Does your website let a student subscribe via social media?

Good morning (late evening) to you!

A thought I had this evening before bed, are you placing subscription options to students via your website (not just the home page!)

Earlier I mentioned that secondary web pages are going to be more than important than ever this year, are you placing these RSS feed subscriptions and social media subscriptions on your secondary pages?

Consider placing the following on your pages:
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Stumble Upon
Twitter
Delicious
Propeller
Mashable

You need to be where the students are, and the students are using social media.

enjoy the rest of your night,

matt (marketmpb)

My Higher Education Marketing Trends for 2010

Good evening!

I hope you enjoyed your day. This evening I give you my thoughts on the top trends for higher education marketing in 2010.

-Social Media will continue to explode (expect growth in the graduate/non-traditional market
-Online graduate education continues to flourish, dont expect the economy to recover in 2010!
-Students will expect a lot, half hazard marketing efforts will not go over well with students
-Search engine marketing is key, almost 70% of the population spends time on search engines during any day
-Your college homepage will continue to become less important, secondary and call to action pages will be huge (make sure updated content!)
-Slashed budgets will make vendors compete even harder for your marketing dollar, I would expect some vendors to go under
-more and more institutions will outsource marketing to advertising firms
-more and more marketers will use I-phone (mobile) marketing applications especially to high school students
-print publication advertising will continue to become less important, compared to online
-look for a growth explosion of Vietnam and Kuwaiti students studying in the United States
-cost per click and lead generation programs will continue to explode, branding alone anymore will not work

enjoy your evening and the NBA Finals!

matt (Marketmpb)

The Power of Search Engines

Good morning!

As it comes to search engines, recent statistics show that over half of the population 14-30 spend their lives on search engines, and it is very interesting note as well that folks are going deeper and deeper into websites, because of search engines.

The key here is to create a "community" for your college/university by using relevant fresh content and keywords, much like i do with this blog :). Another important thing here is use analytics (such as Google) to find out where your prospective students are coming from, into your website.

If you use social media through search engines, track that as well, but remember only as a secondary means of marketing! One other important thing to remember here as well is to bolster links on your website, so they index high within these search engines, again fresh relevant content.

God Bless you!

matt (marketmpb)

Double your pleasure, double your post

Good evening all!

I thought I would do a double post night, which i will try to from time to time, I really enjoy sharing information with you, the reader!

Tonight's theme is a great story or philosphy a colleague told me one time about how a grocery store and a can of soup can relate to higher education marketing.

As a marketer for higher education (or business) you need to find students (consumers) in pockets where they are (social media, internet directories, etc) Well here is how the grocery store relates.

There are brands out there that pay a premium price for store end shelves, near the cash registers, top aisles, etc... For example, at a local Kroger's I always see the "Cheez It" brand snack cracker on a main end aisle, making it more likely for me to see and more likely for me to purchase. Isn't that your job as a marketer, make it more likely for your brand to be seen and purchased or for a student to enroll?

So how this relates is you need to put your brand in front of pockets of population where it is to be seen. Let us take a look at higher education first.

You need to make sure your higher education brand is out on internet directories, inside key social media websites, print publications, and student shout out websites (I really like Zinch).

For business, it certainly depends on your widget, but local radio advertising, billboards, key online pieces (again, it depends on your product and market).

The next time you are in a store and see that Campbell's Soup on the end aisle, remember, it was put there for a reason.

Happy Marketing!

marketmpb

Brands that market well

Good evening!

I hope everyone enjoyed their day today. I have thought long and hard about brands I think that market well and brands that I trust (enjoy!)

-Yamaha Motor Company
-American Honda Motor Company
-Stihl Power Equipment
-Weber Grills
-John Deere
-Sony Electronics
-Coca Cola
-Compaq/HP Computers
-Trek Bicycles
-Outback Steakhouse
-Kingsford Charcoal
-Food Network
-NBC Sports

Higher Education Brands
-University of Notre Dame (they really dont need to market at all :) )
-Loyola University Maryland
-University of Cincinnati
-University of Miami
-Miami University Ohio
-Duke University
-University of Texas
-University of Nebraska

All of these brands seem to be everywhere and certainly "top of mind"

best, Matt (marketmpb)

Colleges need to be run more like a business

Good afternoon and I hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

In my previous experiences, it really seemed like a lot of colleges/universities were resistant to marketing, when they really needed to be doing it. In my opinion, colleges need to be run more like a business.

In this current economic situation we find ourselves in, there is more of a competition for enrollments than ever. I also understand the typical "political" resistance and sometimes even arrogance that is present at an institution.

Lets ask ourselves this question, why does Coca Cola continue to advertise, brand, and market more than anyone else out there? The other interesting piece here is that they are one if not the most famous brand in the world.

The reason is the Coke wants to be "in the top of everyones mind" when it comes to thirsty consumers. Why shouldn't a college be the same way? Why can't a college say to themselves, "we need to be in the top of everyone's mind when it comes to a quality education, excellent faculty, etc.. I also understand the current budget situation, but what better money can you spend? If you dont enroll students, than you have a bigger problem!

How else are students going to remember or know you, or have "awareness" about your institution. You need to market and you need to engage, engage, engage! Certainly, businesses, including Coca Cola are.

If you are marketing heavily out to prospective students, you can not go wrong, and it certainly will not diminish the institution!

enjoy this great day,
Matt

Community College Marketing

Good evening! I had some thoughts tonight around community colleges and some marketing strategies.

A significant amount of community college marketers have told me that "there is no need to market" and "we have students coming out the door", so why market?

The first thing that comes to my mind is, how about when the economy comes back, the current situation will not always be like this. As I have written, you must always plan ahead and think long term. So let me lay out some practical long term strategies and tips to market your community college.

-advertise on local radio stations (35-45 miles from campus), particularly the strongest AM and one FM rock station
-participate in as many high school career fairs as possible
-advertise on the luggage rotunda rack at the local major airport (it works!)
-purchase geographically targeted ads on the largest local online newspaper
-maintain relationships with as many local high school guidance counselors as possible
-purchase google ads geographically targeted 35-45 miles from campus
-sponsor local events that promote your highlighted programs (eg. local cooking seminars for schools promoting cooking classes)
-offer free tasting samples for cooking classes to the community
-offer free haircuts to the community for beauty/cosmetology classes
-purchase a billboard advertisement on the highest traveled local highway
-engage in social media, especially Twitter, Facebook, and online college communities, offer weekly chats to help students in their community or college search, do not sell your school at first, just help, students will appreciate that, and more times than not, choose you

take care of yourself and each other!

Matt(marketmpb)