Enrollment Marketing to the Adult Learner.

CONNECTING PROSPECTS TO PROGRAMS.

2018-2019

Case Study

CHALLENGESUniversity College struggled with a lack of brand awareness within the St. Louis market and an undefined relationship with Washington University. With over a dozen brick and mortar competitors in the region and thousands more online, the marketplace was crowded and loud. Most of the people living in St. Louis were unaware of the availability of programs at University College. While the association with a top-ranked university created false assumptions of higher tuition costs and the general lack of knowledge about financial aid available to adult students.

The lack of brand awareness made the cost of reaching new prospects a strain on the budget, while tradition open-house marketing relied too heavily on one evening fitting into the schedule of busy adults. Even reliable digital campaign tactics like remarketing were creating diminishing returns for course enrollments as the audience wasn’t growing beyond those already considering University College.

Finally, with more than 40 programs at University College across multiple levels, there wasn’t enough budget to do program-specific marketing for every program. And previous assumptions about the University College audience being between the ages of 35 to 55, didn’t exclude Washington University employees using tuition benefits for their own education. A better understanding of University College’s audience was needed to find new students with a targeted message that delivered on the promise of a world-class education from Washington University that was within reach.

OVERVIEW

BACKGROUNDContinuing education and professional programs have been a hallmark of Washington University in St. Louis since 1908, founded officially in 1931 as the professional and continuing education division of the College of Arts & Sciences within Washington University, University College has been serving the St. Louis region ever since.

University College offers more than 40 programs of study, with programs at every level including associate, certificates, undergraduate degrees, post-baccalaureate certificates, advanced certificates, and graduate degrees helping students advance their careers, explore new fields and grow personally and professionally.

However, by 2016, University College faced a serious issue – for several years, enrollments had been declining by about 5% each year. The unit needed a new strategic approach to marketing that emphasized data-driven tactics and channels.

OBJECTIVE• Use data-learning to improve audience understanding and

hone targeting personas.

• Raise brand awareness of University College and the connection to Washington University in order to decrease the cost of inquiries.

• Increase inquiries for degree-seeking programs.

Degree Completers: Armed with some college experience, either at a community college or through a handful of courses, our Degree Completers have adult responsibilities and know that their future prospects are stronger with a degree.• Median age: 25

• Married with 1 child, but part of a large household (27% have 5+ people in their HH)

• Often first-generation college

• 27% represents Community College transfer audiences

• Strong Military segment, including spouses in-market to finish college

Advance Career: To move up, or out, this segment looks to education to get that promotion or shift industries. They had to hit the pause button on their higher ed experience, and are now ready to re-enroll.• Median Age: 27.5 years

• 18% are African American

• 29% have young kids (0-5 years) in the household

• 75% of prospects are employed, and 14% (Index 139) are working moms.

• One-in-four are currently taking a class (index 269) and 34% are looking for a new job in the next 12 months (Index 215).

Brand Builders: Educated women who want a change. Change in themselves, others, and the world. Now is the time.• Skews Female: 74% Women with an average age of 33 years

• 21% African American (Index 139)

• 81% are employed in white-collar jobs (index 216)

• Healthcare (index 367)

• Education, legal (index 300)

• Business/Financial (Index 188)

Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical: • Age 22-35 (emphasis on 22-29)

• College Degree or working full-time

• Skews Female: 65% Women/25% Men

• Diverse target: 37% Asian; 15% African American

• Role of influencers (parents, peers, advisors, current med students) is strong.

• Pulls nationally. Linkage programs with University of Michigan and Case Western Reserve

Sources: Neilsen Scarborough; St. Louis DMA (2017 Release 2 & 2016 Release 2); SP18 Application data.

IDENTIFYING FOUR KEY ADULT LEARNER PROSPECTSSHARPENING THE FOCUS WITH PERSONA DEVELOPMENT DELIVERS BETTER RESULTS AND LESS MEDIA WASTE

BRAND AWARENESS DIGITAL

BRAND AWARENESS VIDEO IMPRESSIONS

CTV

Audio

Social

Geotargeting DisplayDisplay

Search

LANDING PAGES

Geofencing

Persona

DISPLAY

NOT CONVERTED

MEDIA FLOW

CONVERTED

FIRST-PARTY DATA

RETARGETINGCTV

Display

Video

Retargeting

Video

Social

TACTICS USED

Search Retargeting Display ads targeted people based on their search query activity to drive traffic to the persona-specific landing pages.

Connected TV (CTV) & Hulu Video ads ran to drive awareness of each of the personas, in some cases driving traffic to landing pages from clickable video formats (i.e. Hulu on smartphones). CTV and Hulu ads also ran as retargeting assets later in the campaign to increase brand engagement of previous site visitors.

Audio ads ran on Spotify with companion banners targeting the personas built from third-party data attributes such as demographic and behavioral data.

Impression retargeting display ads targeted people who were exposed to CTV and Geofence ads to sequence the ad message, building relevancy and brand engagement.

Paid Search ads specific to Post-Bacc Pre-Med ran across a handful of known feeder states to capture users in the moment of intent-to-act to learn more or apply to a program with a quality program.

Paid Social Ads across Facebook and Instagram were used as both awareness and retargeting ads for each of the personas driving traffic to the specific persona landing pages. Additionally, lead form ads were used on Facebook to capture contact information of those who did not wish to leave the social platform to receive their info kit.

MEDIA RESULTSAN EFFECTIVE MULTI-CHANNEL MEDIA PLAN RESULTED IN AD ENGAGEMENT AND ON-SITE CONVERSIONS

Each media channel plays a role in the marketing enrollment funnel. From Awareness builders, like Display advertising and Connected TV to lower-funnel tactics like paid search and paid social leads, the campaign delivered across the prospect’s journey.

*Conversion is defined as submitted Request for Information or Application. Attribution across channels will reflect some duplication in the conversion numbers.

PROGRAMMATIC DISPLAY, CONNECTED TV, AND PRE-ROLL VIDEO

14,722,675 Impressions

69%Video Completion Rate

46,001Click

$.05Cost per Completed Video View

.31% CTR

281Last View Conversion

45Conversions directly attributable to CTV

$535 Cost Per Conversion

PAID SOCIAL (FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM)

10,636,590 Impressions

36,109 Clicks

.34% CTR

369Lead Forms and Web Conversions Submits

$73.24Cost Per Conversion

OVERALL MEDIA RESULTS

25,521,542Impressions

88,244 Clicks

.35%CTR

$208.65 Cost Per Conversion*

PAID SEARCH (GOOGLE)

162,277Impressions

6,134Clicks

3.78%CTR

356Conversions

$79.52Cost Per Conversion

5.80%Conversion Rate

339Total Cross-Device Attributed Actions

$442.08Total Cross-Device Cost Per Conversion

+7%Increase of total inquires during the campaign

+7%Increase applications created during the campaign

+8%Increase in applications submitted during the campaign

POST-BACC PRE-MED PROGRAM APPLICATIONS

AND ADMITTED STUDENTS UP FOR THE NEXT

THREE SEMESTERS

FALL 2018 AND SPRING 2019 COURSE

ENROLLMENTSARE UP

BUSINESS RESULTS

• Audience Buying - The process of directly buying audience segments based on data.

• Click - An interaction with an ad seen by a user, such as a mouse click on a laptop or tap of a finger on a mobile device.

• Connected TV (CTV) - Real-time buying of live TV ads airing on OTT devices or smart TV applications. Ad spots are purchased when viewers match desired audiences.

• Conversion Rate - The rate at which a conversion occurs from ad traffic. The calculation is the number of conversions divided by the number of clicks.

• Cost per Completed View - A cost metric that is calculated by taking the total cost of video and divided it by the number of video completions.

• Cost per Conversion - The cost for each conversion generated in the campaign. A calculation-campaign cost divided by the number of conversions.

• CPC - A cost metric used to determine the cost for each click in a campaign. A calculation defined as the cost divided by the number of clicks.

• Cross-device Attributed Actions - A conversion on a separate device (e.g. laptop) than the where the ad impression was seen (e.g. smartphone).

• CTR (Click Through Rate) - A metric used in digital marketing with a calculation of clicks divided by impressions, represented as a percentage.

• Digital Advertising - Digital advertising is the practice of using digital technologies to deliver advertisements to consumers.

• Display Advertising - Display advertising is a type of online advertising that comes in several forms, including banner ads, rich media and more.

• First-party Data (1PD) - Owned data by the advertiser about the consumer or household. This could include CRM data, website visitors or data generated by digital properties. This data is proprietary and not available in the broader marketplace due to limits on its use.

• Geofencing - Refers to delivering specific content based on a user’s location within a “fence” on a map usually within 150m-1km around a point or building.

• Impression - The ad unit used in digital marketing; it is when a consumer sees an ad when they go about their day on the internet.

• Impressions Retargeting - Using the impressions served from CTV or Geofencing as an audience itself to deliver ads to users as a means to sequence ad messages.

• Index - A unit of measure to show where data measures against the average. If a group of people index at 120 or 1.2 for being in market for a new car, these people are 20% more likely than the average to be in market for a new car.

• Inquiry - Typically a form submit of a user’s contact information on a website. Also known as RFI or request for information.

• Last View Conversions - A metric typically seen in passive digital ads such as display or TV where an ad view influences a conversion without the need for an ad click.

• Lead Form Submits - Specific to Facebook’s Lead Ad format for users to submit contact information without leaving the Facebook interface.

• OTT (over-the-top) - Video content that is delivered over the internet, outside of a managed network. Allows users to access the content without cable or satellite services.

• Real-time Bidding (RTB) - The process of buying and selling online ad impressions through instantaneous actions. RTB helps increase the efficiency of both ad buyers and sellers.

• Retargeting - Also known as remarketing, is a form of online advertising that continues to show ads to users who have left our website.

• Search Advertising - Search advertising refers to advertisements that appear next to, or in-line with, organic results when a user searches for a product or service in Google or Bing, for example.

• Search Retargeting - A form of third-party data where users’ search query data is collected, stored and used to target them with advertising based on their search activity.

• Targeting - Identifying the optimal audience segment for a set of desired characteristics. The segment can be either large or small, depending on the objective and parameters of the campaign.

• Third-party Data (3PD) - Third-party data is proprietary data collected and/or generated by data brokers who license this data to agencies, advertisers, or publishers.

• Video Advertising - Using video content to get an advertising message to a target audience.

• Video Completion Rate - The rate a video gets completed. The calculation is the number of video completions divided into the number of video impressions.

• Viewability - A measure of whether an ad had an opportunity to be seen. An impression is viewable if greater than, or equal to, 50% of the ad’s pixels appear in view for at least one continuous second.

GLOSSARY

Case Study