For most organizations in higher education there are several specific challenges when it comes to utilizing data within their marketing strategies. Join us for this webinar as Brad Henry from Hannon Hill partner Beacon Technologies addresses some of the more common issues associated with data collection and utilization with high level tactics for addressing these. Highlights will include Google Analytics, using data to drive your strategy, information overload, the length of admissions cycles, and attribution modeling. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with the presenter.

1. 5 things you must consider for a
data driven marketing strategy
October 23, 2012
Agenda
 Google Analytics
 Using data to drive your strategy
 Information overload
 Length of Admissions cycles
 Attribution Modeling

2. Introduction
What drives your decision making?
Creativity, Experience, Processes, Budgets, Gut Feeling
It’s what we’ve always done.
+
Information
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3. 1. Google Analytics
The underlying platform that allows your organization to collect
information from your digital experience and organize it in a
fashion you can use for decision making.
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Technologies 3

4. 1. Google Analytics
Two competing forces in higher education:
• Division/Separation of data ownership
• Necessity for session information to remain intact
Application
Sites
Admissions
.EDU Athletics
Colleges
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5. 1. Google Analytics
Why is single session information important?
• Determine which sources are driving most effective traffic for
various purposes
• Determine which actions on the website are most effective for
driving various conversions
• Minimize skewed KPIs such as Page Depth, time on site,
bounce rates
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6. 1. Google Analytics
What do I want visitors to do once they get to my website?
How do I lead visitors to what I want them to do?
Information
Solution
Creativity
Challenge
Budget
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7. 1. Google Analytics
What are some common Goals to track?
• Accessing admissions requirements page
• Downloading an admissions information packet
• Signing up for email list
• Site registration or creation of account
• Calling the admissions department
• Contact us submissions
• Downloading financial aid information,
• Research scholarships & grants
• Register for an admissions/campus event (open house)
• Starting an application
• Completion and submission of an application
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8. 2. Using Data to Drive Your Strategy
Your website is a platform for conveying your value within your
market space. You introduce your product, your price, and your
promotion (if any) in an attempt to increase perceived value.
What website analytics will do:
Measures how effectively your website is at conveying your selected
message.
What website analytics won’t do:
Understand the psychology behind the actions.
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9. 1. Using Data to Drive Your Strategy
Two major types of information we should utilize:
1. Quantitative: Helps answers the “What happened”
2. Qualitative: Helps answers the “Why it happened”
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10. 2. Using Data to Drive Your Strategy
Before ever starting a PPC campaign, sending a direct mail,
scheduling admissions events, or tailoring your marketing
message, understanding the current perception of your target
audience will allow you to sculpt your marketing message to
specifically target their underlying needs.
News and PR
Friends Alumni
Parents Your website
Social Media Marketing campaigns
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11. 2. Using Data to Drive Your Strategy
Getting to the root cause of the why’s?
• How does your audience think of your organization in relation
to their next selection?
• Did this perception change for the good/bad after attending
an admissions event?
• What do students/parents consider most important in their
decision making process?
• Do they consider student experience or post-grad
opportunities more important?
• At what point in life do you first recall hearing about your
organization and how has your perception changed over
time?
• What in their minds separates your organization from others?
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12. 2. Using Data to Drive Your Strategy
What are the steps I need to take?
• Identify weak performing areas on the website
• Gather your marketing team and start asking questions
– Don’t answer your questions, just figure out what are the right types
of questions to ask.
• Evaluate historical marketing campaigns to see what
components of those worked and which didn’t
• Determine segmentations
• Develop hypotheses
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13. 2. Using Data to Drive Your Strategy
How do I organize the information to be meaningful?
• Tally your responses
• Create averages by your segments
• Use pivot tables to view it from various angles
• Trends and patterns will emerge
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14. 2. Using Data to Drive Your Strategy
Use the data to prove/disprove your hypothesis and learn new
insights. This information will help you shape the marketing
message that gets amplified through your website and
campaigns.
The right
message
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15. 3. Information Overload
There’s too much information!
• Qualitative
“From the beginning of recorded time until
• Website Analytics 2003, humans created five billion gigabytes
of information (five exabytes). Last year,
• Webmaster tools the same amount of information was
• Google Insights created every two days.”
• Admissions Data Dave Turek,
Executive in charge of
• CRM Data Supercomputer development for IBM
• Offline Campaign data
• Competitive Information
• Industry Information
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16. 3. Information Overload
Breakdown of time spent across data collection points
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17. 4. Length of Admissions Cycle
The decision to not only attend college but in determining which
college begins early in high school. Opinions are formed over an
extended period of time – which may be take years.
How do I measure the success of marketing if I won’t see
potential results for years?
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18. 4. Length of Admissions Cycle
• Set proper expectations for efforts for each stage
• Understand the variances in needs for prospects in different
stages
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19. 5. Attribution Modeling
• Most people in your target audience will be accessing your
website from multiple devices. (home computer, mobile
device, tablet, work computer, etc…)
• Most people in your audience won’t accomplish everything in
one visit.
• Most people in your audience won’t come back to your
website the exact same way they previously came.
This creates a fragmented experience through the admissions
cycle by breaking the user into different sources, mediums, and
devices.
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20. 5. Attribution Modeling
What source actually gets credit for the conversion?
First Click?
Last Click?
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21. 5. Attribution Modeling
Measuring assist value versus first or last click value:
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22. 5. Attribution Modeling
How do I know which efforts are effective?
• KPIs by phase in admissions cycle
• Centralized conversion database
• Import your offline goals into your website analytics platform
• Split/control testing with geographic regions
• Custom Variables
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23. Summary
1. Make sure you are getting clean and reliable analytics
2. Fully understand current brand perceptions
3. Contrast brand perceptions to what you want to convey
4. Segment your admissions cycle
5. Deploy marketing campaigns
6. Measure impacts
7. Optimize Data
Information
Collection
8. Repeat
Actions Insights
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24. Questions?
Need Help or Have Questions with any of these data considerations?
Contact Us:
Brad Henry: bhenry@beacontec.com
Rick Boccard: rboccard@beacontec.com
Follow us:
Twitter: @beacontec
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/beacontechnologies
Blog: http://blog.beacontechnologies.com
URL: http://www.beacontec.com
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