Changing the Game: How Modern Enrollment Operations Use Data to Engage Students

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  • Changing the Game: How Modern Enrollment Operations Use Data to Engage Students

    Changing the Game: How Modern Enrollment Operations Use Data to Engage Students

    Between the peak of college-aged students coming in 2025 and the falling percentages of students choosing to attend college, many of my clients and friends in enrollment are understandably nervous.

    But Allison Turcio, AVP of Enrollment and Marketing at Siena College, and her team are up to the challenge.  She and her colleagues collaborate to support enrollment goals. They leverage data to build real relationships with prospective students, steering their institution away from the enrollment cliff and toward matriculation greatness.

    Allison has been with Siena since 2006 in roles including Associate Director of E-Communications and Director of Digital Strategy. She is a lecturer in marketing and host of the podcast The Application with Allison Turcio. She holds an EdD from Northeastern University.

    She kindly joined us for a Zoom conversation about how data done right drives enrollment marketing success. Here are some highlights (our conversation has been edited for clarity).

    The Good Stuff: Collect Qualitative Data

    Stamats: What does key data mean in the modern enrollment context, and what are some of the data points colleges miss when they’re starting to gather data about prospective students and families?

    Allison Turcio:  We’re very good at collecting and tracking quantitative data in general, or demographic data. We know their address. We know their high school, we know their GPA. We know the major they’re interested in. The thing that colleges often miss is the qualitative data.

    We should be asking questions to understand what matters most to that family. What are their top decision-makers, and what’s most important to them in the college experience? I think that’s the piece that we often miss.

    Stamats:  How do you introduce those types of questions, and when is a good time to do that?

    Allison:  I think the point of application is a great moment to leverage because now you’re going to introduce the admissions counselor who’s going to review that student’s application. You can say to them, “I know that what you wrote on the application and the information I have is sort of one-dimensional. I’d like to know more about you before I read your application. So, can you tell me about what you’re looking for in your college experience? And what’s important to you?”

    I think that there’s some real power in asking that. The counselor is then able to have a robust conversation with the student. Depending on how they answer, you know the right professor to connect them with, or you know the right student to connect them with, or you know we should have a chat about what to look for in pre-med programs.

    I’d like to know more about you before I read your application. So can you tell me about what you’re looking for in your college experience? ~Allison Turcio

    Stamats: What are some data points that colleges often collect but don’t use to their full extent?

    Allison: About 70% of what we ask for is on a Request for Information Form. When you have all these RFI form fields, there’s an expectation that you’re going to have personalized information about each student based on that form. And that type of personalization doesn’t usually get delivered. Colleges need to ask themselves, “What do we really need to start a relationship and keep it simple?”

    There are also things on a student’s application that can be important. An admissions counselor might review the activities a student was involved in in high school. That could be leveraged for marketing. The student rides horses and is passionate about equestrian? We need to get information about the equestrian team in front of that student.

    What students talk about in their essay is often a missed opportunity also. That’s a connection point to the student. You can say, “I’m so impressed with your resiliency or with the leadership skills you’ve developed,” or whatever it is. Why aren’t we talking to them?

    The other thing is where they came from, their inquiry source. We know that. Why do we talk to everybody the same way? Why do we talk to people who came from a search purchase the same way as people emailed proactively and the same way as people whose first touch was to sign up for a visit? They come with different levels of engagement, but often we’re responding to them all in the same manner.

    Related reading: Doing Enrollment Marketing Differently with Audience Data

    Get Personal with Data-Driven Enrollment

    Stamats:  So, how do successful colleges use that data, beyond delivering targeted content, to drive enrollment?

    Allison: The way to stand out in trying to be personal and make a real connection is to ask real questions. If you’re asking a personal question, that’s different from “Fill out this form to tell me more about you.”

    From there, you’re not necessarily serving up content that is a set process. You’re going to now talk to that student individually, one-to-one. That is now your relationship. If you try to flip it back to sort of formulaic content, it will feel like your initial outreach, that personal touch, was inauthentic.

    The challenge is to be able to scale that, but it works. We know it works. Students who have one-to-one communication with our admissions counselors at Siena enroll at more than twice the rate of the students who don’t.

    This is a cultural shift from “What do we want to say?” to “What do they need from us in the moment?”

    Related reading: Recruitment Strategies That Nurture Dual Enrollment

    Get Together & Get Buy-In

    Stamats:  When you share these insights with your colleagues in enrollment and marketing, what are some of the types of pushback you get?

    Allison: What I’m talking about is hard to scale. It’s a lot of one-to-one communication. One of the things I hear is, “We’re already at max capacity; how do we add that on?” I don’t think you should add it on. I think it’s about reforming or reengineering the work.

    You’ve got to find technology, systems, and processes that can help with efficiency so your team is freed up to do this. Because this relationship building is where you’re going to have the ROI. That’s where you’re going to really meet your enrollment goals.  It’s not extra work; this is the work.

    Stamats:  What are some strategies you and your team use to improve efficiency and optimize your time?

    Allison: The way we find efficiencies and the way we get people working around these ideas is that we create them together. We almost never have an activity or an initiative that comes top-down. We just completely reengineered our marketing strategy last year, and we had 12 or 13 people around the table working on it. We had admissions, communications, financial aid, and enrollment managers. We had a couple of students.

    As everyone becomes aware of the opportunity, they begin to find a way. They say, “Well, I don’t need to be doing this, but I do need to be doing this.” It changes the individual work when you bring everyone to the table in that way. That’s the number one way we found efficiencies and started to do our work differently. There’s a buy-in across the board because we’ve built it together.

    That’s the number one way we found efficiencies and started to do our work differently. There’s buy-in across the board because we’ve built it together. ~Allison Turcio

    Related reading: Drinking from a Fire Hose? 5 Tips to Manage Higher Ed Marketing with a Lean Team

    Opportunity to Change Perception

    Stamats:  Looking to the future, what drives your passion for this work?

    Allison:  We have a responsibility as marketers to get this right and get this right collectively. We can help with the perception issue in higher ed. If we’re rethinking our work and rethinking how we serve families instead of talking at them, we can make a difference in what’s happening.

    If we can help change the perception, then that can increase college-going, especially among students who are currently underrepresented in the college-going population. It matters, and it’s bigger than just what you’re doing at your desk each day.

    I really believe that collectively we can do this better. That’s why I do my podcast. That’s why I do my newsletter: Because if we can do this better, we can impact the perception issues. And if we can impact the perception issues, we can impact college-going.

    Want to help your enrollment team level up before the cliff arrives? We can help. Schedule a time to talk with Stamats experts today.

  • Is Generative AI the Game-Changer PR Professionals Need?

    Is Generative AI the Game-Changer PR Professionals Need?

    Cowritten with Angela Klinske.

    From chatbots facilitating customer service interactions to personalized recommendations on streaming platforms, AI permeates our daily activities. In business, it powers financial projections, healthcare management, and even content creation. In communications, it helps organizations plan and manage crises, develop content for blogs and media, and understand audience sentiment. The list of tools and platforms to help us do our jobs better goes on ad nauseam. 

    And these tools are getting smarter every day. They’re allowing communicators to free up time spent on building out lists, monitoring coverage, and spray-and-pray approaches to PR so they can fine-tune messages, optimize content, and engage with segmented audiences more definitively. 

    Despite these undeniable benefits, ethical considerations remain paramount. PR professionals must uphold their steadfast commitment to professionalism, accuracy, and ethics, even more so in the responsible use of AI. PR pros must constantly verify content accuracy and uphold ethical standards when employing AI, all while preserving human creativity and empathy. While AI enhances efficiency, it cannot replace the genuine human connection essential in effective PR strategies.

    As the digital landscape evolves, PR practitioners must embrace AI while staying vigilant of its potential risks. By employing AI responsibly and ethically, PR professionals can leverage its profound potential to elevate their craft and drive meaningful engagement with their audiences.

    The Public Relations Society of America’s recent report, Promise & Pitfalls: The Ethical Use of AI for Public Relations Practitioners, complements an extensive list of resources PRSA has curated over the past several years to educate members and communications practitioners on emerging AI technologies, tools, and services. You may want to bookmark the page as a resource. 

    Below are highlights gleaned from the report as well as from our own experiences as public relations professionals and content creators:

    • AI streamlines editing but risks misinformation. Fact-checking remains essential.
    • Verify sources rigorously to avoid plagiarism and ethical breaches.
    • Address bias and diversity; AI won’t do it for you.
    • Use AI for checking work, but be cautious with data input. Whatever you put into the tool, including financial and personal data, stays there forever and can be used in countless ways.
    • AI enhances creativity but doesn’t replace human ingenuity.

    Even if utilized correctly, AI will not replace the powerful PR pro. Today’s AI tools are excellent ways to spark ideas, develop a structure for your content, and experiment with different voices and styles. It should not replace your brain—original ideas and content and engaging in meaningful dialogue with your specific audience. 

    Just as we continually refine our communication skills, it’s crucial to approach the integration of AI into our roles with the same level of diligence, professionalism, and attention.

    To learn more about building powerful PR programs, connect with Michele at Stamats.

    Related reading: 5 Signs Your Brand is Ready for a Refresh

  • You Have 10 Seconds—Thrill Me!

    You Have 10 Seconds—Thrill Me!

    The user clicks your ad and hits your landing page. Within the first 10 seconds, they assess the headline, any images, and maybe the first sentence or two of content. Then, one of two things happens:

    1. They are hooked, at least a little bit, and decide to engage for a few more seconds.
    2. They believe that your page isn’t helpful and bounce off the page.

    The 11th second is earned—or lost—by how relevant the headline and initial paragraph are to the visitor’s search query or intent. Look in Analytics; how are your current landing pages doing when it comes to earning more than 10 seconds of attention from your ad visitors?

    This article is part of a series on marketing landing pages. In this installment, we will focus on how landing page content must be relevant to both the campaign and the visitor.

    Relevant Content Earns Time & Attention

    A “bounce” is defined in Analytics as a visit lasting 10 seconds or less with no event interactions. On average, 60% of non-branded paid traffic spends less than 10 seconds on the landing page and then bounces off.

    There is no secret to what it takes to make visitors engage with a landing page instead of bounce. To retain visitor attention and avoid the dreaded bounce, the landing page content must be relevant to the visitor’s needs and aligned with their purpose and intentions.

    Relevant Content Earns Ad Clicks

    We discussed that landing pages are the new keywords in a related article. Part of that blog summary:

    • Today’s marketing platforms measure the relevance between what we advertise and the supporting landing page.
    • The closer our page and campaigns align, the more often our ads are eligible to be served and our cost per click decreases.

    Complicating that last part about click cost:

    • Competition will increase as AI reduces the complexity of digital marketing allowing new competitors to enter the market.
    • Increased competition brings the need for relevance into sharper focus. The most optimized message gets heard above the background noise of less relevant choices.

    Given these factors, marketers need to refine their processes to maintain, let alone enhance, current performance. The landing page is the marketing asset with the greatest influence and impact on relevance.

    Earning attention in marketing isn’t easy, so when a campaign does connect with a prospect, it’s no small feat. In search marketing, out of six ads and 10 blue links, they chose you. Yet for most marketers, the win is very brief. 50-60% of campaign visitors arrive on the landing page, look around for 10 seconds or less, and leave. The landing page couldn’t earn the 11th second.

    Poor landing page relevance is costly in two ways. First, through increased cost per click which also means increased cost lead. Next, poor relevance squanders the opportunity created by the campaign, costing a potential lead because the page didn’t fulfill the promise of the marketing message.

    The most common reason for a bounce is that marketers promote one thing, but the landing page appears to have content about something else. Campaign targeting and messaging are often a mismatch to the content on the landing page.

    Recognize The Mismatch

    We frequently see mismatches where ad copy for a specific program or service leads to a page written with generic content.

    • Ads that target welding classes lead to generalized workforce development pages.
    • An ad that promises an accounting degree leads to a business college page with accounting only mentioned in a bullet with a single line of description.
    • Promotions for two-year associate degrees that point to pages that only have branded content.

    The solution to this mismatch is to create more specific landing pages. Ads that target welding classes should lead to landing pages about welding classes. Ads for accounting classes should lead to pages about accounting classes.

    Herding Cats

    We get it. Creating and managing a host of marketing landing pages aligned with each unique marketing theme can seem daunting, time-consuming, and expensive. But the payoff can be better click-through rates, lower cost per click, and better-qualified leads with greater application to registration yield.

    We’d call that “winning.”

    Setting up unique and specific landing pages can present some challenges, such as maintaining consistent brand identity, aesthetics, and voice. Then there are the mechanics of setting up forms or click-to-call phone numbers and adding conversion tracking for each page. Thankfully, there are ways to smooth out the process and help ensure every marketing page starts from the same footing.

    One recommendation is to build a marketing landing page template. Create and use one template across all marketing landing pages. Using a template creates natural compliance with fonts, phone numbers, colors, and forms. When using a template, Analytics tracking can be built-in so that basic data is always collected. Please note that this templated approach can be on your website or hosted through a service such as Unbounce.

    But your biggest concern is likely creating new content for all those new pages. While that can be a challenge, there are ways to create a winning content formula that reduces the creative writing workload.

    Build Better Pages

    Let’s assume that your current landing pages are indeed converting some visitors. Rather than tossing all that content out, mine the pages for their useful parts.

    Start with your current landing pages and analyze them for similar content about your institution. This is the body content you need to have on each page to support your brand. Collect all the institutional content and rewrite it as one or two paragraphs or sentences.

    Do the same with the college- or category-level content. Collect all the content about the business school, the health sciences college, or the continuing education program and combine it into distinct paragraphs for each category-level theme.

    You now have enough body content to populate two-thirds of any landing page. Next, all you need is a paragraph or two relevant to the specific program, service, or brand message being promoted. Once you have this last section, invert the order of your previous landing pages:

    1. Top of page, specific program content. Value proposition and call to action live here.
    2. Mid-page, college- or category-level content. May include faculty profiles or other assets that discuss points of difference, and build on the value prop.
    3. Bottom of page, brand-related content that reinforces your image.

    There’s more to a landing page than these three blocks of body content—call-to-action, testimonials, other callouts, motivating headlines, and sub-headlines—but for most of the clients that I’ve worked with, creating body copy looks like the insurmountable obstacle in front of them.

    • Really big important note: The page headline (H1) and entry paragraph need to have high relevance to the campaign’s ad headline, body copy, and targeted search query or search theme!
    • Call-to-action is very important, but the campaign goals determine the CTA: RFI form, application, registration, in-person appointment, etc.
    • Once you have body copy, headlines and sub-heads are easier to create.

    Here’s the good news: since it’s a best practice to block marketing landing pages from organic search, you can save time by reusing content as needed. A person who hits the accounting landing page probably will never see the nursing landing page, so it won’t be noticed that you reused the institutional body copy. You need to test landing page content and layout to learn what serves your prospective students best. What works well for the two-year bookkeeping program may not perform as well for a doctoral program.

    Measure It, Or It Didn’t Happen

    Benchmark landing page performance before making any changes and take another reading just before any future edits or updates. Look at the bounce rate in GA4, calculate the user conversion rate, note the lag time between the first click and the converting click. In Google Ads, note the cost per click and click-through rate to determine if the page update has improved ad rank and relevance. Pay attention to the number of conversions (should increase) and the cost per conversion (should decrease). These last two metrics are the two most important for any campaign.

    Summary

    You have 10 seconds or less to keep a marketing visitor on your landing page. How will you earn the 11th second?

    We earn the 11th, 12th, and even the 20th second the same way: through engaging, useful, and highly relevant content. By aligning our landing pages with campaign targeting and ad copy we increase engagement with our marketing message and reduce our cost per lead earning better-qualified leads.

    While your current landing pages are generating conversions, it’s very likely they could be much more efficient. Study your pages and collect all the institutional/brand content into one or two paragraphs, then do the same at the college or category level. Finally, write new content for the specific program/service/brand message being promoted and make that the page’s lead content.

    Measure, always, so that you can learn how your changes affected page performance and prove the value of your methods.

    Ready to rock the landing page for your next campaign?

    Stamats digital experts can help you strike the right message and strategy to create landing pages that convert.

    Email Us Today
  • Enterprise Content AI Implementation Success Story

    Enterprise Content AI Implementation Success Story

    Our clients and colleagues are using AI to kickstart their writing, streamline their processes, and back up their hunches. It’s a great support tool, though the consensus is that it can’t provide the all-important authenticity that makes your messages resonate.

    Savvy strategists like Patrick Kelly at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, use AI to offload some tasks that often bog down projects. Patrick is having great success adopting AI support tools and using the time he’s saving to enhance Harper’s stories and complete more content strategy initiatives.

    Here are three use cases Patrick is sharing with content teams nationwide through conference speaking engagements and workshops. Contact Patrick Kelly on LinkedIn.

    #1 Refresh Certificate Content with Fresh Job Data

    ChatGPT might be the most recognizable AI content platform, but it’s far from the only option. You’ll find AI content generators developed specifically for marketing, SEO, image optimization, language translation, video narration and transcripts, and web analytics.

    Challenge for Harper College: Turn languishing partial-credit program pages into vibrant user- and search-friendly content.

    Harper’s plan: Use Google Gemini, formerly known as Google Bard, to generate copy for job-specific courses and certifications, e.g., truck driving, coding in Python, prepping as a veterinary assistant, or earning a real estate license. Patrick tested and chose Gemini because he had confidence Google’s search expertise would prove valuable.

    AI-supported results: Harper’s web traffic showed significant SEO gains. The site clicks increased 76% overall, with an increase of 170% in unbranded queries. The trucking page was up 28%, the Python coding page was up by 52%, and the top performer was the Real Estate page, gaining an astonishing 331% uptick in clicks.

    What Harper College learned:

    • Start with light writing on general topics. AI content should be brief and straightforward—look for ways to expand on existing content or combine multiple sources.
    • Understand your audience. Specify the optimal reading level for your users. In general, an eighth-grade reading level works for most websites.
    • Help the AI learn exactly what you need. Instead of “two paragraphs about becoming a real estate broker,” use prompts like “search-optimized webpage about training and job outlook for licensed real estate brokers in Illinois.”

    #2 Build Structured Base Content in Half the Time

    Academia and healthcare websites rely on a foundation of structured, list-able content. For example, course descriptions, degree lists, and condition pages. Producing that kind of content starts with objective SEO data gathering and analysis—a perfect task for AI, with a little help from student employees.

    Challenge for Harper College: Humanize the school’s 70+ career pages. Patrick’s team had the bare-bones details but needed to round out the content with meaningful, career-focused context.

    Harper’s plan: Use jasper.ai and thoroughly tested spreadsheet formulas to generate content options for narrative, search-friendly descriptions of career paths and job outlooks.

    AI-supported results: Student workers completed basic content assignments quickly, even though most were not trained web content writers. That efficiency helped the team eliminate about 3.5 hours of foundational work per page, giving Patrick’s professional writing team more space for creative editing. The new content showed an increase of 217% in clicks for overall search, and a 358% increase in unbranded queries! See the Health Information Technology Careers page as an example.

    What Harper College learned:

    • Structured output requires structured input. Identify your specific content needs and the data you need to make it happen before you start using AI.
    • Spreadsheets can guide organization. Content creators can use spreadsheets to house all the key data points they need for AI prompts and as holding places for outputs.
    • Test and streamline the process before handing it off. A bit of trial and error can eliminate confusion and bottlenecks in workflows and processes when everyone is deep in the trenches.
    • AI can be a valuable training tool. Structured content using documented processes is a great way to hand off to student workers or interns who don’t have the time for extensive onboarding or long-winded instructions.
    • Keep your options open. Free AI platforms are a great way to learn, but paid platforms built by subject matter experts might be a better investment of your time.

    #3 Highlight & Name New “8-Week Classes” Initiatives

    The Harper College use case: Create a report highlighting programs where all the classes can be taken in eight-week formats and come up with a name for marketing the new “package” to prospective students.

    Harper’s plan: Use Gemini to assess the data and generate the report. Then use Gemini to analyze those results alongside web traffic data to suggest initiative names that would generate the most traffic.

    The results: In addition to the naming suggestions, Patrick was also able to provide stakeholders from the academic departments with the rationale for each.

    What Harper College learned:

    • Use AI to explain the why. This is a huge plus for stakeholders who look for strong data to drive their decisions.
    • Use the AI results as a starting point. Add your organization’s branding, tone, and voice to make it unique, or use it to guide decision-making discussions.
    • Take advantage of AI to synthesize multiple data sources. Wondering why you’re suddenly getting traffic to a specific page?

    AI can be useful, but strategy and storytelling matter most.

    Colleagues like Patrick Kelly demonstrate that there’s no need to shy away from incorporating AI into your content production. As Sabra Fiala, AVP of Marketing at Stamats, summarizes, there are abundant ways that institutions can use AI to “innovate, empower, and positively impact lives” through content strategy.

    We can quickly deliver highly effective SEO content using streamlined and documented processes, reaching audiences faster and with greater precision than ever before. That said, there’s a difference between content production and content creation. It takes strategic thinking and our deep instincts as communicators to create compelling stories for user journeys.

    With all those hours saved, we’ll have more time to explore, refine, and imagine—and that’s where the magic of content strategy happens.

    Need some direction in using AI?

    We’d love to connect and discuss your unique content strategy challenges. Email us!

    Related reading: 3 Rules for a Better SEO Linking Strategy

  • Why Landing Pages Can Make or Break LeadGen Marketing

    Why Landing Pages Can Make or Break LeadGen Marketing

    What happens next is entirely up to you.

    Ads and other offsite content can capture attention and steer users to your site, but it’s up to the landing page to convert interest into action. Arguably, the landing page is the most important part of any campaign.

    Let’s take one step back and answer the question, “What is a landing page”? A landing page is simply the first page a visitor sees when they enter your site. By that definition, any page could be a potential landing page, and that’s right. For our discussion “landing page” refers to the page an ad click or other marketing traffic is directed to.

    In this blog series, we will look at three critical factors that contribute to the makeup of effective landing pages, and by extension, allow campaigns to be successful.

    • Landing Pages Are the New Keywords: It’s true – AI-driven campaigns understand the language of your landing page and use it to target your ads. Today, the keywords you target in your ad campaign work more like guidelines than concrete tools.
    • You’ve Got 10 Seconds, Thrill Me: Ad visitors quickly assess the landing page to decide if it answers their question. On average, a visitor will take 10 seconds or less to decide to stay or bounce. Can your page earn the 11th second?
    • Answering The Call – Don’t be Shy: The visitor clicked on your ad or other piece of marketing material. They expect you to sell your program/service/concept and tell them what to do next. Be bold in promoting what the user wants.

    There are a lot of opportunities to improve most landing pages. The average landing page is populated with unfocused content and indirect, less-than-motivating calls to action. The bar is low, and marketers who put work into their landing pages will be head and shoulders above the competition.

    In summary, landing pages must do the heavy lifting of converting interest into valuable action. The prospect showed interest by clicking on your ad or on a hyperlink in an article you wrote. If we equip our landing pages with meaningful content and clear instructions on how to take a next step, it’s certain that our marketing will yield better outcomes.

    Ready to rock the landing page for your next campaign?

    Stamats digital experts can help you strike the right message and strategy to create landing pages that convert.

    Email us today

  • Are Landing Pages the New Keywords?

    Are Landing Pages the New Keywords?

    Part of the series Landing Pages Can Make or Break LeadGen Marketing

    Here’s how Google’s policy has changed over the last seven years:

    • In 2017, Google Ads changed “exact match” keywords to allowing ads to serve close variants. A search for “lawn mowing service” would now match your campaign’s exact match keyword target “lawn cutting service.” The exact-ish match is born.
    • In 2021, the Ads platform removed “modified broad match” as a keyword option. We were told to embrace full broad match keywords paired with AI-driven campaign bidding. With broad match for example, targeting the keyword “grass cutting” can match to searches for “lawn care.”
    • In late 2023, Google replaced keyword targets in most Performance Max campaigns with search themes. A “search theme” is a plain language description of what the target audience might search for. For example, instead of “business accounting program” as a keyword target, a search theme is a full descriptive sentence that aligns with how your target searches, such as “best business programs near me with an accounting specialty.”

    Context is King

    Google hasn’t been a keyword-driven search tool for many years. When someone uses search, Google uses AI-driven algorithms to:

    • Consider and weigh hundreds of factors (aka “signals”) which may include the user’s recent search and browsing history, physical location, and other details, right down to their recent behavior between using forms versus click-to-call.
    • Assess the content of all the possible answer pages and rank them according to how relevant each page is to the user and the search query.

    Only then does Google serve up ads and blue links. In other words, Google Search returns results based on overall relevance and context, not just because the search user entered words an advertiser wants to target.

    Relevant Content Wins

    It’s important to clarify that as of this writing, keywords are not dead. Keywords in advertising still have power. But currently, they act more like strong indicators and suggestions rather than explicit instructions.

    Today’s ad platforms don’t just scan pages for keyword matches, they understand the context of your landing pages. Even if search engines don’t (yet) have a human-level understanding, they comprehend enough to determine if the page answers the user’s search query.

    For an ad to be served, the campaign’s keywords AND landing page content need to align with the context of the user (those 200+ signals) and the search query they entered.

    “Mostly align” is closer to the truth. Google will happily take your ad click money if your campaign targeting is in the ballpark of the search user’s intent, but you’re going to pay for that privilege. Sometimes, you’re going to pay a lot.

    The Cost-Per-Click Penalty

    Every campaign ad gets ranked. Those with low rank might still be served, but to win ad auctions low-ranking campaigns must bid more money per click to have a chance against better-ranking competitors. It’s in your best interest to create a landing page that matches your user’s search queries.

    Consider this scenario we found after taking over a client account:

    The college had a generic landing page dedicated to earning new students for its programs. The page had content about:

    • The college itself
    • Available grants
    • Campus amenities
    • Ease of registration
    • A bulleted list of nine specific programs including business and education degrees

    The college had a Search campaign with two main target audiences:

    • People looking for colleges in the same county, often searching with the college’s brand name
    • People searching for each of the nine programs in the bullet list

    The average cost of the ad clicks tells the story about the landing page.

    • High relevance traffic: For visitors who arrived from generic “college near me” searches or branded searches, the average cost per ad click was $2.34
    • Low relevance traffic: Ad clicks based on the nine specific programs had an average cost of $12.59.

    In three months, the campaign spent the same amount of money on both audience types, but the “near me” and branded ad traffic generated 1,278 leads while degree traffic earned only 40 leads. Because the landing page didn’t support the program-related ads, cost per conversion was 32X higher for the ads that targeted specific degrees.

    What went wrong here? Effectively, the landing page didn’t have enough high-quality content for those nine bulleted programs. Targeting ads to programs or audiences not supported by content on the landing page will have a much higher cost while producing far fewer conversions.

    Landing Page Content—Best Practice

    Given that today’s AI-driven campaigns rely on the content of the landing page to target ads, we need to make sure:

    • Campaigns don’t overreach the information presented on the landing page. In our example, the ads targeting people searching for the nine specific programs weren’t supported by the landing page.
    • The content on the landing page answers the prospect’s questions. It’s not enough to mention that you offer the program or service, you need to present information that relates to questions a prospect would naturally have. The page needs to be about the offering, not about your organization in general.

    Landing pages really are the new keywords. With informative and well-defined content these pages can be even more powerful in reaching the right prospect, at the right time, with the right message.

    Ready to rock the landing page for your next campaign?

    Stamats digital experts can help you strike the right message and strategy to create landing pages that convert.

    Email Us Today

  • Brick by Cascade Brick: A Smarter Way to Build Your Web Content Strategy

    Brick by Cascade Brick: A Smarter Way to Build Your Web Content Strategy

    Doreen Fagerheim, AVP of Digital Media and Web Marketing at Belhaven University, and I recently gave this presentation at the Cascade CMS Users Conference.

    Our session introduced an exciting feature that makes inserting repeatable phrases into a site very easy to maintain. Our presentation on Cascade Bricks guided the attendees through the essential steps and best practices for implementing, constructing, refining, scheduling, and publishing content bricks within a Cascade site. We showcased tangible instances of how Belhaven University used bricks to craft a more efficient and strategic content writing and governance approach.

    What Is a Cascade Brick?

    A Cascade Brick is a block of content that will inherit the design of the component the brick lives in. Think of it like a modern-day mail merge—you build the field for the text, and then you can easily update it sitewide with new content and most importantly, the appropriate style.

    Cascade Bricks are perfect for content that lives on multiple pages or block types and may change in the future, such as:

    • leader names
    • tuition pricing
    • phone numbers
    • accreditation wording
    • quick facts
    • number of programs
    • links to catalogs and handbooks

    How Do I Use Cascade Bricks in My Content Plan?

    First, think about content that you reuse over and over. Or more importantly, content you want to but often hold back because you don’t want to deal with editing multiple pages in the future. You no longer have to hold back adding the detail to multiple pages. This is one of the biggest a-ha moments when talking with clients.

    ​Second, determine if the content should be a brick. Not all content aligns with bricks. Follow our flowchart to determine if your content is a brick.

    Brick usage flowchart

    Ask yourself:

    • Is this evergreen content?
    • Will the brick still work if it’s at the beginning or middle of a sentence?
    • Will the sentence structure need to be adjusted on all pages?
    • Will the brick adapt well to all types of blocks?

    ​Ensure that all writers reference the bricks spreadsheet and use the bricks in writing new content.

    How Do I Write with Bricks in Mind?

    Once you have determined your plan, create a spreadsheet to track your brick text and the name. In your Word document, make sure your content is written with the bricks. Otherwise, it will be hard for migration to identify what to configure as a brick during the site build.

    It’s easier to over-plan on bricks during writing than under-plan.

    What If My Site Is Already Live?

    If your site has already gone live, start with bricks as you edit content. For example, if you are changing dates for the fall semester, move the fall dates into a brick. Every time you touch shared content, evaluate if it can be moved into a brick and do that as you edit it.

    How Do I Set Up Bricks in Cascade?

    Stamats worked with Hannon Hill to create a sample site attendees can use to set up their site with bricks in Cascade CMS. After installation, create bricks in the Global Setup section of your CMS and add them to pages by replacing words with the brick name enclosed in brackets.

    Who Can Install Cascade Bricks?

    Bricks are accessible to all users with a Cascade site, with updates automatically applied nightly. They offer the optimal solution for content management efficiency. We love that Cascade constantly enhances its platform with enhanced features for integration and adaptability with bricks.

    If you need assistance getting started with bricks or would like a copy of our content matrix template, please reach out to me. ​

    Related Reading: Analytics Storytelling: What Has Your Website Done For You Lately?

    Cascade Bricks Toolkit Created by Stamats

    Make your website better and save time with Bricks. Download our free toolkit to get started today.

  • Inclusive Branding for Diverse Audiences

    Inclusive Branding for Diverse Audiences

    Co-written with Lemar Thomas, Consultant.

    Consider these various tactics as part of your strategy, with examples from some of the world’s biggest brands:

    Research and Understand Your Audiences. Invest time in understanding the needs, preferences, and behaviors of your diverse audiences. Conduct research to gather insights into their pain points, desires, and perceptions of your brand. Learn how they consume and share information, such as what channels, platforms, and formats they prefer.

    In its award-winning campaign from 2021, P&G related to the societal issues its consumers face and tackled racism in a multi-channel approach, including its own My Black is Beautiful platform.

    Develop Marketing Personas. Use the insights gained from your research to create detailed marketing personas that represent your diverse audience segments. These personas will guide your brand messaging and help you speak the right language to reach your intended audience.

    Position Your Brand Around Audience Needs. Focus on addressing the specific needs and aspirations of your diverse audiences, rather than highlighting their diversity. Avoid stereotypes and instead emphasize how your brand can solve their problems or fulfill their desires.

    For example, in Dove’s latest campaign, they employed a multi-channel approach to spotlight girls’ perceptions of body image. Surprisingly, half of teenage girls drop out of sports due to poor body image. By partnering with Nike, Dove aims to tackle this issue among their shared audiences, positioning themselves as leaders in empowering coaches to better support and advocate for young athletes.

    Adapt Brand Elements. Tailor your brand elements, such as color palettes, language, and visuals, to resonate with your diverse audiences. Consider working with graphic designers to create color schemes that appeal to different age groups or cultural backgrounds. Avoid cultural appropriations and generalizations. 

    See how Häagen-Dazs used color as they market to millennials to capture a new generation of consumers.

    Collaborate with Organizations and Influencers that Value Diversity. Co-create brand stories that authentically represent the experiences and perspectives of your diverse audiences. Leverage storytelling to connect with your audience on an emotional level and showcase the inclusivity of your brand.

    Netflix embraced this strategy by collaborating with The Latinx House, the Sundance Institute’s Women at Sundance program, and Shondaland for Latina and non-binary Latinx directors seeking invaluable experience opportunities in the entertainment industry to create The Adelante Directors Fellowship. This year-long program supported selected directors’ professional development and helped to create a pipeline to support independent filmmakers.

    Measure Effectiveness. Continuously monitor the effectiveness of your branding efforts by collecting feedback from your diverse audiences and analyzing performance metrics across various channels. Use this data to refine your strategies and ensure your brand resonates with all stakeholders.

    As marketers, our job is to embrace inclusive branding practices and commit to creating brands that authentically represent and resonate with diverse audiences. By following these steps, we can build stronger connections with our customers and stakeholders, ultimately driving success and growth for our brands.

    Ready to up your brand strategy?  Contact us.

  • The Superheros of Your Brand and Marketing Strategies: 10 Reminders of the Power of Personas

    The Superheros of Your Brand and Marketing Strategies: 10 Reminders of the Power of Personas

    Whether you are updating your existing personas or creating new ones, expertly crafted personas will provide a boost of power for your strategic brand and marketing initiatives.  

    1. Audience Understanding

    Personas provide a deeper understanding of target audiences by capturing key demographic information, behaviors, preferences, and pain points. This knowledge helps define strategies that better resonate with your audiences.

    2. Targeted Marketing

    Create more authentic and interesting marketing tactics specifically addressing the needs and interests of different audience segments. This shows you’ve paid attention to your audience and value their unique aspects.

    3. Enhanced User Experience

    By identifying pain points and preferences, you can create more personalized and seamless interactions. Whether it’s through tailored messaging, recommendations, or call-to-actions, personas will ensure a successful user journey. For example, given Emily’s preference for seamless digital experiences and mobile access, XYZ Company will understand best how to reach and interact with Emily for an optimal engagement experience with a higher chance of conversion. 

    4. Content Relevance

    Pay attention to the topics, formats, and channels that resonate most with various demographics to capture attention and drive engagement more effectively.

    5. Efficiencies

    By focusing on specific personas, marketers can prioritize audience segments with a higher rate of conversion, leading to a better ROI.

    6. More Effective Communication

    Personas provide valuable insights into how their target audience prefers to communicate. Whether it’s through social media, email, or in-person interactions, personas can help customize communication strategies to better reach and convert target audiences.

    7. Strategic Decision-Making

    Personas serve as a valuable tool for guiding strategic decision-making and budget allocation. From brand and marketing to retention and customer service, personas can provide intelligence for prioritization and planning.   

    8. Competitive Advantage

    Those who invest in persona development gain a competitive advantage by being better equipped to meet the needs of their target audience. Understand your audience segments on a deeper level to differentiate and position yourself as an industry leader.

    9. Measurable Results

    Measure impact with a clearer picture of how each persona segment responds to key metrics such as engagement, conversion rates, and satisfaction. Make data-driven adjustments as needed.

    10. Adaptability

    In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, personas provide the flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions and customer preferences. By continuously updating and refining personas, you can ensure your strategies remain relevant and effective over time.

    Personas play a critical role in today’s world by providing a deeper understanding of target audiences and enabling the creation of more personalized and effective strategies. Investing in persona development can help gain a competitive market advantage, drive engagement and loyalty, and ultimately, achieve greater success in today’s dynamic marketplace.

    Interested in personas?

    I’d love to help you get started with your first persona or help refine an existing persona.

    Email Sabra

    Related reading: 6 Tips for Confident Marketing Tracking

  • Doctoral Programs—On The Rise

    Doctoral Programs—On The Rise

    Doctoral Student Demand Continues

    Table-Doctoral Student Demand Continues

    SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Award completions data. Doctoral awards combining research, professional, and other award types. All delivery modalities included.

    Largest Volume Doctoral Programs

    Not surprisingly, the largest volume doctoral programs are in law, health science occupations, and education. STEM and business programs are also among the top 25 highest-volume programs in the U.S.

    table - Largest Volume Doctoral Programs

    Source: IPEDS Degree completions, top 25 doctoral programs in 2022 by volume. All disciplines, all doctoral award types, and all delivery modalities included.

    Doctoral Disciplines—Fastest Growing

    Professional health sciences like Occupational Therapy, Nursing, and Physician Assistants are among the fastest-growing doctoral disciplines in the U.S. Education disciplines of Higher Education Administration and Curriculum and Instruction serving the education and teaching sector are on the rise too.

    table-Doctoral Disciplines—Fastest Growing

    Source: IPEDS Degree completions, year-on-year growth at 7% or greater among all doctoral disciplines with at least 500 awards in 2022. All disciplines, all doctoral award types, and all delivery modalities included.

    Others may be surprised to see sharp growth among these programs:

    • Organizational Leadership – 3rd fastest growing program at the doctoral level in the U.S.; providers growing most rapidly offered the program in the distance format.
    • Theology – 2nd fastest in terms of year-on-year growth. Liberty University excels—doubling degrees conferred in one year in the distance format. Some of these degrees may be Liberty’s Doctor of Ministry, offered online with 14 concentrations. Several other faith-based providers have recently entered this market and are vying for market share.
    • Econometrics and Quantitative Economics – 7th fastest discipline at the doctoral level in the U.S.; this is often an interdisciplinary cross-section of economics, statistics, machine learning, and finance. This highly rigorous degree meets employers’ needs in academia and government as well as the private business sector.
    • Biomedical Sciences – Doctoral program demand grew nearly 15% in one year. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is the top-performing institution in the country with 58 awards in 2022 at the doctoral level in Biomedical Sciences. The Icahn website suggests three tracks of study; Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, Ph.D. Neuroscience, and Ph.D. Clinical Research. Neuroscience was also among the fastest-growing disciplines in the graphic above.

    Doctoral Disciplines—Distance Format

    J.D. degrees in the distance format? Yes, it’s happening! Syracuse University’s J.D. Interactive program claims to be the first American Bar Association-accredited program in the U.S. The Syracuse program web page indicates synchronous and asynchronous online courses as well as six in-person residencies. Professionals need to keep jobs and tend to families so distance modalities (online, hybrid, low residence) are important to meet student demand.

    table - Doctoral Disciplines—Distance Format

    Source: IPEDS Degree completions, year-on-year growth at 20% or greater among all doctoral disciplines with at least 400 awards in 2022 in the distance format.

    Academic Program Development

    Student demand trends are an important piece to consider but also relevant for academic program development are:

    • Labor and occupational trends
    • Local employer needs and input
    • Competitor offerings and competitor performance in similar programs
    • Associations and credentialing bodies detailing skills in need within the profession

    Altogether, student demand, labor market data, and competitive intelligence can shed light on the feasibility for a new academic program or a program change at any award level. Four in 10 new academic programs fail after launch, so you’ll want to be armed with a robust, data-supported proposal before investing. We’re ready to help you move fast!

    Ready to research certificates for your institution? Email me to schedule a free consultation.

    Related reading: What Certificates Should We Offer