Inbound Marketing for College Admissions

Transcription

1 Inbound Marketing for College Admissions Private Highschools, for profit schools, online education

2 Admissions has 2 fundamental business needs 1. Identify Online Application Process 2. Manipulate Application Volume (get more applications)

3 Part 1: Identify the Problem

4 What do we know today? Website Visits Lead to Application Conversion Rate Application to Admission Conversion Rate Applicant Yield

5 What are we doing with that knowledge? 1. Increasing website traffic (PPC) 2. More event marketing

6 Traditional vs Inbound Approach PPC Inbound Marketing Conclusion: fundamental business needs are not met 1. Online Application Process not identified 2. What is the best way to increase applications?

7 Observing Your Situation Observation 1: Your school s website is already getting enough website visits to meet your application goals. Conclusion: Increasing website visits with PPC may not be necessary.

8 Observing Your Situation Observation 2: The Conversion rate of PPC traffic to submitted applications is unknown. Conclusion: A deeper understanding of the online application process would reveal the value of PPC traffic as it relates to other traffic sources and clarify the need to increase or decrease PPC spending.

9 Part 2: Addressing the fundamental business needs.

10 NEED 1: Identify Online Application Process Questions you need answered: 1. When do applicants first come in contact with your school and how? 2. What traffic sources are more likely to submit an application? 3. What are the typical (online) activities/behaviors of future applicants.

11 When do applicants first come in contact with your school s website? Every move your applicants have ever made on your site is recorded and displayed in a timeline.

12 What traffic sources are more likely to submit an application? And by how much? You now understand the relative value of every traffic source.

13 What are the typical (online) activities/behaviors of future applicants. Reveal the marketing activities that push people towards submitting an application.

14 So what can we now say about the application process? 80% of applicants first arrive at our website between January and March, they will out a form to download a program course guide and attend an information session. Also, people that first arrive on our site via the blog are 50% more likely to submit an application than those arriving through paid advertising.

15 NEED 2: Manipulate Application Volume (Get more applications!) Situation: In May, a red flag goes up when only a handful of people have downloaded the course guide and attended the information session. What should we do?

16 Plan of Action 1. Increase blogging frequency by 3x 2. Lead Nurturing Campaign 1: Target leads that have downloaded the course guide and get them to the info session. Campaign 2: Target info session attendees and get them to download the course guide.

17 Imagine this: Predict application volume months ahead of time. Data driven marketing budgets and initiatives.

18 The cost of inbound marketing Inbound marketing agencies are measured by meeting your goals. (not by tasks) Monthly Scope of work Content generation Often limited by politics. Monthly Cost Visitor Lead Conversion Optimization CTAs, Landing Pages, Thank you pages $5,000 $10,000 Lead Application Conversion Optimization List segmentation, scoring & maintenance Workflow management (lead nurturing) Account Management Monthly intelligence reports that drive strategy Automated Marketing Software Monthly subscription to the tools used for inbound marketing