developing an enrollment marketing plan, tim copeland, ceo, demandengine

CONFERENCE ON ADULT LEARNER ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT 2013

Developing an Enrollment Marketing Plan

Tim Copeland, DemandEngine

Tuesday, July 16, 2013


“The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a period of worry and

depression.”

John PrestonBoston College

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• We need …– Market research– Brand refresh– Leads– CRM– Social media– Recruiters– Call center– New facilities

Solutions! … but here is the problem

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CONFERENCE ON ADULT LEARNER ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT 2013 04/11/2023 | 4

“At most campuses marketing is a lot like religion…people tend to find it when they are in trouble.”

Dr. Tom Hayes Xavier University


• Common enrollment marketing mistakes• Five fundamentals for enrollment marketing

planning

Agenda

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• Build it and they will come …

Common mistakes

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“When you shared the example of the college that you work with who are developing 'up front' plans, I

was envious.

We (launched) the online program, and now we're trying to work backwards to figure out what we

need to do to find students.”

Faculty member

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• Build it and they will come …• Revenue tunnel vision

– Lack of clear (and realistic) enrollment goals

Common mistakes

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“Our enrollments had gone down precipitously about 2% a year for the last 9

years. Couldn’t we recognize that? No, it was masked by raising tuition and we made

some expenditure cuts so it looked like we were always whole.”

Dean Billy Cannaday, UVA School of Continuing and Professional Studies

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– Lack of clear (and realistic) enrollment goals• “Devalued” recruitment

Common mistakes

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Recruitment – missing pieces

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Follow-up snafus

Lack of coordination

Faculty involvement

Inadequate training



– Lack of clear (and realistic) enrollment goals• “Devalued” recruitment• Failure to develop an appropriately-sized (and

qualified) prospect pool• One-size fits all communications strategy

Common mistakes in adult learner marketing

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• Aggregation - An undifferentiated communications strategy that treats students as a homogeneous population.

• Conversation - A systematic approach to exchanging information and ideas with students based upon their stated interests, goals, and demonstrated behaviors.

Two communication strategies …

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– Lack of clear (and realistic) enrollment goals• “Devalued” recruitment• Failure to develop an appropriately-sized (and

qualified) prospect pool• One-size fits all communications strategy• Selecting the “tools” before you have the

blueprint

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Let’s level set …

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5 STEPS TO ENROLLMENT MARKETING PLANNING

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“The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a period of worry and depression.”

John PrestonBoston College

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• Strategic Plan– Long-range strategic

planning focuses on fundamental decisions and actions that shape the long-range nature and direction of the division

– Less detailed, broader in scope and purpose than the recruitment or retention plans.

• Enrollment Plan– A working plan focused

specifically on the recruitment of students

– Clear and realistic goals and objectives, and targets

– Outlines the actions, timelines, and metrics to deploy to achieve goals

Guiding thoughts


A systematic and comprehensive approach

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Enrollment Planning Hierachy

Institutional Strategic Plan

Division Strategic Plan

Annual Enrollment Marketing Plan

Annual Retention Plan

Clear goals and objectives

Key enrollment initiatives

Road mapSource: DemandEngine


• Executive Summary• Narrative• Situational assessment• Planning assumptions• Enrollment goals and

objectives• Key initiatives• Road map

Developing a written enrollment marketing plan

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1. ASSESS YOUR CURRENT CAPABILITIES

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Assessing your enrollment operating system …

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Marketing Communications

Operations

Enrollment Planning Pipeline

Management Technology


• Strengths- Strengths are the qualities that enable accomplishment of the organization’s mission.

• Weaknesses- Weaknesses are the qualities that prevent may prevent mission accomplishment or limit potential.

• Opportunities- Opportunities are presented by the environment within which division/institution operates.

• Threats- Threats arise when conditions in the external environment jeopardize your ability to compete.

A word about SWOTs …

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2. DEFINE CLEAR AND REALISTIC ENROLLMENT GOALS

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• Goals – what we want to achieve• Objective – what we must do well• Initiatives – what must be done

Key definitions

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2.1 Examine historical enrollment

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AY (X)YTD

AY (X) Target

AY (X-1) YTD

AY (X-1) Final

AY (X-2) Final

Prospects 13,250 15,250 14,009 14,500 12,598

Inquiries 4,250 5,250 3,900 4,400 3,590

Applications 890 1,000 680 720 680

Completed applications 490 600 390 420 450

Admits 450 500 354 375 360

Enrolls 450 325 319

Conversion % (applications/inquiries)

21% 19% 17% 16% 19%

Admit%(admits/applications)

92% 83% 91% 89% 80%

Enroll %(enrolls/admits)

90% 87% 89%

Source: DemandEngine

Historical New Student Enrollment Pipeline

Complete % (completes/applications)

55% 60% 57% 58% 66%

Response % (inquiries/prospects)

32% 34% 28% 30% 28%


Analyze the underlying factors

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Y-Axis Variable

AY(X) AY(X)-1 Dif. AYX AY(X)-1 Dif. AYX AY(X)-1 Dif. AYX AY(X)-1 Dif. AYX AY(X)-1 Dif.

Pipeline Analysis by Variable

Inquiries Applications Completes Admits Enroll



• Program• Student type• Geographic• “Engagement”• Qualification scores• Outbound contacts• Inbound contacts• Marketing source• First-contact source• Event participation• Academic ability• Pipeline velocity

Potential variables

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Three flavors …

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• Enrollment goals come in three flavors:1. Grow (e.g., revenues,

headcounts)2. Improve (e.g., expenses, service

issues, attrition)3. Shape (e.g., student body

characteristics)• Enrollment planning should

begin a minimum of 6 months from fiscal year


• Increase the number of inquiries• Improve conversion rates within the pipeline• Both

3 ways to grow enrollment

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Prospect-to-enrollment conversion

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Sample Prospect-to-Enrollment Conversion

Stages Actual 1. Increase inquiries

2. Increase Conversion

3. Increase Both

Inquiries 15987 16987 15987 16987Applicants 3230 3397 3357 3567

Incomplete

Apps 894 951 940 999Admit 1829 1937 1914 2033

Enrolled 1260 1336 1320 2461Conversion% 20% 20% 21% 21%

Incomplete % 28% 28% 28% 28%Admit % 57% 57% 57% 57%

Yield % 69% 69% 69% 69%Source: DemandEngine


• Sub-populations– Program– Residency– Modality– Shaping

characteristics

Refine your goals …

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3. DEFINE THE INITIATIVES TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

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• Travel (e.g., fairs, workplace visits)

• Events (e.g., open houses, webinars)

• Direct response (e.g., data purchases)

• Student contact• Referrals• Pay-per-click advertising• SEO• Conversion plan (e.g., nurturing)• Qualification scoring• Recruitment• Operations

Key recruitment initiatives

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Pipeline construct

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Method % of pipeline

Travel & events 40 – 50%

Direct student contact 20 – 30%

Direct response 15 – 25%

Search engine marketing 20 – 25%

Referrals 5 – 10%Source: DemandEngine


Supporting the decision process

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Won’t enroll Will enroll

Influence


Prospect-to-enrollment theory, cont’d

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Supporting (and influencing) the decision

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• You may not have the resources to contact every student …

• Your program revenues may not support it

Scoring inquiries

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Type Category Activity Score

Behavior Web Requests contact on web form 20Behavior Event Attends an Open House/Information

Session15

Demographic Intent Desired Start Term = As Soon As Possible 15Behavior Event Views or downloads a webinar 10Demographic Intent Desired Start Term = 3-6 Months 10Behavior Web Calls in - staff member enters into form 10Behavior Event Attends Webinar 7Behavior Event Attends a campus tour 5Demographic Intent Desired Start Term = 6-12 Months 5Behavior Web Fills out any form on the web site 5Behavior Email Clicks a link in an email 5Behavior Web Visits the web site (per visit) 1

Behavior Web Clicks a link on the web site 1Behavior Email Opens email 1Behavior Event Visited booth at Conference 1Demographic Intent Desired Start Term = After 12 Months 1Source: DemandEngine


4. DEVELOP ACTION PLANS

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Take action

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Goal:

Objective:

Initiative:

Description:

Task

Action Plan

Grow online enrollment to 500 students for Wtr 2014

Build an inquiry pool of 15,987 prospect students

Implement a pay-per-click campaign.

Use GoogleAd Words to identify and purchase phrases and terms used by our desired student persona.

Project Schedule

Responsibilty Completion Date

Work with digital marketing firm to develop pay-per-click strategy John 9/1/2013



5. MEASURE OUR EFFORTS

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• Weekly funnel report (YTD, Goal)• Monthly variable funnel report

– Sources– Qualification scores– Programs

• Funnel aging report (pipeline velocity)

Measurement

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• Annual enrollment marketing planning documents what is required to achieve desired enrollment goals.

• Provides transparency in the “mystical” world of marketing.

• By linking “actual students” (instead of credit hours or revenues to enrollments), we can manage the process.

Summary

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“If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.”

Yogi Berra

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Questions

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Tim CopelandCEO

Email [email protected] 912-354-8007Web www.demandengine.comBlog www.enrollmentmarketing.orgTwitter www.twitter.com/tim_copeland


Reverse-engineering your enrollment success

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Prospect-to-Enrollment Model

Process stage Metrics Definition Goal Factor

Prospect-acquisition process

Inquiries and responses Responses to marketing campaigns, activities, other inquiries

1925

Nurturingprocess

Nurturing interactions Interactions with inquiry pool - engaged, marketing qualified, recycled

Marketing-qualified inquiries

Inquiries that meet marketing-defined qualification criteria

412 21%

Enrollment yieldprocess

Enrollment events Inquiries that submit applications or registrations

276 67%

Enrollments/registrations An enrollment is secured 175 63%Source: DemandEngine


As “push advertising becomes increasingly irrelevant, companies must do more outside the confines of marketing communications. Consumers don’t separate

marketing from the product.

It is the product.

We’re All Marketers NowMckinsey Quarterly. July 2011

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