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Financial aid, a customer service test

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As a former Director of Financial Aid, I still have a special place in my heart for helping students through the confounding process that is financial aid. I work with local students whose parents are unemployed, under-employed or worse yet, in the abyss occupied by throngs of middle-income families. FAFSA

I volunteer with a remarkably talented but financially challenged group of young people. With the exception of their status as high-need students, they are a college recruiter’s dream. It is the financial aid process, however, that strikes fear in the hearts of these seemingly unstoppable, resilient young people because they know it is the one obstacle that stands between them and the education ...

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Categories: Customer Service, Financial Aid

A student’s perspective

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Applying to college has been a big part of my life for the past year and a half. It is an extremely important process for someone my age, looking ahead to where I’ll spend the next four years. But it’s definitely a process that could use some work! Here are some of the things I experienced, that I thought might be valuable to share with you.images

I think simplifying applications would be beneficial to all colleges (and helpful to the students who are applying). Sometimes, when completing applications, I felt like the information that was being asked of me was a little too personal.

The fees associated with certain schools’ applications was ...

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Categories: Campus Visit, College Recruiting, Communication, Cost, Experience, Storytelling, Student Recruiting, Student Search

Let’s get visual

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I consider myself a “visual” learner. Draw out my thoughts on a whiteboard, watch a video tutorial, type out my weekly tasks in Evernote. So I wasn’t surprised to see Fast Company’s article “Fast Talk: The Visual Shift” — where industry experts were asked to weigh in on how businesses can adapt to our image-obsessed culture.

Experts from retail, news, government and more shared tips on how to infuse more imagery in your user and online experience, and they had some valid points that translated well to higher ed.

The Creative Visionary: Joe Stewart, partner and global creative director at Huge
“Consumers expect the same level of quality and service from digital that they would get in a store,” says ...

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Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Communication, Experience, Marketing, Online Experiences, Social Media, Storytelling, Student Recruiting

Pinpoint what’s hot on campus

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Pinterest is growing up. The showy image-sharing social media site is not just about pinning pretty pictures anymore, says higher ed marketing specialist McKenzie Coco. Now colleges can measure user engagement thanks to a new built-in analytics tool. pinterest

“Pinterest has taken social media by storm, already catching up to Twitter in its short existence,” says Coco, founder and president of FSC Interactive, an online marketing agency that specializes in social media strategies for higher education. “The addition of metrics solidifies its place in the online marketing sphere. This is not a shiny new toy, but rather a formidable and results-driven online marketing tool.”

The addition of data-mining means colleges can now answer such ...

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Categories: College Recruiting, Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Student Recruiting, Tracking

Focus.

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Anyone who has spent any time with me knows that if I try to do more than one thing at the same time, none of those efforts are done well. I’m probably not too different from most of you. So for me to be effective as a manager or a partner or a father, it’s important that I stay focused on one thing at a time. Multitasking isn’t the ability to do multiple things at the same time. It’s a rapid shifting between multiple things without dedicating quality time to any one thing. The key here is “quality.”

For the first five years of TargetX, we provided our email broadcast tool (now called eXpress) to many industries — higher education, ...

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Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, Change, CRM

Do you have a Millennial problem?

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Even though I’m a proud card-carrying member of Generation X, I’ve grown to love and understand Millennials. But according to Advertising Age magazine, they don’t love McDonald’s, a brand to which I was extremely loyal in my youth. Ronald McDonald

As children during the 1960′s, we viewed McDonald’s as a rare treat. But as teenagers in the 70′s and 80′s, its Golden Arches drew us like moths to a flame. It was the place to gather after most high school and church youth group activities. It was for many in our generation, a home (with a red Mansard roof) away from home.

Well, times have changed. A recent article in Ad Age reveals ...

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Categories: Authenticity, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, Communication, Customer Service, Experience, Millennial Generation, Millennials

Where everybody knows your name

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When the CEO of Groupon, Andrew Mason, resigned in February, he shared this tidbit, ”If there’s one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer.” I recognize in higher education using customer as a synonym for student may ignite an interesting debate with faculty. However, the enrollment management side of a given institution will see the merit in the interchangeability of those two nouns.

What Mr. Mason recognized in his exit was this basic concept: retention equals relationship. Groupon’s business model failed to recognize that serving the customers needs (whether good or bad) builds relationships and brand loyalty. Think about your favorite restaurant or coffee place. What is ...

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Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Change, Cloud, Communication, Retention

Render authenticity (Part 2)

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authenticity_erasedIn last week’s Recruitment Minute, Render authenticity (Part 1), I talked about why it is important to render authenticity in your campus visit experience.  In this week’s conclusion, I want to help you understand a few ways you can move that process along on your own campus.

College is a transformative experience.

Most colleges and universities hope to light a spark within their students, encouraging them to spend their lives learning something new, trying something different and striving to be their best. Institutions want students to participate in class, sign up for an internship, study abroad, engage in community service, live in the residence halls — and most importantly — ...

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Categories: Authenticity, Best Practice Documents, Blogs, Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, Change, College Recruiting, Experience, Experience Economy Stuff, Millennials, Storytelling

Render authenticity (Part 1)

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be-authenticIt’s that time of year. The ball is no longer in your court. Your accepted students are in control and they decide which institution they attend next fall. It’s time for you to get real, ditch the script, and connect with your best-fit students.

Authenticity. It’s a topic mentioned both directly and indirectly in higher education circles and in articles talking about ways to get the most from your college visit experience. However, it isn’t always the easiest subject for campuses to wrap their head around, especially this time of year.

Admissions leadership is constantly forced into a corner, thinking “Ok, accepted student, I know you want to see what is real, ...

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Categories: Authenticity, Blogs, Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, Experience, Uncategorized, Yield

Making college fairs count

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Conference season is rapidly approaching for our team here at TargetX. Many of our folks will be traveling around the country meeting with current and future clients, presenting on higher ed industry trends and of course, showcasing TargetX products and services. NACAC college fair

As the conference planning coordinator, I’m very much involved in the process — from session proposals to final shipping (I know, super glamorous right?) – and I’m always looking for tips on how to improve our presence at tradeshows.

I came across a great article this week by Dan Roche in MediaPost, and that got me thinking about its value to all of you, our friends in ...

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Categories: Best Practice Documents, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, College Recruiting, Fall Travel, Spring travel

Into the cloud

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Amazing how quickly things can change in today’s digital world. In a survey of Americans seven months ago, one-third said cloud computing literally has to do with clouds and one-half said that bad weather messes with the cloud. More than half said they don’t ever use the cloud even though it turns out 95 percent of them do. Got Cloud?

Compare that to last month when USA Today, the newspaper that prides itself on giving Americans only what they really need to know, published a testimonial to cloud computing, highlighting how it is revolutionizing corporate computing.

“Cloud computing is exploding and growing faster than a swirling funnel crossing the Oklahoma plains,” wrote ...

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Categories: Change, Cloud, Cloud Computing, College Recruiting, CRM, Student Recruiting

Maker’s Mark makes good

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Know your students. Apologize when you are wrong.

Last week, one of Kentucky’s finest, Maker’s Mark bourbon, made a huge mistake. In an effort to combat a possible shortage in their supply, they decided to water down their bourbon to meet the needs of their customers. What they experienced was a backlash that COO Rob Samuels referred to as the worst 4-5 days of his life.

This past Sunday, they reversed the decision and apologized to their customers, letting them know that they were heard loud and clear — no changes would be made to the recipe. maker's mark bourbonIt wasn’t a fancy apology, it was clear and to the point. ...

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Categories: Authenticity, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Communication, Customer Service

How to do more with less

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Since I started at TargetX, I would say that I’ve talked to over 200 schools about student recruitment and how technology can assist them. When I have these conversations about the latest trends and tools, I find that we often return to a common topic — the economy and budget. Which usually shifts the conversation to ROI, data-driven decision making and how to do more with less.
CT article

Clearly my friends on campus and I are not the only ones talking about this. An article in the February edition of Campus Technology magazine explores 7 different aspects of customer relationship management (CRM) technology that colleges and universities are using to ...

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Categories: Cloud, Cloud Computing, College Recruiting, CRM, Data, Enterprise CRM, Return On Investment

Sending signals

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There are plenty of ways for admissions officers to listen and follow what prospective students are saying about their institution. But what if the tables were turned?

An increasing number of students are sending digital supplements along with their applications. Considered “add ons” to the application, they come equipped with web analytics, allowing students to monitor which items have been viewed and opened by admissions officers. In turn, students are making assumptions on the level of interest an institution has before they receive a decision.

Chris Peterson, admissions officer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, knows this all too well. In a recent blog post for The Chronicle of Higher Education, he describes a recent experience where a student ...

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Categories: Applicants, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Communication

Lessons from the NFL

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As someone who has worked in both the corporate and higher-ed worlds, I have always been impressed with the willingness of admissions officers to share their successes and failures with colleagues. While corporate marketers operate in secrecy as if they’re Cold War operatives, admissions folks stand up at conferences around the country, telling their competitors and anyone else in the room what worked for them this year, even providing details in case people want to replicate their successes while avoiding their stumbles.

There’s an openness and collaborative spirit that makes higher education unique among industries. That’s why it’s intriguing to hear an expert on enrollment policy suggest that colleges follow the model of the National Football League, and establish rules that ...

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Categories: Change, College Recruiting, Student Recruiting

Have you seen the restrooms?

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Do you have a driving route that you normally take for family vacations? One where you know all the proper places to stop and use the restroom? For example — my family stops at the Dunkin’ Donuts before we get on the NY Thruway.

We have all had moments with friends or family where they need to use the facilities and we say “Wait. Don’t go here, the bathrooms are gross, wait until we get to the next place, the restrooms are cleaner.” Clean restrooms are such a priority for people that a close friend of mine recently introduced me to the iPhone app, “Where to Wee.” The ...

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Categories: Blogs, Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, College Recruiting, Experience

Strengths. Space. Success.

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As promised, I am providing you with an update from our staff retreat regarding our Strengths Finder exercise (see the Recruitment Minute “Hide not your talents” from December 14, 2012). We met at JG Domestic in Philadelphia for our annual day-long retreat (next time you’re in the City of Brotherly Love, be certain to pay this Jose Garces restaurant a visit). We began the day with this exercise to kick things off.

As you may recall, the point of Strengths Finder is to determine your natural talents and work to prioritize those, rather than improve weaknesses that will most likely never become your strengths. We first made everyone scramble around the room interviewing co-workers to get ...

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Categories: Change, Professional Development

If you’re not content marketing…

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If you’re not content marketing these days, you’re not marketing. That’s the battle cry of Joe Pulizzi, author, speaker and content marketing evangelist.

Six years ago he launched a marketing services website that has evolved into the Content Marketing Institute, aimed at helping organizations move away from interruption-based marketing and toward the creation of a content-centered strategy. Content that is relevant and valuable to readers, likely to generate a sense of trust, and perhaps over time, prompt them to buy from you.

“Basically,” says Pulizzi, “content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering ...

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Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, College Recruiting, Communication, Content Marketing, Marketing, Student Recruiting

Brand shifts and yield in 2013

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Coming back from holiday break means that it’s time to kick into high gear your accepted student communications, yield events and many conversations with students and parents. It’s the time of year where the conversation shifts and families are getting serious about where they might go to school in the fall. It’s important for admissions (and the rest of campus) to start thinking about what message you want to be sending to those students in order to help them make a final decision.

My colleague Jeff Kallay passed along an article before the holidays, “A Brand Shift for 2013: From Aspiration to Inspiration” by Alan Snitow. It’s an interesting concept that I thought was worth holding onto and sharing at ...

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Categories: Authenticity, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Change, College Recruiting, Communication, Communication Plans, Marketing, Storytelling, Student Recruiting, Student Yield, Yield

Hide not your talents

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“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?”
-Benjamin Franklin

As we come to the end of what seems like a fast year, many of us take stock in what has been and what could be. We’ll celebrate the successes we’ve achieved, and for some, mourn the losses hoping for a better new year.

New Year’s Eve has become a special holiday to me — excited about the potential that lies ahead and what I could do to improve my life going forward.

Many people will do the same, but will focus on their weaknesses, trying to improve through starting a weight-loss program or joining a gym, cutting out the swearing, drinking less, being more ...

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Categories: Authenticity, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, College Recruiting, Marketing, Professional Development, Student Recruiting

Is this message necessary?

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We live our lives in a rush. Don’t be late to work, hurry home… it’s exhausting! Five minutes to yourself can be a welcome gift.

As busy as we are in the professional world, imagine being 17 again. Going to school 7 hours a day (keeping your grades as high as possible to get into the perfect college), followed by working as many hours as possible to save up for college, to buy a car, to take a date to prom — participating in enough extracurricular activities to put on your college applications, studying all night, and still having an active social life.

So how do students process the messages that we send? Before you hit the Send button, think: Is this ...

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Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Communication, Email Recruiting, Marketing

Campus engagement pays off

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Within higher education’s increasingly competitive environment, admissions counselors are well aware that their outreach involves not simply providing reliable information, but the responsibility to actively seek students who will succeed at their institutions.

Even so, while pressure mounts for counselors to produce numbers (visits, applications, etc.), the most talented representatives will look beyond standard drivers to find creative ways to demonstrate what words can only describe.  For example, the claim that college is a time to explore, learn and create, and that “College X” knows how to support students throughout the process is, at best, a promise.  Easily made, easily broken, and not particularly memorable.

If college is about learning, then we believe that the admissions process ought to be about learning, ...

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Categories: Authenticity, Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, College Recruiting, Experience, Student Recruiting, Student Yield

The application sensation

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Curious how most admissions offices are faring in the midst of a decline in traditional, college-bound teens? Apparently, not too bad according to some recent data shared by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). Students are applying to more colleges than in years past and fighting for coveted spots at selective schools.

Caralee Adams of Education Week shares some stats and highlights from a recent NACAC webinar series entitled “The State of College Admission” that includes data from the upcoming 2012 College Admission Report (set to be released on November 28th).

Panelists from the webinar, like Katy Murphy, director of college counseling at ...

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Categories: Applicants, Data, NACAC

Real stories of change

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Each month, the TargetX Campus Visit Consulting team has been featuring stories of change from current clients, tips we have learned on campus and/or trends we have seen that impact higher education.

These posts (the “Three T’s: Talks, Tips and Trends”) are designed to illustrate that change takes time and change faces challenges. Campus visit tips can take all forms and the trends we see in our everyday lives impact the visit and the students we are trying to recruit.

When you read the posts, we want you to think about the experiences you have had that shaped the way you approach recruiting students at your school.

This month, Jennifer McLendon of the University of North Texas talks about how ...

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Categories: Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, Campus Visit Talk, Campus Visit Three T's, Change, Storytelling, Student Workers

Campus Visit Talk: Jennifer McLendon and University of North Texas

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Each month the Experience Team from TargetX will share with you a Campus Visit Tip or Trend and Talk. All of the “three T’s” are designed to give you a bit of insight into the work we do, the people we work with and the places we pull our inspiration from. Here is this month’s “Talk”.

This month’s featured Talk is with:
Jennifer McLendon
Visitor Experience Manager
University of North Texas, Campus Visit Client since 2008

Q: How did you work to create change within your campus visit?

I’ve been the Visitor Experience Manager for my alma mater, the University of North Texas, for over 11 years now. During that ...

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Categories: Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, Campus Visit Talk, Campus Visit Three T's, Campus Visit Tip, Campus Visit Trend, Change, Storytelling, Student Workers, Uncategorized

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