It's About the First Impression

I don't usually write about consumer products and relate it to education, especially regarding alcohol. However, I could not resist this opportunity. I had friends visiting and decided to add a new beer to our tailgate ... Abita's Purple Haze, a raspberry wheat malt beer. I was exceptionally disappointed. So where's the link to higher education? All the reviews for Purple Haze on tap are great. When they put it in a bottle, it is horrible ... but they charge a premium. With continuing education and especially distance education, you just don't put the same product online without testing it, yet expect it to be the same while charging a premium. What you also can't do is set the expectation for your product so high and not reach it. Package it and price it as a premium and consumers will expect high satisfaction and delight. Marketers ... you can't overpromote a bad product. You need to push back and ask for product testing. Customer service people ... you need to deliver the services that support the product. Fail here and you too will never get them back. Program designers, planners and faculty ... Put a bad product out there and you'll never get repeat purchase. Sorry, Abita, but your beer was so bad for what I paid for it and despite your nice packaging, I won't buy it again ... ever. In fact, I now relate Abita as a brand as a weak beer. If Abita comes back and does something amazing and is able to convert me back, I'd be stunned. What would a university do with a poor online offering?

Fong_ACHE_UMass_Case_Study_2006

Here's a case study I did a few years ago for those of you who asked. The University of Massachusetts Amherst was trying to move its high-contact, face-to-face adult education program "University Without Walls" to a more progressive model of education. Research drove a great deal of the marketing and program development, but ultimately it was the good work of many at UMass that help transform this into a hybrid learning and technology-enhanced program. Enrollments are up in 2008 and the forecast is strong. Here's a copy of the case study that was produced for ACHE.
Fong_ACHE_Journal_2006.pdf

The Impact of the Economy on Continuing Education Marketing

I recently attended the WCET meeting in Phoenix and met many past friends and made many new ones. In my consultations with deans, directors and marketing people at WCET and throughout my other travels, I believe that many of the marketing strategies will not focus on silver bullets of new technology marketing tactics or some magical portal. It will come first from internal efficiencies, as deans and directors will drive the marketing bar higher. They will do so by reassessing marketing talent, develop a metric driven/ROI style of marketing accountability and improve conversion in the sales closing or customer service processes. Also, deans and directors will ramp up their marketing abilities to achieve a more common language with their marketers. True or false? I lean on true. Get ready for a challenging but rewarding ride.

New Web Marketing Focus

I was reading a report recently published by e-Marketer which showed that the number of page views by college students decreased significantly over the past year. While there are many possible reasons for this ... they may be spending more time watching video and thus not searching or may be spending more time with their phones.

However, I'd argue that they will not tolerate having to search around for information. Maybe it is backlash toward disorganized university webpages? As many of us know, potential students will evaluate based on web information and not make the telephone call. Maybe potential students are making quicker decisions? That's my guess. Colleges and universities will need to focus their sites ... they will have to sell. Good copy and keywording is critical. Colleges and universities have cobbled things together and have been moderately successful to date. If my hypothesis is true, they are starting to lose out.

Comment on what you think it is.

I recently spoke at the WCET conference and addressed this as a trend. Download the presentation from the link on the side.