments based on the business goal and focus.
And yes clients will want it all - "lots of well qualified leads that close fast because they have a connection with the company."
The reality is that any company will have prospects in all four segments because of the different stages of demand that they are in. Content plays different roles in each of the possible group.
- Quantity: broadcast enticing offers with a sense of excitement
- Quality: target exclusive offers with an opportunity to further qualify, e.g. survey
- Nurture: respond to each touch with relevant content based on previous stream
- Close Fast: convey a sense of missing out if action not taken
However, in many categories where prospects need to consider their next step in the choice process the Quality - Nurture combination may be a better approach. High value contacts deserve and respond to high value content. Content marketing of a different form is required for this type of lead generation.
As content marketing matures we will be segmenting the lead generation pool according to their needs and developing content accordingly.
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