Defining Digital Engagement for Higher Education

Aligning your website’s marketing strategy with your corporate strategy

Presenter: Seán Walsh

Head of Marketing for TERMINALFOUR

@SeanWalshTM

Confidential 2

1. Greater utilisation of marketing resources

2. Greater understanding of how content drives conversion

3. Greater willingness to test & experiment

Why listen to this presentation?

Confidential 3

Presentation Themes

Confidential 4

• In 2013/2014 TERMINALFOUR under went a strategic repositioning.

• New culture of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) i.e. each department took ownership of their direct contribution to corporate performance.

• The new company focus on KPIs caused a seismic shift in the perception of marketing performance.

• The previous focus on tasks was replaced with a dogged focus on conversion.

1. Strategy

Confidential 5

• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) - Online

• Marketing Qualified Contacts (MQCs) – Online

• BANT Qualified Leads - Offline

(These 3 Metrics - and no other - define marketing performance and marketing priorities. )

Marketing - KPIs TODAY!

Confidential 6

(These are sample figures: Not actual TERMINALFOUR targets)

Online Lead Conversion Funnel

Confidential 7

• Vanity Metrics: Don’t be mislead/distracted by metrics that don’t actually inform actions or contribute to conversion.

• Distractions: Poor KPI selection impacts prioritisation of marketing activities. Distinguish between a task and a KPI.

• Don’t be afraid to say No: Clear targets give you focus; prioritise activities and the supporting statistics to say No.

Mistakes to Avoid

Confidential 8

2. Content

“Content is the reason search begins in the first place”, Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing.

Quality Content gets you found, gets your audience engaged and gets them to convert.

Confidential 9

What can content do for your brand?

He was "the man your man could smell like."

Old Spice- Transforming the ultimate “dad brand” into a viral smash-hit online

This Ad amassed 220,000 YouTube hits in the few short hours after the Super Bowl.

Confidential 10

What can content do for your brand?

Share a Coke Campaign- one of the standout campaigns of 2014

Confidential 11

What can Content do for your brand?

Viewed 850,000+ times

Shared 60,000+ times

http://blog.hootsuite.com/game-of-social-thrones-video/

Confidential 12

TERMINALFOUR - Digital Engagement & Web Content Management Platform for Higher Education. - Launch of Higher Education Web Survey- Launch of Higher Education Blog- Campaigns:

• CMS Migrations Webinar

• Improving Performance on your university website

• Stop making common mistakes on your university website

(Note: Don’t under estimate the importance of research to get the content to resonate)

TERMINALFOUR’s Content Platform

Confidential 13

Confidential 14

Confidential 15

Every Activity has a conversion target

Confidential 16

Results:

• In 2013-2014 we had 650+ higher education institutions visit our website. In 2014-2015 that number rose to 1,200+

• Our 2015 higher education report was downloaded 400+ and shared 1,500+ times

• Our webinars sign-ups have ranged from 60-170+

Metrics

Confidential 17

What’s next for content – Storytelling?

http://www.charitywater.org/

Confidential 18

What’s next for content - Evergreen

http://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/creating-evergreen-content

Confidential 19

The Circle of Life

• Starts with strategy

• Then comes planning and

Implementation (This includes

your content strategy).

• Then comes monitoring (Did you hit your targets?)

• If not, why not? Test, augment and experiment.

• Improving PERFORMANCE is an iterative process.

3 – Performance

Confidential 20

• Lessons learned from Netflix: Letting the data determine changes in Netflix ensures that product upgrades are driven by actual user behaviour

A/B Testing:

Confidential 21

Email Subject Lines

Confidential 22

Conversion text

Confidential 23

TERMINALFOUR – Testing: Colour • Calls to action: Colour

Confidential 24

• Testing with Keywords

TERMINALFOUR Testing: Keywords

Confidential 25

www.terminalfour.com 2015

Confidential 26

Thank youQuestions?

www.terminalfour.comie.linkedin.com/in/100seanwalsh

@SeanWalshTM