Truth #6: Use Data to Inform Decisions
There’s a long-time trend in higher education that is so mainstream, many college and university leaders have never questioned it: competitive analysis. To differentiate their marketing strategies, higher education institutions have spent millions of dollars and countless hours of work studying their marketplace peers.
While there’s certainly a time and place for surveying the higher education landscape, it isn’t the most important data that a school can gather. Instead, innovative marketers are discovering that the best information lives close to home: in the habits, opinions, and perceptions of existing students, donors, and alumni.
Easy-to-use analytics tools can provide higher education marketers with information that helps them to identify their institution’s unique strengths, leading to campaigns that stand out from the crowd and strong decisions that are data-informed.
Real-Time Research
Just a few years ago, colleges and universities were spending six figures to conduct market research studies that took months to complete. While these surveys often provided meaningful data, they were limited in their scope and could only capture a moment in time. In a modern world that is powered by technology and rapidly changing from minute to minute, it’s imperative for higher education institutions to utilize analytics tools that capture immediate, actionable insights.
Marketing is both art and science — incorporating anecdotal feedback and data to generate successful campaigns. Data analysis tools empower institutions to respond proactively to the needs of their current and prospective students rather than responding reactively to their competitors in the field.
Thriving institutions have a systematic approach to programmatic evaluation, one that is self-aware about the fact that 70% of programs in colleges and universities fail to thrive, according to Lightcast. A data-informed evaluation process provides immediate learnings, enabling marketers and fellow leaders to assess, change, and improve programs, campaigns, and messaging.
Mastering the Micro-Survey
Gone are the days of a small group sitting around a table and deciding the academic futures of institutions, continually adding programs but struggling to evaluate them after the fact. Instead, data-informed decisions are the way of the future—not removing the need for personal touch and instinct to participate in choices, but instead framing those decisions within a useful metric.
Targeted micro-surveys provide quick, meaningful insights into key stakeholders such as students, parents, and donors. Rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on competitive research, waiting for months to receive reports that may or may not end up driving their marketing, higher education marketers will find greater success if they collect specific information in a timely manner.
For example, marketers may target a small group of students and present them with three ads, asking them for feedback on which they prefer. They might also gain clarity on parental perception through a few-question survey that helps identify what excites them about their child’s education and will motivate them to promote the brand.
Taking the Pulse of Perceptions
For Geneva College, such ongoing analysis has come in the form of a 5° Branding tool known as the Global Pulse Survey, which measures audience perceptions of the university.
“The GPS allows us to get a pulse on how our day-to-day activities in marketing and communications are interpreted by the constituents that we serve and seek to attract,” says Geneva’s VP of Enrollment and Marketing Willem M de Ruijter. “In turn, the data gives us clear direction for how to improve our marketing in the places where it can have the greatest impact.”
He explains that “The GPS is part of our annual research calendar. It allows us to triangulate our marketing activity, enrollment results, and other data to ensure we are focused on improving the right indicators.”
Such an approach allows Geneva’s marketers to prioritize experimentation. Rather than spending large amounts of money on research projects that take long periods of time, the smaller GPS provides actionable data that allows for agility. Marketers are free to try new ideas, personalize communications, and assess the effectiveness of marketing initiatives.
Drive Toward Data
The bad news: Your institution may be missing out on important information due to outdated methodologies.
The good news: By implementing data analytics tools, your college or university can glean meaningful data that empowers strategic decision-making.
The great news: The technology and support you need is a click away.
Interested in bringing the Truths to your campus? Learn more.
Let’s make these truths part of your institution’s unique marketing strategies. Contact us to chat about how 5° Branding can partner with your team.
This is the sixth blog in our Higher Ed Marketing Truths series with 5° Senior Vice President Ryan Morabito, a veteran brand strategist who has worked with over 100 schools. These blogs are based on Ryan’s LinkedIn posts, which regularly inspire high engagement among education leaders and marketers. Connect with us here to receive each blog in the series by email or bookmark our blog to check for updates!
