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Cohl

Strategy that Matters: Measurement and Evaluation

beyond the Clip Report

MaKi Business School Conference Madrid

7 June 2013

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Kiki Keating, JD Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University

Lynda Oliver, MBA Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business

David Geddes, MBA PhD The Cohl Group

It’s a challenging world …

… even for top ranked international business schools •  Globalization •  Do more with less, both people and budgets •  Technology is speeding things up •  Demonstrating ROI of MBA and business degrees •  Justifying marketing and communications budgets •  Identifying gaps in strategy and execution

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Institutions with a strong strategic vision will be rise to the top.

Success vs. failure?

•  Research-based, deep understanding of your institutional essence … of your strengths, weakness, and aspirations … and of what makes your stakeholders tick

•  A vision, mission, and values suitable for your institution. •  Well conceived goals •  A strategic plan aligned with your goals and your

aspirations •  Excellent strategy execution •  Measurable objectives supporting strategy •  A program of research, measurement, and evaluation built

in to your organization.

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Use research techniques to measure and evaluate …

in order to improve business processes

Does your measurement measure up?

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•  Why are we measuring? •  Are we only measuring what is easy to

count? •  Offensive or defensive measurement? •  Are we measuring what needs to be

measured? •  Does our measurement track strategic

objectives and outcomes? •  Does our measurement help us improve?

A measurement and evaluation strategy

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Step I: Define goals and objectives

•  Define university/school goals •  Link marketing and communications

objectives to university goals •  Set measurable objectives

– Who? – What? – By how much? – When?

•  Build research, measurement, and evaluation into your work

Step II: Multi-level measurement

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Step II: Measurement grid

Step III: Set targets

Exceptional                                

Baseline = Where we are now                                

Very good                                

Acceptable                                

Failure                                

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Step IV: Measure

Step V: Evaluate and prescribe

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Step VI: Present results and insights

Summary

•  Research for deep understanding •  Articulate strategy for marketing, branding, or

communications •  Set measurable objectives •  Select multi-level metrics •  Evaluate for insights •  Apply insights to improve

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CASE STUDY: SMU COX SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

SMU COX: Is our marketing working?

•  Situation: – New admissions team > more scrutiny – New MBA info session program formats – New media strategy: traditional > online – Declining apps in some MBA programs – Marketing budget cuts imminent

•  Our challenge: How do we measure what matters?

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How Do We Measure Success?

•  Admissions = applications

•  Marketing = ?

Measuring What Matters

Output measures •  Clip reports •  Website traffic •  Social media activity Outcome measures •  Leads Business value measures •  Cost per lead •  Correlation of marketing spend and leads

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Media Clips

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

+10%  

*Note:  2010  was  an  anomaly  due  to  an  unprecedented  number  of  media  quotes  regarding  Gulf  Coast  spill  

Website traffic

0  

10000  

20000  

30000  

40000  

50000  

60000  

70000  

Jan   Feb   Mar   Apr   May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sep   Oct   Nov   Dec  

2010  

2011  

2012  

2013  

cox.smu.edu  traffic:  +  7%  (vs.  peer  group  who  saw  -­‐4%  –  +3.87%)  

coxgrad.com  traffic:    +93%;  all  driven  by  markeZng    

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Social Media Activity

Leads & Cost Per Lead •  Marketing efficacy demonstrated by “leads” – one

who’s exposed to our message and, within 30 days: –  Requests Information –  Signs up for information sessions –  Starts online application –  Downloads a brochure (good, but not counted as a lead)

1,288  unique  visitors  were  exposed  to  our  messages  and  said,    “I’m  interested!!!”  

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Why use a “Cost Per Lead?”

•  A benchmark metric that we use to measure results in comparison to past trends

•  A means by which to evaluate media options and compare performance

•  A way to quantify our expectations of a media plan’s impact

•  A demonstrated outcome as a direct result of our efforts.

So What’s The Right Price?

•  How much would you pay for a qualified lead?

–  $1000?

–  $500?

– $250?

•  Let’s measure, compare and evaluate so we can establish relevant industry benchmarks.

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And in the end….

•  Marketing was not the problem – Clips were up 10% – We doubled website traffic with our efforts alone – Social media activity was up +25% – 100% – We doubled online spending but tripled the number

of leads – We reduced the cost per lead by 40%

•  In fact, marketing could be the solution!

Cohl

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We’re listeners, leaders, skeptics, and true believers—and we’re driven by a love of learning and a shared dedication to excellence.

We’re devoted to advancing educational institutions—and the causes they serve.

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Together, we leverage decades of proven, interdisciplinary experience to build comprehensive solutions to the challenges our clients face.

What we do

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SERVICES

•  Research qualitative and quantitative research and analysis, including: online, telephone, and in-person interviews; focus and discussion groups; media and social media analytics; data mining

•  Strategy organizational and communications strategy; positioning, brand architecture, and naming; segmentation, targeted messages, and values implementation

SERVICES

•  Creative Creative strategy, copywriting, voice, design strategy, advertising, and photography for branding, marketing, advertising, recruitment, and fundraising

•  Interactive interactive strategy, research, and analysis; user experience, segmentation, content development, social media strategy, design, and implementation

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SERVICES

•  Development Development and alumni relations strategy; capital campaign and annual fund strategy, messaging, and naming; case statement development, design, and production; direct and electronic mail and collateral development

•  Admissions Admissions strategy; prospect identification; marketing and communications materials, viewbooks, interactive, print, and multimedia campaigns

We’ve helped quite a few clients advance their causes

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A GROUP DEVOTED TO HIGHER ED •  Brown University •  College Board •  Columbia Business School •  Cooper Union •  Cornell Johnson School of Management •  Cornell University •  Dartmouth College •  Fontbonne College •  Georgia Tech •  Harvard University •  Indian School of Business •  Johns Hopkins Carey Business School •  Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth •  Johns Hopkins University

•  KAUST •  London Business School •  Missouri University of Science and

Technology •  Moscow School of Management/

Skolkovo •  New York Institute of Technology •  Sarah Lawrence College •  Siberian Federal University •  SMU •  The Florida State University •  The SAT •  Thunderbird •  Washington University in St. Louis •  Washington University Medical School

So….

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Are you driving without a road map?

Or … speeding forward through strategy, segmentation, research and evaluation?

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That’s what we do.

For more information contact:

Peter Cohl peter@cohlgroup.org +1-917-833-6220

Kiki Keating kim.keating@cohlgroup.org +1-603-858-2733

David Geddes, MBA, PhD david.geddes@cohlgroup.org +1-314-960-4780

Lynda Oliver lynda.oliver@cohlgroup.org +1-214-768-3678