How To Market To A College Degree

Transcription

1 We Want You to Graduate, Minnesota! Digital Marketing to Adult Students MnSCU-Lumina Graduate Minnesota Program March 10, 2014 Minnesota State Colleges and Universities The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is an Equal Opportunity employer and educator.

2 GradMN: Presentation Topics Background Minnesota / MnSCU system Lumina Grant / Purpose GradMN Marketing Campaign Goals / Dates / Target Audience Key Message Strategies Results Recommendations Resources Questions and Answers 2

3 GradMN: Background Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system Minnesota s largest higher education provider and one of the nation s largest higher education systems. 24 community and technical colleges and 7 state universities, operating on 54 campuses in 47 communities. Serving 430,000 students 65% of the state s undergraduates Awarding more than 40,000 certificates, diplomas, undergraduate and graduate degrees. Serving more students of color nearly 62,000 and more low-income students nearly 103,000 than all of the other higher education providers in Minnesota combined. Offering 470 online programs and 16,400 courses partially or fully online. 3

4 GradMN: Background By 2025, Lumina wants 60% of Americans to hold high-quality degrees, certificates or other postsecondary credentials. 4 Source: A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education, Lumina Foundation 2013;

5 GradMN: Background Minnesota s economic future can be bolstered by producing more college graduates and an excellent place to begin is with those who have attended college but not earned a credential. Encouraging and helping these adults to complete degrees would go a long way toward helping Minnesota reach the 60% goal. Source: A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education, Lumina Foundation 2013; 5

6 GradMN: Discussion Do you think Lumina Foundation's Goal 2025 is achievable in your state? What are some of your most successful outreach strategies for reaching adult learners? 6

7 GradMN: Background marketing and outreach campaigns used traditional media methods (direct mail, newspaper and radio ads, etc.) After reviewing results of these campaigns, we decided to take a different approach The MnSCU system was launching a robust digital marketing campaign called GoMN, so Graduate Minnesota leveraged the opportunity by launching GradMN 7

8 GradMN: Marketing 8

9 GradMN: Digital Marketing What is digital marketing? Marketing that makes use of electronic devices such as computers, smartphones, cellphones, and tablets to engage with stakeholders 9

10 GradMN: Digital Marketing Why use digital marketing? Cost-efficiency and effectiveness; delivers a better ROI Customer preference and digital dependency Ability to better engage and activate audiences Proliferation, appeal and capability of mobile devices Better campaign analytics, insights and accountability 10

11 GradMN: Glossary of Digital Engagement Terms Clicks: The act of a visitor clicking on a desired link or button. CPC: Cost Per Click, the cost of the media buy divided by the number of clicks. CTR: Click Through Rate, the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. Delivered: s that were successfully sent to a valid address. Impressions: The number of times an ad was served to the target audience. Landing Page: The first page the visitor sees when visiting a site that they have been directed to, specific to the campaign and designed for tracking. Opens: The number of times an was opened by unique recipient. Open Rate: The number of opens divided by the number of s delivered. SEM: Search Engine Marketing, the purchasing of key words on search engines - includes Google AdWords and Bing Ad words in this campaign. SEO: Search Engine Optimization, is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. Site Actions: Desired actions taken by visitor. Includes clicking links to take survey, contact MnSCU, get more information or visit school website. Traffic Source: The source that brought the visitor to the site. Unique Clicks: The number of times an item was clicked removing duplicate clicks by the same recipient or website visitor. Visitor: Someone visiting the site. Visits: The number of times the landing page was accessed. 11

12 GradMN: Marketing Campaign Goals: Increase re-enrollment and degree completion Test and measure the effectiveness of different marketing strategies Collect information to inform completion efforts Campaign Dates: Target Audience: Previous MnSCU students who did not earn a degree and who are not currently enrolled Minnesota residents, age who are married, working, have dependent children; and completed some college credits but have no degree Phase 1 April - June 2013 Phase 2 October January 2014 Phase 3 March - May

13 GradMN: Key Messages #1: The More You Learn, The More you Earn Banner Ads Landing Page 13

14 GradMN: Key Messages #2: College Might Be More Affordable Than You Think. Landing Page Banner Ads 14

15 GradMN: Key Messages #3: You Can Complete Your Degree. Anytime. Anywhere. Landing Page Banner Ads 15

16 GradMN: Key Messages #4: See If Your Credits Count Toward Your Degree. Landing Page Banner Ads 16

17 GradMN: Key Messages #5: You ve Started, It s Time to Finish. 17 Banner Ads Landing Page

18 GradMN: Strategies The following strategies for the GradMN campaign were developed to coincide with the statewide GoMN digital engagement campaign. Online Banner Ads SEM (AdWords & Bing) Facebook ads Direct Mail Landing Pages 18

19 GradMN: Online Banner Ads 3,878,986 impressions from targeted key audiences 2,495 clicks to our landing page 1. Start and Finish 2. Learn and Earn 3. Affordable 4. Credits Count 5. Anytime. Anywhere A.064% click through rate (CTR) Top performing network was Yahoo 19

20 GradMN: SEM Ad Words 102,014 impressions 1,224 clicks 1.2% CTR Online Classes most effective; 5x more clicks than other ad word groups Night Classes 2 nd highest number of clicks and highest CTR 20

21 GradMN: Facebook Ads 6,898,630 impressions 1,548 clicks / visits to landing page 45 visits to college/university websites A.022% click through rate (CTR) Finish What you Started had the highest CTR of.027% 21

22 GradMN: Messages 79,263 impressions 783 clicks to landing pages 279 visits to a college/university website Tuition is Frozen with a 11.92% open rate out-performed Take a College Course at No Cost with 4.51% and What s Your Dream Job at 6.52% Recipients out of school less than 7 years had a higher response rates than those out of school longer 22

23 GradMN: Direct Mail 2,000 postcards distributed to workforce centers in phase one 23

24 GradMN: Direct Mail Two versions of a postcard were sent to former students of MnSCU colleges and universities who did not receive a degree in phase two. 12,514 cards delivered 39 clicks 20 website visits 8 surveys submitted 24

25 GradMN: Results 10,971,407 impressions with targeted audiences Facebook: 6,898,630 Banner Ads: 3,878,986 SEM: 102, ,263 Direct Mail: 12,514 25

26 GradMN: Results 10,971,407 impressions with targeted audiences 5,570 clicks to our landing pages Banner Ads: 2,495 Facebook: 1,548 SEM: 1, Direct Mail: 39 /finish/ /earn/ /credits/ /complete/ /affordable/ 26

27 GradMN: Results 10,971,407 impressions with targeted audiences 5,570 clicks to our landing pages 747 college and university website visits SEM: 271 Facebook: 45 Direct Mail: 20 Banner Ads: 19 Metropolitan State University Minneapolis Community and Saint Paul College Hennepin Technical College Normandale Community College St. Cloud State University Century College Rochester Community and Minnesota State University Winona State University Dakota County Technical College Southwest Minnesota State Inver Hills Community College Minnesota State University North Hennepin Community Alexandria Technical and Anoka-Ramsey Community Bemidji State University Minnesota State Community Northland Community and Ridgewater College St. Cloud Technical and Anoka Technical College Minnesota West Community Northwest Technical College Minnesota State College - Riverland Community College Itasca Community College South Central College Fond du Lac Tribal and Mesabi Range Community and Pine Technical College Rainy River Community College Clicks to School Website

28 GradMN: Results 10,971,407 impressions with targeted audiences 5,570 clicks to our landing pages 747 college and university website visits 220 survey submissions Direct Mail: 8 SEM: 4 Other Financial burden Personal/family Job demands Enrolled elsewhere Moved/relocated Current financial situation Other Current personal/family Current career demands No longer living in the area No longer interested in the Don't see the value of the Unaware re-enrollment was 1. Reasons For Leaving 6% 8% 17% 22% 22% 24% 0% 10% 20% 30% *Multiple responses possible 2. Reasons to Not Re-Enroll 10% 7% 7% 7% 4% 17% 24% 24% 0% 10% 20% 30% *Multiple responses possible 28

29 GradMN: Results Efforts increased traffic to ALL college/university websites The More You Learn, The More You Earn was the most effective message College Might Be More Affordable Than You Think was the least effective message Fewer than 100 people chose to engage via chat, inquiry form, or phone call 29

30 GradMN: Recommendations Continue banner ad placement on Yahoo Network and Casale with the top performing creative The More You Learn, The More You Earn You ve Started, It s Time to Finish Continue SEM with online classes and night classes ad word groups as main focus Continue Facebook ads Enhance campaign to past MnSCU students; be as specific as possible Tuition Freeze 30

31 GradMN: Recommendations Encourage campus visits / tours Simplify messages, include one call-to-action Incorporate GradMN campaign messages and strategies into ongoing marketing campaigns Provide key messages and templates/campaign elements to campus marketers (tool kit) Discontinue direct mail in favor of more cost effective methods ( , banner ads, SEM) 31

32 GradMN: Discussion 32

33 GradMN: Student Success Darius Davis Working adult; was two classes short of a degree. Received a letter from Graduate Minnesota, accepted scholarship offer. Finished classes and completed his degree. Owns a photography business and teaches courses in business at MCTC. Source: The Groove, MCTC, Spring

34 GradMN: Resources Minnesota Graduate Minnesota: Minnesota State Colleges & Universities Minnesota Transfer Curriculum: ISEEK: Department of Employment and Economic Development: National Adult College Completion Network (ACCN): American Council on Education (ACE): Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL): www. cael.org Lumina Foundation: Hanover Research: Aslanian Adult Market Research: rket-research.aspx 34

35 GradMN: Sponsored Event 2014 Adult Learner Institute Serving Post Traditional Adult Learners in Higher Education May 19-21, 2014 Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota Share your successes with education professionals who are eager to discuss emerging trends and effective program formats that support adult learners. Go to 2014ALI.org for more information and registration. To submit a proposal, mnscuonline@custhelp.com or call Proposal submission deadline is March 25,

36 Thank You Carmen Shields, Director of Marketing and Development, MnSCU Advancement Division; Denise Stephens, Grant Program Manager, Graduate Minnesota;