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CALEM 2014 Presentation:Developing an Enrollment Plan by Tim Copeland with DemandEngine. What's working in enrollment marketing today? Intentional planning of the coordinated efforts required to acquire, convert, and yield prospective students! In this session, discover five common mistakes in marketing to adult students. Plus discover five steps to developing an annual enrollment marketing plan and specific strategies to drive performance along the pre-enrollment pipeline.
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Developing an Enrollment Marketing Plan
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
10:15 – 11:30 AM
Text 33233 - copelandenroll
Tim Copeland
DemandEngine
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Form completed July 9, 2014
“Marketing” is often defined by the tool set
• Brand refresh• Market research• New programs• Facilities• Software• The social media du jour …
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“At most campuses marketing is a lot like religion … people tend to find it when they
are in trouble.”
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Dr. Tom Hayes, Xavier University
Agenda
1. What is enrollment marketing?
2. What the common pitfalls to avoid?
3. What steps do you take to build an actionable plan?
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What is enrollment marketing?
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We define enrollment marketing as …
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Why should you care …
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“Across a wide range of institutional types, (academic) leaders express concern that even their niche programs risk losing market share
as student choice expands and attention is harder to capture; competitors are growing
online delivery and diversifying product offerings at the same time that traditional
advertising methods become more expensive and less effective.”
Melanie Ho, Education Advisory Board
Why this is important …
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Won’t enroll Will enroll
Influence
Agenda
1. What is enrollment marketing?
2. What the common pitfalls to avoid?
3. What steps do you take to build an actionable plan?
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Pitfall #1: Build it and they will come
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”We launched our online program and now we’re trying
to work backwards to figure out what we need to do to
find students.”
Pitfall #2: Lack of clear and realistic (headcount) goals
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“Our enrollments had gone down precipitously about 2% a year for the last 9 years. Couldn’t we recognize that? No, it was masked by raising tuition and we
made some expenditure cuts so it looked like we were always whole.”
Billy Cannady, UVA
Pitfall #3: Failure to develop an inquiry pool
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“Our enrollments had gone down precipitously about 2% a year for the last 9 years. Couldn’t we recognize that? No, it was masked by raising tuition and we
made some expenditure cuts so it looked like we were always whole.”
Pitfall #4: Devalue the role of recruitment
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“The person who answered the phone was very friendly but it seemed that her
knowledge was limited to what she was reading on the website as she was talking
to our shopper. For more detail, she provided the program director’s
information and mentioned that emailing her would be a good idea if she couldn’t
be reached by phone. ”
Pitfall #5: One-size fits all communication strategy
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“The person who answered the phone was very friendly but it seemed that her
knowledge was limited to what she was reading on the website as she was talking
to our shopper. For more detail, she provided the program director’s
information and mentioned that emailing her would be a good idea if she couldn’t
be reached by phone. ”
Agenda
1. What is enrollment marketing?
2. What the common pitfalls to avoid?
3. What steps do you take to build an actionable plan?
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Let’s level set …
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• Strategic Plan– Long-range strategic
planning focuses on fundamental decisions and actions that shape the long-range nature and direction of the division
– Less detailed, broader in scope and purpose than the recruitment or retention plans.
• Enrollment Plan– A working plan focused
specifically on the recruitment of students
– Clear and realistic goals and objectives, and targets
– Outlines the actions, timelines, and metrics to deploy to achieve goals
Where your plan should fit
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Enrollment Planning HierachyEnrollment Planning Hierachy
Institutional Strategic PlanInstitutional Strategic Plan
Division Strategic PlanDivision Strategic Plan
Annual Enrollment Marketing Plan
Annual Enrollment Marketing Plan
Annual Retention Plan
Annual Retention Plan
Clear goals and objectives
Clear goals and objectives
Key enrollment initiatives
Key enrollment initiatives
Road mapRoad mapSource: DemandEngine
If your plan looks like this, there is a problem
• Monthly list of mailers• Schedule of online
advertising• A calendar of emails• Google Adwords budget
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Enrollment marketing planning principles
1) Enrollment leadership, demonstrated by clear goals and realistic targets and requisite resource investments
2) Well-targeted and effective marketing communications to uncover demand
3) A dedicated approach to managing the prospective learner enrollment pipeline
4) Efficient and coordinated operations that minimize barriers to enrollment
5) Supporting technology with powerful communication and reporting capabilities
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Step 1: Assess your “enrollment operating system”
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Marketing Communications
Operations
Enrollment Planning Pipeline
Management Technology
DemandEngine’s enrollment marketing maturity model
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Step 2: Define clear and realistic goals
1. Baseline the current new student enrollment pipeline
2. Analyze the pipeline
3. Determine if it is an acquisition, conversion, or yield opportunity … or some combination
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1. Baseline demand
• Market demand – inquiries• Program demand – applicants/registrants• Quality of demand – admits• Brand strength - enrolled
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The enrollment pipeline
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AY (X)YTD
AY (X) Target
AY (X-1) YTD
AY (X-1) Final
AY (X-2) Final
Prospects 13,250 15,250 14,009 14,500 12,598
Inquiries 4,250 5,250 3,900 4,400 3,590
Applications 890 1,000 680 720 680
Completed applications 490 600 390 420 450
Admits 450 500 354 375 360
Enrolls 450 325 319
Conversion % (applications/inquiries)
21% 19% 17% 16% 19%
Admit%(admits/applications)
92% 83% 91% 89% 80%
Enroll %(enrolls/admits)
90% 87% 89%
Source: DemandEngine
Historical New Student Enrollment Pipeline
Complete % (completes/applications)
55% 60% 57% 58% 66%
Response % (inquiries/prospects)
32% 34% 28% 30% 28%
2. Analyze the pipeline
• Potential variables to analyze– Program, student type, geographic, qualification scores,
marketing source, academic ability
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Y-Axis Variable
AY(X) AY(X)-1 Dif. AYX AY(X)-1 Dif. AYX AY(X)-1 Dif. AYX AY(X)-1 Dif. AYX AY(X)-1 Dif.
Pipeline Analysis by Variable
Inquiries Applications Completes Admits Enroll
Source: DemandEngine
3. Determine where the opportunities lie
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Stages Actual 1. Increase Inquiries 2. Increase Conversion 3. Increase Yield 4. Increase CombinationInquiries 15987 16987 15987 15987 16987
Applicants 3230 3397 3357 3230 3567Admit 1829 1937 1914 1829 2033
Enrolled 1260 1336 1320 1300 1475Conversion% 20% 20% 21% 20% 21%
Incomplete % 28% 28% 28% 28% 28%Admit % 57% 57% 57% 57% 57%
Yield % 69% 69% 69% 71% 73%Source: DemandEngine
Step 3: Define the initiatives to achieve your goals
• Travel (e.g., fairs, workplace visits)• Events (e.g., open houses, webinars)• Direct response (e.g., data purchases)• Student contact• Referrals• Pay-per-click advertising• SEO• Conversation plan (e.g., nurturing)• Qualification scoring• Recruitment• Operations
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Constructing your enrollment pipeline
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Method % of pipeline
Travel & events 40 – 50%
Direct student contact 20 – 30%
Direct response 15 – 25%
Search engine marketing 20 – 25%
Referrals 5 – 10%Source: DemandEngine
Step 4: Develop effective communication strategies
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Step 5: Document and take action
• Section 1: Introduction – to provide context including the underlying rationale, reinforcement of any changes, and mission and vision for the future.
• Section 2: Graduate Pipeline Analysis – Publish three-year enrollment pipeline headcount figures with associated historical response, conversion, admit, and yield rates.
• Section 3: Enrollment Goals – Define the specific enrollment goals your plan aims to achieve. Goals should be specific and measurable.
• Section 4: Enrollment Objectives – Define the things you must do well as an organization to support your goals.
• Section 5: Initiatives Action Plan – Initiatives, or key tasks, are the activities that must be done to support your objectives and achieve your goals. Initiatives are assigned to individuals (preferably) or groups and have specific completion dates and accountability standards.
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Summary
1. Assess your enrollment operating system
2. Develop clear and realistic goals
3. Identify the requisite initiatives to achieve your goals
4. Develop effective communication strategies
5. Document and take action
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