Author Archive

Know where some of the most talented professionals I ever worked with in Admissions work now? (Hint: It’s not Admissions).

Sadly, our industry’s best and brightest often feel as if they have no other choice but to leave campus in search of professional development, career advancement, and in many cases, a decent salary.

In my time (and when did I get old enough to say that by the way?), phrases like “you’ve got to move over to move up” were the norm. Despite the fact that I worked full-time — plus “nights, overnights and weekends” as we liked to say in the business — my MBA advisor kept asking me when I was going to get a “real job.”

True — my colleagues ...

Ever heard the one about “How the liberal arts major says hello?”
(answer: “Would you like fries with that?”)

[go ahead, guffaw]

An NPR reporter recounts the old joke in a recent piece on how new trends could be challenging the notion that specialization in higher ed is the only path to success. They go on to tell the story of how food giant ConAgra — think Chef Boyardee and Marie Callender’s — has revamped their internship program to include the recruitment of such “off the beaten path” employees as journalism or biology majors.

Could it be? Are media outlets finally recognizing that there is value in educational pursuits that don’t reduce to 1′s and 0′s?

USA Today seems to think ...

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”

-Benjamin Franklin

2011 is a marquee year for TargetX — and with that comes exciting changes that we know will add to our success as partners.

Two of the biggest changes are related to the future of the weekly XpertTip email broadcast.

So today I thought I’d talk briefly about what we have in mind with the expectation that we’ll follow up with subscribers in more detail in the weeks to come.

The first point of interest is that our own Jeff Leisse is now heading up TargetX Client Support.

Many of you already know and love Jeff and have told us he’s one of the most knowledgeable, patient and relatable techie-types in the business.  ...

This week I’m preparing some of the most common email “faux pas” for the next installment of our Free on Friday webcast series.

But since I’ll only have a half-hour to highlight the biggest offenders, today I thought I’d share an email tip I probably won’t get to on Friday.

You’d probably be amazed by it — but I’m still seeing emails with the recipient’s first name merged into the subject line.

It’s a practice that was pretty neat back in the day because it had that “Hey, look what I can do with this nifty new email broadcast tool thingy” quality about it.

But these days it’s ...

Have you read the January issue of University Business Magazine?

[Full disclosure: I am aware that February's issue is already out.  But it's been a super-busy 2011 so far and I'm admittedly behind on my reading.  Somehow I doubt I'm the only one though...]

My malingering aside, there’s a don’t-miss article in last month’s UB that focuses on the changing priorities (and subsequently budget allocations) of today’s admissions offices.

Don’t have the time or inclination to get through it on this manic Monday?

Allow me to share what I think are some key sound bytes from “Today’s Admission Office Budget”:

1.  “For the foreseeable future, the main concern of all involved in ...

To my loyal XpertTip readers:

On behalf of all of us at TargetX, I wanted to be the first to officially greet you from our new digs here in Conshohocken, PA (just outside of Philadelphia).

We’re all moved in and mostly settled into our new home — a home we hope you’ll visit soon and often (ahem, hint, hint;)

As you’d expect with a growing company, there are lots of exciting changes happening around here. And biggest among them for me is an exciting new initiative that I’m heading up.

It’s a brand-new Education and Training Center (ETC) that will operate here in conjunction with our new offices.

We’ll be featuring all of your favorite X-ers (even the ones in Atlanta) to work with ...

Seems like as soon as that first piece of holiday swag hits the office, we morph into wide-eyed little children distracted by all that the season promises.

Amidst the magic of it all though, it can be pretty hard to keep track of those to-do’s and wade through all of the year-end offers and opportunities coming your way.

So today I’m going to do my best to help you wrap up this year and get organized — at least as far as TargetX is concerned;)

Here’s a list of client-related items to keep in mind amidst festivus fever in your part of the world:

• Kevin Corr and myself will be hosting a special webcast for Recruitment PLUS users to learn about our Student Recruitment ...

This time of year, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the pressure that comes from being charged with ambitious (and often uber-aspirational) institutional goals.

So today I’d like us all to take a deep breath and remember to celebrate small successes along the way.

Taking the time to reward the achievement of small but key milestones is an incredibly important step toward success, yet it’s often completely overlooked — especially when budgets don’t necessarily allow for compensating your staff monetarily.

In reality, simply taking the time to recognize your team’s smaller “wins” can be a great way to inspire them and stave off burnout, apathy and poor morale.

Think about ways you can make a bigger deal when you roll out your first “yield ...

“Simple sells.”

It’s a small phrase but a big idea; something we all aspire to, but rarely accomplish.  Perhaps that’s because in reality, simplicity is pretty darn complicated to achieve.

Ah, the irony.

This week I was cleaning up an email folder (a nod to my own constant desire for simplicity) when I came across a blog post on the same topic from this time last year.

The post calls simplicity a “Marketing Megatrend,” but I tend to think of it as more of a personal mantra — much more timeless than trendy.

Leonardo da Vinci even called simplicity the “ultimate sophistication” — certainly something to think about for all of you out there selling a “luxury” brand (or anything else for that ...

Once upon a time, back when I was just a bright-eyed baby admissions counselor, I returned from a conference excited about the idea of IM’ing with prospective students.

While it seemed like a no-brainer to me (I had IM’d my way through most of my college years), the concept was met with puzzled looks and not-so-enthusiastic responses.

Years later, IM isn’t much of a hot topic anymore, but the scenario I’ve described does illustrate a common workforce issue we hear about on client campuses (particularly from Millennial counselor-types).  They’re usually very quick to point out their professional frustration and feelings that “no one listens to us.”

These days, there’s lots of attention being paid to marketing to Millennials — see last ...

One of the things I love most about working at TargetX (besides our fantastic clients of course) is getting the chance to rub elbows with some seriously smart people on a such a regular basis.

Lunchtime conversation here is typically an eclectic mix of topics ranging from what clients are up to and who’s where this week to last night’s TV lineup and how it relates to admissions marketing (you’re also very likely to hear some sort of joke about how I’m the Liz Lemon of the Free on Friday webcast series…blurgh;)

We’re certainly a colorful cast of characters with interests that are vast and varied — but if there’s one thing that unites this crazy crew it’s our sincere ...

Now now, before the Twitterstorm ignites, let me be clear: I’m talking about the term, not the tools!

For months now, I’ve been very gently hinting (ok, fine, straight-up ranting) about how I think the term “social media” is outdated and inaccurate.

Mostly because social sites and tools can’t be treated as some sort of new or separate outlet anymore. Forget “Web 2.0″ — these days, it’s just “the web.” And there’s not really a need to make a distinction between the two.

A recent article in AdAge also points to the maturation of the situation by offering the
“Ten Things Social Media Can’t Do.“

I think it’s a great read for any ...

This year we gave our individual “X Award” to a young professional who has led the charge for utilizing technology to streamline his admissions operation.

Bryan Lester is the Director of Enrollment Management Information & Admission Processing at The Sage Colleges in New York (whew, that’s a mouthful;)  He’s an IT enthusiast for sure — but don’t count him as just your average geek.   This guy really gets recruitment.

For years, Bryan has impressed our team with his ability to use technology to accomplish big goals with limited resources (sound familiar?)

Since I’ve spoken to so many of you who are frustrated on the front lines trying to do the same, today I thought I’d ask Bryan to share a few words of ...

Well folks, it’s Monday and I’m here in the office “recovering” from yet another fantastic NACAC Conference.

Thanks to all of you who joined us for our events or stopped by the “TargetX Lounge” to say hello.  As usual, we had a productive (and entertaining) time hanging out with so many clients and friends both old and new.

Today I walked around polling our team about their takeaways from the conference so I could share them with you as a little “NACAC recap” — TargetX style;)

And since I figured you’re probably sick of hearing from people like Brian Niles and Jeff Kallay (and me for that matter;), this tip will feature some of the X-ers you don’t normally get to hear from.

When ...

The other day I was creating an email message and got stuck trying to get my text to align with an image (not that it’s that difficult, more like I’m just not that good at it;)

So I did what I’d encourage you to do:  I went straight to TargetX Client Support, where Jill Duppler from our support team was kind enough to fix my problem (while in my head I’m thinking of the Staples commercial and repeating “that was easy…”)

Jill mentioned other clients have been asking the same question, so today I thought I’d share what I learned in an effort to save you from any headaches and increase your html cred.

Here’s the deal:  If you’re trying to wrap text ...