Don Akchin

What does the data tell you? How can you use it? The CoolData blog walks through an example of a college alumni office which learns that the number of times an alumnus visits the college website correlates to the size and frequency of his gifts.

Here is an interesting summary of how the higher education sector is adopting social media into its marketing. You’ll find plenty of ideas that might apply to your own sector and organization.

A 2007 survey of high school students by Noel-Levitz found that 57% would prefer to receive information about colleges through the Internet. But as higher education marketing expert Bob Johnson observes, audience preference doesn’t correlate with marketing budgets: two-thirds of private colleges and universities spend less than $25,000 for online recruitment. Has your budget kept up with your audience?

A 2007 survey of high school students by Noel-Levitz found that 57% would prefer to receive information about colleges through the Internet. But as higher education marketing expert Bob Johnson observes, audience preference doesn’t correlate with marketing budgets: two-thirds of private colleges and universities spend less than $25,000 for online recruitment. Has your budget kept up with your audience?

A 2007 survey of high school students by Noel-Levitz found that 57% would prefer to receive information about colleges through the Internet. But as higher education marketing expert Bob Johnson observes, audience preference doesn’t correlate with marketing budgets: two-thirds of private colleges and universities spend less than $25,000 for online recruitment. Has your budget kept up with your audience?

A colleague who markets for a university complained the other day about a hard-to-please internal constituency. Last fall, with a significant marketing budget for the first time in a decade, she launched an online campaign. So far, inquiries have doubled, applications have doubled, quality is higher – yet some members of the faculty (the difficult constituency) want empirical proof that marketing deserves the credit. Here’s some proof from a survey by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and Lipman Hearne, a fundraising consulting firm. The key finding is that colleges and universities that invest more than 0.5 percent of their operating budgets (excluding salaries and benefits) in marketing get good returns in quality applicants and higher enrollment yield. But that won’t satisfy my colleague’s inquisitors. These faculty understand cause and effect, but that’s not their issue. The real issue is that marketing got a budget increase.

A colleague who markets for a university complained the other day about a hard-to-please internal constituency. Last fall, with a significant marketing budget for the first time in a decade, she launched an online campaign. So far, inquiries have doubled, applications have doubled, quality is higher – yet some members of the faculty (the difficult constituency) want empirical proof that marketing deserves the credit. Here’s some proof from a survey by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and Lipman Hearne, a fundraising consulting firm. The key finding is that colleges and universities that invest more than 0.5 percent of their operating budgets (excluding salaries and benefits) in marketing get good returns in quality applicants and higher enrollment yield. But that won’t satisfy my colleague’s inquisitors. These faculty understand cause and effect, but that’s not their issue. The real issue is that marketing got a budget increase.

A colleague who markets for a university complained the other day about a hard-to-please internal constituency. Last fall, with a significant marketing budget for the first time in a decade, she launched an online campaign. So far, inquiries have doubled, applications have doubled, quality is higher – yet some members of the faculty (the difficult constituency) want empirical proof that marketing deserves the credit. Here’s some proof from a survey by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and Lipman Hearne, a fundraising consulting firm. The key finding is that colleges and universities that invest more than 0.5 percent of their operating budgets (excluding salaries and benefits) in marketing get good returns in quality applicants and higher enrollment yield. But that won’t satisfy my colleague’s inquisitors. These faculty understand cause and effect, but that’s not their issue. The real issue is that marketing got a budget increase.