Education Management Consulting Expert, Michael Clifford: If you were to approach a Christian college or university and they asked you to do a marketing audit, tell us a little bit about what they would have to do supply information to you.
What you would be looking for and what the benefits of that marketing audit might be for them at a high level? How could you help them reshape an integrated marketing plan as a result of your audit?
Mike McHugh: When our higher education marketing firm goes in to work with an institution on a marketing audit, there are really three things that we are working with them on. The first is getting a solid understanding of who their current students are and who are the students that they want to attract. We can work with them on focus groups, a lot of data analysis, customer profile and audience targeting to determine where their students are coming from geographically, but also determine their profile… what are their media consumption habits, what resonates with them and why did they pick that institution. We also talk with people that didn’t select the institution; they ultimately enrolled either at a different school, a community college or decided to delay their decision… we also want to understand those thought processes.
The second thing we want to do is get a good feel for the university, their brand, who it is that they want to be, how differentiated are they, how do they compare against their peer set or against their competitors, whether it’s on the residential or the online side.
The last area that our higher education marketing firm looks at is how to promote this message. What we find is that a lot of institutions start at the end. They ask, “How much money should I spend on media?” or “what keyword should I buy?” What our audit process and recommendation does is first find who the audience is that you have right now and that you want to have. The second thing is: who are you, who do you want to be and what do you want to be known for. After that, we can figure out how we go out and get that brand in front of your target customers in order to grow your overall student enrollment.
We bring it all together.
Education Management Consulting Expert, Michael Clifford: We hear a lot about of social media and the incoming college freshmen, how they are totally social media driven in the way they think and in the way they talk. They’re the first digital generation.
How important is social media–and maybe for those of us that are over 60–tell me what social media is and then we’ll go a little deeper.
Mike McHugh: There’s a whole separate conversation whether it is really social or antisocial media in terms of interacting but we can save that conversation for another day. At the core of an institution’s marketing, there are two things of which you’ve got to be cognizant… your website and your social media presence. That is the absolute place where a higher education marketing firm has to start, and it is your storefront in the digital and modern world, especially when you’re talking about these types of consumers. They are absolutely going to be researching you: looking for recommendations, reviews, content and other peoples’ perceptions and opinions about your institution on social media. That is primarily going to take the form of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
The reality about the younger generation is that if you’re looking at students coming out of high school, Facebook adoption and usage isn’t what it used to be. They are gravitating more towards Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter to a certain extent. So even within social media, it varies a lot by the specific demographic. How do you get into that?
There are advertising opportunities; you want to be able to develop your own page with rich amounts of information. This leads back to our same conversation about content. Social media is a great place to represent, display and get that content information out there for prospective students to interact. I like to think of social media as the way a prospective student has a campus tour from their couch.
They are able to virtually interact with other students, alumni and faculty… all at the same time. They’re doing this at the same time they’re watching television. It’s not a dedicated visit, but that’s what social media is to today’s youth.
Education Management Consulting Expert, Michael Clifford: How important is branding? We hear a lot about branding and the messaging of branding.
Tell me a little bit about how you approach an institution’s brand.
Mike McHugh: This is an area that is getting a lot more attention in the last couple of years, and I think it’s been missing from a lot of higher education marketing firms in the past, where universities have been extremely focused on branding, oftentimes from a sports perspective but not necessarily from an institutional perspective.
What we see with schools is that they are very good at branding and differentiating the category. We need to know if we are talking about a Northeast liberal arts college, or a Midwest public university. They can differentiate the category, but they are not good at articulating what makes them different within a cluster of Universities. If they can’t do that with us as their partners, how are they going to be able to do that with prospective students?
So while there is more pressure on overall students, the pie for higher educational enrollments isn’t growing the way it did in the past. It’s now more of a market share play; for lack of a better way to describe it. The ability to differentiate the brand becomes critical for higher education marketing firms. We’ve looked at it and described it a lot in terms of a comparison to a retail environment. When you have a relatively undifferentiated product being offered at a relatively undifferentiated price point, it becomes a commodity. Branding is ultimately how you separate yourself from other commodities in a premium value kind of competition. It’s critical.
Stay Tuned for Part 6
To continue reading Mike McHugh’s fascinating insights into higher education marketing practices for Christian colleges and universities, stay tuned for the final installment of this six-part article series, coming next week.
Contact Significant Systems
To learn more about our education management consulting 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
What you would be looking for and what the benefits of that marketing audit might be for them at a high level? How could you help them reshape an integrated marketing plan as a result of your audit?
Mike McHugh: When our higher education marketing firm goes in to work with an institution on a marketing audit, there are really three things that we are working with them on. The first is getting a solid understanding of who their current students are and who are the students that they want to attract. We can work with them on focus groups, a lot of data analysis, customer profile and audience targeting to determine where their students are coming from geographically, but also determine their profile… what are their media consumption habits, what resonates with them and why did they pick that institution. We also talk with people that didn’t select the institution; they ultimately enrolled either at a different school, a community college or decided to delay their decision… we also want to understand those thought processes.
The second thing we want to do is get a good feel for the university, their brand, who it is that they want to be, how differentiated are they, how do they compare against their peer set or against their competitors, whether it’s on the residential or the online side.
The last area that our higher education marketing firm looks at is how to promote this message. What we find is that a lot of institutions start at the end. They ask, “How much money should I spend on media?” or “what keyword should I buy?” What our audit process and recommendation does is first find who the audience is that you have right now and that you want to have. The second thing is: who are you, who do you want to be and what do you want to be known for. After that, we can figure out how we go out and get that brand in front of your target customers in order to grow your overall student enrollment.
We bring it all together.
Education Management Consulting Expert, Michael Clifford: We hear a lot about of social media and the incoming college freshmen, how they are totally social media driven in the way they think and in the way they talk. They’re the first digital generation.
How important is social media–and maybe for those of us that are over 60–tell me what social media is and then we’ll go a little deeper.
Mike McHugh: There’s a whole separate conversation whether it is really social or antisocial media in terms of interacting but we can save that conversation for another day. At the core of an institution’s marketing, there are two things of which you’ve got to be cognizant… your website and your social media presence. That is the absolute place where a higher education marketing firm has to start, and it is your storefront in the digital and modern world, especially when you’re talking about these types of consumers. They are absolutely going to be researching you: looking for recommendations, reviews, content and other peoples’ perceptions and opinions about your institution on social media. That is primarily going to take the form of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
The reality about the younger generation is that if you’re looking at students coming out of high school, Facebook adoption and usage isn’t what it used to be. They are gravitating more towards Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter to a certain extent. So even within social media, it varies a lot by the specific demographic. How do you get into that?
There are advertising opportunities; you want to be able to develop your own page with rich amounts of information. This leads back to our same conversation about content. Social media is a great place to represent, display and get that content information out there for prospective students to interact. I like to think of social media as the way a prospective student has a campus tour from their couch.
They are able to virtually interact with other students, alumni and faculty… all at the same time. They’re doing this at the same time they’re watching television. It’s not a dedicated visit, but that’s what social media is to today’s youth.
Education Management Consulting Expert, Michael Clifford: How important is branding? We hear a lot about branding and the messaging of branding.
Tell me a little bit about how you approach an institution’s brand.
Mike McHugh: This is an area that is getting a lot more attention in the last couple of years, and I think it’s been missing from a lot of higher education marketing firms in the past, where universities have been extremely focused on branding, oftentimes from a sports perspective but not necessarily from an institutional perspective.
What we see with schools is that they are very good at branding and differentiating the category. We need to know if we are talking about a Northeast liberal arts college, or a Midwest public university. They can differentiate the category, but they are not good at articulating what makes them different within a cluster of Universities. If they can’t do that with us as their partners, how are they going to be able to do that with prospective students?
So while there is more pressure on overall students, the pie for higher educational enrollments isn’t growing the way it did in the past. It’s now more of a market share play; for lack of a better way to describe it. The ability to differentiate the brand becomes critical for higher education marketing firms. We’ve looked at it and described it a lot in terms of a comparison to a retail environment. When you have a relatively undifferentiated product being offered at a relatively undifferentiated price point, it becomes a commodity. Branding is ultimately how you separate yourself from other commodities in a premium value kind of competition. It’s critical.
Stay Tuned for Part 6
To continue reading Mike McHugh’s fascinating insights into higher education marketing practices for Christian colleges and universities, stay tuned for the final installment of this six-part article series, coming next week.
Contact Significant Systems
To learn more about our education management consulting 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
