Sharing STUDENT STORIES to Boost Enrollment & Reputation. NCMPR 2018 Las Vegas, Nevada

Transcription

1 Sharing STUDENT STORIES to Boost Enrollment & Reputation NCMPR 2018 Las Vegas, Nevada

2 Your Presenters JENNIFER ARADHYA Dean of Marketing Communications Middlesex Community College Bedford, Mass. BETH J. NOËL Assistant Director Marketing Communications Middlesex Community College Bedford, Mass. @jenniferaradhya

3 1. Our Story Who we are & what we do.

4 MCC Fast Facts 2 Campuses: Bedford opened in suburban setting Lowell opened in urban setting Programs: 70+ Associate and Certificate Programs Noncredit Options Enrollment: 12,009 59% Female - 7,105 41% Male - 4,904 Marketing: Over 1,100 jobs completed last Fiscal Year In-house creative team

5 Marcom Team Org. Chart JENNIFER ARADHYA Becky Parsons Administrative Assistant Dean of Marketing Communications Beth J. Noël Assistant Director Vacant Social Media Coordinator/Writer Kathy Register Senior Writer Laiman Wong Senior Designer Vacant Designer Nancy* - Designer P/T Lynda*- Designer P/T Gretchen*- Designer P/T Vacant* Social Media Intern Vacant* - Design Intern *part-time staff

6 2. Creating a Campaign Data + Personas

7 Our Students Who are our students?

8 Our Student Population

9 Quantitative Data 800# Custom Survey for Our Call Center. Enrollment Periods. How They Heard Info cards for New Student Sessions Application Questions on our Application

10 Quantitative Data Comm. Prefer. Survey Done every 2 years - longer form OH surveys Info cards for OH attendees (Raffle)

11 Qualitative Data Social Media Share your story. Narrative form. Interviews Student data from PROFILES and News Stories Focus Groups FG on a variety of topics.

12 Using all the data to make PERSONAS Personas are fictional characters, which you create based upon your research in order to represent the different student types that might choose your college. Creating personas will help you to understand your students needs, experiences, motivations and goals.

13 The Personas FInding Patterns

14 Peter Traditional-aged college student Interested in Criminal Justice Place your screenshot here Previously at a private, 4-year institution

15 Renata 17 - Dual Enrollment First-generation college student Place your screenshot here Wants to study Graphic Design Heard great things about starting at MCC from guidance counselor

16 Andrea Returning adult student Enrolled in Liberal Arts takes classes exclusively online Place your screenshot here Mother of small children/works part-time

17 Martin Returning adult student Enrolled in Biotech Certificate Place your screenshot here Career changer

18 Tafari International student Enrolled in Engineering Place your screenshot here Interested in transferring to WPI or similar 4 year.

19 Donna Veteran Enrolled in Paralegal Studies Place your screenshot here Unemployed

20 WHY PERSONAS Personas give focus to the campaign Allowed us to align Personas to specific platform/media Goal-directed Personas - value proposition

21 3. The Creative Process Sharing the Student Story

22 The Student Story Pulling off a new branding campaign in a matter of weeks was a daunting task. short staffed competing priorities limited resources

23 The Student Story The key to getting it all done, was letting the personas, guide the design. Make students the focus didn t have to reinvent the wheel; used existing assets

24 The Student Story The success of this campaign lies heavily in the students and their stories. Stories must be of real MCC students or alums no stock photography can be used

25 Step 1 - The Audit We already had a library of amazing student photos and dozens of recent student interviews. Audit done of students we already had quotes and photos for

26 Step 2 - The Form Gathering Data Reach out to key college personnel for student recommendations Google Form used to capture these student s stories

27 Keeping Track of it All A Google Spreadsheet was used to organize all students chosen to be part of the campaign

28 PHOTOGRAPHY A picture is worth a thousand words.

29 Photography We wanted the student featured to be speaking to the reader. strong colorful images subject looking straight into the camera original photo manipulated to enhance focal point, saturation and vibrance

30 Photography Students selected must first be vetted and approved by the Dean of Students.

31 Photography

32 PHASE IT Small, bite-sized chunks worked best.

33 Production With just weeks to design and produce this campaign, we decided to break the production into 3 phases. DEVELOPMENT DEPLOYMENT INTEGRATION

34 PHASE 1: DEVELOPMENT Phase 1 Responsible Completed By August 2016 Persona Development Jennifer Spring 2016 Concept Proposal Jennifer & Beth May 2016 Photo Shoot Beth May 2016 Logo Redesign Beth July 2016 Brand Guidelines Beth August 2016 Boilerplate Copy Kathy August 2016 Testimonial Copy Tura August 2016 Radio Copy Kathy August 2016 Asset Library Beth August 2016

35 Deployment & Integration Once we had a collection of visuals, we were able to start infusing the mymcc brand through our existing materials. Print & Digital Ads Event Postcards Social Media Graphics Comcast Commercial

36 Deployment & Integration Next, we created a suite of NEW pieces. Student Videos Movie Kiosk Displays mymcc Microsite RMV Advertising Display Banners Geofencing Ads Social Media Challenge #mymcc Photo Wall

37 PHASE 2: DEPLOYMENT Phase 1 Responsible Completed By August 2016 Campus Signage Beth September 2016 Campaign Microsite Beth September 2016 Social Media Graphics Lynda September 2016 Fall Open House Postcard Laiman September 2016 Fall Open Print Ads Laiman September 2016 Fall Open Digital Ads Beth September 2016 Video Shorts 1-2 Beth October 2016 Student Posters Laiman October 2016

38 PHASE 3: INTEGRATION Phase 1 Responsible Completed By August 2016 Video Shorts 3-5 Beth December 2016 Social Media Graphics Lynda December 2016 Spring Reminder Postcard Laiman December 2016 Spring Enrollment Print Ads Laiman December 2016 Spring Enrollment Digital Ads Beth December 2016 Commercial Beth January 2017 Geofencing Beth February 2017 Theater Kiosk Advertising Beth March 2017 RMV Advertising Beth March 2017 Generic Pocket Folder Laiman April 2017 Student Slideshow Joanne April 2017

39 SMART DESIGN Work smarter, not harder.

40 A Strong Set of Guidelines A comprehensive Visual Standards Guide was created. Scan to Access MCC s Visual Standards

41 Plug & Play Components A design system that s easy to use, with creative components that can be swapped in and out easily.

42 Flexibility This flexibility let us meet quick turnaround times with a continually changing set of images and student quotes.

43 4. Results Learning from our data.

44 RESULTS Enrollment is down (as with many campuses across the nation) BUT key targets have INCREASED*. +12% Asian (975 to 1092) +300% Dual Enrollment population (219 to 764) +33% increase in veterans (306 to 409) +50% international students (94 to 140) INCREASED social media engagement (#mymcc) INCREASED press placements (student-centered stories) *these were collegewide goals and certainly Marketing was only a piece of the success.

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46 THANKS! Any questions? JENNIFER ARADHYA Dean of Marketing Communications BETH J.NOËL Assistant Director Marketing Communications

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