presented by
Dr. Robert A. Sevier
Senior Vice President, Strategy
Stamats, Inc.
Cedar Rapids, IA 52406
(800) 553-8878
About Stamats
Stamats is recognized and respected as the
nation’s higher education integrated-marketing
thought leader. Our comprehensive array of
innovative services has set the standard for
pairing insightful, research-based strategic
counsel with compelling creative solutions.
We promise our clients the highest level of
professional service and attention to detail in
the industry because, in the end, we know our
success is measured entirely by theirs.
Research, Planning, and
Consulting
■ Brand clarification and development
■ Image and perception studies
■ Recruiting and marketing
assessments, plans, and counsel
■ Tuition pricing elasticity and brand
value studies
Strategic Creative
■ Institutional, admission ,and
■
■
■
■
2 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
advancement websites
Mobile and social media solutions
Recruiting and advancement
campaigns and publications
Virtual and experiential tours
Full media advertising campaigns
The Problem
 Too many schools…
 Offer the same basic programs as their competitors
 Taught by the same great faculty
 Largely deliver the same experience
 And market themselves the same way
 As a result
 Offerings have become more vague
 Competition has increased
 Revenues have fallen
 Margins have become razor thin
3 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
A Working Definition of Strategy
 The purpose of strategy is to differentiate your school/program from your
competitors in ways that target audiences value
 Let’s unpack this:
 Differentiation
 Competitors
 Target audiences value
4 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
What Is Differentiation?
 A source of competitive advantage that depends on developing and
communicating a quality, attribute, or characteristic that is of value to
your customers and not offered by your competitors
 Competitive advantage
 Of interest to students, high barrier to entry, high margin
 Developing
 Rooted in your mission and vision, based on true marketplace needs
 Communicating
 Generating awareness, generating specific program awareness
5 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Differentiation – continued
 Quality, attribute, or characteristic
 Tangible
 Intangible
 Of value to customers
 Based on research
 Not offered by competitors
6 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Differentiation – continued
 Most differentiation strategies depend on one or more of the four Ps:
 Product
 Price (almost always a losing strategy)
 Place
 Promotion (may give you a temporary edge)
 The more of the four Ps you can involve in your differentiation strategy,
the better off you will be
 Try to differentiate on those variables that:
 Are valued by students
 Have a high barrier to entry
7 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Relevance
From the Perspective of Prospective Students
Expecteds
Drivers
high in relevance, low in
differentiation
high in relevance, high
in differentiation
Neutrals
Fool’s gold
low in relevance, low
in differentiation
low in relevance,
high in differentiation
Points of differentiation
Source: McKinseyQuarterly.com; modified
8 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Competitors
 With whom do you truly compete for prospective students?
 And other resources: media attention, donated dollars, etc.
 Generally, three types of competitors:
 Win from
 Lose to
 Split 50/50
(not really your competitors, you beat them up)
(not really your competitors, they beat you up)
 In most cases, you will have
your best chance to improve
share against the third
group: split 50/50
 Try to limit your competitors to five
9 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Competitor Research






Secret shopper
Compare programs
Compare support structures
Compare cost
Compare financial aid strategies
Compare completion rates
 Your goal is not to be more like your competitors, but different from
them in ways students find compelling
 Where they zig, you need to zag
10 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Target Audiences Value
 Based on research, do you understand:
 What your students seek?
 Their fears about going (or going back) to college?
 What motivates?
 The outcomes they envision?
 Institutionally centric and audience-centric
 Caveat emptor and cave emptorum
Get inside their heads!
11 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Strategy is not about doing more or spending more.
Strategy about being different in ways your target
audiences find compelling.
12 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Understanding Integrated Marketing Communication
 …or how IMC, brand marketing, and recruiting all fit together
13 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
14 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Brand Marketing 101 (briefly)
 A brand is a valued and differentiating promise a college, university, or
school makes to its most important audiences to meet a need or fulfill an
expectation
 Perry Forster: “A brand is a promise expressed as a benefit that your
target audiences value”
 Rob Frankel: “Truly successful brands are perceived
by the target audience as the best, or even only, solution
to a particular need”
 Big question: What particular need do adult students have?
15 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
What Is the Difference…
 Between a program that is unique…and a program that is compelling?
Unique
16 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
What
Competitors
Do Well
What
Stakeholders
Value
YOUR
BRAND
PROMISE
17 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
What
Audiences
Value
Direct Marketing (DM)
 Designed to generate a response
 Primary direct marketers:
– Admissions—want to visit, apply, attend?
– Advancement—want to give?
 Historic DM channels:
– Telephone
– Postal mail
 Emergent DM channels:
 Email
 Text messaging
 IM
 Blogging (and all its permutations)
 RSS feeds
 Social networks (social media)
18 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Internal Communication
 Consider engaged employees as another channel
 The key is to keep them informed
19 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
What Is mROI?
 Measuring return on investment
 Measurement used to assess the performance of a given marketing
initiative (tracking)
 If we do not evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing and recruiting
strategies, they will always be seen as a cost and not an investment
 Barriers to measurement:
 Time
 Money
 Politics
 We just don’t want to know (fear?)
 Poor data collection habits
 Turf
20 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
The Role of Research
 Without data, it is only an opinion
 Research generally falls into two broad categories:
 Generative
 Designed to generate messages, ideas, and channels
 Clarify strategies
 Evaluative
 Designed to test effectiveness
 mROI
 Well-led organizations use research to reduce uncertainty and clarify
options
The next few slides are drawn from our annual Adult StudentsTALK™ study and other sources.
21 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
“Deal Makers” for Adult Students
Flexibility/Scheduling —“On my schedule, not just when you want to teach.”
Convenience —“In-and-out parking; one-stop shop.”
Credit for life experience — “Acknowledge what I have already learned through my
professional experience.”
Accelerated completion — “Time is money.”
Valid learning experience — “I’m not here for the social life.”
Multiple learning alternatives — “I’m very interested in online options.”
Course availability — “The course needs to be there when I can be there.”
22 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
96 percent of
adult students would turn
to an institutional site for
information on enrolling
in college
23 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
More than
50 percent
of today’s adult students
are stealth prospects
until application
24 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
College Selection Criteria: Master or
Professional Degree Students
Which factor is most important to you? n=305
18%
Cost to attend
Quality of my preferred major or field of study
Accreditation of the degree program
Flexibility of class scheduling/times
Job placements, income increases, or advancements
Academic reputation
Faculty are good teachers and mentors
Online learning options
Location is convenient to home or work
Time to degree completion
Amt of financial aid, including scholarships
Specializations or concentrations offered
College is known and respected within community
Quality of academic facilities
Internships/Assistantships provide academic credit
College ranking
Small student/faculty ratio
Career planning services
11%
11%
9%
7%
7%
7%
6%
5%
4%
4%
3%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
0%
25 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
10%
20%
30%
Top Adult B.A./B.S. Programs
CIP
2008-2012
Code
CIP Label
Grand Total
52.02Business Administration, Management and Operations
357,363
51.38Registered Nursing
166,543
42.01Psychology, General
99,924
43.01Criminal Justice and Corrections
93,721
24.01Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities
88,639
52.03Accounting and Related Services
82,673
13.12Teacher Education and Professional Development
81,367
52.01Business/Commerce, General
51,698
30.99Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other
45,592
26.01Biology, General
44,478
Grand Total of All CIP Codes
2,069,898

% of Total
Yearly Undergraduate
Average
Degrees
71,473
17.3%
33,309
8.0%
19,985
4.8%
18,744
4.5%
17,728
4.3%
16,535
4.0%
16,273
3.9%
10,340
2.5%
9,118
2.2%
8,896
2.1%
413,980
Source: IPEDS
The top 10 degree programs listed above account for over half (54%) of all
baccalaureate degrees awarded from primarily adult serving institutions
Note: Because IPEDS data does not include degree completions by student age, institutions that had a high
percentage of undergraduate students aged 25 or greater were classified as an adult serving institution.
26 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
14 (or so) Differentiation Strategies for Adults
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Programming/curriculum
Faculty
Service and support
Transferability
Scheduling of classes
Time to completion
Program delivery options
27 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
8. Location
9. Pricing and financial aid
10. Brand marketing
11. Create meaningful segments
12. Channel preferences
13. Web strategy
14. Social media strategy
Cost and Convenience
28 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Affordable
29 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#1: Programs/Curriculum
 There is no greater asset than having programs that:
 Students value
 Lead to higher paying jobs
 Your competitors do not offer
 If you offer the same programs (the first P), then you must differentiate
either on price or place
 A promotion-based differentiation strategy is not sustainable
30 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Academic Program Marketability Audit
 Cost
 Revenue
 Quality indicators:
 Graduation rates by major
 Student satisfaction score within major
 Percent of students employed in their major or in graduate school
within six months of graduation
 Demand indicators:
 Prospective student interest in major
 Enrollment by major
 Job and employment trends
 Percent of top five competitors that offer this major
31 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Quality/Demand and Net Contribution
32 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Establish Five Centers of Excellence
 Centers of excellence are programs which:
 Offer substantial quality
 Are undersubscribed (you have capacity)
 Are high margin
 Are scalable
 Lead to higher-paying jobs
 Are of high interest in the marketplace
 Students, employers, donors, the media




Have an effective champion in place
Offer co-branding opportunities
Do not have a significant competitor
Have a high barrier to entry
33 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Write a Business Plan for New Majors
 Four key decision areas:
 Strategic
 Marketplace
 Economic and resource
 Promotion
34 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#2: Faculty
 Adult students value faculty who:
 Understand the unique needs of adults
 Are approachable
 Are emphathetic
 Are available
 Are competent
 Have “real-world” experience (though adult students are tired of that
phrase)
35 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#3: Service and Support
 There is a saying in the service industry: FedEx fast and Disney friendly
 It is not about customer service, but rather a complete understanding of
the importance of the customer
 As much processes as people
 Streamline and integrate processes
 Train and reward your people
36 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Individuals Who Demonstrate










A high motivation to serve others
Enthusiasm
The ability to listen
A customer-sensitive orientation
Flexibility
A high degree of initiative—1% better each day
A positive attitude
Resilience
Confidence in themselves and their job
Unflappability
 Did I mention the ability to listen?
37 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Consider Experience Marketing
 An organizational commitment to identifying and managing, to a specific
end, the key touch points that define an experience that a customer has
with a product or service
 Organizational
Strategic
 Identifying
Research-based
 Managing
Purposeful
 Specific end
Begins with the end in mind
 Touch points
Where individuals and elements
of the organization “touch”
 Experience
To go or live through, to gain
understanding or perspective
38 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Experience Marketing





Define
Dissect
Design
Deploy
Determine
Define
Determine
Deploy
39 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Dissect
Design
Manage Your Academic Experience
 We discovered, based on research with adult students, that the academic
experience comprises 14 or so sub-experiences:










Classroom experience
Advising
Availability/flexibility of classes
Technology
Facilities—smart classrooms
Faculty commitment to teaching
Faculty mentorship
Internships—co-op
Transfer friendly (both to and from)
Job placement (starting salary implied)
 Variety of classes within
the program (can
customize program)
 Graduate school
placement
 Library (coffee bar, study
space, connectivity)
 Registration
 How well are you managing each of these sub-experiences?
40 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Remember…
 Many adult students are barely in school
 It doesn’t take much for them to disengage
41 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#4: Transferability
 Programs that well-serve adults
make it as easy as possible for
students to transfer in…and out
 Transfer ombudsmen
 Knowledgeable
 Powerful
 Empathetic
 Generous and fast acceptance of credits
 Watch out for blanket “credit for life experience”
 Look at:
 Baruch College, the University of California, Missouri State University
42 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#5: Scheduling of Classes
 When adult students think of class scheduling, one word comes to mind:
Flexibility
 Not only do they value a variety of scheduling options, they expect to
have great latitude about choosing options that work best for them
 At certain times of the year, a student may want evening classes; at
other times they want classes in the late afternoon
 They want the ability to choose
43 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#6: Time to Completion






Credit for life experience
Easy transfer of credits
Approachable core curriculum
Aggressive sequencing of classes
Few pre-requisites
Good advising
44 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#8: Location
 When considering location, adult students look at:
 Safety
 Traffic flow/drive time
 Parking
 Availability of amenities
 Coffee shop, wireless, a place to stash their books, backpacks, kids
 Are the facilities modern, clean, well-lit?
 Will the majority of their classes be taught in one spot or must they
navigate a large campus?
 Have you established a sense of “place” for adult students?
47 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#9: Pricing and Financial Aid
 Adult students, like all other students, are deeply concerned about
college cost
 Increasingly require financial aid, especially aid that is not comprised
largely of loans
 Wary of the word “value.” Instead, use the word “affordable”
 Broad pricing strategy:
 If you are a brand buy, you should price in the middle of the top third
of your competitors
 If you are a commodity buy, you should price no higher than the
middle of the bottom third of your competitors
48 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#10: Brand Marketing
 A brand is a valued and differentiating promise a college, university, or
school makes to its most important audiences to meet a need or fulfill an
expectation
 Has four foundation stones:
 1) Importance; 2) Believability; 3) Distinctive; and 4) Emotionally
engaging
 Four steps:
 Make a brand promise (strategic)
 Communicate your brand promise (tactical)
 Live your brand promise (experiential)
 Strengthen your brand promise
49 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Brand Marketing–2
 One of the biggest marketing challenges for adult programs is not the
budget, but the internal political environment
 Deep concern about how the brand for adult programs should relate to
the brand for the larger university (the super brand) or other entities on
campus
 Suggest you work out a brand architecture that contains a unified brand
communication strategy for both the super brand and all sub-brands
50 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#11: Create Meaningful Segments
 What is segmentation?
 The process of defining and sub-dividing a large
semi-homogeneous market into clearly identifiable
segments having similar needs, wants, or demand
characteristics. Its objective is to design a
marketing mix that precisely matches the
expectations of customers in the targeted segment
 Why might a segmentation strategy be useful for
you?
51 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Possible Adult Segmentation Variables
 Traditional variables
 Geographic

VALs (values, attitudes, and
lifestyles)
 State, city, zip, urban, rural, suburban  Geocluster
 Politics
 Demographic
 Age, gender, ethnicity, education level  Religious preference
 Benefits sought (better job)
 Economic
 Early adapters
 Household income
 Maslow
 Disposable income
 Academic variables
 Academic interest
 Ability
 Time to degree
52 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Worksheet: Segmentation Matrix
Segmentation Matrix
Adult Segments
Brand Attributes
Sought
VALS and
Motivations
Media
Preferences
Influencers
Adult Segment 1
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Adult Segment 2
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Adult Segment 3
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Adult Segment 4
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Adult Segment 5
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
53 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#12: Channel Preferences–Adults
TV
Search engine marketing
Direct mail
Email
Radio
Visiting third party websites
News in your local newspapers and local
media sources
Social media platforms
Magazine advertising
Other online digital display advertising
on websites you visit
Local newspaper advertising
Billboards and other outdoor advertising
54 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Bachelor
n=205
42%
31%
32%
23%
20%
21%
Master or
Professional
n=305
35%
36%
29%
24%
18%
23%
22%
21%
13%
13%
16%
10%
11%
11%
11%
13%
7%
9%
55 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Design the Entire Flow
 Manage digital-print interface
 Likely that your web is, or will soon be, your marketing center of gravity
56 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Message Radial
Website
Digital
Experience
Microsite
Campus
Events
Social
Media
Fewer Key
Messages
Multiple Channels
Virtual
Tour
Print
Materials
Direct
Marketing
Video
Advertising
57 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Campus
Visit
One Message, Multiple Channels
Facilities and environmentals:
1. Buildings and grounds
2. Signage and perimeter marking
Constituent relations:
1. Public
2. Alumni and donor
3. Community
4. Business
Interactive media:
1. Web
2. Email
3. CD-ROM
Direct response:
1. Telephone
2. Postal mail
3. Email
Publications, including variable digital
printing and print on demand
Sponsorships, promotions, publicity,
and collaborations
Traditional media (advertising):
1. Magazine and newspaper
2. TV/cable
3. Radio
4. Outdoor/out-of-home
Media work:
Word-of-mouth
Internal communications
Engaged employees as media
58 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
IF YOUR PRODUCT IS NO GOOD,
SOCIAL MEDIA WON’T FIX IT.
59 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
STOP THINKING “CAMPAIGNS.”
START THINKING “CONVERSATIONS.”
60 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Integration 3.0
 1.0 - One message, multiple channels
 2. 0 - One message, multiple offices
1.0
 3.0 One experience, multiple offices
2.0
3.0
61 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#13: Web Strategy
• Key “buttons” students
want to immediately see:
 Special site just for adult students
 What adult students value on a website
– Fast facts
– Financial aid
– Majors
– Sample
curriculum/programs
– Advising
– Outcomes
– Talk to other adult
students
• Interactive and CMS
• Easy to fathom URL
62 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Keys to An Effective Digital Strategy
 Platforms (sites) are responsive
 Audience-centric
 Students have multiple opportunities to build and contribute to
community
 Digital and social media strategies are developed together and linked to
your overall brand and recruiting communication strategy
 Mobile apps
 Must recognize that students
continually transition from one social
media site/platform to the next
63 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
 John Marshall School of Law–Mobile Application
64 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
#14: Social Media Strategy
 Many schools struggle with trying to decide how much to invest in social
media
 Some suggestions:
 Consider social media as just another channel
 Remember to budget your marketing dollars by media effectiveness:
 70% Tested media
 20% New media
 10% Experimental media
 The lesson of Kogi B-B-Q
65 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014
Next Steps
 When you have too much to do, ask yourself
 What matters most?
 The Pareto Principle (or the 80/20 rule)
 Juran’s vital few and trivial many
 It’s hard to focus on a lot
 Final Q&A
66 | Differentiating Your School for Adult Students | © STAMATS 2014