Smart Marketing in a Recession Current Marketing Practices and Ideas for DETCMember Institutions

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Smart Marketing in a RecessionCurrent
Marketing Practices and Ideasfor DETC-Member
Institutions

• Presented April 7, 2009, at the
• 83rd Annual Conference of the
• Distance Education and Training Council
• By Ron Gregory, President,

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Outline of Presentation

• Results and Comments from Second Survey on
  Marketing Practices of DETC Institutions
• Recession marketing practices and ideas
• Best practices in certain media and channels
• Best practices for testing
• New media and where they stand for DETC use
• Examples of ideas and best practices at work

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Among all respondents
• 20 inquiry-seeking media types used in 2008
• Average used 7.5 per respondent
• Up from 6.4 per respondent in 2007
• Top six media, listed in order of usage
• Website
• Student and alumni referrals
• Magazines and other print media
• Trades shows and conferences
• SEM and CPC ads on Internet
• Internet CPI and CPE sources

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Comments on Media Usage
• Somewhat less usage of key Internet media, SEM
  and CPI/CPE sources than prior year
• Print Media, Catalogs, Direct Mail, Email, and
  FSIs/Co-ops all dropped in usage
• Some media, not specifically included last year,
  were used by a healthy percentage of respondents
• Referrals 85
• Trade Shows 65
• Newsletters 44
• PR, Press Releases 41
• F-to-F Sales 35
• Social Media 29

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Comments on Media Efficiency
• Most important metrics used to judge media
  efficiency
• Conversion Rate
• Cost per Inquiry (4th last year)
• Cost per Enrollment (2nd last year)
• Revenue per Enrollment (3rd last year)
• As in last years survey, very few respondents
  considered profit-oriented metrics as having much
  importance

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Ranking of Efficiency Metrics
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Rankings of Inquiry-Seeking Media (Using
Respondents Most Important Efficiency Metric)
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from
SurveyInquiry-Seeking Media Comments

• Not enough spent on Website and Student
  Referrals, given their efficiency ratings
• Website received same critique last year
• Opportunities exist to capitalize on the
  effectiveness of student and alumni referrals
• Radio had too little data to generalize the high
  efficiency shown
• Too much spent on Print Media, Internet CPI
  CPE, Direct Mail, and Email, given their
  efficiency
• Print Media received same critique last year
• In 2007 Email wasnt used much, but relatively
  efficient maybe it was employed more in 2008
• Internet CPM (banners) could be too inefficient
  for some schools

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Inquiry-Seeking Media Ranked by Efficiency and
Amount Spent
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from
SurveyInquiry-Seeking Media Comments Contd

• As last year, Search Engine Marketing efficiency
  ranked just behind Website, but spending ranked a
  distance 2nd to Internet CPI CPE
• Could be caused by struggle to optimize websites,
  or by difficulties in SEM strategy or execution
• Internet CPI CPE ranked highest in spending,
  but tied for 6th in efficiency
• Last year, CPI CPE was also highest in spend,
  but 5th in efficiency not much has changed here
• Better strategy, qualifications, and tracking
  usually needed to improve this important source

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Inquiry-Seeking Media Ranked by
Spend-to-Efficiency Ratio
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Media Ranked on Efficiency, Spending, and Tests
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Not enough testing being conducted for several
  media, given their efficiency and/or spending
  levels, including
• Website
• Internet CPI CPE
• Internet CPM
• Email to Cold Lists
• Student Referrals
• Lots of testing in Print Media and SEM
• Print Media testing may be an attempt to keep
  this historically reliable medium working
• SEM testing levels may reflect frustration with
  competitiveness of medium, or lack of clear
  strategy or execution

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Inquiry-Seeking Media dropped due to
  inefficiency
• 14 dropped Internet CPI CPE
• 9 dropped Print, Direct Mail, and TV
• 5 dropped Internet CPM, Social Media, Radio, and
  Trade Shows
• Similar media dropped in last years survey, plus
  Internet SEM and FSIs

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Conversion Channels, Ranked by Enrollments
Received
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Top Conversion Channels, by enrollments received
• Website
• Internet CPE
• Referrals
• Internet CPM
• Face-to-Face Sales
• Email
• Direct Mail
• Magazines, Print
• Internet SEM
• Outbound Calls
• Tied

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Conversion Channel comments
• Given the resulting enrolls, too much spent on
  Direct Mail, Magazines, Internet SEM, Outbound
  Calls, and to some extent, Trade Shows, Social
  Media, and Internet CPE
• Not enough spent on Website, Referrals, and to
  some extent, PR and Press Releases
• Not much data on testing, but it appears that too
  little testing was done for high-spending
  channels, including Internet CPE, Magazines,
  Direct Mail, and Outbound Calls

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Conversion Channel coordination
• Half of respondents used some method for
  coordinating messages to inquiries between
  channels
• A third used no method for coordinating messages
  between channels
• Most-used method of message delivery coordinated
  sequence between independently driven channels
• About 20 have their channels programmatically
  linked in their system
• About 25 controlled the sequence of messages,
  while about 20 controlled the timing of messages

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Changes in Marketing Budget for All Marketing
Costs
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Marketing budgets of half of respondents have
  been affected by the recession
• Of these, more decreased their budget than
  increased it, even though recessions are
  generally good for education businesses
• Changes in respondents marketing budgets
• 5.4 increase from 2007 to 2008
• 4.6 expected increase from 2008 to 2009
• The 2009 budgets are lower by 1.8 than they
  otherwise would be, due to the recession

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Seasonality of Spending for Inquiry-Seeking
Media (Excluding Summer-Seasonal Schools)
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey

• Seasonality Top Spending Months for
  inquiry-seeking media, in order
• January
• July
• February
• June
• March
• September

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Three-Year Change in CPIs, CPEs and CPIs in 2008,
By Program Type
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from
Survey

• Estimated Cost per Inquiry by Program Type
• Associates slightly higher than Masters and
  Bachelors CPIs all in 29-34 range
• In 2007 Masters and Bachelors were highest,
  mostly in 50-75 range
• High School, Certificate, and Elementary/Jr. High
  mostly in 12-16 range
• Not much change from prior year

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from
Survey

• Estimated Change in CPIs and CPEs, 2005-2008
• Surprisingly, most CPIs and CPEs went down over
  this 3-year period
• In prior year, most went up by single digits,
  except Doctoral programs (CPI up 20, CPE up 25)
• CPIs for Certificate, High School, and
  Elementary/Jr. High were flat to slightly up
• Other CPIs decreased, range of 7 to 15
• CPEs all decreased in range of 3 to 15

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Current Marketing Practices Findings from Survey
Estimated Man Hours Spent in 2008 on Marketing
Activities
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Current Marketing Practices Findings from
Survey

• Estimated man hours spent on various marketing
  activities in 2008
• Website Development 605
• Product Development 579
• Retention Marketing 374
• Developing New Markets 331
• Planning Tests 317
• Search Engine Optimization 286
• SEO, Planning Tests, and Developing New Markets
  could use more time and attention
• Product Development had 75 more time devoted to
  it than any of these three marketing activities
• Website Development better than prior year, but
  could still use additional attention

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Best Marketing Practices and Ideas

• Recession-period marketing strategy generally
  means lower budgets and/or more careful use of
  marketing dollars
• Balance of presentation focuses on low-cost
  techniques and ideas in critical areas
• Search Engine Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Testing
• Website Development
• New Media Update

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Best Practices and Ideas for Search Engine
Marketing

• Consider outsourcing SEM and SEO to a
  professional search agency
• Keep up with smart bidding tactics, or go outside
  to an agency that follows the industrys constant
  changes
• Even automated bidding needs human oversight
• Let your SEM agency work on SEO with your website
  team to generate more free inquiries
• Monitor agency closely with weekly report on
  results
• Determine how to credit other media for inquiries
  received on website

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Best Practices and Ideas for Search Engine
Marketing

• Refresh keywords used for bidding
• Method for doing it yourself very inexpensively
  in a white paper by Tableau Software
• Keep list trim to avoid spreading budget too thin
• Determine top keywords for revenue, margin, and
  conversion, then budget more for these terms
• Separate keywords into top, average, and low
  performers
• Pause the consistently low performers

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Best Practices and Ideas for Search Engine
Marketing

• Protect your brand name and branded terms
• Bid on them constantly with fairly high budgets
• Dont let CPI vendors (affiliates) bid on your
  brand terms
• DETC members shouldnt be bidding on each others
  names
• File trademarks with search engines
• Google will stop use of your TM in others ads
• Test Google Content Network and others like it
  with contextual ads

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Best Practices and Ideas for Search Engine
Marketing

• Improve conversion track and landing pages
• Match SEM ads to landing pages in content and
  look, to increase conversion
• Include pertinent info and links on landing pages
• Add alternate choices for programs, courses
• Spice up with pics, color, and video
• Give option for email or newsletter sign-up
• Test key variables and track results
• Buy alternate urls to add accounts for bidding

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Search Ads and Landing Page Examples

• Ashworth Home Page
• Ashworth Landing Pages
• Ashworth Career School
• AshworthEducation.com    Accredited Career
  Training Courses. Med Transcription, HVAC, More
  
• Ashworth College
• AshworthCollege.edu      Get a Bachelors,
  Associate, Masters or High School Degree. Free
  Catalog
• Ashworth High School
• Earn A High School Diploma Online.Start Any
  Time - 100 Self Paced!AshworthHighSchoolInfo.com
  

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Search Ads and Landing Page Examples

• Penn Foster Home Pages
• Penn Foster Official Site
• www.PennFoster.edu      Find over 80 affordable,
  convenient self-paced career programs.
• Penn Foster College
• The Official Site of Penn FosterCollege - Earn
  your Degree at home.www.PennFosterCollege.edu
• Penn Foster Landing Pages
• Penn Foster-Online School
• Penn Foster Offers AA, Certificate,Diploma,
  More. Get Penn Foster infowww.Penn-Foster-Online.
  com
• Penn Foster Online
• penn-foster.com      Degree career training
  programs. Request a free program catalog.
• Penn Foster Career School
• Request official information fromPenn Foster
  Career School here!Penn.Foster.DegreeBreeze.com

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Search Ads and Landing Page Examples

• McKinley College
• Online Associates Degree
• Accredited, Affordable OnlineAssociate Degree
  Self Paced!www.McKinleyCollege.edu
• Western Governors University
• MBA in Healthcare Online
• www.WGU.edu      Accredited online university
  with an affordable MBA in Healthcare Mgt
• American Intercontinental University
• Healthcare at AIU
• Earn A Career-Focused HealthcareDegree Online.
  Learn More Now!www.AIUonline.edu
• Walden University
• Health Mgmt Degrees
• From Walden University OnlineStart Towards a
  Better Future!www.Degrees.WaldenU.edu

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Best Practices and Ideas for Conversion
Marketing

• Low-cost ideas for improving conversion
• Constantly improve and update website
• The front door to your school MUST look great!
• Change copy to speak to tough economic times and
  fast-to-complete programs
• Determine high-value inquirers and spend more to
  convert them than low-value ones
• Synchronize messages better between various
  conversion channels
• Test new offers and changing the order of current
  offers

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Best Practices and Ideas for Email

• One of the best and least expensive channels
• Review past results for insights, including
• Key metrics
• Content
• Test results
• Website analytics
• Timing
• Make plans to
• Expand your email list
• Test new creative and copy
• Test personalization
• Improve tracking

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Best Practices and Ideas for Email

• Guard your reputation with best practices
• Observe all privacy and CAN-SPAM rules
• Unsubscribe bounces and requests fast
• Cultivate a white-hat status
• Collect as much info as you can for segmentation
• Use a unique ISP from which to launch
• Deliver on any promises made in sign-up process
• Send correction emails if you make an error

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Best Practices and Ideas for Email

• Email design and layout critical to success
• Requires an experienced email designer
• Website design standards not as effective (such
  as style sheets)
• Best-looking emails not always most read
• Put key elements in upper left corner
• Include toll-free number and lots of links to
  your site
• More info on course
• Enroll now
• Add links to download course descriptions,
  catalog, applications, etc.
• Add links to interesting videos, student
  testimonials

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Best Practices and Ideas for Email

• Test many variables, including
• Subject and From line
• Pictures
• Copy
• Layout and Design
• Number and placement of links and calls to action
• Big Button links
• Personalization of prospects name, senders
  name, and program of interest
• Urgency
• Offers
• Timing and sequence

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Best Practices and Ideas for Conversion
Marketing Email

• Segmentation and Offers
• Score or segment inquiries, then send more offers
  to the best-converting ones
• Plan sequence of emails and offers by your
  segments or score ranges
• Send better offers sooner to lower-converting
  inquiries
• Vary copy and graphics to target those usually
  interested in chosen course
• Vary subsequent emails based on response or
  non-response to first emails

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Best Practices and Ideas for Email

• Web Analytics
• Track how the average click-thru navigates and
  responds on website for each email
• Google makes free tool available called Google
  Analytics
• Timing
• Send first email within minutes of submission
• Deliver four to six additional emails over next
  several weeks
• Test timing for best intervals

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Best Practices for Conducting Tests

• TEST, TEST, TEST
• Budget for testing dont leave it to chance
• When feasible, pre-test ideas with informal
  surveys to eliminate losers up front
• Test only what you can actually roll out
• Do it all right give each test its best shot
• Speed path to success with simultaneous,
  multivariate testing

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Best Practices for Conducting Tests

• Run the numbers prior to testing, to determine
  what success requires then ask if thats
  feasible
• Dont forget to allow for seasonality
• Cut your losses and roll out winners fast
• Back-test rollouts to validate their success
• Creative tests usually have less impact than
• Offers
• Tuition
• Deadlines
• Incentives, and
• Payment amounts

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Best Practices for Website Development

• Develop an extremely friendly site test
  usability during development, not afterwards
• Dont make them think or work
• Keep site up-to-date
• Update content and graphics often
• Upgrade functions constantly
• Add student-community participation and sharing
  or Web 2.0 features
• Publish plenty of info about each program
• Make tuition costs available for shoppers
• If you offer higher-priced programs, lay out the
  benefits to justify tuition costs

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Best Practices for Website Development

• Make it very easy to inquire, enroll, email,
  chat, and call
• Start adding video where you can
• Explain how your online instruction works
• Emphasize accreditations and organizations to
  which you belong
• Make testimonials and success stories easy to
  find (and see and hear with video!)
• Dont put student- and alumni-oriented content on
  pages seen by prospects

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Using Newer Online Media for Schools

• Social Networks Not a good selling medium
  tell, dont sell spend in and advance other
  media first
• Podcasts For course outline, career outlook,
  etc. Not strong for conversion, but builds
  reputation
• Blogs Not a strong converting medium, but adds
  to the conversation
• Chat, Newsletters Smart to increase
  interactivity and keep inquirers and students in
  touch with school
• Chat Rooms, Forums Especially important for
  students in todays Web 2.0 environment
• Mobile Marketing Up and coming medium could
  be ready for prime time in next year or two

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Thank you!Any questions?