Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: Let’s talk about paid SEO.
I think I understand what you said about free and paid, and how someone does it, what the budget is, how it all works…
Mike McHugh: Paid is essentially a Google web page, the top three listings, and then along the right are sponsored ads. So there would be a light shading there. That is where each time a user clicks on one of those links, the advertiser–in this case the university–pays per click for that. So what you do in the process of paid search marketing is to pick what keyword you want to bid on and how much you want to pay for those clicks.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: Give me an example for a Midwestern university of a keyword.
Mike McHugh: You might be looking for Kansas universities or psychology degrees in Kansas. It might be a keyword that you say, “I want a psychology program, whether it’s at a bachelor’s or a master’s level,” where it doesn’t matter, you want to bid on that keyword.
Google, Bing and different search engines have different tools to estimate how much money you need to spend. At each of those different positions, you’re going to spend a different amount of money. It’s not a pure auction but the simplest way to think of it is: the higher you spend, the higher you’re going to be listed first-to-eighth position on a page, and you’re probably going to be looking somewhere for education keywords between $5 and $30 per click.
It has become a very competitive marketplace, and you’ll pay per click. Ideally, what higher education market research firms want to do is measure how many of those clicks ultimately turn into prospective students, and then how many of those prospective students are going to end up at the University so you have an idea of how cost effective the marketing channel is for you.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: What kind of conversion rates are you seeing on SEO projects?
Mike McHugh: When we talk about conversion rates, there are two different rates that people typically talk about. The first is from a visitor to an inquiry. That’s when people come to your website that might ultimately become a prospective student. On that, you’re looking anywhere from 2-6% on average, depending upon the institution. Some can be higher; some can be a little bit lower.
Ultimately, higher education market research firms look at the people that request information about the institution off of your website… how many of those actually turn into an applicant or enrollment. That can vary dramatically between different marketing channels. On someone coming from an organic search, you’re looking somewhere in the 6-10% range of prospective students that actually will enroll. If someone’s coming from paid search marketing activities, you’re looking a little bit lower. Those are probably in the 3-5% range, again depending on the program and degree level.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: We talk a lot about high touch/high tech. A lot of what you’re talking about is high tech to be able to geo-target people using Internet data, and big data techniques of analyzing people.
Once somebody gets on the phone, how important is that person in the contact center?
Mike McHugh: It is critical, and I totally agree with this high tech/high touch kind or approach. The motto that my grandfather taught me that I kind of go back to this:
Business goes where it feels comfortable.
There’s always the question of how higher education market research firms can help a consumer–even in a highly technological environment–get comfortable with that institution. If you do go through forums, surveys and different focus groups, the number one reason you will almost always hear from a prospective student of why they enrolled in the school is that they had a personal connection with the Admissions representative. They will tell you that that is a big part of what drove them to make that decision.
All of this technology has to be used in order to create efficient systems and processes to measure repeatable performance. It’s a Six Sigma-ish kind of aspect, but it wraps that around a human interaction touch point. Even online learning is becoming more interactive with virtual touch points and connections with people. That is ultimately the beauty of education: connecting people with knowledge. You’ve got to have people in order to do that, and then wrap the technology around it.
Don’t make the people get wrapped around the technology.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: Good point! So it looks like the technology brings people to a phone call, and then the person on the phone–the recruiter, the information person–establishes a relationship. Then the enrollment process takes place.
How important is faculty with respect to the overall marketing presence, and student success to the overall integrated marketing plan of a university?
Mike McHugh: I don’t think the role of faculty can be understated. One of the things I feel very passionately about is that we don’t think of marketing in the right context oftentimes when it comes to institutions and schools. We sometimes think of a marketing job as one in which we create new students in the school. The reality is that higher education market research has to do with all parts of an institution. It’s new student messaging, it’s retaining of existing students. That’s on the marketing department; that’s on faculty.
Faculty has got to be involved in new student recruitment. Also it’s on the alumni. It’s on getting information, bumper stickers, t-shirts… anything in the hands of different people. Every time a faculty member goes out to dinner and they’re wearing their university shirt, they’re marketing and branding that university. Every time that they interact with a prospective student, they’re branding and marketing that university. So we have to think of marketing as everyone’s responsibility, and it has to be evaluated across the entire institution… not just new students.
Stay Tuned for Part 4
To continue reading Mike McHugh’s fascinating insights into higher education marketing practices for Christian colleges and universities, stay tuned for the fourth installment of this six-part article series, coming next week.
Contact Significant Systems
To learn more about our higher education market research firm Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.
Remember, our goal is simple:
• Provide Broader Access
• Lower Tuition and Fees
• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates
• Facilitate Education with a Purpose
Looking forward to our possible conversation!
Dr. Michael K. Clifford
Chairman
760.801.5021(My personal cell)
mkc@mclifford.com
I think I understand what you said about free and paid, and how someone does it, what the budget is, how it all works…
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: Give me an example for a Midwestern university of a keyword.
Mike McHugh: You might be looking for Kansas universities or psychology degrees in Kansas. It might be a keyword that you say, “I want a psychology program, whether it’s at a bachelor’s or a master’s level,” where it doesn’t matter, you want to bid on that keyword.
Google, Bing and different search engines have different tools to estimate how much money you need to spend. At each of those different positions, you’re going to spend a different amount of money. It’s not a pure auction but the simplest way to think of it is: the higher you spend, the higher you’re going to be listed first-to-eighth position on a page, and you’re probably going to be looking somewhere for education keywords between $5 and $30 per click.
It has become a very competitive marketplace, and you’ll pay per click. Ideally, what higher education market research firms want to do is measure how many of those clicks ultimately turn into prospective students, and then how many of those prospective students are going to end up at the University so you have an idea of how cost effective the marketing channel is for you.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: What kind of conversion rates are you seeing on SEO projects?
Mike McHugh: When we talk about conversion rates, there are two different rates that people typically talk about. The first is from a visitor to an inquiry. That’s when people come to your website that might ultimately become a prospective student. On that, you’re looking anywhere from 2-6% on average, depending upon the institution. Some can be higher; some can be a little bit lower.
Ultimately, higher education market research firms look at the people that request information about the institution off of your website… how many of those actually turn into an applicant or enrollment. That can vary dramatically between different marketing channels. On someone coming from an organic search, you’re looking somewhere in the 6-10% range of prospective students that actually will enroll. If someone’s coming from paid search marketing activities, you’re looking a little bit lower. Those are probably in the 3-5% range, again depending on the program and degree level.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: We talk a lot about high touch/high tech. A lot of what you’re talking about is high tech to be able to geo-target people using Internet data, and big data techniques of analyzing people.
Once somebody gets on the phone, how important is that person in the contact center?
Mike McHugh: It is critical, and I totally agree with this high tech/high touch kind or approach. The motto that my grandfather taught me that I kind of go back to this:
Business goes where it feels comfortable.
There’s always the question of how higher education market research firms can help a consumer–even in a highly technological environment–get comfortable with that institution. If you do go through forums, surveys and different focus groups, the number one reason you will almost always hear from a prospective student of why they enrolled in the school is that they had a personal connection with the Admissions representative. They will tell you that that is a big part of what drove them to make that decision.
All of this technology has to be used in order to create efficient systems and processes to measure repeatable performance. It’s a Six Sigma-ish kind of aspect, but it wraps that around a human interaction touch point. Even online learning is becoming more interactive with virtual touch points and connections with people. That is ultimately the beauty of education: connecting people with knowledge. You’ve got to have people in order to do that, and then wrap the technology around it.
Don’t make the people get wrapped around the technology.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: Good point! So it looks like the technology brings people to a phone call, and then the person on the phone–the recruiter, the information person–establishes a relationship. Then the enrollment process takes place.
How important is faculty with respect to the overall marketing presence, and student success to the overall integrated marketing plan of a university?
Mike McHugh: I don’t think the role of faculty can be understated. One of the things I feel very passionately about is that we don’t think of marketing in the right context oftentimes when it comes to institutions and schools. We sometimes think of a marketing job as one in which we create new students in the school. The reality is that higher education market research has to do with all parts of an institution. It’s new student messaging, it’s retaining of existing students. That’s on the marketing department; that’s on faculty.
Faculty has got to be involved in new student recruitment. Also it’s on the alumni. It’s on getting information, bumper stickers, t-shirts… anything in the hands of different people. Every time a faculty member goes out to dinner and they’re wearing their university shirt, they’re marketing and branding that university. Every time that they interact with a prospective student, they’re branding and marketing that university. So we have to think of marketing as everyone’s responsibility, and it has to be evaluated across the entire institution… not just new students.
Stay Tuned for Part 4
To continue reading Mike McHugh’s fascinating insights into higher education marketing practices for Christian colleges and universities, stay tuned for the fourth installment of this six-part article series, coming next week.
Contact Significant Systems
To learn more about our higher education market research firm Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.
Remember, our goal is simple:
• Provide Broader Access
• Lower Tuition and Fees
• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates
• Facilitate Education with a Purpose
Looking forward to our possible conversation!
Dr. Michael K. Clifford
Chairman
760.801.5021(My personal cell)
mkc@mclifford.com
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