Kristi Kidd
August 12, 2019
When I talk to higher ed marketers and enrollment professionals about the promise of content marketing to build enrollment success, I’m consistently met with one objection: “Content marketing is a lot of work, and we’re already short-staffed!”
They’re looking at moving from a handful of print pieces focused on their institutional brands to a content portfolio focused on the needs of their prospective students.
Fortunately, over the last few years, a number of software platforms (such as HubSpot) have begun to provide systems to help marketers manage and optimize the multitude of tasks involved in producing an effective content marketing program.
So just what kind of advantage accrues to organizations who use these tools? Recently, the Aberdeen Group did a study to determine who content marketing platforms affect, including objectives such as site traffic, leads, and conversions.
The study found that best-in-class organizations (i.e., those whose performance ranks in the top 20 percent) are over 80 percent more likely than laggards (those in the bottom 30 percent) to use content marketing software platforms.
They also found significant advantages at every stage of the funnel.
Organizations using content management platforms experienced:
It is clear that important and effective content, delivered
strategically at key trigger points, helps engage prospects, develops
trusting relationships, moves prospects along the funnel, and creates
brand preference.
Why? Aberdeen offered no answers, but here are my best observations.
Sure, on face value platforms are costly. But think about the labor
and potential for error in creating Excel worksheets and managing the
volumes of content you’ll need to maintain your competitive edge. And
just imagine improving your inquiry-to-enroll numbers by 124 percent.
Worth it?