Choose from 20 one-hour marketing and enrollment management sessions
The 2014 UPCEA Marketing and Enrollment Management seminar in Atlanta will feature 20 content-rich, professional development sessions for marketing and enrollment management professionals with tips, techniques, case studies and strategy geared toward the higher education, professional and continuing education industry.
DE-Versity: Marketing Distance Education to a Diverse Population. Topics covered in this session: recruitment, diversity, customer experience, creating unique content based on audience.
Melita Mitchell, University of North Carolina - Charlotte; Shanna Coles, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Are you capitalizing on the hidden wealth of your DE student population? The diversity of your distance education students adds value to your educational communities even if they are rarely, if ever, "seen" on campus. Discover ways to use diversity as a marketing tool and strengthen your marketing message.
Key takeaways: 1. Expanded definition of diversity 2. Ways to help students visualize themselves in your program 3. Value represented by diversity.
Re-Engagement Marketing Campaigns: Effective Outreach Strategies to “Stopouts” and “Dropouts.” 
Topics covered in this session: marketing for unique audiences, segmentation, recruitment, engagement and outreach.
Melinda Gainer
, Southern Illinois University; Brian Dycus, Blackboard
Marketing budgets are tight, one of the best places to focus your recruiting efforts is your current inquiry database unconverted inquiries, incomplete applications, and withdrawn students. This resource is overlooked at most schools because, despite the time and money already invested to acquire those prospects, recruiters lack concrete processes for extracting value from “old” leads.
Key takeaways: 1. Identify opportunities to recruit stopouts and dropouts based on enrollment trends 2. Create compelling marketing promotions that will reengage former prospects 3. Design effective outreach campaigns to recruit these students 4. Track and measure the success of your re-engagement campaigns.
Tales from the Far Side: A Website Redesign Business Case and the Lessons Learned. Topics covered in this session: website redesign, communication, strategy.
Melanie Schramm, Purdue University; Phil Conrad, Purdue University
We’ve all been here, the dreaded “Website Redesign” conversation, the sighs and groans of writing an RFP for said project, counting dollars to afford the bid and of course selecting the committee of stake holders who will drive the charge forward. What happens after the ink on the vendor contract dries and the project starts almost never follows a script of the expected and known. Join us for a case study of an actual “near-worst case scenario” brought to life through our most recent redesign adventure and hear our lessons learned. In life it’s not about what knocks us down as much as what we learn to pick ourselves up. The goal of this session is to take an honest look at what really happens in all website redesign projects and assess how we can better navigate the troubled and many times unpredictable world of working with contracted vendors in these important projects.
Key takeaways: 1. How to prepare for your next website project 2. How to manage the website implementation process to ensure timely delivery of all project items 3. What to do when the wheels fall off 4. Communication basics for success with website projects
Top Five Things You’re Missing Out on When Your Marketing and Enrollment Teams are Not in Sync. Topics covered in this session: enrollment funnel, data, comprehensive enrollment strategy, ROI.
Hannah Wilkey, Strategic Data Analyst, Hobsons Enrollment Management Solutions
In a perfect world an institution’s marketing and enrollment teams would be working in stride to effectively and efficiently find the right students for a program. However, this world is not perfect and often these two teams are out of step, causing even the top institutions to spend inefficiently and fail to hit their enrollment goals. During this session, you will hear about five key areas that are affected by the working relationship of the marketing and enrollment departments. Through client examples you will see the effect that a strong working relationship has on enrollment volume and return on marketing dollars, and begin to think about what you could gain by making process shifts within your college or university.
Finding Value in Facebook Advertising: a How to Guide. Topics covered in this session: pay-per-click tactics, search engine marketing, paid advertising, display ads.
Simona Boucek, Oregon State University Extended Campus
Should you pay for ads on Facebook? It depends. This session is a "how to" guide to Facebook advertising, including options available, what each means based on your marketing goals, what targeting you have access to and how to set up your campaigns for success.
Key takeaways: 1. Understanding of advertising options on Facebook 2. Clarity on which options are best based on goals 3. Be able to answer if Facebook advertising if right for you.
Admission Data: What More Can it Tell Us? How to Use Data to Increase Application-to-Enrollment Conversion Rates. Topics covered in this session: Data, conversion optimization, analytics.
Michele Long, University of Denver; Brian Epp, Pearson North America Higher Education Services
Learn what University of Denver University College discovered when they partnered with Pearson Consulting Services to analyze raw admission and enrollment data with the goal of increasing conversion percentage. We’ll discuss the people, process, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations needed to make a positive impact. The findings may surprise you too.
Key takeaways: 1. Provide model used to analyze data 2. Discuss key elements and definitions 3. Share findings 4. Share actions taken based on findings
Is it an Arm or a Leg Day? How to Maximize Your Marketing Fitness Plan. Topics covered in this session: marketing strategy, mid-funnel inquiry management and communication plans, identifying gaps in services provided to academic partners and marketing team management.
Stacy Snow, University of Missouri
Evaluating your recruitment marketing plan from a strength and conditioning mindset will have you rethinking your entire communications, advertising and inquiry management processes. Whether you need to be on an elimination diet for tactics that aren't delivering leads or you have too many "Did Not Finish" notations on your advertising WODs, it's time to talk about a marketing fitness makeover. You may have a couch potato past that is calling to you, but with some mindful goal-setting, your 2015 enrollment goals will be within reach.
Key takeaways: 1. Assess your fitness level and pick a quality plan: Select the right workout for your marketing strategy 2. Know when to seek a qualified trainer, expand your talent pool or reassign your staff 3. Avoid magic skinny pills: Stay hyper-focused on results but remember they won't come overnight.
A Marketing Professional’s Guide to Getting the Most Out of Your Dean or Academic Partner. Topics covered in this session: internal communications, marketing operations and infrastructure, strategy.
Jennifer Wooley, Georgia Institute of Technology; Stephanie Platteter, University of Minnesota
Feeling disconnected from your dean or academic program director? The academic side and marketing can work as strategic partners to successfully position your institution in an increasing competitive space. This session aims to help marketing directors, managers and others tap into tools to effectively talk and present information to your dean and academic program directors and to use collaborative planning to better inform decisions, bridge skill gaps and grow programs. Discover why marketers must learn to partner with the academic side, today’s challenges and new marketing model, and six keys to success. This is the flip side to a similar session presented at the UPCEA Annual Conference in Miami: "How to Get the Most Out of Your Marketing Director."
Top Five Strategic Mistakes in Online Marketing. Topics covered in this session: best practices, search-engine marketing (SEM), metrics, pay-per-click advertising and marketing 101.
Megan Anderson, Western Michigan University; Jon Horn, JMH Consulting
Online marketing is moving fast. Keeping up with changing platform features and best practices is tough, but critical for success. Learn the 5 mistakes that, if avoided, will make your online marketing much more effective.
Key takeaways: 1. Avoid common mistakes in campaign structure, ad content, landing pages, and calls-to-action 2. Learn how recent changes in online platforms affect best practices. 3. Leave with a list of items to check in your own campaign
Big Decisions from Little Data: Using Google Analytics to Accurately Predict Future Matriculation. Topics covered in this session: Data, analytics and search-engine optimization (SEO).
Kay Zimmerman, North Carolina State University; Adam Schultz, Verified Studios
In this presentation, we will walk through specific steps you can take to use basic and predictive analytics to accurately assess your website’s needs, up-fit your website with your end users in mind, and then effectively predict future matriculation.
Key takeaways: 1. How to use analytics to inform budget smart decisions *before* you start your project 2. How to build and use free Google Analytics, to build predictive web funnels 3. How to incorporate smart goals into your analytics prescreen and future marketing efforts.
Marketing Professional, Continuing and Online Education: Trends and Data from the 2014 UPCEA Marketing Study. Topics covered in this session: trends in marketing, higher education marketing research, benchmarking.
Jim Fong, University Professional and Continuing Education Association; Jessica Dupont, Oregon State University
Over 200 marketing professionals and leaders were surveyed for the 2014 UPCEA Marketing Survey. In this session, participants will receive up-to-date information on how UPCEA marketing departments are staffed and organized, as well as how they budget media. Comparisons will be made based on size and type of institution, as well as from earlier marketing surveys.
As part of the presentation, marketing leaders from the UPCEA Marketing, Enrollment and Student Services network will provide reflection and insight on the findings and engage the audience to determine implications and actions needed to advance higher education marketing.
The Customer Experience for Online Adult Learners. Topics covered in this session: unifying a customer experience across platforms, CRM, customer service.
Amy Lee, Brandeis University; Lynne Koreman, Colloquy
How Brandeis and Colloquy partner to deliver a seamless and positive experience to students from marketing through the application and enrollment process and through to graduation.
Key takeaways: 1. Best practices in partnerships 2. Focus on the student experience 3. Best tools and communication.
MOOCeting: How to Integrate Massive Open Online Courses into Your Communication Strategy. Topics covered in this session: MOOC marketing, impact of MOOCs on your organization/brand.
Tyler Ritter, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Lauren Owens, University of Pennsylvania; Mike King, Berklee College of Music
We are all talking about Massive Open Online Courses, but do we really know what they are all about, how they can advance our universities’ missions, and how they can forward our communication objectives? This session will look at the communication strategies around MOOCs at three Coursera partner institutions.
Key takeaways: 1. The bigger picture: MOOCs and their strategic purpose 2. Why should you be involved in MOOC development? 3. What’s in it for your institution? 4. MOOCs can help your institution achieve its communication goals in ways you may not have considered
Tips for Retaining Adult Learners Through Customer Service Excellence: The Concierge Model. Topics covered in this session: concierge model, customer service, retention.
Lisa Braverman, Jones International University
The results of a joint project by WICHE and the Lumina Foundation identify customer service excellence as the key to successfully recruiting and retaining adults. Adult learners, at-risk due to the complexity of their lives and the barriers colleges pose, were observed to respond best to high touch services delivery called “concierge customer service.” This presentation identifies ways for campuses to create rich relationships with adult learners to create the “glue” that incentivizes these students to complete their degree programs. Colleges must take into account their personal lives and careers, and go the extra mile in providing excellent, customized services and support. Colleges can do a better job of anticipating the needs of returning adults and incorporating approaches that take these into account well before students begin their programs. The latest approaches in the field that use data to “tell the story” of the student and identify, monitor and track their digital footprint, particularly through their online programs with your institution, will also be discussed.
Key
takeaways: 1. Create cultures of customer service excellence 2. Facilitate more effective, adult-focused campus environments 3. Integrate career and other campus services into the adult program delivery model 4. Establish a communication system for reaching out to students before they need to contact you 5. Become a resource for your campus and inspire colleagues to adjust services to meet the needs of adults 6. Learn about the latest approaches in online retention using data and the “digital footprint” of students to improve retention rates at a distance
Key Takeaways From Three Years of Website Benchmarking. Topics covered in this session: web trends, benchmarking, analytics, non-traditional student use of web, search-engine optimization (SEO).
James Campbell, University of Richmond; Daniel Hocutt, University of Richmond; Nicole Foerschler-Horn, JMH Consulting
How is your website performing? How are visitors finding your website and how do they behave once they arrive? What’s the trend in mobile usage? These are just some of the questions we’ll answer as we share the results of our 3 year website benchmarking initiative for departments serving non-traditional students in higher education.
Key takeaways: 1. Identify key trends over the last three years for university CE websites 2. Learn the critical measurements you should be tracking 3. Position your university website performance within the context of larger trends and research
From Marketing to Recruitment to Advising: Planning for Success. Topics covered in this session: student lifecycle planning, big picture strategy, marketing across the lifecycle, conversion optimization.
Laura Wiese, University of Nebraska Online Worldwide; Courtney Diegel, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
In an environment with fierce competition for online students and limited marketing funds, it is vital to find ways to enhance collaboration and maximize resources. This session provides a case study of a coordinated marketing and recruitment effort that is producing results on a modest budget.
Key takeaways: 1. Understand a process using interconnected roles in marketing, recruitment, and advising 2. Learn key points in developing an effective and cost efficient marketing plan 3. Get an overview of how to craft a communication plan and lead follow up to increase conversion yield
Go Where Your Audience Is – Online. Topics covered in this session: pay per click advertising, search engine marketing, Google Adwords, analytics, paid advertising platforms.
Kathryn Van Auken, Rice University Continuing Studies
This session will cover how Rice Continuing Studies leveraged PPC/SEM through Google AdWords, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to increase web traffic from advertising by over 3,000%. Topics covered include search vs. display advertising, audience targeting, remarketing, tracking results and budgeting.
Key takeaways: 1. How to create an overall online advertising strategy. 2. How to find your audience online. 3. Learn how to set up and fine-tune advertising campaigns in search engines and social media.
Partnering with Faculty to Aid in Marketing Initiatives. Topics covered in this session: internal communications, “buy in,” content creation and strategy, collaborating with partners.
Jennifer Eyden, Colorado State University Online Plus
Do you get more criticism than praise from your program faculty and departments? Learn how to merge the expertise of both your faculty members and marketing staff to increase college/department buy-in, maximize new content creation opportunities, and use that content to inform your overall marketing initiatives.
Key takeaways: 1. Learn how to maximize content creation by leveraging the unique expertise of your program faculty members 2. See how we transformed our blog and video strategy to gain faculty buy-in and produce award-winning videos that highlight their expertise 3. Rethink the role of your marketing managers to strengthen partnerships with colleges/departments while also enhancing the effectiveness of your marketing plans and initiatives.
Creating a New Student Experience for a Connected World. Topics covered in this session: CRM, user experience, integrated marketing and recruitment.
Dan Bellone, California State University, East Bay; Guy Felder, Story+Structure
Learn how Cal State East Bay Continuing Education designed and deployed a new user-centered experience for prospective and current students by leveraging multiple technology platforms across a unified implementation. This holistic approach allows the school to meet the needs of students across 42 programs with an already over utilized staff.
Bland to Bold: Redefining Your Marketing Strategy. Topics covered in this session: marketing strategy, differentiation, branding, looking at the big picture.
Kim Frisch, Regis University; Jeff Johnson, Primacy
This presentation will demonstrate how Regis University challenged convention and changed enrollment marketing with adult learners.
Key takeaways: 1.Developing an authentic message platform that resonates with working adults 2. Determining the right media mix for your budget 3. Test and learn approaches to campaign optimization.
Please note that session titles and descriptions are subject to change.
Sessions denoted with "" will be captured as part of the Online Pass.