Turn Your Degree into a Career

Transcription

1 Turn Your Degree into a Career LERN Awards Category: Marketing

2 LERN Award Marketing According to recent statistics over a third of graduates from the 2010/2011 cohort are unemployed or underemployed, working in roles for which a degree is not necessary. Furthermore, nearly 15% of graduates have taken up part time, voluntary or unpaid work. Western Continuing Studies Post Degree programs have seen great results and positive feedback. Our graduates have been consistently successful in finding employment, in some programs 100% employment in their chosen field at the time of graduation. However, applications to these programs are low and in many programs decreasing. Turn Your Degree into a Career Marketing Campaign OBJECTIVES Technology is having the biggest impact on this demographic and our approach to marketing and communicating to them. The traditional forms of media and marketing channels do not reach these potential students or do not build trust or a strong brand image. How do we reach these students? Do 22 year olds really want paper flyer or brochure? The marketing goals of the Turn Your Degree into a Career campaign were: Increased awareness of post degree diploma brand; Growth of post degree diploma application numbers, and by extension, enrolment in diploma programs. As undergraduates increasingly seek out career focused programs, Continuing Studies at Western University s post degree programs offer the opportunity to complement university graduates degrees with practical curricula delivered by industry practitioners. This campaign aimed to raise the profile of Continuing Studies program offerings by focusing on their strengths: instructors, employment opportunities, and practicums; and by using new outreach and marketing methods. Target market Prospective students: University students and graduates, generally year old, from across multiple disciplines; Western University students in particular. Influencers: Western University faculty and staff, especially those in academic counseling roles; Post degree diploma students and alumni, London, Ontario community, especially parents of prospective students.

3 INNOVATION/USE OF TECH Our research findings indicated that technology should play a vital role in our recruitment strategy due to the ubiquitous role that it plays in prospective and current students lives. In addition, focus group participants noted that web searches directed them to our programs, and further inquiry was done using various forms of technology. For these reasons, we employed a number of technology driven approaches: New, mobile friendly post degree programs website; Electronic brochures featuring embedded video and links, made available to prospective students on branded USB keys; Social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress (blog), and YouTube; Quick Response (QR) Codes on print materials, information session presentations, and bus shelter ads, directing users to website; Post degree programs application moved to online format. Digital Signage on campus IMPLEMENTATION In conjunction with a review of data from the previous five years, we conducted a focus group with 13 post degree students from the Diplomas in Marketing and Public Relations to solicit their feedback regarding current recruitment methods. In addition, we sought to determine new ways to reach potential students by meeting with these students. A detailed Focus Group Report is included with this submission. After reviewing focus group results, three recommendations were made: Technology: The pace of technology will online continue to quicken. It doesn t matter what your industry is; you have to keep up in order to constantly leverage it for your business. Western: Concentrate on Western. Build awareness of our programs on campus and increase the applications to our programs. The reputation and credibility will be dramatically increased if we get 50 applications and are only accepting 20 students. Our programs become elite. Personal: Up close and personal. A presence both virtually and physically on campus. Information booths, classroom presentations, and social media. We have a very small budget and concentrating it on promotional initiatives on campus will have the most impact.

4 Marketing Campaign Based on the recommendations, we executed the following components of the Turn Your Degree into a Career campaign from September 2011 through March 1, 2012: Website We launched a new, mobile friendly website ( in fall In addition to enhanced navigation and easier to find details (e.g., new At a Glance sections, course descriptions), the site includes an increased focus on our instructors, graduate employment, and practicum opportunities. QR codes were used to direct traffic to site from print publications and digital signs. Western focus In addition to attending career and postgraduate fairs at Laurier, McMaster, and Western, we increased on presence on campus at Western significantly, both physically and visually using various methods. In October, we launched our information table in the University Community Centre that was staffed biweekly through February with Continuing Studies employees and post degree Student Ambassadors. This allowed prospective students to connect one on one with staff and students to address specific, program related questions. We hosted three information sessions November, January and February to provide an overview of post degree diploma programs, again with Student Ambassadors to offer their perspectives. Faculty specific information sessions were delivered to those known historically to feed undergraduate students into post degree diplomas (i.e., Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Kinesiology).These sessions were often facilitated solely by Student Ambassadors who connected with former faculty to volunteer as a guest speaker on a given topic related to their field of study. Print advertisements were continued in Western University publications such as The Gazette and Western News, but with an altered strategy. Rather than publishing weekly ads, we opted to focus on key dates and events so as to prevent audience fatigue. Digital signage was utilized in high traffic areas, featuring students that current students recognize and relate to. Social media Continuing Studies employees and Student Ambassadors used Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and WordPress to keep post degree diploma programs visible and top of mind across all platforms. In addition to announcements pertinent to both current and prospective students (e.g., dates and deadlines, social events) social media were used to announce student and graduate successes, as well as job postings and professional articles and information. Of particular note was the Student Ambassador blog ( that allowed current students to write about their experiences in class and during practicum to provide prospective students with personal details about what to expect in our diploma programs. Additionally, five of Continuing Studies (@cstudies) top 10 tweets from January 1 to March 1, 2012, were related directly to post degree programs. A re tweet of our deadline reminder was the second most clicked on tweet, behind just one tweet about Western s rebranding. Brochure and e brochure To aid in developing a more cohesive community across programs, we produced a four page brochure that included all post degree diplomas (as opposed to two page flyers for each program). The same approach was used for a new electronic brochure, provided to prospective students on branded USB keys and downloadable on our website. The e brochure included general details in addition to program specific information such as course descriptions, instructor biographies, and student testimonials. Embedded videos and links were used also to enhance readers experience.

5 Bus shelter advertisements For the first time we commissioned bus shelter advertisements in strategically placed locations (i.e., those with frequent, large student populations). One ad was placed downtown at the corner of Oxford and Richmond Streets, which serves as the primary bus hub for the many students traveling from downtown to main campus. The other ad was placed on Western Road, again in a high traffic, large student population area. (In fact, due to a labour disruption, this area served as the main stop on the west side of campus as London Transit operators refused to enter the campus.)these ads complemented all other collateral using the Turn Your Degree into a Career tagline, photos of graduates, and QR code. Google Ads Google Ad campaign targeting local demographics, national and international markets..

6 RESULTS The campaign was a huge success. Applications to our post degree diploma programs increased 69% compared to the previous year. The Diploma in Public Relations received 106% more applications than in 2011, and the Diploma in Not for Profit Management and the Diploma in Arts Management achieved applicant increases of 100% and 83%, respectively. Our top two programs, receiving the highest application submissions and hits on our website, Public Relations and Occupational Health and Safety Management. These programs have done well in previous years but have never been the most popular, until this year. The two girls making the 'W' sign that we used extensively for marketing this campaign, one is a Public Relations grad, the other and Occupational Health and Safety grad! The increase in applications to these programs dramatically impacts our revenues, we accept more students into the programs, translating to increased tuition revenue. For example, in 2011 we admitted 8 students to our Public Relations program, bringing in $72, in tuition revenue. In 2012 due to higher application numbers, we admitted 24 students for $216, in tuition. An increase in tuition revenue of 200% in just one program! Anecdotal comments from undergraduate students and Western community members indicated that their awareness of post degree diploma programs increased, and in most cases they were previously unaware of their existence.

7 Website Mobile Making the new website mobile friendly was a great investment.

8 Google Ads The Cost The Turn Your Degree into a Career cost us the same as our previous campaign. By utilizing social media, reducing print cost with epublications and hosting information sessions on campus we were able to make our marketing dollars go further.