iThink Blog

Further proof that the virtual world is becoming as important as the real thing comes from an Associated Press story lamenting the costs of today’s college search.

“Never mind four years of tuition,” writes AP reporter Dave Carpenter. “The college-selection process alone has gotten so expensive that parents need a budget just to deal with campus visits and other costs.”

That doesn’t mean abandoning the visitation process, he adds. “After all, there is nothing like setting foot on a campus for a prospective student to get sense of a school. But you need to be smart about controlling the costs.”

Start reducing costs by reducing the number of campuses you set foot on, Carpenter advises his readers. He then offers 10 tips for ...

It’s time for the annual reminder that you’re getting older. More accurately, it’s Beloit College’s August poke at college professors so they don’t make fools of themselves by mentioning people, places and things that have no meaning to their freshman students.

This is the 11th year that Beloit has put together its “Mindset List” to help orient educators to what their students know — and what references will go right over their heads.

“Hardening of the references” is what the list’s creators call it when teachers and administrators forget that events and personalities that are second nature to them are totally unknown or viewed through a different prism by teenagers.

So as you prepare copy for your website, printed pieces, blog posts and ...

Canadian colleges have already experienced the demographic dip in high school students now facing their U.S. counterparts, so Ken Steele has become a popular speaker at higher education conferences throughout North America.

The researcher has led his company’s efforts over the years to survey tens of thousands of applicants to Canadian institutions before those students decided where to enroll. The result is a treasure chest of information that Canadian schools have used to shape their marketing and enrollment strategies.

Steele, who is Senior VP at the Academica Group, a Canadian-based consulting firm, most recently shared his research findings and insights at the annual conference of the Society for College and University Planning in Montreal.

Among his observations:

- Canadian colleges have surged ahead of ...

It goes by many different names these days — including buzz, viral, grassroots, influencer and social media marketing — but most marketers still call it Word of Mouth. And they continue to be awed by the measurable impact it has on our increasingly online world.

Jenni Beattie, a communications consultant based in Australia, has pulled together one of the best collections of WOM facts and figures. “If you were ever unsure of the power of word of mouth,” she writes on Fresh Chat, “consider these.”

- Consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising among 78% of respondents to a global Nielsen survey.

- Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making ...

“Don’t like it,” says the middle-aged provost holding a mock-up of a brochure aimed at a 16-year-old audience. “This reads too informally,” huffs the academic department chair perusing a promotional email targeted to teenaged prospects.

This experience is so commonplace that media strategies exec Jim Meskauskas has a name for it: self-centered marketing. He’s talking mostly about clients who insist that an advertising campaign or communications plan reflect the media and the message that works best for them. But his warnings to change or risk marketing failure are just as apt for decision-makers in higher education.

“Human beings are simply wired this way,” he writes in iMedia Connection. “As unique as we like to think we are, at the same time, we ...