2015-2016 annual report: trends in inbound marketing...

THE CONVERGE STORY CONTINUED

2015-2016 ANNUAL REPORT: T R E N D S I N I N B O UN D MAR K E T I N G FOR H I G H E R E D U CAT I O N

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INTROD U CTIONTHANKS FOR DOWNLOADING THE

2015 INBOUND MARKETING FOR

HIGHER EDUCATION SURVEY RESULTS

FROM CONVERGE CONSULTING. ONE

OF THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS

WE HEAR ON CAMPUS IS:

“ WHAT ARE OTHER SCHOOLS DOING?”

Whether it’s digital advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, content marketing or measurement, higher education marketers want to benchmark their efforts against their peers. So in the fall of 2015, Converge teamed up with OMNIUPDATE to answer that question. We’re excited to say, the results are in!


Segment Content

Ongoing Engagement

User Experience

DELIGHTATTRACT

Search Engine Optimization

(SEO)

Strategic Content Creation

Social Media

Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

Landing Pages

Forms

CONVERT

INBOUND MARKET INGMost of you have heard of Inbound Marketing (you downloaded this eBook, didn’t you?). Many of you also understand and use some of these tools and methods in your daily work. We’re willing to bet that every single one of you have been an active participant in effective Inbound Marketing, even if you didn’t know it at the time.

Here’s an example. Say it’s three degrees Fahrenheit outside. That’s the kind of weather that makes you Google, “Can it be too cold to snow?” (In case you were wondering, it can – sort of). It’s also the kind of weather that inspires you to head south, and you’re not alone. When a polar vortex hits, “warm weather vacation” is searched more than two times as often, and industry experts know that it’s peak time for bookings.

So let’s say you’re planning a tropical trip to escape the freeze. You start by doing some research into where you’d like to go. Perhaps you search “best Caribbean islands” or “Mexican resorts for families.” You might ask your friends on social media or email a coworker.

As you’re putting your feelers out, you probably also notice that the universe seems to be helping you in your query. You start to see more swimming pools and palm trees in your Facebook feed. Your Google search result just offered you a discount on a Disney cruise. And the resort that your friend suggested just sent you an email with activities, photos, testimonials and partner discounts. What’s going on here? You just experienced the ATTRACT phase of Inbound Marketing.

STRANGER STUDENT PROMOTERVISITOR

http://www.accuweather.com/en/features/trend/too-cold-to-snow/6953983

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/polar-vortex-boon-warm-weather-vacation-destinations/story?id=21462884


ATTR ACTIn ATTRACT, marketers work hard to line up the right messages for the right prospect. It is a waste of time and money for marketers to approach people who are not eager and able to take a tropical trip. Not to mention, too much unwanted messaging can be damaging to their brand relationship. Fortunately, for marketers and consumers, there are some fantastic digital advertising technologies out there that allow us to target the right person with the right message at the right time. That is what you experienced when you started your getaway search.

These digital advertising tools are all available to higher education marketers. In 2015, we saw more digital advertising investment in social media and mobile platforms. Ads were program-focused with high conversion landing pages. Native advertising tools and technology improved in 2015 as well.

INBO UND MARKET ING


CONVERTYou clicked into the resort’s email because you noticed that they have a partner deal with an airline and rental car company. That’s actually a pretty good rate. You check Kayak.com to confirm. Yep, that’s a great rate. You forward to your spouse. While you wait for their “of course we should do this” response, you start to read the testimonials and look at the pictures. The resort does free yoga every morning? But that might be hard to make because of the live music they offer every evening. Your credit card is out. Why is it taking so long for your spouse to respond?

You’ve just experienced the second step of Inbound Marketing – you’ve been CONVERTED. How? Through the resort’s amazing content. Their content allowed you, from hundreds of miles away, to see yourself walking on

their sunny beaches and relaxing in their posh restaurants. They’ve even helped you with the all-important price point and made it easy for you to share this conversion experience with other decision makers.

A prospective student is making a big decision when they decide where to spend their tuition money and often the next several years of their life. In 2015, we heard from you that the campus visit often seals the deal – as long as you can get them to campus. Schools see the benefit of giving students a chance to see themselves on campus through an immersive online content experience. However, less than half are regularly creating strategic content with tools such as message matrices, personas, videos, content offers and editorial calendars.

INBO UND MARKET ING


DEL IGHTThat other decision maker finally emails you back to tell you what a great idea this is, so you pull the trigger. You fill out your information on their website and mark your calendar.

The trip is amazing. They greet you by name and your room is just as you requested. You snap a ton of pictures and brag to your friends on social media (they’ll forgive you when you give them this great recommendation next year!). When you check out, you get an email asking you to complete a survey and when you do, you receive a discount for your next visit. It’s all very delightful.

This third phase of Inbound Marketing, DELIGHT, is in some ways the most important. Do you remember how you heard about this resort in the first place? From a friend that was so delighted with their experience that they recommended it to you.

In 2015, Google Analytics, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools and social monitoring were critical for higher education institutions to understand how they delighted students and where they can make improvements – from first marketing touch all the way through graduation. Measurement is instrumental in all three phases of Inbound Marketing – ATTRACT, CONVERT, DELIGHT – to understand which tactics are working for your specific audience.

INBO UND MARKET ING


Converge teamed up with OmniUpdate to develop and distribute the 2015 Inbound Marketing for Higher Education Survey. The survey was conducted on October 1-16, 2015 with the target group receiving one reminder email on October 6. Of the total, 502 INDIVIDUALS responded by completing the survey. Respondents came from all over the world with the majority in the United States.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

WHERE ARE THEY FROM?


HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY? (N=502)

SURVEY METHOD OLO GY

Respondents came from a variety of institutions, with the majority from four-year public and private schools.

33.9%

47.2%

5.2% 10.8%

3%

PUBLIC FOUR-YEAR INSTITUTION

PRIVATE FOUR-YEAR INSTITUTION

COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL COLLEGE

FOR PROFIT INSTITUTION

OTHER

N=502


WHAT IS YOUR PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY? PLEASE SELECT THE ONE MOST RELEVANT TO YOUR POSITION. (N=486)


ADMISSIONS

ALUMNI

DEVELOPMENT

EXECUTIVE

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

WEB/IT

50%38%25%13%0%

Respondents work in a variety of roles at their institutions, with the majority responsible for marketing or admissions activities.

2%

3%

4%

26%

21%

44%


IN ADMISSIONS, WHAT STUDENTS DO YOU TARGET? CHECK ALL THAT APPLY. (N=124)


GRADUATE STUDENTS

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

ADULT STUDENTS

TRANSFER STUDENTS

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

70%50% 60%40%30%20%10%0%

Of the respondents responsible for admissions, most are communicating with more than one type of student, with graduate students being the most popular.

54%

46%

50.8%

64.5%

47.6%


PLEASE RANK YOUR TOP THREE MARKETING PRIORITIES FOR RECRUITMENT. SELECT ONE PER COLUMN. (N=437)


When asked to rank the top three recruitment priorities, respondents said that enrolled students, applicants and inquiries were most important.

NUMBER OF

INQUIRIES

NUMBER OF CAMPUS

VISITS

NUMBER OF

APPLICANTS

NUMBER OF ENROLLED STUDENTS

ACADEMIC PROFILE

DIVERSITY ABILITY TO PAY

STUDENT RETENTION

RANKING OF

INSTITUTION

1ST 59 18 77 240 30 8 7 28 9

2ND 36 30 138 59 33 26 13 72 8

3RD 90 32 58 57 34 30 22 72 26


ATTRACT:DIGITAL ADVERTISING, SEO & SOCIAL MEDIA

THERE HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE WAYS

TO ATTRACT PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

TO YOUR WEBSITE, HOWEVER, THE

CONTENT LANDSCAPE HAS NEVER

BEEN MORE COMPETITIVE.

We asked respondents about their institution’s 2015 usage of some of the most effective attraction tools: digital advertising, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media.

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING DIGITAL ADVERTISING EFFORTS? (N=371)

DIGITAL ADVERT IS INGThe most popular forms of digital advertising in 2015 were display and pay-per-click (PPC).

SURVEY RESULTS

Display advertising is a form of online advertising that uses banner ads (images or video). The advertiser typically pays each time the ad is loaded. PPC advertising is a form of online advertising that is paid for when the advertisement is clicked on. Search engine text ads fall into this category.DIRECT BUY

AD NETWORK

RETARGETING

DISPLAY

PAY-PER-CLICK (PPC)

100%80%60%40%20%0%

20% 29% 9% 16%

32% 19% 11% 12%

37% 18% 15% 10%

34% 29% 8% 9%

37% 27% 8% 14%

25%

27%

20%

15%

20%

YES, FREELANCE/OUTSOURCE

YES, CURRENTLY ON STAFF

NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING DIGITAL ADVERTISING EFFORTS? PUBLIC 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=131)

DIGITAL ADVERT IS INGHere is the breakdown for PUBLIC college respondents.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

DIRECT BUY

AD NETWORK

RETARGETING

DISPLAY

PAY-PER-CLICK (PPC)

100%80%60%40%20%0%

17% 31% 10% 18% 24%

24% 24% 15% 12% 25%

31% 21% 18% 12% 18%

31% 30% 12% 11% 17%

31% 31% 10% 11% 18%

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING DIGITAL ADVERTISING EFFORTS? PRIVATE 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=179)

DIGITAL ADVERT IS INGHere is the breakdown for PRIVATE college respondents.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

DIRECT BUY

AD NETWORK

RETARGETING

DISPLAY

PAY-PER-CLICK (PPC)

100%80%60%40%20%0%

19% 28% 11% 17% 25%

33% 18% 12% 12% 25%

41% 18% 15% 8% 18%

36% 30% 8% 7% 19%

43% 28% 7% 12% 10%

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING DIGITAL ADVERTISING EFFORTS? COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL COLLEGE (N=40)

DIGITAL ADVERT IS INGHere is the breakdown for COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL college respondents.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

DIRECT BUY

AD NETWORK

RETARGETING

DISPLAY

PAY-PER-CLICK (PPC)

100%80%60%40%20%0%

28% 28% 15% 28%

48% 8% 15% 30%

40% 10% 8% 10% 33%

38% 23% 5% 13% 23%

28% 18% 35% 18%

3%

3%

SURVEY RESULTS


SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

Facebook advertising was the clear favorite for higher education institutions in 2015, with a vast majority of schools handling the ad buys in house.

ARE YOU CURRENTLY ADVERTISING ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS? (N=362)

Instagram scored highest for the platform that institutions are not currently advertising on but would like to be. This makes sense — Instagram has been experiencing incredible growth in the past several years, especially with the coveted 18- to 29-year-old demographic.PINTEREST

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

LINKEDIN

FACEBOOK

100%80%60%40%20%0%

10% 35% 23% 20% 12%

11% 36% 22% 19% 13%

8% 42% 19% 21% 9%



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

11% 22% 45% 20%2%

23% 30% 30% 15%3%

18% 64% 10% 3%5%

SURVEY RESULTS

http://recode.net/2015/01/09/instagram-is-the-fastest-growing-major-social-network/





The trends are similar for PUBLIC college respondents.

ARE YOU CURRENTLY ADVERTISING ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS? PUBLIC 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=130)

PINTEREST

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

LINKEDIN

FACEBOOK

100%80%60%40%20%0%

9% 35% 28% 19% 8%

9% 38% 25% 15% 12%

8% 38% 24% 22% 8%

11% 25% 47% 16%1%

21% 32% 31% 15%1%

14% 61% 12% 5%8%



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

SURVEY RESULTS



The trends are similar for PRIVATE college respondents.

ARE YOU CURRENTLY ADVERTISING ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS? PRIVATE 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=176)

PINTEREST

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

LINKEDIN

FACEBOOK

100%80%60%40%20%0%

10% 32% 23% 22% 13%

13% 34% 21% 22% 11%

8% 41% 16% 25% 10%

13% 18% 47% 19%2%

22% 28% 33% 14%3%

19% 64% 9% 3%5%



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

SURVEY RESULTS



The trends are similar for COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL college respondents, with an interesting spike for community and technical colleges advertising on YouTube.

ARE YOU CURRENTLY ADVERTISING ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS? COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL COLLEGE (N=37)

PINTEREST

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

LINKEDIN

FACEBOOK

100%80%60%40%20%0%

16% 41% 16% 19% 8%

11% 30% 22% 24% 14%

11% 46% 19% 22%

11% 22% 43% 22%3%

19% 35% 24% 16%5%

22% 68% 3%

3%

8%



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING SEO EFFORTS? (N=390)

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

More than half of the institutions surveyed are doing keyword research to help optimize their websites for search engines. However, there is a lot of room for growth in link-building strategies and semantic SEO.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

TECHNICAL SEO/ SEMANTIC MARKUP

OFF-PAGE SEO/ LINK BUILDING

ON-PAGE SEO/ CONTENT OPTIMIZATION

KEYWORD SEARCH

100%80%60%40%20%0%

19% 17% 28% 31%

19% 38% 18% 22%

16% 18% 24% 38%4%

3%

5%

27% 35% 16% 17%4%

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING SEO EFFORTS? PUBLIC 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=135)


Here is the breakdown for PUBLIC college respondents.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW




KEYWORD SEARCH

100%80%60%40%20%0%

13% 15% 35% 31%

13% 36% 27% 21%

20% 37% 21% 20%

10% 16% 31% 39%4%

2%

2%

6%

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING SEO EFFORTS? PRIVATE 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=188)


More than in other categories, PRIVATE institutions seem to be doing more in regards to SEO efforts.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW




KEYWORD SEARCH

100%80%60%40%20%0%

23% 20% 24% 29%

26% 41% 12% 19%

34% 35% 14% 13%

21% 20% 21% 35%3%

2%

4%

4%

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING SEO EFFORTS? COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL COLLEGE (N=42)


Here is the breakdown for COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL college respondents.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW




KEYWORD SEARCH

100%80%60%40%20%0%

24% 7% 29% 36%

17% 26% 21% 29%

26% 29% 19% 21%

14% 29% 10% 43%5%

7%

5%

5%

SURVEY RESULTS



A WORD ON SEMANTIC SEO: Search engines are getting smarter... much smarter. They use artificial intelligence to learn about relationships between pieces of content, words and phrases. Semantic SEO is about organizing your website in a way that search engines can easily understand and playing nice with that artificial intelligence.

Things like structured data markup, schema and Google Knowledge Graph fall into this category. Technical or semantic SEO scored highest for “I don’t know” in our survey, however some Content Management Systems (CMS) do some of this work for you.

SURVEY RESULTS


2016 PREDICT IONS

#1 INCREASE IN VIDEO ADS

FACEBOOK VIDEO VIEWERSHIP

HAS SEEN TREMENDOUS GROWTH.

AS OF NOVEMBER 2015, THEY

ARE NOW REPORTING 8 BILLION

AVERAGE DAILY VIEWS FROM 500

MILLION USERS. THAT’S UP FROM

JUST 4 BILLION VIDEO VIEWS PER

DAY IN APRIL 2015.

Facebook also has a lot on the horizon when it comes to video. It is testing out a dedicated video feed where users can browse different channels, videos shared by friends, videos that are trending on Facebook and other themes. They are also testing out a ‘Save a video to watch later’ option as well as ‘picture-in-picture viewing’ so users can continue watching a video while they browse their newsfeed.

Don’t forget about Twitter. Their video advertising is now out of beta and available through Twitter reps, making it another channel to engage with users via video. We expect to see these advancements shift emphasis to the video format in 2016.

SURVEY RESULTS : SEARCH ENGINE OPT IM IZATION (SEO)


2016 PREDICT IONS

#2 EXPANSION OF RETARGETING

RETARGETING USERS WAS THE NEW

THING THAT EVERYONE WANTED

TO DO IN 2013 AND 2014.

In 2015, many institutions mastered site retargeting, but what’s next? More targeting strategies and segmented messaging. Instead of just retargeting users who visit your website or landing page and don’t convert, many third-party companies are offering behavioral targeting strategies to reach a larger audience. These strategies include targeting users based on their search and browsing history. Say a user searches your top competitor — you can now retarget that user with behavioral targeting strategies.

Facebook, Twitter and now Google AdWords offer custom audience targeting that allows you to target users by their email address, phone number and/or user ID. You can now customize messaging to your prospects with admissions-related content.

LinkedIn Lead Accelerator (LLA) is a lead generation solution that helps you engage with more prospects, convert more anonymous website visitors and ultimately increase lead velocity into your pipeline. With LinkedIn Accelerator you can now sequence ads, delivering a series of ads to users based on where they are in the recruitment funnel.



2016 PREDICT IONS

#3 INCREASED DATA LAYERING

THE MORE YOU KNOW ABOUT

YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE, THE

MORE GRANULAR YOU SHOULD BE

WITH YOUR DIGITAL ADVERTISING

AUDIENCE TARGETING.

In 2016, we anticipate that more schools will analyze current student data to determine and develop detailed target audience personas. Data such as age, previous education, job industry, income level and interests are all demographic targeting options that can be layered on top of each other on digital advertising channels to help reach an extremely segmented audience.



2016 PREDICT IONS

#4 PERSONA TARGETED ADVERTISING & MESSAGING

PERSONAS WERE HUGE IN 2015,

BUT WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY

DO WITH THE PERSONAS YOU

HAVE DEVELOPED?

Many schools utilize their different personas by targeting all the different demographics, but they aren’t giving each persona a unique journey. This next year, we will see more schools customize the enrollment journey by persona. We will use different messaging, different ad creative, a unique landing page and a customized enrollment follow-up process based on the factors that are the most important to that persona.



2016 PREDICT IONS

#5 A TO Z STRATEGY

CONTINUING ON FROM PERSONA

TARGETED ADVERTISING AND

MESSAGING, WE WILL BEGIN TO

SEE MORE SCHOOLS THINK MORE

ABOUT THE WHOLE RECRUITMENT

PROCESS IN RELATION TO DIGITAL

ADVERTISING.

Digital advertising leads take longer to convert into enrolled students compared to leads from your website. Leads from your website most likely are already familiar with your brand or have done previous research on your school. Ads will be the first interaction your digital advertising leads have with your brand, and they will require a more in-depth and customized recruitment process.

Schools that haven’t implemented Customer Relation Management (CRM) systems will make it a priority in 2016. Schools that have already implemented a CRM will now take advantage of customizing the recruitment process by persona and lead source. They will also look to use more automation tools to create workflows that incorporate more emails and engaging content.



IN ACTION

MIZZOU CASE STUDY WINTERLINE CASE STUDY

CONTRACTED SERVICES

CASE STUDY

User Personas, Digital Advertising Campaign Development (Google AdWords, Bing, LinkedIn and Facebook Ads), Landing Page Design and Development, Ad Creative, Campaign Management, Data Reporting

RESULTSThe Trulaske execMBA team partnered with Converge to build a strategic digital advertising plan using Search Engine Marketing (SEM) tactics on Google AdWords and Bing, demographically targeted ads on Facebook and LinkedIn, and remarketing strategies on both the Google Display Network and Facebook.

User personas were created based on qualitative and quantitative research and leveraged to inform strategically segmented messaging on multiple ad channels. Conversion-focused landing pages were designed and developed to promote inquiries, prove ROI and effectively track lead sources to make smart ad spend decisions.

The Trulaske execMBA program has seen tremendous results from this engagement including an 11% inquiry increase, a 25% applications increase and an 10% increase in enrolled students from their previous year. Leading with strategy and targeting the right audiences at the right time has helped increase diversity, years of experience and overall enrollment for their 2017 cohort.

convergeconsulting.org

Converge Consulting is a higher education inbound marketing firm. We use what’s new and next in content strategy, search engine optimization, digital advertising, web analytics and video storytelling to positively impact student recruitment and alumni engagement for colleges and universities around the world.

University of Missouri Trulaske Executive MBA program

business.missouri.edu/programs-and-admissions/execmba

Columbia, MO

GOALSThe University of Missouri Trulaske Executive MBA program wanted to explore new and innovative methods of reaching prospective students online. The Trulaske execMBA team was looking for ways to:

• Better understand their target audiences and explore opportunities to engage them online

• Increase inquiries for their program and boost applications to show return on investment of digital advertising efforts

• Collect data with actionable reporting to inform decision-making and budget allocation across digital advertising channels

DOWNLOADCASE STUDY

DOWNLOADCASE STUDYCONTRACTED SERVICES

Winterline Global Skills Program CASE STUDY

Inbound marketing and digital advertising through HubSpot, user personas, HubSpot account and CRM setup, automated workflows, email design and development, landing page design and development, editorial calendar for social media and blog launch, digital advertising strategy, campaign management

GOALSWinterline Global Skills Program partnered with Converge Consulting to establish an inbound marketing strategy for their new gap year program. The Winterline team had recently launched their website and were looking for a HubSpot Certified Partner to assist with setup of their marketing dashboard and CRM.

Converge and Winterline partnered to:

• Build brand awareness and name recognition for Winterline GSP

• Setup HubSpot marketing and sales accounts as well as social media accounts

• Create an overarching content strategy including a social media and blog plan

• Develop a digital advertising strategy to boost top-of-the-funnel inquiries

• Implement automated communication workflows to save time while moving leads through the buyer’s journey

RESULTS

• 1,500+ likes on Facebook

• 300+ followers on Twitter

• 100+ new applications

• 1,000+ digital advertising leads

• 550% increase in website traffic

• 16 students enrolled in the inaugural class

Converge partnered with Winterline Global Skills Program to build a sustainable inbound marketing model and generate leads for their new gap year program.

In just 30 days, Winterline GSP saw amazing results from the campaign. Within 90 days, all workflows were performing beyond expectations, and their blog content was seeing great engagement. By the August 2015 start date, Winterline reached their enrollment capacity and exceeded performance expectations for their inaugural year.

www.winterline.comCambridge MA




http://convergeconsulting.org/index.php/download_file/2583/





CONVERT:CONTENT

ACCORDING TO BUSINESS DATA

COMPANY, DOMO, THE GLOBAL

INTERNET POPULATION HAS GROWN

BY 20 PERCENT SINCE 2013.

And all of those people are creating content! Content is the best way to create an emotional connection and share what really sets your institution apart. Everyone can make a blog, but we asked respondents about the specific strategic marketing tools they are using.

SURVEY RESULTS

https://www.domo.com/blog/2015/08/data-never-sleeps-3-0/

https://www.domo.com/blog/2015/08/data-never-sleeps-3-0/


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MARKETING EFFORTS? (N=335)

CONTENT MARKET INGWhen it comes to strategic content tools, videos were most popular in 2015. The responses indicate that most of the content planning and creation is happening in house, compared to other categories. Also, approximately 20-30 percent of institutions would like to be doing more of each of these items. These data points support the claim we hear frequently: WE DON’T HAVE THE STAFF TO PRODUCE GOOD CONTENT.

SURVEY RESULTS



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

COMMUNICATION MAPPING (WORKFLOWS, FUNNELS)

VIDEOS

EDITORIAL CALENDAR

MARKETING AUTOMATION SOFTWARE

MESSAGING MATRIX

CONTENT OFFERS (EBOOKS, INFOGRAPHICS, KITS)

USER PERSONAS

100%80%60%40%20%0%

8% 43% 24% 3% 21%

16% 62% 13% 8%

8% 25% 33% 10% 24%

6% 24% 32% 13% 25%

10% 31% 21% 10% 28%

7% 28% 27% 5% 32%

5% 41% 21% 7% 26%

1%


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MARKETING EFFORTS? PUBLIC 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=120)

CONTENT MARKET INGHere is the breakdown for PUBLIC college respondents.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW


VIDEOS

EDITORIAL CALENDAR


MESSAGING MATRIX


USER PERSONAS

100%80%60%40%20%0%

5% 44% 26% 22%

18% 61% 12% 8%

6% 27% 35% 10% 23%

21% 38% 15% 23%

6% 34% 23% 9% 28%

6% 31% 26% 31%

46% 23% 5% 23%

2%

7%

3%

3%

3%

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MARKETING EFFORTS? PRIVATE 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=164)

CONTENT MARKET INGHere is the breakdown for PRIVATE college respondents.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW


VIDEOS

EDITORIAL CALENDAR


MESSAGING MATRIX


USER PERSONAS

100%80%60%40%20%0%

7% 47% 23% 21%

14% 65% 10% 10%

9% 26% 32% 8% 26%

8% 27% 26% 11% 28%

10% 30% 21% 10% 28%

7% 30% 29% 31%

5% 41% 22% 5% 26%

1%

3%

2%

SURVEY RESULTS


DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MARKETING EFFORTS? COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL COLLEGE (N=34)

CONTENT MARKET INGCOMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL colleges were less likely to have implemented some of the front-end, strategic communication tools like a communications map or a message matrix.



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW


VIDEOS

EDITORIAL CALENDAR


MESSAGING MATRIX


USER PERSONAS

100%80%60%40%20%0%

9% 21% 32% 29%

26% 56% 9% 6%

21% 35% 24% 18%

18% 35% 24% 18%

9% 35% 18% 9% 29%

18% 29% 15% 38%

32% 21% 21% 24%

3%

9%

6%

3%

3%

SURVEY RESULTS


2016 PREDICT IONS

#1 REDEFINING CONTENT GOALS

SMART INSIGHTS RESEARCH

SHOWED THAT TOP INDUSTRY

GOALS FOR CONTENT MARKETING

IN 2015 FOCUSED LESS ON LEAD

GENERATION AND SELLING AND

MORE ON ENGAGEMENT.

Content marketing is being leveraged throughout the inbound marketing funnel to generate readership loyalty, brand awareness and, ultimately, enrolled students and engaged influencers.

Data from the Trends in Inbound Marketing Survey echoes these trends moving into 2016. More than 500 participants – marketers, leaders and creators from colleges and universities from across the country — commented on their content marketing activity in the survey.

The responses showed a consensus that content marketing is actively being used to generate inquiries and build relationships with prospective students and other key digital stakeholders. Results show that approximately 75 percent of higher education marketers are creating, freelancing or would like to implement content marketing efforts.

SURVEY RESULTS : CONTENT MARKET ING


EIGHT KEY GOALS FOR CONTENT MARKETING IN 2015



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

SURVEY RESULTS : CONTENT MARKET ING: 2016 PREDICT IONS : #1

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP/LOYALTY

CUSTOMER EVANGELISM

ENGAGEMENT LEAD GENERATION

BRAND AWARENESS LEAD NUTURING

SALES

SOURCE: B2C CONTENT MARKETING: 2015 BENCHMARKS, BUDGET AND TRENDS – NORTH AMERICA. HTTP://CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2014/10/2015_B2C_RESEARCH.PDF

UPSELL/CROSS-SELL

DOES YOUR INSTITUTION OR DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATE IN THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MARKETING EFFORTS? (N=335)


VIDEOS

EDITORIAL CALENDAR


MESSAGING MATRIX


USER PERSONAS

100%80%60%40%20%0%

8% 43% 24% 3% 21%

16% 62% 13% 8%

8% 25% 33% 10% 24%

6% 24% 32% 13% 25%

10% 31% 21% 10% 28%

7% 28% 27% 5% 32%

5% 41% 21% 7% 26%

1%

88%

50%77%

87%

69%

69%88%

61%


#2 CONTENT CALENDARS = YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND

“GOOD CONTENT ALWAYS HAS AN OBJECTIVE, IT IS CREATED WITH INTENT.” ANN HANDLEY, AUTHOR

AND CONTENT MARKETING EXPERT.

Tools like content calendars and blog plans are a necessary evil that all content creators must manage. If we want to track, measure and evaluate the impact of the content we produce, we’ve got to put a system in place for editorial management.

We often hear from our clients about the complexities of their approval processes and their struggles with institution-wide content strategy. Decentralized governance models often lead to a lack of authorship and ownership, making content management challenging, at best, for most colleges and universities.

According to the Inbound Survey results, only 65 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS ARE LEVERAGING CONTENT TOOLS like editorial calendars in their management process.

2016 PREDICT IONS



2016 PREDICT IONS

PERKS OF MAINTAINING A CONTENT CALENDAR

A spreadsheet outlining your plan for 2016 might seem like a simple solution for a big problem, but an organized content calendar provides many benefits for colleges and universities.

DEFINES CONTENT AUTHOR/OWNER

ENSURES CONSISTENCY IN BRAND NARRATIVE

SIMPLIFIES DAILY EXECUTION TO OPTIMIZE TIME AND RESOURCES

IT’S A RECORD OF ALL CONTENT MARKETING EFFORTS

ENCOURAGES MEASUREMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

STREAMLINES SHARING AND AMPLIFICATION



#3 CONTENT MEASUREMENT & OPTIMIZATION

Matt Brown of Moz shared insights on the Content Glut during his session at Converge 2015. The sheer quantity of content — blogs, infographics, eBooks, etc. — being produced is huge.

2.5 MILLION BLOG POSTS

ARE CREATED EVERY DAY.

An important factor in scaling an enterprise-level content strategy is measurement through analytics.

• Setting goals for content performance

• Monitoring traffic and how users interact with your website and blog

• Understanding paths to content and how messages are disseminated across multiple digital channels leading back to your site

2016 PREDICT IONS


http://convergeconsulting.org/blog/2015/11/recap-mozs-session-converge-2015/

http://convergeconsulting.org/blog/2015/11/recap-mozs-session-converge-2015/


#4 NEW & NEXT: CONTENT AMPLIFICATION IS COMING

Now that we’re actively seeing stories told and communicated online through content marketing efforts in #highered, we’re seeing industry thought leaders like Bentley University, Temple University and others moving toward amplification.

Content amplification marries valuable content – earned and owned media – with paid tactics. A content amplification strategy is key for colleges and universities moving forward.

How do we optimize in an increasingly competitive landscape? And what’s the right balance between content creation, curation and strategy? Content amplification is the next step in taking your content marketing efforts to the next level.

2016 PREDICT IONS

DIGITAL MARKETING TRIFECTA EARNED, OWNED & PAID MEDIA

PROPEL SHARING & ENGAGEMENT WITH PAID PROMOTION

SHARING • MENTIONS• SHARES• REPOSTS• REVIEWS

SEO & BRAND CONTENT DRIVE EARNED MEDIA (SHARING) & TRAFFIC

LEVERAGE OWNED, EARNED AND PAID MEDIA FOR A COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING STRATEGY

GAIN MORE EXPOSURE TO WEB PROPERTIES WITH SEO AND PPC

ADVERTISING • PAY-PER-CLICK• DISPLAY ADS• RETARGETING• PAID INFLUENCERS• PAID CONTENT

PROMOTION• SOCIAL MEDIA ADS

WEB PROPERTIES • WEBSITE• MOBILE SITE• BLOG SITE• SOCIAL

MEDIA CHANNELS

EARNEDMEDIA

PAIDMEDIA

OWNEDMEDIA



IN ACTION

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MCGRAW-HILL

CONTRACTED SERVICES

CASE STUDY

User Personas, Landing Page Design and Development, Program Page Design and Development, Communications Workflow Mapping, Content Strategy and Copywriting

www.american.edu/cas/Washington D.C.

GOALSThe College of Arts and Sciences at American University wanted to grow enrollment and boost applications for four unique graduate programs – MFA in Creative Writing, Master of Science in Health Promotion Management, Master of Arts in Audio Technology and Master of Arts in Public Anthropology.

The team was interested in leveraging inbound marketing strategies to maximize time and resources. Goals for this pilot project included:

• Create user personas and messaging to appeal to the unique interests and goals of each audience.

• Implement post-inquiry, post-application and melt prevention communication workflows in Ellucian Recruiter to send segmented emails.

• Development of email content for segmented marketing campaigns.

• Design landing and programs pages to create more compelling touch-points for each program.

• Measure the results of pilot project and show ROI of inbound marketing tactics.

RESULTS



american university College of Arts & Sciences

50+ emails 8 new web pages 4 communication flows 2 workshops 5 months

Converge worked with the CAS team to strategize, create and implement the pilot project for American. Through a series of discovery calls and campus visits, Converge collected key information about each program to develop four user personas, a strategic communication flow and segmented messaging per campaign.

The two teams have designed and developed landing pages and new program pages to better engage prospective students. Converge worked with the American CAS team to create over 50 emails and write compelling content for the 8 new webpages.

60 days post-launch:

• 200 inquiries from the landing page

• 175 inquiries from the program pages, triple last year

• 30 applications started with 524 total new prospects

CONTRACTED SERVICES

CASE STUDY

Audience Personas, Messaging, Buyer's Journey, Marketo Implementation, Email Templates, Copy, Blog Posts, Social Calendar, Advertising Strategy

GOALSMcGraw Hill partnered with Converge to launch their business to consumer “Smart Book” Adaptive Learning Technology product. The team was interested in leveraging inbound marketing strategies to maximize resources. Goals for this project included:

• Creating of user personas and messaging to appeal to a unique audience

• Developing and implementation of an email marketing campaign

• Design and develop landing pages

RESULTSConverge worked with McGraw Hill Education to strategize, create and implement an inbound marketing strategy. Through discovery calls, Converge collected impontat information about the “Smart Book” to create audience personas, a segmented email messaging campaign and a strategic communication flow.

• 33% above sales goal

• 5000+ downloads of Smartbook/Midterm e-book in 3 weeks

• 50% conversion rate on landing pages



McGraw HillInbound Marketing

www.mheducation.com

DOWNLOADCASE STUDY

DOWNLOADCASE STUDY







DELIGHT:MEASUREMENT

SO THE BIG QUESTION, IS INBOUND

MARKETING WORKING?

Are we attracting, converting and delighting our prospective students? Are any of our ad campaigns performing better than others? Which pieces of content are most frequently shared? We won’t always get direct user feedback in the digital age, so we need to read between the lines with measurement. We asked schools what they were doing in 2015

SURVEY RESULTS


ARE YOU MEASURING MARKETING EFFORTS THROUGH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS? (N=327)

MEAS UREMENTWe were happy to see the number of schools, more than half, that are participating in some kind of social media monitoring and analytics. Institutions are also using Google Analytics more often than not, and more than half of the respondents have Google Analytics Goals set up, which is critical for not just measuring, but making strategic improvements on your site and marketing efforts.

SURVEY RESULTS

MARKETING AUTOMATION ANALYTICS

CRM METRICS

SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING

SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS

GOOGLE ANALYTICS DASHBOARDS

GOOGLE ANALYTICS GOAL SETUP

100%80%60%40%20%0%

6% 27% 36% 6% 25%

6% 42% 31% 5% 17%

10% 65% 14% 9%

13% 49% 24% 13%

10% 66% 13% 9%

13% 61% 15% 10%

2%

1%

2%

1%



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW


SURVEY RESULTS



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

MEAS UREMENT

ARE YOU MEASURING MARKETING EFFORTS THROUGH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS? PUBLIC 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=120)


CRM METRICS





100%80%60%40%20%0%

7% 23% 44% 8% 18%

44% 35% 5% 13%

9% 64% 17% 8%

7% 47% 33% 14%

8% 68% 16% 7%

8% 67% 17% 9%

2%

1%

Here is the breakdown for PUBLIC college respondents.

3%




NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

MEAS UREMENT

ARE YOU MEASURING MARKETING EFFORTS THROUGH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS? PRIVATE 4-YEAR INSTITUTION (N=157)


CRM METRICS





100%80%60%40%20%0%

6% 30% 33% 28%

45% 29% 17%

9% 67% 15% 9%

17% 50% 19%

9% 66% 15% 10%

15% 62% 13%

1%

1%

Here is the breakdown for PRIVATE college respondents.

5% 4%

3%

9%

13%

1%

1%

SURVEY RESULTS




NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

MEAS UREMENT

ARE YOU MEASURING MARKETING EFFORTS THROUGH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS? COMMUNITY OR TECHNICAL COLLEGE (N=34)


CRM METRICS





100%80%60%40%20%0%

26% 32% 15% 24%

21% 41% 12% 21%

6% 74% 9% 6%

6% 59% 18%

12% 71% 9% 3%

9% 47% 21%

6%

6%

COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL colleges show some different trends compared to 4-year institutions in the measurement category. Community and technical colleges are less likely to have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool in place, but are more likely to be doing social media monitoring and analytics.

6%

3%

12%

9%

12%

9%

SURVEY RESULTS


MEAS UREMENTMEASURING IT ALL: One of the biggest challenges in measurement is that

we typically have a lot of different tools that measure different pieces of the recruitment funnel. Email marketing tools track open rates, but cannot connect that open to the website user who signed up for the campus visit. When that user makes it to campus and applies, enrolls and attends class, it is hard to tie it back to that original email. Marketing automation software can provide some advantages here because the prospect is typically kept as one record and the path can be more easily tracked.

SURVEY RESULTS


2016 PREDICT IONS

#1 MOVING FROM DATA DUMPS TO ACTUAL INSIGHT

ONE OF THE MOST COMMON ISSUES

WE SEE, EVEN IN INSTITUTIONS

WITH A STRONG ANALYTICS CULTURE,

IS THE TENDENCY TO USE ANALYTICS

AS NOTHING MORE THAN A

COLLECTION OF QUANTITATIVE

RESULTS MEASURED AGAINST

A LESS-THAN-SOLID BASELINE.

These “data dumps” can feel significant — heads turn when you announce that traffic to your website increased 210 percent from the previous month. What does that mean though? Did you see an increase in the number of enrolled students as a result or were people just curious because your team took the NCAA playoffs by storm?

Analytics for the sake of providing a large amount of data are unusable and some institutions have started to catch on to that fact. In 2016, we will see an increase in the number of institutions defining their goals and visualizing how each of their marketing efforts are contributing to the ultimate goals.

SURVEY RESULTS : MEASUREMENT


2016 PREDICT IONS

#2 INSPECTING BIG PICTURE GOALS ON A MICRO LEVEL

WITH THE USAGE OF GOOGLE TAG

MANAGER MORE THAN DOUBLING

IN THE LAST YEAR, MORE SITES

HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO

BEGIN INSPECTING ACTIVITY

AT A MICRO LEVEL.

With how easy Tag Manager makes it to dynamically track events based on all clicks, links, or even scrolls on your site, there is no reason not to begin measuring the impacts of very specific activities on the bottom line.

This tool, combined with resources such as Google Analytics Content Experiments, will allow marketers to measure the impact of button placement, page length or even content type on goal conversions.


http://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/tag_manager/all

http://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/tag_manager/all


2016 PREDICT IONS

#3 MEASURING ENGAGEMENT THROUGHOUT THE FUNNEL

THIS HAS ALREADY BEGUN TO

HAPPEN THROUGH THE USE OF

CAMPAIGN TRACKING AS WELL

AS OTHER EFFORTS TO BRING

OFFLINE MARKETING INTO THE

WORLD OF ANALYTICS.

2016 is the time to take the next step. Very often the use of analytics will only go to the point of inquiry or login application process. If you’re lucky, you have a CRM in place to track users beyond that barrier, but what good does it provide if the two systems are disjointed?

We have begun to see institutions attempting to break down the walls between their CRM systems and their analytics data to measure users from the point they first search all the way through enrollment. Each implementation is custom, but marketing automation tools help in this effort. It is this data that will allow marketers to identify not only where they are receiving the most inquiries, but also where they are sourcing quality inquiries.



ARE YOU MEASURING MARKETING EFFORTS THROUGH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS? (N=327)

PRIORITY OF ANALYTICS


CRM METRICS





100%80%60%40%20%0%

6% 27% 36% 6% 25%

6% 42% 31% 5% 17%

10% 65% 14% 9%

13% 49% 24% 13%

10% 66% 13% 9%

13% 61% 15% 10%



NO, WOULD LIKE TO

NO, DO NOT NEED

DO NOT KNOW

2%

1%

2%

1%

SURVEY RESULTS : MEASUREMENT: 2016 PREDICT IONS : #3

MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL PRIORITY

MAJOR PRIORITY FOR SOME DEPARTMENTS BUT NOT ENTIRE INSTITUTION

AN INTEREST OF THE INSTITUTION BUT NOT A PRIORITY

LITTLE AWARENESS AND THEREFORE NOT A PRIORITY OR INTEREST

INTENTIONALLY NOT A PRIORITY OR INTEREST

28%

41%

26%

4%2%


WHAT IS IN PLACE FOR ANALYTICS?

SENIOR LEADER INTEREST

IDENTIFICATION OF KEY OUTCOMES

ACCEPTING ADMINISTRATION

DATA CAPACITY

INFORMATION SECURITY READINESS

IR PROFESSIONALS

RIGHT DATA

DATA ACCESS POLICIES

RIGHT TOOLS

IT PROFESSIONALS

CLEAN DATA

DATA-DRIVEN CULTURE

STANDARDIZED DATA

GOOD REPORTS

INVESTMENT ORIENTATION

DEDICATED ANALYTICS PROFESSIONALS

BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS

PROCESS TO USE DATA IN DECISIONS

FACULTY ACCEPTANCE

FUNDING

ANALYSTS

0-20 20-40 40-60 60-80 80-100 100

IN PLACE

NOT IN PLACE

SURVEY RESULTS : MEASUREMENT: 2016 PREDICT IONS : #3


ANALYTICS ADOPTED AT CORE OF MARKETING

ALL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS TRACKED THROUGH ANALYTICS

GIFT ATTRIBUTION DOWN TO THE POST LEVEL (KNOWING HOW MUCH GIFT MONEY A SINGLE FACEBOOK POST ATTRIBUTED, ETC.)

HAS MADE A DIRECT IMPACT ON CONTENT SUGGESTIONS FOR MONTHLY NEWSLETTERS

#HIGHERED CASE STUDY: CREIGHTON

#HIGHERED CASE STUDY: TEXAS A&M FOUNDATION

IN ACTION


CONTRACTED SERVICES

CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY CASE STUDY

Information Architecture, Personas, Google Analytics, Content Strategy & Development, Search Engine Optimization, Wire-frames, Usability Testing

www.creighton.edu | Omaha, NE

GOALS• Understand and create a strong user experience (UX) for prospective students, faculty, parents and the community who are interested in the Creighton brand

• Develop data-driven web and content strategy that focuses on best practices and long-term solutions for content evaluation and creation

• Redesign all college websites in a strategic way – from the foundation of a solid information architecture to content assessment through launch and future planning

• Set the bar in higher education websites for UX, brand storytelling, consistency and findability – all to be measured through analytics

RESULTSConverge worked with the Creighton team through campus discovery visits with key stakeholders, faculty, administrators and marketing/ web strategists to better understand web goals and desires for long-term digital strategy.

After working with prospective and current students to conduct focus groups, usability testing and card sort exercises to guide strategic development of information architecture for each of the college sites. Our team has also developed user personas for each college to provide a benchmark for brand messaging that will help content creators consistently stay on message.

The project also included development of specific information architecture and wireframes followed by assessment of content and the development of a content strategy that would most clearly tell the Creighton story. Keyword research was conducted in relation to programmatic offerings, and each site has been optimized for SEO (both technically and on-page) including monthly reporting through custom Google Analytics dashboards. Templates were developed and over 700 pages of content have been generated for the new site.



“The amount of research and detail put into user personas is top notch. They are an expert in the field of higher ed and our sites continue to succeed because Converge knows exactly who we are as a university.” – Amanda Buchfink, Web Strategist, Creighton University

CONTRACTED SERVICES

Texas A&M Foundation CASE STUDY

Analytics Implementation, Analytics Reporting, & Ongoing Consulting

www.txamfoundation.comCollege Station, TX

RESULTS• The phased event tagging and goal setup was able to account for multiple sites in 8 week increments

• Weekly status calls and bi-monthly reporting calls provided trend analysis on newsletter email content has increased email engagement by 50% over the previous year.

• Accurate campaign, event and goal tracking has allowed the Texas A&M Foundation to attribute individual gifts down to the specific post or email story responsible for the contribution.

• Ongoing training has developed a culture of analysis and review within the organization to encourage all decisions to be made through the interpretation of data.

GOALSThe Foundation at Texas A&M wanted to better understand the impact of all marketing activities, both online & offline, on the bottom line of donations. They partnered with Converge for analytics implementation, reporting and ongoing consulting.

The goals of the partnership were:

• Track event activity on the main txamfoundation.com website, annual report and bi-annual magazine to understand the most impactful content for the foundation’s user-base.

• Clarify marketing attribution to be able to allow for the strategic allocation of budget to high ROI campaigns.



DOWNLOADCASE STUDY

DOWNLOADCASE STUDY

INSTITUTION WIDE ANALYTICS ROLLOUT

CENTRALIZED MARKETING MANAGES DATA

INDEPENDENT VIEW FOR EACH COLLEGE (COLLEGE SPECIFIC GOALS & DASHBOARDS) AUDIENCE

DYNAMIC NAVIGATION TRACKING HAS HAD A DIRECT IMPACT ON SITE STRUCTURE FOR NEW SITES IN DEVELOPMENT






IF YOU HAD EXTRA TIME, MONEY AND RESOURCES, WHAT WOULD YOU SPEND IT ON? (N=231)

2016, HERE WE COMEWe asked one final question on the 2015 Inbound Marketing for Higher Education Survey. If the respondents could have more of one thing in 2016, it would be staff members.

RESPONSE NUMBER OF RESPONSES

STAFF 50

ADVERTISING 26

CONTENT 25

CRM 20

SEO 17

MARKETING AUTOMATION 10


2016 , HERE WE COME

We have been fortunate enough to work with some amazing teams in higher education marketing ... from two-person, jack-of-all-trades teams to agency-style groups with enough staff to fill a football team. But what they have in common is their readiness to learn, experiment and advance their brands with new technologies and tools.

There are amazing advances coming in digital advertising, SEO, social media, content marketing, measurement and likely some other categories we aren’t even talking about yet! We’re excited to see how higher education institutions are embracing the new and looking for opportunities to grow.

That’s what makes us excited to be in this industry. It inspires our blogs, webinars and conferences. And it motivates us to conduct surveys like this one. We hope you use this information to benchmark your efforts, earmark dollars and make the case for improvements.

FROM OUR TEAM TO YOURS,

HAVE A WONDERFUL 2016

AND KEEP EXPLORING!

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2015-2016 annual report: trends in inbound marketing...

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