Visit Content Marketing World

I was pleasantly surprised to meet people from so many different industries, including a large footprint of legal, financial, and B2B marketers, as well as healthcare and higher education. 

Every industry—and several individual conversations and group workshops—addressed six key themes. These themes center around a shared set of challenges: connecting on a personal level with clients, prospective clients, and audiences at large without inundating people with unwanted marketing messaging. 

And the way to achieve those relationships is to implement an audience-centered, micro-moment seizing, SEO long-game content strategy. 

1. Get to the Point—Your Audience’s Time is Valuable.

When you Google a recipe, do you want to first read the author’s entire “culinary journey,” from his first measured spoonful to his love for sourdough?  Of course not. In that moment, you just want to know how much baking soda to put in your cookies. 

The same concept goes for website and blog content. If you deliver an eye-catching digital ad or social media teaser, only to drag readers through a six-paragraph intro, you’re going to frustrate your reader and tank your site relevancy scores over time. 

That’s not to say readers and search engines don’t value long-form content. They do, but your content must prove its worth right away. According to Julian Shapiro of Demand Curve, readers don’t have short attention spans—they actually have short “consideration spans.” Time is valuable, and if they’re spending it on your content, it better be worth the attention they’ve invested.  

Plus, Google and other search engines value relevant content higher than drawn out narratives. Give your reader the hook in the first few sentences, then elaborate with data and details.  

2. Self-Service Buying Experiences Aren’t Going Away. In Fact, They’re Growing. 

Marcus Sheridan covered this phenomenon, which is the basis of his successful business endeavors, River Pools and Marcus Sheridan International. Years before the pandemic, Sheridan practiced the “They Ask, You Answer” model of content marketing and buyer experiences. 

Sheridan stated that 33% of buyers want a self-service solution to work with you. And Whatever your industry, empowering your audience with tools to contact you on their own timeline can increase sales because these tools speed up the conversion experience.  

River Pools feeds prospective pool owners need-to-know information, entertaining and educational blogs, videos, and downloads; and even interactive tools that help their audience decide what type of pool they want and when it’s time to contact a salesperson. Users can get all the information they need without talking to a salesperson, that is, unless they want to. And if they do, Sheridan’s team is at the ready. 

Your organization can capitalize on this model, too, even if your business is services-based. Allow your audience to:

Self-Schedule

Make a health appointment. Ask a sales associate to contact you. Schedule time with Admissions. You can do this with easy, online tools, such as Acuity or Calendly (which UNM Department of Neurology uses), or through simple click-to-call or email links. 

Self-Select

What department, product, or area of study interests you? What do you need right now to get you to the next level of conversions? Quizzing tools such as Outgrow allow you to ask these questions seamlessly on your site. Like Sheridan, you can provide the user’s answer and a short description of why, then give a full report in exchange for the user’s email address. 

Self-Price

In many service and product industries, users have options for a low-to-high high investment. In more fixed industries such as healthcare or higher education, self-pricing might translate to, “What scholarships, grants, or financial aid services could reduce barriers to your care or education?” Banno is a tool that can help you do this. 

3. Capitalize on “Owned” Channels. 

Social media is excellent for distribution, but make sure your stories are housed on owned platforms (like your blog) for the longest-term impacts and “safekeeping” of your information. The content world held its collective breath on October 4, when Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went down for several hours.  

Companies that rely on non-owned platforms such as social media to store content, sell products, or place ads were handcuffed, whereas organizations that use social as a complement to a deeper content strategy were merely annoyed. 

To paraphrase the point of the presentation by Joe Pulizzi, the Godfather of content marketing, don’t build on borrowed land. Put videos on your own site and YouTube. Put images and stories on your own site and Instagram. Put blog content on your site and on LinkedIn. 

4. Watch What You Say and How You Say It.

Use the language your audience speaks, not the language you want to use as a subject matter expert or brand. This is not a new idea. However, there are exceptions, and these were the subject of my co-presentation with Marcia Francis of The University of Kansas Health System. 

Marcia and I presented on how to communicate with Gen Z—individuals born in 1997 or after. These people are not kids or youngsters—they’re colleagues, entrepreneurs, business leaders, parents, doctors…you get the idea.  

As with every generation, Gen Z has a vernacular all their own. However, that doesn’t mean you should use every word they use. If your ads and videos are chock full of “sheesh,” “Pog champ,” and other Gen Z slang, you risk coming off as a try-hard at best and, at worst, alienating Gen Z and their older counterparts who might otherwise have been interested in your product or service.  

5. Align Your Brand with Your Audience’s Values, if You Can Do So Genuinely.

Your story is not your products or services. Your story is your “why.” But remember: Your “why” only matters to your audience if it fills a need for them, a point reiterated by Ann Handley, Head of Content at MarketingProfs.  

Sashaying across the fine line between marketing content and personal engagement is the importance, challenge, and art of storytelling. Yes, talking about yourself is important—but you need to do so in a way that touches and resonates with your audience. For example, according to Marketing Dive, approximately 66% of Gen Zers are more likely to spend money with a brand that donates to a charity that they support. And today’s audiences are savvy—they can see through brand bologna, so avoid virtue-signaling (disingenuous value representation) at all costs. 

6. SEO is Your Golden Ticket for the Next Wave of Search Ranking. 

No fewer than 10 SEO-focused groups staffed booths at Content Marketing World 2021. We’ve always known strong search engine optimization is crucial—but with the strong trend toward self-service and hands-off sales, SEO is your golden ticket to getting found, relevantly capturing mindshare, and converting users the moment they are ready. 

SEO is deeper than backlinking and interlinking processes—it requires comprehensive content strategy to develop useful, governed site content that answers users’ questions and provides the detail they need to make informed decisions.  

A Final Thought: Content is Your 24-hour Salesperson.

When done right, your text, videos, infographics, and calls-to-action loyally work for you, day in and day out. Content drives relevant users at micro-moments throughout the conversion process.  

According to Matt McCue, VP of Content at StudioID, senior executives expect to spend 67% more on content in 2022. Whether your next year’s focus is on your site content, marketing messaging, or both, make sure you are centering your efforts around your audience’s needs—and using long-game strategies to place your content front and center the moment your users are ready to convert. 

Ready to set up your content for success? Schedule time with Mariah Obiedzinski to learn how Stamats can help make your content work smarter for you.

As a result, many talented career-seekers can afford to be choosy. Today’s job hunters want more than the trappings of “casual culture.” Espresso stations and ping-pong tables don’t make the impression they once did.

Instead, applicants expect a more authentically rewarding experience—the freedom to work remotely or on-site, the chance to shape their own roles, and the satisfaction of knowing what they do matters. The same applies to the loyal staff who’ve stuck with you throughout the pandemic.

Take heart, employers. The tight labor market is an opportunity to reinvent how you recruit and how you foster a more satisfying work experience for everyone. We’ve collated five tips to attract top talent and keep the experienced professionals you already have.

1. Create Partnerships with Schools

Create a pipeline of skilled workers by partnering with high schools, trade schools, and colleges. Internships and work study programs allow students to refine their skills before joining your team as full-time employees. Over time, your organization could start to influence the school’s curriculum, helping them respond to market demands and graduate more career-ready students.

2. Be Transparent About the Position

Authenticity matters. In all phases of the recruitment process, be transparent about anticipated workloads, challenges, and expectations. Sometimes, overtime will be required. Sometimes, you’ll have early mornings, late nights, or whatever the differentiators may be. There’s nothing worse than finding out your dream job isn’t what it was cracked up to be.

Likewise, be clear about the compensation and benefits workers will receive in exchange for their efforts. Then, focus on candidates who can adapt to shifting workloads and skillfully reprioritize projects as needs change.

3. Get Creative

Additionally, rigid job descriptions may turn off highly qualified candidates. Rather than an extensive list of competencies, communicate the basic qualifications required and a few “nice-to-have” skills.

Also, consider ways new hires can craft their own roles or customize positions to deliver more value. Give them room to explore, find their best spot, and help your organization be more successful.

Accordingly, at Stamats, we post open positions that aren’t department-specific. By focusing on the skills required rather than departments and job titles, we can adapt job descriptions to match the strengths of top-tier candidates. The resulting hybrid roles can flex to meet our clients’ needs.

4. Prioritize Emotional Compensation

According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2021 Report, negative emotions among employees around the world reached record levels in 2020. The pandemic has led many employees to reexamine their careers and reconsider what they’re willing to accept professionally.

In response, employers must take a more expansive look at compensation. Though offering a competitive wage is crucial, “emotional compensation” is an increasingly important aspect of worker satisfaction. According to a 2021 article in Government Executive, organizations can improve emotional compensation in the workplace by fostering these seven universal human needs:

1. Respect
2. Recognition
3. Belonging/community
4. Autonomy
5. Personal growth
6. Meaning/purpose
7. Progress

5. Develop and Promote Internally

Recruitment is often considered an exercise in looking outward—what can this prospective colleague bring to the table. But in a tight labor market, it’s important to recognize and develop the talented people who are already on your teams.

Explore new ways to promote from within. Could a mentorship program help current employees grow into new roles? How could school partnerships be leveraged to allow employees to quickly pivot to new roles?

Remember, happy and motivated employees not only stick around longer, they make enthusiastic brand ambassadors—a valuable asset in a competitive hiring market.

Recruitment in Real Life

The healthcare industry has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. For example, like many states, Missouri is having a difficult time keeping nursing positions filled. According to a story in the Southeast Missourian, hospitals and long-term care facilities can barely keep up with resignations.

Stephanie La Pierre, chief nursing/clinical officer with Saint Francis Healthcare System has implemented more flexible scheduling, allowing nurses to decompress, enjoy a better work/life balance, and pursue their educational goals. A clearer advancement track is also helping. With tuition assistance and a more formalized mentorship program, nurses can customize their career path and get the support they need.

The hospitality industry was particularly hard hit by the pandemic. Hiring challenges at hotels and convention venues continue to affect operational support for the meeting and events market. According to an article in PCMA, Hilton and Hyatt have nearly 8,000 open positions collectively.

But things may be looking up. Orlando Weekly reports that Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World have increased their minimum wage to $15 an hour. And the American Hotel and Lodging Association Foundation recently announced a new partnership with Relay, a tech company that designs two-way communication devices for hospitality staff. The new partnership will help fund the foundation’s Empowering Youth Program, which provides young people with entry-level hospitality positions and immersive, on-the-job training.

Prepare for tomorrow’s challenges with us. From brand-building to strategic planning, Stamats can help your organization thrive in an ever-changing marketplace. Contact us to discuss your marketing strategy.

Indeed that flexibility has created a powerful medium. According to Statista, 55% of Americans have listened to an audio podcast and 37% have listened in the past month. For colleges and universities, podcasting offers a unique opportunity to make value propositions clear, target and recruit students, attract new talent, and build brands—all for a relatively minimal monetary investment.

As part of multi-channel marketing strategy, the potential of podcasting can’t be overstated. But getting it right takes planning and coordinated effort. If your school is considering launching an institutional podcast, start with these seven steps.

6 Steps to Successful Higher Education Podcasting

1. Be Realistic About Resources

Since podcasting is episodic, consider if you have the budget, personnel, and equipment to produce week after week. In order to maximize resources, explore ways to integrate podcasting with your school’s Mass Communications, New Media, or Broadcasting programs.

2. Define and Describe

Additionally, the best podcasts present a clear concept in a distinctive way. Before you begin, have a solid understanding of the following:

• Goals: Firstly, what do you want the podcast to achieve? For example, are you trying to increase enrollment in a specific program, connect with adult students, or promote new institutional research initiatives? How do the goals support the school’s mission and vision?
• Audiences: Know who you’re trying to reach. What are their priorities, concerns, and areas of interest? What conversations or perspectives are lacking the marketplace?
• Voice: Echo the voice of those you’re trying to reach. Traditional students may respond to a more irreverent and casual tone. Graduate students and prospective faculty may expect to hear a voice of authority and leadership.
• Brand: Remember, every marketing effort is a reflection of your institutional brand. Consider ways to align the podcast—its visual identity, voice, content, and promotional materials—with your school’s brand and brand messages.

3. Measure Success

Peter Drucker, the famed manager and business pioneer, said, “What’s measured improves.” Will the success of your podcast be measured purely by downloads, site traffic, and inquiries? Will reviews, publicity, and new institutional relationships be part of the equation? Decide what success looks like, then measure accordingly.

4. Team Up

Though it often appears like a solo endeavor, successful long-term podcasting is a team effort. Engage talented students to assist with reporting, production, promotion, and data analysis. If you can’t offer a modest payment, fold the work into an independent study or work study course.

5. Invest in Equipment and Recording Space

Again, depending on the resources available, your school may be able to begin producing content immediately. If not, budget for upfront costs that include a dedicated (preferably soundproof) recording space, microphones, headphones, and recording software.

6. Plan and Produce

Finally, target listeners around the world by distributing your podcast across multiple hosting platforms. In addition to Google Play and Apple Podcast, explore other top podcast listening apps.

Marketing and publicity planning should begin early. To entice subscribers on each platform, create short teasers for each episode, then:

• Share episodes across social media channels.
• Link to the podcast from relevant web pages (news and events, college and program pages, faculty profiles, etc.).
• Promote the podcast in email blasts, in e-signatures, and via college/university radio stations.
• Increase accessibility by providing downloadable transcripts of each episode.

Above all, stand out in a crowded marketplace; speak with clear and distinctive voice; and connect with prospective students across media. Stamats’ content services can help you tell your story in powerful new ways. Email us today to get started.

After all, it takes a long time to create great news stories. You want to optimize that investment and product into something people are excited to see. Find the unique news that helps your institution or organization stand out and differentiate itself. Generate that FOMO—fear of missing out—with your content through storytelling.

Digital Strategies for Successful News Stories

Learn how to bring your organizations’ stories to your audience with the Stamats white paper, “Digital Strategies for Successful News Stories.” In it, we dive into the following topics, providing you the guidance and information to begin and expand your storytelling strategy.

Plan for effective news stories.

Focus on the storytelling aspect of the news with information readers can’t find anywhere else. Provide a mix of timely and evergreen stories.

Make recurring events or topics unique.

What’s original or different this time than any other time when it’s covered? That’s the story. Don’t forget to link related or past events to this content to keep the reader engaged.

React to emerging and evolving stories.

Have a plan in place for how to handle breaking news. Time matters and being first can help you win the web content game. Make it clear the information is new, developing, or when it was or will be updated.

Create content with the web in mind.

Create different—or multiple—forms of content for the story. An interview can be turned into an article and a podcast. Grab still images from a video for social media. Follow digital best practices through your institution’s voice and style, making content easy for mobile users to consume, and adding relevant keywords.

Know when to archive news.

There might come a time when it makes sense to clean up your news section and archive some of your stories. Conduct a content audit and create a plan for the content and URLs.

Showcase Your Stories: Stamats Can Help

Certainly, everyone has a story to tell; the key is finding the unique, individual stories to showcase. Download “Digital Strategies for Successful News Stories” now to begin.

At Stamats, we know writing. Our award-winning writing staff includes former journalists trained to spot and respond to breaking and emerging news. Our writing staff works alongside a digital team of strategists certified on multiple platforms to ensure we infuse data and analytics into our content practice.

We solve clients challenges by providing various writing services and training, including workshops on writing for the web, Rapid News Response writing, blogging, social media and more. Email us to schedule a free strategy session.

Storytelling is central to who we are as human beings. For millennia, it’s been the primary way we learn, instill values, and keep cultures alive. For brands that hope to weave themselves into the lives of their customers and clients, the strategic power of storytelling can’t be overstated. It works because humans are hardwired to share information about the world around us and find meaning through stories.

If your business and organization isn’t using stories to connect with your most valued audiences, make 2021 the year you begin. Here are seven ways to harness the power of storytelling as a marketing tool.

Ways to Harness the Power of Storytelling

1. Understand your audiences

At the core of every successful marketing campaign is a clear understanding of who’s listening. With well-developed personas as your guide, share stories that speak to the hopes, priorities, and challenges of your target audiences. Though each story is unique, each should reflect a universal experience that people can relate to.

2. Be authentic

Today’s audiences have been marketed to their entire lives and in turn, have become discerning marketers themselves. They have the uncanny ability to spot even the best-intentioned exaggeration from ten yards. Keep every story grounded in truth and tell it in a consistent, brand-aligned voice.

3. Connect emotionally

Storytelling works because it taps into the power of human emotion. When properly crafted and applied, stories carry an emotive energy that can cut through the marketing clutter, touch the hearts of your audiences, and move them to act.

4. Don’t be afraid to get personal

It’s truer today than ever before — people want to feel connected to the companies they do business with. Simply put, they want see your personal side. Stories can help. Stories put a face to the often faceless world of business and humanize what’s often reduced to a strict exchange of goods and services.

5. Keep it brief

Shakespeare had it right. “Brevity is the soul of wit” … and of storytelling. Remember, your audiences are likely harried, distracted, multitaskers. Keep stories simple, easy to understand, and brief.

6. Bring it back to your brand

Like all content, stories should support your brand by reinforcing core brand messages. To use an example from higher education, a college’s brand messaging may include “helping students enrich their education through personalized learning experiences.” Use stories to directly and indirectly demonstrate how this promise is realized in the lived experience of students.

7. Empower your audiences to share their stories

Finally, your customers are your most powerful brand ambassadors. Build on the power of storytelling by creating channels for their stories to be told. Make sure your company or organization has a process in place to connect with customers (both online and offline) and elevate new stories that deserve to be shared.

Don’t just engage your audiences — inspire them. Our team of researchers and content experts can help you turn real life stories into powerful tools of connection. Email us today to schedule a free consultation.

But what if you looked a little deeper? What if you asked the tough, uncomfortable, or political questions? Those deep insights turn a generic article into a story with merit, credibility, and the WOW factor your audience craves.

Finding these stories requires a journalistic approach to uncover the story. And the outcome can be improved engagement, thought leadership credibility, and increased site traffic. Once your audience knows your articles are deeper, sophisticated, and personal, they’ll be back for more.

Fast, easy, & cheap? Or storytelling?

Too many organizations play it safe with topics instead of telling stories that deserve air or screen time:

• It’s too political.
• Dr. So-and-So will NEVER approve that comment.
• It’s a lot of work to track down this patient and that provider.

Solid healthcare storytelling can be challenging. Like nearly everything worth doing well, it takes that extra “something” to get the story, angle, and details just right. And that focused effort will set your stories apart from your competitors’ pieces.

Unfortunately, many healthcare organizations choose the FEC method of writing instead: “fast, easy, and cheap.” When your in-house or vendor team produces content without that extra step, you’ll likely publish the same content (albeit with slightly different wording) as your competitors. That’s no good for your brand or site SEO.

FEC scratches the surface of your organization’s and patients’ stories. To gather and publish the best stories, follow the DICES method instead.

DICES = Storytelling success

DICES is a storytelling methodology that is built around preparation, asking the right questions, and follow-through. When done right, the result is unique, strategic, and engaging content that makes an impactful first impression and provides the sticking power to generate return on your investment.

DICES, by the Letter

Differentiate

What unique or important thing do you have to say about this otherwise generic topic? We see this sticking point a lot in healthcare storytelling, from wide-appeal health and wellness topics to specialty services such as cancer or Ob/Gyn care.

People who are close to a subject sometimes mentally skip over what sets their expertise, team, or service apart from competitors. You need a solid content strategist to help identify and extract the differentiators—those emotional and intellectual hooks you can use to showcase expertise in a way that is relevant and impactful for the audience.

Investigate

Writers should not expect subject matter experts (SMEs) to automatically provide every detail for their story. It’s on the writer to ask focused, challenging, and unusual questions to get to the heart of their story.

Skip the generic Q&A (what is a heart attack?) and ask specific questions that extract differentiators (how does your team‘s approach to cardiac rehab differ from other centers’ methods?).

Prepare a series of questions, each one more pointed than the previous. If you don’t ask, you may not get the full story. Sometimes these questions strike gold, and sometimes they strike a nerve. Be ready for either scenario.

Connect

Each healthcare thought leadership piece should provide two levels of connection: with the business goal of the institution and with the intellectual goals of the SME.

In our experience, providers are about 50/50 when it comes to offering marketing soundbites along with their scientific explanations. Our job as writers is to round out their quips and phrases to make the necessary connections.

For example, we recently completed a patient-facing story about how a client’s new breast reconstruction surgery approach reduced operating time by 50%. Our challenge was to describe how amazing this new technique was to highlight expertise but also present the surgeons as extremely caring and sensitive to patients’ needs.

So, we shifted our questioning from “How do you do it so fast?” to “How does a fast procedure benefit patients?” As the SMEs elaborated, we revealed that while expediency was the intellectual hook, the reader (and business goal) connection was that the quicker procedure reduced risks such as infection and the need for an ICU stay. By making the connection on both ends, we helped the client tell a more impactful, engaging, and helpful story.

Effect

The word “effect” is doubly important in storytelling. As a noun, it means “the intended outcome,” and as a verb, it means “creating change.”

Following DICES, we tell the SME’s story in a way that resonates with the audience and moves them to action. Those actions might be sharing the story with others, signing up to receive more content, or making a hard conversion, such as scheduling an appointment.

The intention is conceived from the topic, angle, and tone of the story. The effect is delivered through a well-executed and ongoing strategy.

Strategize

Never undervalue the strategic underpinnings that make storytelling work for you and your audience. Namely, micro-conversion points that guide people through each piece to the next natural step.

Content strategy is the art of balancing the subtle with the obvious. For example, adding an inline link in a thought leadership article that to a related story is a gentle way of saying, “We want you to have this additional information to help you choose us.”

Subtlety is the name of the long marketing game. But sometimes a more obvious call to action, such as “Schedule an appointment,” is appropriate. It all depends on the tone, topic, and goals of your story.

Every call to action, subheading, image, and module you choose will affect the user experience. Their digital experience forms their initial opinion about your care team’s personality and expertise. Your team must be willing to strategize up front and track the data to determine what’s working, what’s not, and how to effectively bridge the gap between.

Storytelling keeps you top of mind

The healthcare marketing funnel twists and turns based on individual need. No one can (or should!) drive demand for certain health services. But through DICES methodology, we can help you stay top-of-mind when patients need care through impactful, strategic healthcare storytelling.

Are you ready to start storytelling? Request a consultation today.

During a redesign, if you tackle the containers first, you often get a lovely, elegant solution. Then, you look at your content. How can you fit that torrent into your elegant container? You either expend enormous labor to divide and divide and divide the torrent, or you let it flow, smash the containers, and reshape itself.

Solution: Let Content and Design Talk to Each Other

If we don’t start content until design is set, content and design can’t shape each other. They can’t talk it out.

Our solution is to pull content forward in the project timeline. We can do this because we know the rough shape of many common content containers: accordions, callouts, tabs, galleries, feeds, heroes, decision boxes—even if we don’t know how they will look and function in this design.

In a standard web redesign, content strategy begins a little before design, and content writing starts after design is done and all the technical specs for character counts, etc., have been set. Yes, the single-most labor-intensive task (upgrading the content) starts last.

With accelerated content pathways, we frontload the content strategy and begin writing before design. This, of course, gives more weeks to work on the content, which is a good thing. However, the real improvement comes in the adjustment period.

Content and design always need to adjust to each other— “We need photo galleries on interior pages!” or “I have to cut the copy to fit in those accordions.”

In standard practice, most of that happens during migration and launch. With accelerated content pathways, design and content get to the adjustment conversations earlier. This saves rework in design and dev, and eases some of the bumps in launch.

Content Informs UX Design

We also add a phase of “content design” where we identify the rough outlines of major content buckets. For example, the sequence of stories on the homepage and the medium in which they will be told (“thumbnail story, testimonial, video, photo gallery, and three more thumbnail stories”). Also, the buckets needed for presenting program content in a compelling way.

Content decisions inform design. They don’t constrain it. The designer can come back and say “I know you were presuming a standard hero banner, but if you really want a dramatic visual story, what if we.…” In essence, content strategy and design form part of the design brief. They describe goals, not methods.

Benefits: Better Content, Resilient Design, Smoother Launch

• Smarter Content: Shaped by strategy, aimed at clear goals, aligned within the information architecture, and in productive conversation with the design elements.
• Stronger & More Flexible Design: Early content stress tests the layouts and style tiles. We’ve had deeper discussions about use cases. The design becomes clearer, more adaptable, and more resilient. The content still to be written knows the shape of its container. And, the template is less likely to be the constraint that brings people back to the redesign table.
• More Predictable Launch: Every launch has bumps and unexpected adjustments. However, with most of the design vs. content adjustments built in, the launch can stay on track over those rattles. Also, with more time available to prep content, it migrates more smoothly, and the launch stays on schedule.

Looking to redo your website? Make sure to include Stamats to reduce stress and create a stronger and more flexible design. Submit an RFP or contact us. 

Program pages drive recruitment; we all know that. The debate is whether online degree programs stand alone or whether they are presented under the umbrella of the degree, as a variant or one of several paths to that degree.

We start with these premises:

1. Google is your home page. Every prospect’s journey begins on a SERP.
2. Online degree programs compete fiercely against each other. You need solid, dedicated content to sell your program over the competition’s.
3. Online prospects have different priorities. Your content needs to speak to that.

Use Case: Online MBA vs. On-campus MBA

We know a few things about prospective online MBA students. They care about:

• Start dates (how soon can I start?)
• Flexibility
• Managing competing responsibilities well

On-campus prospects have a different set of concerns, with one area of overlap:

• Convenient location (how will this fit into my routes?)
• Convenient schedule (how will this fit into my days?)
• Managing competing responsibilities well

In general, prospects will have a preference for online versus on-campus, based on the other constraints in their lives or their understanding of their own learning styles. That preference will probably drive their search queries.

Prospect Journey 1: SERP to MBA to Online MBA Option (alternately, SERP to MBA to On-campus MBA, although in most sites, the MBA landing page also encompasses the on-campus MBA as a standard modality)

Prospect Journey 2: SERP to Online Programs to MBA

Prospect Journey 3: SERP to Online MBA (alternately, SERP to On-campus MBA)

The length alone would make you wonder why anyone would choose Journeys 1 or 2. However, there is a compelling (and all-too-common) case for these journeys: when an institution depends on static content housed on individual pages and when that institution struggles to produce the content it needs.

Then, a route through a more generic landing page makes the most efficient use of the apparently most-limited institutional resource, content.

However, in truth, the most limited institutional resource is prospects’ attention. What you really need is a better approach to content so you can deliver a better prospect journey.

The other case we hear for Journey 1 is pride: Our MBA program is so strong, so honored, so respected, we have to talk about it first, and then we can talk about modality. “Our strengths are why people pick us.”

Fine, those strengths will help you compete. However, to be considered (and therefore to compete), meet your users’ needs first.

And why can’t you talk about those strengths in Journey 3? This is, again, a content management issue. If your content is static and housed on the page, then Journey 3 will force you to repeat yourself. However, if you set up content libraries that feed into the page, you can meet your users’ needs and have a single place to talk about how great you are.

Journey 2 makes sense when your users have pre-determined their modality preference but not yet their degree: “I want an online program; I’m just not sure what it should be in.” You might have prospects considering your MBA, MPA, and MIS degrees, for example.

Best Practice: Separate Pages, Cross-Linked

Without knowing your individual requirements, our recommended practice is to separate modalities at the outset:

• Online program page with a link to the traditional option
• Traditional program page with a link to the online option

These additional practices will improve your users’ experience and help you compete:

• Clear search filters in a program finder
• Central content libraries for institutional strengths and supporting facts and testimonials
• Landing page for all online programs (Journey 2)—especially if you have (or plan to have) multiple online degrees that might be considered by the same prospects.

Want to learn more? Schedule a free consultation today.

Contributions to this article by Sandra Fancher. 

How can you be the first—and most accurate—source of information? The answer is to provide authoritative, timely content that brings calm in a crisis.

Even with a limited team, you can institute a Rapid News Response plan that delivers the news and information your audience needs—and the return on investment your stakeholders want.

Deliver Relevant Content Now

When people have questions or things are uncertain, make the best use of your valuable time by focusing on communicating key messages.

Create Once, Publish Everywhere

While there are plenty of ways to get your message out, focus on distributing single pieces of content on a variety of different channels. For example, if you are developing a blog post, create social media posts and possibly a quick update to the website itself with the same messaging.

We even use this with our own messaging at Stamats; our homepage message has been updated three times based on audience needs. It was also a part of email messaging that has been sent out to current clients.

Listen to the People

To stay out in front, create content that assuages concerns and supports your institutional brand. While it can take extra effort, the payoff for properly managing crisis communication will be repaid in loyalty and engagement from your audience.

It’s also a good idea to know what your audience is talking about. This way you can create content that speaks to their needs directly. Tools like social listening or Google Trends can help. Don’t forget about following trending hashtags on sites like Twitter to make sure you’re up-to-date.

Tell the Story Your Way

You aren’t a news institution—you are a business, a school, or a health system. Share your experts’ perspective on the situation at hand.

Tell the story in a way that resonates with your audience rather than repeating facts they can find elsewhere.

Whether the situation demands instructions or guidelines, reassurance, mitigation of false information, or something else, the goal should be to get ahead of the media frenzy. Tell the real story with a response that leads the story based on your expertise.

Related Reading: Crisis Communication: Navigating the First 60 Minutes

Success in Thought Leadership

Proper, timely responses can improve your institution’s overall footprint. Social media posts and blogs are today’s press releases. Crisis communications can serve a dual role. Not only covering your audience but also providing ample opportunity for earned media.

When something happens, members of the public (and journalists) will be searching to learn how you’re managing the situation. Don’t forget, they are also searching for your competitors’ responses. Sharing reliable, timely information can keep your organization top of mind.

To take full advantage and get the most proverbial media mileage, consider using the “create once, publish everywhere” model detailed above to get blog posts, email content, ads, social media posts, and more out of your work.

Also look for opportunities to get new life out of older pieces by adding new, relevant information and updating the timestamp.

Measure What Matters

You’ll also want to assess performance metrics like pageviews, opens, and video views. Do this as soon as possible to identify new or emerging opportunities, regardless of where you are in the crisis.

Measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) and properly analyzing your results can help you inform your audience better and continue to build trust.

Build on successes and understand where initiatives came up short to further refine rapid communication moving forward.

If this sounds great but your team is already pushed to the limit, let’s talk options. Set up a consultation with Stamats about Rapid News Response options today.

In this week’s podcast, CEO Peter Stamats discusses how successful agencies partner with each other in their clients’ best interest. Listen now.

Ready to learn more? Subscribe to Stamats Insights today.

Rather read the transcript?

[Start Transcript]

Mariah Obiedzinski: I’m Mariah Obiedzinski, Senior Director of Content Services at Stamats. Joining me today is our CEO, Peter Stamats. Welcome, Peter.

Peter Stamats: Good morning.

Mariah: Peter, one comment we often get from clients in our B2B business units is, we already have an agency, when we talk about our professional services, like our social media services, digital strategy and email lead generation. Some other organizations might take that as a big nope—we don’t want to work with you.

But Stamats is really amenable, in fact, oftentimes eager to work with our partner agencies for several reasons. Namely agencies that are more specialized in services like PR or a niche like health care. So really, we’re more agnostic across the board with our experiences that we provide.

Why would then Stamats partner with agencies rather than view them as competitors?

Peter: I think historically, we may have viewed them as competitors, but the landscape of what is being provided to clients has become increasingly complex. It used to be that a client could easily work with a single agency to provide solutions for all of its marketing needs. But in today’s more complex marketing world, they need to find specialists in certain sectors.

We offer a set of selective services, not across the board, but in a number of different areas. When we approach agencies with our marketing services, we can often find a specialization that they may not have that complements what they do in the marketplace. It provides a win-win-win solution for a client, the agency, and ourselves.

Mariah: Absolutely. And some agencies will argue that serving a specific niche market only, like health care or education, gives those clients a more focused marketing approach. I’d argue that model really blocks the creative process and the work that client can do in other markets. What do you think about that concept?

Peter: We were actually in that mold about 10–12 years ago, where the only market that we really served was higher education. Increasingly, what we felt we needed to do to be more constructive with current client’s solutions is bring in ideas from other marketplaces.

So, looking into the consumer market, and we acquired an agency that worked in that area. We found that cross-pollination of ideas was really helpful. We have built on that model in the last four or five years—changed our internal organization structure to have teams working together that serve multiple markets. And we’re seeing that fresh ideas from one market may actually serve a year or two later in another market to really provide a benefit to the client.

Mariah: Yeah, it kind of comes back to what we’ve talked about in previous conversations that we’ve had where it’s less business to business per se, but really businessperson to businessperson.

Peter: Yes, we’re all people. We’re all people at the end of the day. And we all have careers that we’re trying to move forward. We highly value a collaborative work environment internally. We try to project that in our engagements with agencies or with clients on the outside, as we move together in a partnership arrangement.

Mariah: That diversity and experience really is important. But there’s also some importance in having specialization as well. So, we have writers and designers who specialize in higher ed, we have some that specialize in health care, B2B, and so forth. Why is some of that specialization still so important?

Peter: You definitely need to have content and messaging that you can provide for a client in the market they serve that resonates with their audience. If there isn’t a strong understanding of that marketplace, of that audiences’ set of needs, then you won’t ring true for them. And the marketing efforts and campaigns that you provide won’t be successful.

Mariah: We always like to look into the future when we have these conversations. So how do you perceive publishers, marketers, PR teams and so forth collaborating over the next five to 10 years.

Peter: I think there’ll be a continuing merging of traditional publishing offerings with agency marketing tactics and techniques. We’re fairly unique in the world of agencies.

If you think about it in…that another part of our business has worked for over 50-years in the publishing sector in select markets. Having done so, we can bring that expertise in and we have a better feel for what the world of publishing has been and is moving towards, in conjunction with what marketing tactics and techniques today are being applied to provide solutions to clients. So that will continue to happen as things move forward.

At the end of the day, the consistency of messaging with little tweaks around the edges as we interact with a client on an ongoing basis, with campaign reviews, will be what makes the long-term success for the client work. Client solutions will increasingly become a blended mix of targeted messaging and brand development with targeted audience distribution through digital, social, and mass media channels.

Mariah: Thanks as always for joining us, Peter.

Peter: Thank you very much, Mariah. It’s been a pleasure.

[End Transcript]