Incorporating Intelliworks into Your Conversational Marketing Strategy

Incorporating Intelliworks into Your Conversational Marketing Strategy

July 14, 2009Intelliworks User Conference

Philadelphia, PA

Terry L. Grant, AVP, Enrollment ManagementCorinne Glenn, Systems and Training Manager

Jason Smith, Admissions Team ManagerAmerican Public University System

APUS – Who we are.Service. Leadership. Relevance in a global society.

These values define our mission at American Public University System. They guide how we educate and support more than 45,000 distance learners studying in 50 states and more than 100 countries. They shape the growth of our two institutions, American Public University and American Military University.

100% online; offering more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including homeland security, intelligence, criminal justice, and emergency management.

Growth at APUS

2007 2008 20090

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

Civilian

Military

Growth Rates By Segment

2007 2008 1Q ‘09A

Civilian 33% 55% 54%

Military 50% 35% 35%

Why talk about conversational marketing?The role of the prospective student in

marketing and recruitment has changed.The old enrollment funnel is gone. Student

recruitment is no longer a neat, linear, predictable process driven by the college or university.

The student now drives recruitment and enrollment processes and receives messages about your institution from other sources. Even more true for adult and online learners.

The New Enrollment Funnel

Source: 2008, Noel-Levitz

Characteristics of Conversational Marketing1.Markets are conversations.

2.Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors or target groups.

3.Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

4.Whether delivering information, opinions, or perspectives, asking questions or telling jokes, the human voice is typically open, natural, genuine.

5.People recognize each other…as such from the sound of someone’s voice or style of writing…

In a nutshell…The basic premise is that market initiatives

should no longer be linear – yes, indeed, the old enrollment funnel is gone.

The concept of creating and pushing marketing messages to prospective students must give way to a more iterative approach to marketing through conversation creation, participation and refinement -- and repeat as necessary. That is conversational marketing.

How IHEs are participating

Picking up where marketing left off – how admissions teams fit inParticipating as a person and not a marketerEstablishing conversations, not sending

messagesCultivating relationshipsSpeaking with people not audiencesHumanizing the interactionBecoming a resource, not a sales person Speaking with a human voice

How does Intelliworks fit in?• Facilitates relationship-building • Enables university staff to follow-up with

students that are genuinely interested in your school

Enables greater personalization with students

Provides cost-savings by not requiring one-to-one communication with every student

Allows your team to “repeat as necessary”

Humanizing the interactionAlisa Kerns has always had a desire to help others and a passion for education; these traits lead her to APUS and the Admissions office.  Just like all of the students she helps today, Alisa received her Bachelor's degree 100% online, while juggling work, school and family.  Her education, work experience, and customer service background allow her to truly understand and provide the support and guidance needed for her students.  She genuinely understands the concerns you may have about going back to school after years away from academics or your ability to manage time.  She is dedicated to listening to, educating and advocating for all new and prospective students.

Thanks again for your interest in APUS. We look forward to helping

you achieve your academic and career goals!

    Phone: 304.724.3785    E-mail: [email protected]

Corinne…The ultimate goal of the Admissions

department and what life was like before Intelliworks

How Intelliworks is configured and used to engage prospects and students in ongoing conversations – and used by multiple functional units at APUS

The future with Intelliworks

What is the Role of the Admissions Representative?

Traditional idea of providing information, proposing options, and overall guidance to prospective students to assist them in making an informed decision about enrollment.

APUS breaks from tradition in focusing on new applicants through the enrollment process by providing continuous assistance, serving as liaisons with other departments, and ensuring the new applicant has everything they need to be successful.

GoalsIncrease the conversion rate of prospective

students to new applicantsIncrease the conversion rate of new

applicants to registered studentsCreate a personalized experience for the new

applicantEvaluate different methods and avenues to

engage the new applicant on a more individualized level without sacrificing efficiency and time

Life Before IntelliworksThe desire to build relationships with each new

applicant on an individual basis faced many constraints:

• Reviewing individual records and contacting each new applicant was near impossible given minimal staff and increasing volume.

• Available queries were useful to some extent, but were representative of major populations and were not narrow enough to allow the desired relationship with the new applicant and the ability for ongoing conversation.

Implementation of IntelliworksCustomized report built from student

information database capturing all pertinent information about new applicant

Creation of contact fields including information on who the new applicant is and where they are at in the enrollment process

Record creation and update was based upon customized report allowing for most up to date information regarding new applicant activity

Creation of individualized communication to engage the new applicant on a personal level

Intelliworks TodayConversion Rates of new applicant to

registered student has increased significantlyAdmissions Representative performance and

productivity has increased across the boardEmail templates, list views, campaigns,

communication plans, and reports have allowed the Admissions Representative to Work Smarter, Not Harder

Intelliworks TodayImplementation of Intelliworks CRM has

been adopted by the Financial Aid Helpdesk, allowing each Specialist to provide the same individualized approach to every financial aid student

The Law Enforcement Outreach team utilizes Intelliworks to enter new leads giving them the ability to track each lead more efficiently and take away the need for messy spreadsheets.

The Future…Continue to analyze current communications

and processes to increase conversion ratesIncorporate the same one on one approach

with prospective students through Intelliworks

Implementation of the Intelliworks API allowing the Student Information Database to push information to Intelliworks daily

Jason…Continuing the conversation when a relationship has not yet been established:The Challenge - Continuing the conversation

itself or continuing to try to establish a conversation

The Solution – Drip MarketingTesting, planning, and incorporating

Intelliworks into a Drip Marketing strategyLooking toward the future

Continuing the Conversation: The ChallengeEnsuring that the conversation and the

relationship continued after a prospect or applicant had taken the initial step faced many constraints:

Prior to Intelliworks, the timeline for prospect and applicant follow-up had specific end dates

The sheer volume of new prospects and applicants posed a challenge for follow-up with prospects and applicants who had not responded or taken the next step within a set time frame

Lead Cultivation – Time is not always on your side

The Solution – Drip MarketingWhat is Drip Marketing?

Drip marketing is a direct marketing strategy that involves sending out several communications over a period of time to a subset of “leads”

“Law of 29”A “prospect” will not become a “client” until

they have viewed an Institutions marketing message at least 29 times.

The need to remain “top of mind” and engaging

Where to Start?Developing a Productive Drip Marketing

Campaign:Step 1: Develop the planStep 2: Strategize the Execution of the planStep 3: Decide who the target isStep 4: Create consistency with each message

Methods:PostcardsNewslettersEmails

Incorporating Intelliworks – Communication PlansCommunication Plans

Allows systematic scheduling of email campaigns to be delivered to a target group at a predetermined time period

EfficiencyContinuing the conversation and becoming

part of the recipient’s communityTarget very specific groups with relevant,

personalized messages to engage in dialogue Entry and Exit rules to manage campaign

inclusions and exclusion

Testing and PlanningAB Message Testing

Informal, more conversational, messageDirect message

Creating and Testing Trial PlansExtensive testing phase

Choosing the target groupsProspectsApplicant

Tracking the SuccessOpt OutExit Rule

The ResultsContinuing the conversation while

maintaining an emphasis on personalized communications and, relationship building

Ability to remain “top of mind” and engaging to those prospects and applicants whom we, in the past, may have lost contact

Reaching and furthering our goals to create a personalized experience while maintaining quality, maximum efficiency, and time management

Questions?