Marketing Plans AY Report to the Enrollment and Student Development Board of Trustees Subcommittee

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1 Marketing Plans AY Report to the Enrollment and Student Development Board of Trustees Subcommittee November 15, 2016 Overview The focus of our marketing efforts are to help shape brand perception, enhance awareness, and most importantly reverse the decline in enrollment and increase FSU s desirability among future applicants. Brand Refresh Study FSU s competitive position in the marketplace and industry outlook were identified during a brand refresh study conducted this year by The Educational Marketing Group. From the Refresh Study, a brand messaging platform was crafted to capture who we are and articulate it in a meaningful way to core audiences. It identifies Framingham State s unique strengths using language that resonates with our target audiences. Undergraduate Enrollment Marketing Goals: Increase campus visit inquiries and consideration of FSU as top choice, increase qualified first year applicants, increase number of transfer students. Turn accepted students into enrolled students. Strategy: Increase FSU visibility through a multi channel approach targeting high school students, parents and guidance counselors utilizing the new FSU Marketing Campaign My Way theme. Tactics paid advertising Facebook/Instagram Pandora advertising Video (Pre Roll Advertising) Programmatic Digital Advertising Targeted Digital Non paid FSU Website Social Media, PR

2 Graduate and Continuing Education Marketing Goals: Raise visibility of the programs, raise interest in those seeking to further their education, increase qualified enrollment. Strategies: Promote the Graduate and CE programs throughout the year in accordance with information sessions and sign up for enrollment periods. Integrate the new marketing campaign theme My Way. Produce videos promoting selected programs to garner the attention of those looking to advance their careers and explore opportunities. Tactics paid advertising: Facebook advertising Live Chats Digital advertising on local website Google Display advertising LinkedIn Sponsored Update Traditional radio Pandora advertising Print ads in industry publications and websites Videos introducing specific programs/certificates Winter Intersession advertising in college newspapers Natick Mall advertising Lighted board MWRTA advertising (buses) Non paid FSU Website Social Media, PR Branding Initiatives HEED Award promotion, West Hall video, TV Commercial (upcoming) FSU Website Our biggest marketing tool Homepage redesign CampusBird Interactive map and virtual tour platform Integration of department brochures and department pages on the website

3 Framingham State University Integrated Marketing Plan FY Board of Trustees Committee Meeting November 12,

4 Framingham State University Integrated Marketing Plan Overview The FSU Integrated Marketing Plan describes a holistic approach to the University s external marketing strategy. The plan serves as a guide to help shape brand perception, enhance awareness, and increase applications and enrollment. The marketing plan aims to strengthen FSU s reputation and enhance its visibility in Massachusetts. The enhanced awareness of the University will help build pride among all members of the campus community: students, faculty, alumni, donors, and staff. FSU s competitive position in the marketplace and industry outlook were identified during a brand refresh study conducted this year by The Educational Marketing Group. The results of this research, along with ongoing stakeholder collaboration, will be instrumental in the execution of the marketing plan. From the Refresh Study, the brand messaging platform was crafted to capture who we are and articulate it in a meaningful way to core audiences. It identifies Framingham State s unique strengths using language that resonates with our target audiences. At the same time, the platform is open to allow for creativity and provide inspiration for creating new stories that can emotionally connect with our audience and prompt action. This marketing plan was developed to provide a roadmap of FSU s current marketing strategy and can be adjusted as needed if priorities shift. Undergraduate Marketing Plan Our marketing goals this year are focused on addressing the priority to reverse the decline in enrollment and increase FSU s desirability among future applicants. This will include campaigns that will target high school students, transfer students and one that will increase enrollment yield. 1. Undergraduate Enrollment Campaign Goals: Increase campus visit inquiries and consideration of FSU as a top choice Increase qualified first year applicants Timeframe: September thru December Audience: College bound, high school juniors and seniors Families of high school students 2

5 Strategy: Increase FSU visibility through a multi channel approach targeting high school students, parents and guidance counselors utilizing the new FSU Marketing Campaign My Way theme. This campaign will create awareness of FSU to prospective students and move FSU into their consideration set when narrowing their list of preferred schools. The use of photos of actual students in the ads will lead to increased engagement and the social reach of ads will connect to prospective students. Tactics: Facebook/Instagram Advertising Facebook and Instagram offer an engaged user base to market to. Ads also gain organic traction as individuals like, share, and comment. Pandora Advertising We will use a combination of mobile audio and display ads to drive traffic to the Framingham State University website. Video (Pre Roll Advertising) Pre roll video advertising will allow us to target individuals in Massachusetts when they are viewing videos on sites such as YouTube, BrightRoll, Adap.tv, Spot Exchange and Google. Our commercial will run as a pre roll advertisement before online videos. Programmatic Digital Advertising Contextual Contextual targeting uses a set of keywords that align with the campaign objective to determine where ads will run. For this campaign, we will target education, college, college admissions, college life, teens, parenting teens and custom content. Private Marketplace (PMP) An invitation only marketplace where premium publishers make their inventory and audiences available to a select group of buyers programmatically. We will include lifestyle and news PMPs like, Mode, Spotify, NYT, Answers and SheKnows. For this campaign, we will be target parenting teens and college admissions. Hyperlocal Retargeting Will serve our ads at the latitude/longitude level of targeted high schools. We can cookie users who have entered a radius around each school and re target those users wherever they go. Click Retargeting Remarketing messages to users who have visited our website, this tactic drives continued engagement from the most qualified audience. 3

6 Targeted Digital Twelve month presence on the Massachusetts School Counselors Association website. Guide to New England Colleges and Universities Advertising Print and digital presence 2. Enrollment Yield Campaign Goal: Turn accepted students into enrolled students Audience: First year applicants who have been accepted to FSU Families of applicants who have been accepted to FSU Transfer applicants who have been accepted, as well as their families Timeframe: December May Strategy: Use messaging both on the FSU Website and paid advertising that emphasizes the unique opportunities that are part of the FSU experience; respected faculty scholars who are talented teachers, highly interactive classes, a culturally and socially active community and professional and service learning opportunities. We will redesign the website Homepage to include student spotlight stories introduced in the marketing campaign, provide easier access to program information and introduce a mapping and virtual campus tour platform that will excite perspective students and families. Tactics: A multi channel approach and website enhancements which will create a highly personal connection to accepted first year and transfer applicants. Website present student spotlights that draw prospective students deeper into the website for a rich experience Digital advertising Facebook/Instagram advertising Pandora advertising Video Pre roll advertising TV commercials Landing page integration with the new CRM Personalized outreach from admissions and faculty Digital ads that geo target Massachusetts public universities and community colleges Print advertising in community college newspapers 4

7 Graduate and Continuing Education Marketing Plan The goal of this plan is to raise visibility of the programs, increase enrollment and integrate the new marketing campaign theme My Way for the Graduate and Continuing Education programs. Advertising initiatives will run throughout the year and will increase with information sessions and sign up times for enrollment periods. 1. Graduate and Continuing Education Enrollment Campaign Goals: Develop interest in FSU among those seeking to further their education. Increase the number of qualified applicants to the programs. Timeframe: 12 months Audience: Graduate: Adults who have a college degree CE: Adults who have graduated high school and are looking to continue their education Strategies: Utilizing multiple channels, we will promote the Graduate and Continuing Education programs throughout the year in accordance with information sessions and sign up for enrollment periods. We will produce videos promoting selected programs to garner the attention of those looking to advance their careers and explore opportunities. Tactics: A multi channel approach which will include FSU website and paid advertising to connect prospective students to graduate programs, certificates and continuing educational opportunities. Website student, faculty and alumni spotlights that draw prospective students deeper into the website for a rich experience Google Display advertising Facebook/Instagram advertising Digital advertising on local community website Landing pages Live Chats Pandora advertising Traditional radio LinkedIn sponsored ads Videos introducing specific programs/certificates MWRTA advertising (buses) Mall advertising lighted board Print ads in industry publications and on websites 5

8 Campaign Analytics Strategy: Effective measurement is important to the success of this marketing plan. Short and long term campaigns will be measured and data driven decisions will be used to ensure efficiency and return on investment. Our approach includes identifying KPIs for marketing campaigns and monitoring FSU website analytics. The primary purpose of this effort is to increase enrollment through the high performance of all digital channels. Tactics: We will measure digital campaigns with standard metrics (impressions, clicks, CPC). We will look at website metrics, i.e., number of visitors, time on site, bounce rate which will indicate the audience and the effectiveness of the content reaching them. Social media metrics will indicate our audience s engagement level and the effectiveness of our social content. Conclusion Framingham State University attracts practical, inquisitive, career focused undergraduate and graduate students who are committed and eager to learn new ideas and make new discoveries. Our marketing plan will help bring and retain those students to the University and at graduation they will have the demonstrated knowledge, skills, and self confidence to become accomplished professionals who lead fulfilling and productive lives. 6

9 FRAMINGHAM.EDU Analytics Background: When the new website launched in August 2015 we coded many more site elements with Google Analytics so that we can look very granularly at how people are using the website (are they clicking through photo carousels, how far are they scrolling down the homepage, are they filling out forms, etc.). Now that the site has been live for a full calendar year, we can look at some data for 2016, compared to the same months in 2015 and identify trends. Also, our new data that was not being tracked on the old website gives us some good perspective in terms of what design/navigation changes we could make in the future to improve the website. Year Over Year Statistics: Looking at the dates of Sept. 1 through Nov. 1 of both 2015 and 2016, there are some interesting data points to note. A decrease in new website visitors, website sessions and total pageviews reflect what we already know about the shrinking pool of college bound students. While overall site traffic is down, indicators of website performance provide a positive outlook. An increase in the number of pages users are clicking to when they visit Framingham.edu and the total amount of time they spend on the site indicate that visitors are more engaged in the website and are exploring more. A significant decrease ( 45%) in bounce rate tells us that visitors are not immediately turned off by the website and exit the site immediately. Generally, a bounce rate above 30% is considered high (or bad). In 2015 we were at 31%, while in 2016 we are at just under 17%. New Data Points: Some data was not being tracked on the old website, but we are able to compare month to month data for These points are helpful as we take on new projects like the homepage redesign. Our analytics show us that an extremely small percentage (369 of over 200,000 monthly visitors) click through the homepage photo carousel, which supports our move to a singular hero image on the homepage. We have created two separate

10 FRAMINGHAM.EDU Analytics analytics reports: Interest in Framingham.edu and Engagement with Framingham.edu. Interest tracks the number of visitors and provides us with some information about who they are. Some highlights are below. Data are for the 30 days between Oct. 7 and Nov. 6, Data Points Top 5 or Percentage Regions with the most visits to Framingham.edu MA, NY, CT, RI, FL Webpages visited Homepage, Careers at FSU, Academic Calendar, UG Admissions, Library Traffic from mobile devices/tablets 29% External sites directing most traffic to Framingham.edu Blackboard, Interview Exchange, Mass.gov, FSURams.com, Common App Search terms on Framingham.edu Majors, Academic Calendar, Open House, Nursing, Library Video plays West Hall (695), I m Going to FSU (577), Hemenway Labs (437), Enterprise Systems Certificate (97), PSM (41) Data Snapshot: Sessions by Channel tells us how people are getting to Framingham.edu. Direct means that users are manually typing the web address into their browser. Organic traffic is generated by people using search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. Referral means that a visitor came to our site through a link on another website. Social refers to any social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, where people may have clicked a link to Framingham.edu. Paid search means that we have paid for search terms, such as Boston MBA, so that Framingham.edu appears before other organic search results.

11 FRAMINGHAM.EDU Analytics Homepage Calls to Action are the three main actions (gold buttons) on the Framingham.edu homepage. The chart below shows us how many people clicked each of those actions over the 30 days between Oct. 6 and Nov. 7. The popularity of these buttons typically change based on the time of year/admissions cycle. The chart below shows how many people click the Contact Us and Give options located in the header of every page on Framingha.edu. We often see an uptick in Give around Alumni Weekend and Homecoming events.

12 FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY- MEDIA CAMPAIGN JANUARY 2017 Program Unit Length 1/16/2017 1/23/2017 1/30/2017 5am Eye Opener News 5a-6a Mon-Wed : Early Morning News Weather Traffic Billboards Mon-Wed 5a-7a : Daytime Rotation 9a-4p Mon-Wed : Primetime Lineup Sponsorship 6p-8p Mon-Wed : Fox News 10p-11p Mon-Fri : Late News 11p-11:30p Mon-Fri : Jimmy Kimmel 11:35p-12:35a Mon-Fri : Total Spots Total Cost $30,050 Demo= A Gross Impressions = 2,515,000 CPM = $11.94

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18 Residence Hall Enrollment Update 11/15/2016 I. Capacity 2016 HALL 2015 HALL NET HALL CAPACITY CAPACITY CHANGE WH OC TW LA PR HM LI NH Totals II. Fall Occupancy 2016 HALL 2015 HALL NET HALL OCCUPANCY OCCUPANCY CHANGE WH OC TW LA PR HM LI NH Totals II. FYF Comparison New FYF New FYF New FYF TYPE Female Male Total Change