Converge Consulting principals, Jay Kelly and Ann Oleson explored how marketing and communications have evolved at the 29th Annual ACT Enrollment Planners Conference in Chicago. From the outbound/push model days of buying ads and sending view books and postcards through the mail, to the current inbound/pull model of engagement through data-driven, relevant, targeted and segmented communications -- they covered the why and how of modern, effective marketing.

1. The Evolution of Marketing and
Communications
EarnYour Way in with Inbound Marketing
Ann Oleson, Converge Consulting
July 24, 2014

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Converge Consulting is a higher education marketing firm.
We use inbound marketing (SEO, SEM, Social Media, Google Analytics,
Content Strategy) and strategic communications practices to positively
impact student recruitment and alumni engagement for colleges and
universities around the world.

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Today’s Agenda
! Defining Inbound Marketing
! The Three Key Phases
! How to Apply Inbound Marketing
! Examples of Inbound Marketing in Action

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Shift: Audience is in Control
FACT: Netflix is now larger than HBO domestically with 31 million
subscribers. It looks like they'll be 33 million by the end of this
calendar year.
Spotify = 40 million active users
Pandora = 70 million active users

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Definition of Inbound Marketing
Create Marketing People Will Love
! Earning attention by producing valued, custom content
! Making yourself easily found with search optimization
! Knowing your audience through data and anecdotal
research and delivering: the right message to the right
person at the right time
! Guiding them through the three phase process:
attract, convert and delight

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Inbound Marketing
We want to move where the
market is going, not where
it’s been.”
(Marketer Surveyed in Hubspot’s State of Inbound Marketing 2013)
“

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CONVERT DELIGHT
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
Strategic
Content Creation
Social Media
ATTRACT
VISITORS STUDENTS
PROMOTERS
Calls-to-Action
(CTAs)
Landing Pages
Forms
Segmented
Content
Ongoing
Engagement
User Experience
STRANGERS

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Phase I: Attract
! Search Engine Optimization
! Strategic Content Creation
! Social Media

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Why Is It Important?
! When you have a question, what do you do? Look
online!
! Your prospects are already there – tap into it!
! SEO is a fluid landscape, changing frequently but
always with the searcher in mind.
! Quality content wins – know your prospect and answer
their questions.
FACT: Organic search leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound
marketing leads have a 1.7% close rate. (Hubspot)

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Search Trends
! About 75% of searchers never go beyond page 1
of the results
! 94% of search users choose organic over paid
listing when searching, particularly for purchases
! Over 70% of the traffic you earn for any given
page will come from keywords you didn’t try to
optimize for.
! 15% of all Google searches, over half a billion
per day, have never been seen before
Sources: "Search Engine Rankings: Why They Matter." PmbmediaWORKS. 2011. Web.
14 Mar. 2012. Ten statistics that demonstrate the value of SEO . Intraspin
2012. Web. 21 Mar. 2012.

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What You Need to Know
! Technical assessment (crawl for errors)
! On Page optimization and basic keyword research
! Thematic keyword development
! Off page optimization and link building
! Reporting
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
TOOL: A great Inbound and SEO tool is Moz. Plus, 30-day free trial!

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Example: Thematic Keyword Development
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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SEO Keyword Report

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Strategic Content Creation
Why Is It Important?
! Get found: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
! Show and tell your story = build an emotional
connection
! Establish thought leadership and expertise
FACT: Website conversion rate is nearly 6x higher for content
marketing adopters than non-adopters. (Aberdeen Group)
FACT: Using inbound tactics saves an average of 13% in overall cost
per lead. (Hubspot)

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Video- UCLA EMBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cutXDwlWwN0&feature=youtu.be

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What You Need to Know
! Strategy: build your calendar based on thematic
research
! Voice & Tone: share, educate, delight... don’t sell
! Frequency: aim for weekly blog posts
! Measure: develop an analytics dashboard to see what
works best for YOUR audience
Strategic Content Creation
FACT: Brands that create 15 blog posts per month average 1,200 new
leads per month. (Hubspot)
TOOL: Dropbox, Google Drive and Box are great to keep teams on
the same page.

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Strategic Content Creation

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Strategic Content Creation

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Strategic Content Creation

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Social Media
Why Is It Important?
! Prospects are there – a lot!
! Share your content – social media is replacing RSS
feeds for those who want to stay connected.
! Be a part of the conversation
! Engaged prospects are more likely to become leads
! Meet new prospects by using #hashtags
! Handle flare ups quickly, before they become fires

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Social Media
What You Need to Know
! Listening and Monitoring: join into conversations about
you or industry topics
! Voice & Tone: less formal, concise, fun!
! Schedule: use your content calendar to schedule
consistent, on message posts
! Measure: develop an analytics dashboard to learn how
social traffic is converting on your goals
FACT: Interesting content is one of the top 3 reasons people follow
brands on social media. (Content Plus)
TOOL: Hootsuite is a great, affordable tool you can use to schedule,
engage and monitor social media.

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Social Media

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Social Media

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Social Media

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Social Media

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QUIZ - Phase I: Attract
Search Engine Optimization
! Is your site search engine optimized on page? Technical?
Off page and link building?
! Are you building content based on search trends?
Strategic Content
! Do you have a blog?
! Are you measuring success?
! Is it strategic?
Social Media
! Do you have a strategy?
! Are you measuring it?

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Phase II: Convert
! Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
! Landing pages
! Forms

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Calls-To-Action (CTAs)
Why Are They Important?
! You have to ask: if you don’t ask, they’ll
never do it
! Critical for collecting information about
prospects, which fuels inbound marketing
FACT: Verbs generate the most shares on Twitter. (Science of Social
Media Research)

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What You Need to Know
! Strategy: should go hand-in-hand with strategic content
! Voice & Tone: should be enticing and friendly
! Content: knowing your prospects will help you know what
would be enticing to them
! Visual: should stand out and be placed consistently
Calls-To-Action (CTAs)
FACT: Benefit focused terminology is more likely to entice prospects
to click. (From research by The Science of Blogging)

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Examples
Calls-To-Action (CTAs)

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Why are they important
! Makes good on the call-to-action
! Provides streamlined information specific to
the action
! Allows prospect to submit their information,
entering the funnel
Landing Pages
FACT: Companies with 30+ landing pages get 7x more leads than
those with 10 or less. (Hubspot)

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What You Need to Know
! Unique landing page per campaign with Google Analytics applied
! It’s clear what you want users to do:
! Clear headline, one call-to-action, valuable offer
! Free of clutter and compelling copy
! Mobile Optimized
! Friendly forms (only capture what you use!)
! Test Different versions to see what works best for your audience
Landing Pages
FACT: Testing radically different landing pages against each other
yielded a conversion increase of 264% for Marian University. (Ion
Interactive)

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Forms
Why Are They Important?
! Allows permission to continue the conversation
! Collects valuable information about
prospective students, alumni and other prospects
! Tie into CRM systems to automate recruitment
! Multi-page forms are perfect for tracking with Google
Analytics goal funnels for added info
QUOTE: Anything that is measured and watched, improves.
(Bob Parsons, Founder of Go Daddy)

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Forms
What You Need to Know
! Keep them short – only collect what you use
! Break them up into multiple pages, but
provide a status bar
! Explain what you’ll use the information for –
and mean it

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Landing Page and Form

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QUIZ - Phase II: Convert
Calls to Action
! Do you have calls to action at every opportunity?
! Are they directing the user to what’s next?
Landing Pages
! Do you have landing pages?
! Are they following best practices?
Forms
! Do you strategically use forms?
! Are they optimized and following best practices?

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Phase III: Delight
! Targeted Content
! Ongoing Engagement
! User Experience

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Targeted Content
Why is it Important?
! Right message, right audience, right time
! Prospective students are asking “what’s in it
for me?”
! Answer specific questions to engage in a
meaningful way
FACT: 61% of consumer say they feel better about and are more likely
to buy from a company the delivers custom content. (Custom Content
Council)

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Targeted Content
What You Need to Know
! Develop user personas for current students/alumni
! Use focus groups and surveys to understand pain
points, motivations and influencers
! Create content that delights
TOOL: Hubspot’s Smart Content builds a custom experience.
TOOL: Sitecore CMS also offers customized experiences.

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• Who is Using Personas?

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Targeted Content
Example

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Ongoing Engagement
Why is it Important?
! Happy students are your best advocates
! The trust factor: word of mouth
! Improve retention and engage alumni
FACT: 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when
learning about it from friends or family. (Nielsen)

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Ongoing Engagement
What You Need to Know
! Social Media
! Events – online and in person
! Segmented email lists
! Measure success, in person or online
FACT: MailChimp found that segmented emails perform about 15%
better than average on opens and clicks than non-segmented lists.
(MailChimp)

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Ongoing Engagement

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User Experience
Why Is It Important?
! UX represents brand. How do you want users
to see you? Easy to work with? Forward
thinking? Show it.
! It’s not important until it is important – you
probably don’t even notice it
! Clearest path to the user’s goals
FACT: 40% of people abandon a webpage if it takes more than three
seconds to load. (Econsultancy)

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User Experience
What You Need to Know
! Should be effortless: “it gets out of the way”
! Promotes further engagement
! Mobile is critical
! Improve through user testing and heuristic evaluations
FACT: 48% of users say that if they arrive on a business site that isn’t
working well on mobile, they take it as an indication of the business
simply not caring (MarginMedia)
FACT: Only 55% of companies are currently conducing any kind of
online user experience testing. (Econsultancy)

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User Experience

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User Experience
Example

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QUIZ - Phase III: Delight
Targeted Content
! Do you know who your audiences are? Have you developed personas?
! Have you developed targeted messages (email, social, online) to answer
their questions?
Ongoing Engagement
! Do you provide customized experiences?
! How do you encourage current students and
alumni to share their experiences?
User Experience
! Have you done user testing?
! Have you optimized for mobile?

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CONVERT DELIGHT
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
Strategic
Content Creation
Social Media
ATTRACT
VISITORS STUDENTS
PROMOTERS
Calls-to-Action
(CTAs)
Landing Pages
Forms
Segmented
Content
Ongoing
Engagement
User Experience
STRANGERS

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Inbound Marketing Results

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Inbound Marketing Results

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Inbound Marketing Results
We want to move where the
market is going, not where
it’s been.”
(Marketer Surveyed in Hubspot’s State of Inbound Marketing 2013)
“

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#AnalyticsHigherEd
www.convergeconsulting.org/converge2014

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Ann Oleson
ann@convergeconsulting.org
@anncoleson