2010 edu web: kelly cutler - teaming up to create a winning online marketing program
DESCRIPTION
Kelly Cutler, CEO of Marcel MediaTRANSCRIPT
Full-service online + interactive marketing firm
Presented to:
Teaming up to Create a Winning
Online Marketing Program
eduWEB Conference 2010
8/2/2010
Agenda
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1• About Marcel Media
2• Teaming up with an agency
3• Assumptions
4• Solutions
5• DePaul University Case Study
Services
• Search Engine Optimization
• Paid Search
• Web Development
• Social Media Marketing
• Web Analytics
Highlights
• 2009 Inc. 5000 Ranking - 929
overall, 38th in Chicago, 84th
nationwide for ad companies
• Firm with the most Google
Partner certifications in IL
Founded in 2003, Marcel Media is an award-winning, interactive
advisory firm providing customized online and search marketing
solutions.
About Marcel Media
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Teaming up with an agency
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• An integrated approach
• Unite digital and printAdvertising Agencies
• Strategic approach
• Focus on a specific medium
Specialty Agencies
Advertising Agencies vs. Specialty Agencies
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• What kind of results can be expected from web marketing?
• How is the online space valuable in terms of what we are trying
to achieve?
• What are the most important metrics?
• Where do we start?
• What kind of communication/reporting can we expect?
Questions from University Stakeholders
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Assumptions
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Students will find their way to our school’s website anyway:
• Why wait and take a chance that they won’t?
• Strong optimization aids in discovery.
We already have a PPC campaign, that’s all we need:
• One of the biggest misconceptions in the industry: PPC=SEO.
• Google sponsored links only get a fraction of the attention of
the first five organic results.
Assumptions
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SEM 101: Organic Search vs. Paid Search
Organic Search
• Increase rank in natural results
• Long-term strategy, long lasting results
Paid Search
• Instant results
• Pay-per-click model
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Solutions
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Not all types of marketing work for everyone.
Start with a small piece of the marketing pie.
Experiment and test… a lot.
Identify Opportunities - Start Small
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SEO is a marketing opportunity designed to help businesses grow
awareness, traffic and sales on the Internet through natural
placement on search engines.
Search Engine Optimization
Onpage
OptimizationOffpage
Optimization
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Page Title
• The Page Title should employ the keyword term/phrase as the
first word(s).
• 70 characters displayed in Google search results
SEO Onpage Optimization
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H1 Headline
• H1 tags are an index of web page content for search engines,
and describe sections of a web page.
SEO Onpage Optimization
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Local Search
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Reputation Management
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Benefits:
• Effective online reputation management
• Creating a platform for feedback/discussion
• Leveraging content on niche and popular social sites
• Student engagement
• University awareness and interest
Social Media
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More than 25 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories,
blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month. Colleges
and universities are using Facebook to interact and recruit current
students and alumni.
Usage
• 400 million users
• 8 million high school students
• 3.5 million college students
• 85% market share of 4-year U.S. universities
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Every school in the “Top 100 Colleges” has a Twitter account and a
high number of followers was generally correlated with an
extremely strong academic reputation or extremely large student
body.
Usage
• 105 million users
• 30,000 new users every day
• 50 million tweets published every day
• 600 tweets per second
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YouTube allows access to lectures by professors and campus tours.
Content from 300 colleges and universities spanning 10 countries
and 7 languages with 65,000 videos including 350 full courses are
also available on the network.
Usage
• 2 billion videos are watched every day
• 24 hours of video is uploaded every minute
YouTube
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College students and alumni utilize LinkedIn to contact mentors,
alumni, search for jobs and internships, join college groups,
alumni and professional associations.
Usage
• 60 million members
• 95% College educated
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Tying it all together…
• Target your audience based on a geography and demographics
• Optimize online search campaigns
• Track Key Performance Indicators (KPI’S)
Google Analytics
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DePaul University Case Study
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Accommodating erratic traffic patterns due to enrollment cycle
seasonality
Challenge
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Graduate Overall Decision Timeline
0+0 to
30 days-3 years to
-9 months
- 9 to -3
months
+30 to
60 days
Active Recruitment Window: between 5 and 11
months
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Trusted
Source
Independent
Research / Vetting
Decision Information
Pay Per
Lead
Organic
Search
Organic search
results produce a
trusted source
arrived at
independently
Un-trusted
Source
Believe the ads
Paid
Search
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Pain points
• Long “purchase” cycle lends itself to organic search
• New and relatively unknown programs need exposure
• Pay per lead = not working
• Compliments Search advertising
• Compliments Social Media efforts
• Creating a highly usable, effective website
• Positioning website for long-term success
• Maximized trust and authority as a higher learning institution
Why SEO Matters for DePaul
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Benefits
• New and relatively unknown programs
• Compliment Search advertising
• Compliment our Social Media efforts
• Enhance onsite user experience
SEO Strategy
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• Lead Generation
• Brand Awareness/Program Awareness
• Maximizing long-tail exposure targeting graduate programs
• Solidifying online marketing strategy
• Increase visibility on Google for non-branded keywords
Goals
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Start with graduate
population
Focus on key growth
programsOptimization
Access areas of
opportunity
Process for Implementing Strategy
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Organic Traffic Overview
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Key Insights
• Organic traffic has increased by 42% year over year in June
Organic Traffic: Top Non-Branded Keywords
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Key Insights
• Keyword universe
expanded by 171%
• Non branded traffic
increased by 4%
Focus Area 1st Page Rankings
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Keyword Rank
depaul kellstadt 1
depaul mba 1
masters marketing degree chicago 1
chicago master degree of accounting 2
chicago master degree of finance 2
chicago mba 3
chicago mba programs 3
mba chicago 4
mba programs in chicago 5
mba university 10
finance mba 10
June 1, 2010 – June 30, 2010
Phrases that have proven successful, as they are visible in Google’s
Top 10 results*:
• MS Computational Finance
• MFA Digital Cinema
• Master Network Security
• MS in Business Information Technology
Optimizing non-branded terms (those not containing DePaul) allows
prospective students to find information they are seeking even if
they are unaware of DePaul’s programs.
*Note that these phrases do not include “DePaul” or “ CDM”.
Results: Non-Branded Organic Visibility
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Results: Non-Branded Organic Visibility
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Facebook fan pages have also been created for CDM and Kellstadt,
which serve as peer networks for current and prospective
students.
Results: Social Presence
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Website optimization has helped DePaul CDM provide an enhanced
user-experience: a decreased number of prospective students are
requesting information going straight through to the application.
Results: Enhanced Quality and Relevance
Detailed landing page
Submit application
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• Use analytics to make smart decisions.
• Utilize online strategies to maximize enrollment and strong
branding.
• Incorporate social media into your overall strategy.
• Help senior managers see value of integrating the web to overall
business objectives.
• The site will always be a “work in progress”.
“An ounce of data is worth a pound of opinion”
Key Takeaways
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Thank you!
Questions?
Prepared by Marcel Media
445 West Erie, Suite 211
Chicago, Illinois 60654
www.marcelmedia.com
t. 312.255.8044
f. 866.643.7506
Kelly Cutler
312.280.1974
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