Helix CEO Matthew Schnittman did two things at the end of 2016: reflected on the relationship of enrollment growth and the institutional mission, and looked to the future of enrollment growth and data analytics in higher ed. To celebrate a new year in higher education, Schnittman was one of a few education and tech leaders […]
As we kick off this new year, we’ve been talking to our team internally, researching and reading external articles and reports, and generally soliciting input from our academic customers and contacts on what we can expect in 2014. While this isn’t a comprehensive list, the three categories below seemed to create quite a bit of […]
Every year around this time, we reflect back on the year’s accomplishments and recognize our team and our customers for contributing to our success. This year was an eventful one for us and we couldn’t have done it without the dedication of our staff, as well as the trust and confidence of our client institutions. […]
We’ve reached a point in higher education where change has become the new norm, at least from a regulatory standpoint. And as we point out in our new article, “Keeping up with New Regulations, Compliance and Risk,” this change isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, the changing rules are designed to better protect students. […]
As we continue with our Solution Series blogs, this week we are focusing on Dialog Marketing. For obvious reasons, Dialog Marketing essentially creates an ongoing conversation, or dialog, with prospects with the goal of creating a lasting relationship. Through a series of relevant, customizable and timely messages, you give prospective students the opportunity to […]
We often hear from education marketers that they didn’t realize just how broad our student marketing services were, and so we thought it was about time we initiated a blog series about some of our different solutions. We’ll plan to go into depth on one solution per blog. So here we go…everything you wanted to […]
While it’s certainly much easier to just assume the last marketing channel a student encountered was the one that produced an inquiry, this last-click credit approach is no way to go. How do you really know which of your channels and campaigns are working, which ones are impacting others, and where you should be putting […]
Both passed and proposed legislation continue to keep enrollment marketers and institutions on their toes. At stake are their marketing processes and practices, but also their brands and reputations. It is more important than ever for schools to understand the regulations, the tactical changes, and the long-term implications. For example, the FCC’s TCPA regulations, which […]
For those of you who have never attended a LeadsCon event, we highly encourage you to consider it. And for those of you who have, you know exactly how excited we are about the upcoming LeadsCon East in NYC next week, August 13th-15th. We have the privilege of speaking at this year’s LeadsCon East Buyer’s […]
“In college marketing, print appears to be forever.” This statement was recently published in an article in Direct Marketing News, “Traditional Marketing Gets Charged Up.” The article also featured Datamark and our own Rick Bentz talking about trends in higher education enrollment marketing. To summarize, the marketing landscape isn’t necessarily changing, but more so it […]
In the world of Education Portals there has been a proliferation of new channels of lead generation. In this post, I’ve outlined 5 channels that we’ve seen gaining traction over the last 4 to 6 months: 1. Education offerings delivered through mobile devices: Mobile continues to be a popular device choice for prospective students as […]
We’ve been back a little over a week now from another successful APSCU Annual Convention, which has been just enough time to digest the wealth of information, the candid conversations, and the increasingly positive tone on the exhibit floor. Let’s face it, with shrinking budgets and increased regulatory demands, APSCU schools have had their fair […]
By Joel Borgmeier So as you likely read in our last post, we thought our blog was a great stage to share content from our APSCU sessions with those who may have missed our presentations, or even those who attended but wanted to dive into the details on your own time. We were fortunate enough […]
Datamark had the privilege of leading two speaking sessions at the 2013 APSCU Annual Convention in Orlando. For those of you who missed our session or perhaps just want a recap, this is your chance. During our first session, Tips and Tricks to Help Enrollment Marketers be More Efficient with Less Money, we were joined […]
With challenges to increase enrollments, institutions continue to improve and streamline their admissions processes. In this guest blog post, I’ve asked Martin Lind at Leads360 to share the dynamics and differences he sees between traditional and private sector schools’ admissions departments. Traditional schools and private sector schools: Two very different admissions processes Understanding these differences […]
For some prospective students it simply takes time to make the decision to apply and enroll, and for others, a little bit of nurturing can go a long way. We teamed up with our colleagues, Martin Lind at Leads360 and Chris McArdle at Neustar, to dissect the extent to which inquiry nurturing programs exist at […]
As I wrap up this blog series on trends and predictions that will impact us as marketers, I’d like to close with my thoughts on Marketing and Mobile. Let’s face it, mobile is everywhere. I came across an article on Mobile Marketer that I thought was interesting, Top 10 Mobile Trends for Marketers and Retailers […]
Here we go with the third installment of this series – in case you missed my first two posts, I encourage you to check out trends on Marketing and the Customer Experience and Marketing and Branding. Today’s prediction comes from Ovum’s 2013 Trends to Watch: Education Technology and focuses on the following: “Institutions will turn […]
As we continue to look at the predictions circulating for 2013, I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about marketing and branding. By the way, if you missed my first post in this series about Marketing and the Customer Experience, you can access it here. So let’s dive in. A conversation about marketing that […]
Now that the first month of the New Year is coming to an end, I thought it would be interesting to write a series of blogs that highlight some of the predictions being thrown around out there, and take a look at what those predictions mean for those in education segment. . Ovum recently published […]
Just because a prospective student doesn’t begin to move forward through the enrollment process at first, doesn’t mean that individual won’t at some point. So, how do you continue to nurture that prospect to get to that point? We recently teamed up with our colleagues at Leads360 and Neustar® (formerly TARGUSinfo) to publish a joint […]
In this final part of our three-part CPL and traditional media series, we outline the importance of video. Videos are coming on the scene and are being used extensively during the evaluation process. Recent Google video usage studies suggest that there has been a significant uptick in use of higher education video assets on the […]
Part Two of Three: Mobile device marketing In this second part of our three-part CPL and traditional media series, we focus on emerging trend of marketing being optimized for mobile devices. Education seekers have adopted a 3-screen approach: 44% use a cellular and / or tablet device in their search. (Note: 97% still use a […]
Part one of Three: Response integration and attribution Staying on top of the trends and happenings with regards to CPL and media is a key priority for us at Datamark. We’ve compiled a three-part series that feature observations which may be key to your future marketing plans as you look to attract the attention of […]
Let’s face it, the more you know about your prospective students’ thought process during the enrollment process, the more likely you are to engage them at each step along the way, from the initial idea to further their education, through research, selection, application and enrollment. Ask yourself, why do prospective students decide to pursue higher […]
Having returned recently from LeadsCon, I can’t help but think back on the conversations our media team had with education marketers and how their challenges and opportunities translate into trends that we believe will impact the sector in the months and years ahead. Based on what we heard, here are the trends we think are […]
There’s no question about it, the resources and costs that are both necessary and at stake in new program development are high. And let’s face it, guessing which programs will be successful is far from a sound approach. It really comes down to research. Our very own Joel Borgmeier recently published an article in Today’s […]
As we come to the next part in our series on the changing landscape of CPL and EDU Portals, let’s talk about our second key finding from the group of CPL vendors who participated in our Media Days event. Insight #2: As predicted, there has been a significant sorting out of the “bad” apples – […]
As we go into a new year, can we expect a new outlook on Cost Per Lead and EDU Portals, or simply more of the same? At Datamark we recently held our 4th Semi-Annual Winter Media Days event where we brought together 8 of our top CPL partners to answer this very question. The group […]
On October 11, APSCU published guidance for its membership on “The Misrepresentation Rule and Third-Party Vendors.” We congratulate APSCU on the publication of this very comprehensive treatment of a very complex topic, particularly its holistic review of the federal and state regulatory issues beyond “Substantial Misrepresentation” that education marketers must consider. We view the publication […]
I’d intended to pass along what we saw at LeadsCon East a few weeks back, and have finally had the chance to put “pen” to “paper.” LeadsCon has developed into one of the top places to network with the education CPL community. Congratulations to Dave Wengel and Jay Weintraub on their success. Attendees tend to […]
The annual LeadsCon event hit Las Vegas recently and turned out an insightful crowd of people. I joined several of my Datamark colleagues for the event, and it again proved to be a productive opportunity to meet with clients and leaders in internet lead generation to discuss trends, innovation and regulatory change. Congratulations to Jay and […]
As we look to the future of the lead generation environment, we need to take into consideration both economic and regulatory drivers. To what extent will these factors, along with new technology, influence lead volume, lead cost and lead quality in the months and years to come? We recently gathered 10 of our top lead […]
The answer is yes – social media is everywhere these days. Take a look at the statistics KISSmetrics is reporting: 96% of 18-35 year olds are on a social network. 1 in 5 Americans age 18-35 use @twitter. Twitter is adding 300,000 users a day and 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices. Facebook […]
I recently had the opportunity to interview with Keith Hampson, a well-known education consultant, speaker and founder of the Higher Education Management group on LinkedIn. Keith and I talked about the changing marketing and enrollment landscape, and the things that colleges and universities should be doing to adapt their strategies given economic recovery, regulatory changes […]
The enrollment marketing and admissions landscape continues to change with new technological advances and ways to communicate. However, neither can enhance the enrollment process if the lead quality to begin with isn’t up to par. As a participant on a recent panel, “Why Lead Quality Matters Now More Than Ever,” at the TARGUSinfo Interactive Insights […]
Datamark joined Joseph Holt, Vice President of Marketing at San Joaquin Valley College (SJVC), in a presentation at the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) 26th Annual Conference. The topic was post-recession marketing strategies. SJVC is definitely at the forefront when it comes to understanding the enrollment landscape and proactively adapting its marketing strategies to […]
In the early years of eLearning, many questioned not only the academic rigor and quality of an online degree, but also its place in corporate America. Would online graduates enter the job market with the same skill set as someone who earned his/her degree in a traditional bricks and mortar setting? And could online graduates […]
The decision to start or go back to school is not one that a student enters into lightly – it involves significant timing, lifestyle and financial considerations. It is therefore imperative that we as marketers take these factors into account and keep student needs and goals top of mind when it comes to the messaging, […]
Bill Gates recently said, “Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world” and online education “will be better than any single university.” Over the past several months we have been monitoring the EduPunk and DIY-U start-ups. Unlike traditional and for-profit schools, these new […]
Since 1990, the United States has experienced three major recessions, and during each of these tumultuous periods, higher education marketers have found a unique silver lining – student inquiries have sprouted easily and school enrollments have grown. As economic recovery has turned the corner and unemployed prospects have found new job opportunities, the bounty of […]
The winds of change are sweeping through the environment for education marketing. Metric and database analytics have brought new levels of efficiency and sophistication to the practice. For–profit and not-for-profit universities now compete for the same students. And, with new communication channels available and an uncertain regulatory future looming on the horizon, we’re poised for […]