• How marketers are mismanaging their lead generation campaigns
• Criteria for evaluating a lead management technology solution
• Strategies and tactics to increase the efficiency of lead management programs

The following in an excerpt from a newly released whitepaper from GearyPMG. To download the whitepaper in its entirety, click the download link at the bottom of this post.

Lead generation is a common marketing goal. Most strategies and a majority of marketing programs are created with the goal of producing leads. While this goal keeps marketing and sales departments progressing forward, lead generation is only the means to the end goal of driving revenue. If leads do not convert into business, are they serving their intended purpose? This whitepaper will investigate how marketers might be losing leads through fragmented management tactics and present tips and tricks about how marketing departments can manage earned leads efficiently—so not one lead is wasted.

Lead generation is a sizeable marketing investment with $1.7 billion projected to be spent on lead generation in 2011. Digital lead management is still transitioning into the digital space as 65 percent of marketers note that they are increasing spending on lead generation-based website design and 47 percent are investing in online data quality and management (CSO Insights). While efforts and budgets are being allocated to digital lead generation, most marketers note it as one of their top three challenges—behind lack of budget and lack of time for efficient program execution (MarketingProfs). This means that generating leads is a top marketing priority that will get resource support, but there is still a gap between generating leads and generating business.

Download here–

GearyPMG Whitepaper_Lead Management Generation Strategies

With the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, global warming and other signs of environmental damage, green initiatives have taken center stage for many schools. Moving beyond recycle bins, many colleges are experimenting with something corporations and U.S. state governments have been doing for some time: going paperless.

This article in a local Michigan newspaper called Michiana Thrive,  addresses this new earth-friendly trend. Notre Dame University is conducting a study of eReaders, and how classes can effectively be taught using Apple’s iPads. The school’s Project Management 101 course is now jokingly referred to as the “iPad class”, as the device replaced the course’s textbooks and paper assignments. Members of the school’s administrative team are evaluating how effective it is and whether or not it makes sense to turn more classes paperless.

Notre Dame, while a paperless pioneer, is not alone.  Framingham State College is another school preferring laptops to notepads. It was the first public college in New England to require incoming students to own laptops. Now 80% of Framingham’s courses use laptops. While paperless courses are great for the planet, they do have a downside. Laptop usage in class makes it far too easy for students to lose focus on the class at hand. With email and Internet access, who can really blame them?

Christopher Dede, a professor of learning technology for Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, says that the temptation to goof-off on the net can actually be a good thing. As he puts it, “Laptops democratize the classroom and get students to learn actively. With email and the Internet at students’ fingertips, teachers are forced to invigorate their classes to keep students engaged. I think it’s good teachers have to compete for their students’ attention,” he said. “All the research says getting students involved is the way they learn best.”

The full summary and report can be found at the GAO website.  I highly recommend watching the video on the right, which shows clips from hidden cameras worn by the undercover applicants.

After reading the report, one might have a negative view of the for-profit education sector. The deceptive practices that the GAO’s report have brought to light have been compared by many to the predatory tactics used by the subprime mortgage industry, and we all know the effect that has had on us.  But while deceptive practices and a blatant lack of compliance to federal regulations were uncovered, it should not imply that for-profit schools are money-grubbing shysters with no regard for others. Nor should it discredit the value that the for-profit model brings to higher education.

Let’s look, for a moment, at the “traditional” higher education landscape, otherwise referred to as nonprofit schools.  Currently, prominent research and athletic programs bring prestige to these institutions, but they often fail to generate income to support educational goals.  Research suggests that over the past 20 years, tuition increases at nonprofits have generally gone toward increasing administrative staff, building better athletic facilities and increasing faculty pay.

It’s here that we can see the true value offered by for-profit institutions as they are willing to utilize technology to improve teaching and learning.  Perhaps better than their traditional counterparts, for-profit educators have been extremely innovative in finding ways to utilize technology to cut costs.  Whether it’s videotaping lectures, online testing or having teaching assistants available 24/7 to help students, these institutions haven’t been shy about testing new ways to cost-effectively improve the educational experience, especially for those that don’t have the means to utilize the traditional educational structure.

Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post (which happens to own Kaplan University) writes the following:

“There is no reason that…new ways of teaching and learning couldn’t be used effectively at traditional universities other than that they would disrupt just about everything — routines, hierarchies, to say nothing of the incomes and job security of the tenured faculty.  That pretty much explains why the higher education establishment has been reluctant to embrace new technology and methods.”

The hesitance to try new ways to educate is something that higher education providers must shun if our nation ever wants to truly provide significant educational options to our citizens.  And just as for-profits must temper the lust for bigger profits in order to cut back on deceptive practices, nonprofits must look past the upheaval of “how it’s always been done,” in order to stay competitive and relevant.  If both “sides” (a term I use loosely, as we’re really all on the same team) are willing to learn from each other, everyone can win.

John Perkins is Manager of Media Partnerships at Geary PMG

ESPN.com Ad Blunder

Once again how important are details? Or better stated, how important is it to pay attention to details? When trying to optimize digital marketing campaigns, I like to look at the whole funnel. Two points of interest are where traffic comes from and where it converts; it’s not just the lead for that matters when optimizing a conversion funnel.

The image to the right is an example of what happens when marketers do not pay attention to detail. The advertisement is promoting an outdated event. I am not trying to cast blame on one party (as both the marketer and ad network could be at fault), but still, this is a waste of valuable ad space that drives me nuts.

Remember with all of your media campaigns to focus on the entire conversion process. Pay attention to where the user ENTERS your funnel (like the display ad seen here). Monitor users as they MOVE through the process, and then optimize the end RESULT. Do this, and you can be sure that you’re always maximizing your media and supporting a holistic conversion funnel.

Michael Bowen is the Performance Analyst at Geary +PMG.

1. Value Propositions - These are the key to winning over users. The best value propositions will appeal to prospective students’ emotional and logical sides. Answer questions like “What do I need?” or  “What do I like?”

2. Call to Action – Don’t confuse students about what their next step is. Instead, aim to direct them to where you want them to go on a given page.

3. Content Simplicity – Content needs to be easy to remember and scan. Your user’s attention span is short, so make the most of it by using bullet points and staying away from long paragraphs. (case and point: this blog post)

4. Form Length and amount of required fields – Sometimes people get carried away with the amount of information that they want to collect. Ask only for what you need. Remember prospective students are providing information before they get anything from your institution. Make it easy.

5. Layout / Style – There are thousands of schools of thought about web design. However in my experience, sites work best with a strong banner headers, text to the left with a form to the right. It’s a classic for a reason.

6. Shuffle Different Promotional Offers – Try different offers to see what converts best.

7. Imagery - Some images work better than others. When selecting a visual for a site, think about how it will make students feel. Can they relate? Does it portray your brand in its best light?

8. Test, Test, Oh Yeah, Then Test Again – After implementing these steps, don’t forget to test everything. What works this month, may be passé next month, and vice versa.

We think there should be a guide for how universities can design their websites. It would cover how to build a useful website with a focus on successful home pages. The goal would be to present useful information, not just the most impressive.

This funny cartoon appeared on the website XKCD, addressing the challenges University marketers face when trying to create the best home page.

http://xkcd.com/773/

While tongue in cheek, this depicts a common problem education marketers face. They have several distinct groups visiting their websites that range from students to prospective students and alumni to the media. In many cases, the school clutters the homepage with information aimed to reach each group or they choose which to feature.

A better solution is to allow site visitors select the information they are interested in. On the homepage, clearly designate user paths that align with key audience segments. For example, have a button calling out “Member of the media? Click here.” This removes the clutter of a homepage and creates intuitive paths for users to follow that leads them to the information they’re actually interested in.

At 32 years old, I finally joined Facebook. I felt like how my mother did when I introduced her shaking hands to the world of text messaging at 55—too old, confused and slightly irritated. That quickly gave way to manic excitement when Suzanne, a friend from high school who I hardly knew, “friended” me. I was shocked when the process worked in reverse. I was getting friend suggestions for people that I had long since lost touch with. Facebook’s recommendations were intuitive at best, Orwellian at worst. Suddenly, the world seemed small, in the best possible way.

I found myself in a race to acquire friends. I was hooked. People I knew through alumni networks, my brother’s ex-girlfriend, a kennel-owner and my hair colorist were suddenly my virtual friends. Before I knew it, I was in the triple digits. Many of my Facebook friends were people I hadn’t seen in decades or people who I had no intention of socializing with outside of Facebook. I’m sure many of my friends would have said the same of me.

Beyond friending everyone in sight, I discovered there was another element at play. I was reveling in the flow of information, status updates and photos of all my Facebook friends.  It reminded me of the voyeuristic feeling of walking through an open house.

The novelty eventually wore off, and I realized that I was sharing my life with almost perfect strangers. I also felt a twinge of guilt when I noticed I had slipped into using Facebook as a replacement for other modes of communication. I was commenting on relative’s photo albums, and suddenly I didn’t feel so bad when I couldn’t make family trips. After all, wasn’t I keeping in touch? It was also difficult to sift through the clutter of my virtual friends to see what my real-life friends and family were up to. “Kathy has rescued a new calf from Farmville….” Do I really care? After thinking about deactivating my account or chucking my laptop out the window, I realized something had to be done.

When my frustration reached a boiling point, I thought of sage advice my mother had given me. After catching a glimpse of my loaded down closet—complete with tag adorned items—she said that clothes I hadn’t worn in the last year should be tossed or donated.  This same theory could be applied to my stockpile of Facebook friends. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pared down collection of friends, whom I actually wanted to keep in touch with?

First I cancelled my account, and took note of my friends. Then I pretended that every one of these friends lived in my neighborhood. If I had a giant barbeque, would I invite them? Would they invite me to theirs? After this litmus test, my friend list was pruned to down to 50. My feed was reserved for family members, actual friends and close colleagues. My virtual life was as tidy as my closet.

Sometimes less really is more.

President Barack Obama has set a lofty goal for the United States to become “the world’s best-educated country by 2020.”  While this is a great thing to aspire to, what does it exactly mean?  How do you measure the education level of an entire nation?  Traditionally, we measure the rate at which people complete a post-secondary degree program as an indicator of educational success.  But what timeframe should be used?  4 years?  6 years?  10 years?  What about the individual that lacks familial support or financial means and doesn’t finish their degree within that timeframe?  Was their educational experience a failure because they weren’t pushed through the system fast enough?

It is my opinion that the educational experience lasts a lifetime.  Too often, potential students (be they 18 or 48) with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to improve themselves and their circumstances are convinced that an education is not for them.  It’s too expensive, too hard or too late.  Many believe that once you get behind in the “race,” there’s no way to catch up.  But we as a country have the means, the technology and the options available to completely invalidate those concerns: the government has provided ways to get the money; technology has given students a way to make education more accessible; and the United States has thousands of higher education institutions nationwide.

Imagine a world where we’re taught that education is a lifelong pursuit–an ever-flowing river you can jump into at any time.  Imagine a society that teaches a degree doesn’t have to be earned in your early 20s in order to get your first “real” job.  If a world like that existed, we wouldn’t feel the need to look at when, or how quickly a degree was attained as a measure of educational success.  Perhaps we would look more closely at how involved a person is in continuing their education, regardless of how far downstream that person may be. At that point, we could realize the true vision behind President Obama’s goal to be the best-educated country in the world.

I was watching Blue Chips the other day, the movie with Nick Nolte and Shaquille O’Neill.  As an aside, he never should  have signed on with the Celtics. Back to the film, it contains one of the most clichéd sports analogies. To paraphrase, it went something like:

“I’ll give them the play book. They can know our offense, they can know our defense, all that matters is how we execute.”

This quote can be applied into many aspects of our professional and personal lives.

By way of example, I’m applying it to conversion rate optimization since it’s what a performance analyst does best.

Typical questions around conversion rate optimization are: “What are your top tips for improving a site,” “Do I need to change my button colors,” “Should I put different images on my website,” or “What font is best?”

What people fail to understand is that it’s not just one thing, it’s about the overall execution. It’s an over simplifaction to think that one can make random tweaks to a site, and have it magically improve conversion rates. There is a method to the madness, and an execution of the method. When I’m working on a client’s conversion rate optimization, I go through the following steps:

1. Make sure tracking is set up, as this is the crux of your data. Without it, you can’t make any educated recommendations on which changes to test.

2. Remember and focus on the user. What brings them to your website? What needs or problems do they want solutions for?

3. Analyze the data and how people found your site. What are the hot keywords that attracted the most visits?

4. Work off of a check list of what you should consider testing on the site. This can include content, calls to action and value props. Then run the tests, and analyze the data before making a test recommendation.

Each conversion professional has his or her own process. This is just my way of channeling my own conversion rate madness into a methodology that delivers the results my clients expect.

Michael Bowen is the Performance Analyst at Geary +PMG

The meteoric rise isn’t likely to abate any time soon, as more and more waves of  people get connected to social media outlets. What that means is that if you haven’t already, it’s time to start using social media correctly. They keyword in the sentence is “correctly”!  STOP USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SELF PROMOTION ONLY! I recently had to stop following some companies on twitter and facebook, solely for the fact that they only talked about themselves. It’s the biggest social media faux pas a company can commit when trying to reach prospects and peers. When all I get are blog posts and press releases, I say “BUH-Bye”, and I’m sure many other members do as well.

It’s important to keep in mind that in social media,  people don’t care about what you have to say about yourself. People care about what you have to say about what they need. They want to see how you interact. Social media is a cost effective way for you to reach customers, voice your thoughts on key issues, and develop your brand.

So where do you begin your social media makeover?

Start with looking at your ideal audience and demographic. What are they talking about? What issues do they have? These are the topics you need to converse about on your social media sites.  Define and Segment. I’m sure you will see that in most cases there are groups of people that use your service or product.

Now that you know who your prospects are and where they spend their time, you need to build a plan and set goals for your social efforts. As you do this you’ll see where the opportunity lies for you to start connecting with prospects.

Michael Bowen is the Performance Analyst at Geary +PMG

1. Attempting to measure effectiveness in the same way as with traditional advertising–they are most definitely not “apples to apples”
2. Failing to integrate Social Media into the overall marketing and advertising plan–What we often see when this occurs, is that the brand identity isn’t present on social media sites, as it would be in traditional media and advertising
3. Not updating and monitoring any and all social media content
4. Not utilizing the demographic information that is available from many Social Media sites to help lend insight into marketing efforts
5. Not checking out competitor’s social media campaigns-you can learn a lot by seeing what your peers are or are not doing
6. Not creating content of value–visitors get turned off by constant product pitches, so give them something they can use or work with
7. Forgetting that Social Media is about socializing not selling–social media is a tool to get to know your client base
8. Launching into promoting before becoming a part of the community
9. Allowing anyone in their company to post–it’s important that all of your posters are people who understand your product enough to endorse in offline as well
10. Not cross promoting your content (i.e. linking blog posts to Facebook Fan Pages)

On the forefront of discussion for many marketers was how to reach their audience in the online space and how to do it with shrinking budgets?  Session after session seemed laden with these questions, and all the while these same marketers have the task of trying to be savvy with today’s technologically-sophisticated students. Social media is ingrained in the today’s student lifestyle. The fact of the matter is if you don’t exist in online, then you don’t exist. A speaker at one session revealed data that showed nearly three fourths of high school seniors expect college and universities to participate in social media.

Balancing marketing dollars, while feeling the pressures of trying to be innovative and engaging online with millennials, leaves education marketers in a difficult position. So what’s the answer?  After attending several sessions that attempted to provide insight on this problem, it seems quite evident that the answer is elbow grease!

“We are like carpenters,” positioned Karine Joly as she presented “Measure Twice, Cut Once: A 7 step plan to Your Measurement Strategy for Online.” While I’ve never thought any of my clients as being anywhere close to a carpenter, the analogy definitely painted a picture of the current state of education marketing. My clients hammer away fighting to meet higher expectations of both the schools they work for and prospective students while the nails in their toolbox are limited. Joly further described education resources as “a busy toolbox… we have to use the resources that we have in our toolbox, and cut what doesn’t work!”

Here are a few tips I extracted from the eduWeb conference for today’s budget-minded education marketers:

1) Crunch the numbers and then cut.

95% of higher education marketers reported that they use Google Analytics, but 72% say that they spend less than two hours a week actually analyzing the numbers. Most people revealed they don’t analyze the numbers because it seems hard but, as Karine Joly put it “analytics is like exercise,” and I completely agree. You don’t need to be a pro-body builder to see results; just put in effort, be consistent, and you will see RESULTS.

2) Don’t be afraid of social media.

If you are afraid of trying something, don’t be. Jason Mark who spoke on college branding pointed out, as marketers we have to let go of some control because “the odds are it’s already happening whether you want it to or not.” The tip: identify your biggest communication fears, and ask yourself how can this be an opportunity? Try it and if it doesn’t work, well then refer to  #1.

3) Content! Content! Content!

You may need to rethink your website. I saw quite a few case studies at eduWeb that reported that short, more engaging, do-it-yourself content speaks better to the prospective student audience. Take a look at the eduWeb winner of Best Website Re-Design, Indiana University East as an example. And if you what to know type of content students want, here are the top items you’ll want to consider when vamping up your website’s messaging:

Do you have my program?
Can I afford your school?
Can I get in? Are we a good match in that way?
Is the location right for me? (This generation tends to want to be closer to home)
Fit? Age/Ethnicity
For online programs… does the system work?

While it’s clear that there is no one path or quick fix to working on a tight online budget, after attending the eduWEd conference this year I am convinced that putting in a little elbow grease will certainly ease your struggles. Learn to analyze your data (or find someone who can do it for you), face your social media fears by getting involved, and lastly find out what your perspectives student REALLY want to know and give it to them.

This year’s NYC event had an excellent selection of content, and they specifically blocked off 2 hours of private sessions for lead buyers. These sessions covered “10 Biggest Legal Pitfalls” that buyers need to avoid, lead buying tips and why speed to contact is so important. I spoke with a few buyers from a number of different verticals, and they all said it is worth attending and that they will be taking information learned during these sessions back to their own companies.

How to Contact: Man vs. Machine

On the topic of speed to contact, there was an excellent session entitled “How to Contact: Man vs. Machine” that delved into the technologies and practices associated with improving speed to contact. The panelists for this session included Beau Bratton of Consumer Transfer, Kenneth Krogue of InsideSales.com, and Irv Shapiro of Ifbyphone. The session was moderated by Sammy James of Speak2Leads.

The session began with Kenneth discussing the study they conducted in partnership with MIT and how the findings dramatically helped improve their clients’ lead conversions. If you have never read the study and its results, please take the time to visit the link above and familiarize yourself with it. Prior to performing the study Kenneth claimed that only 27% of leads were being contacted, and after improving their speed to contact, this number increased to 90%. It is not difficult to understand that the more leads a company can contact the more leads will convert into sales.

Kenneth also proved the importance of speed to contact by sharing before and after numbers from Aflac. Simply by improving the speed to contact, Aflac was able to bring their 3.2% conversion rate up to 7%. Not only is the margin of improvement impressive, but they also realized the change in only 3 weeks.

If you are interested in learning how you can improve this extremely important step in closing leads, I recommend that you reach out to GearyPMG and we can personally introduce you to any one of these companies.

Headwinds or Tailwinds? An Update on Education Lead Gen

At GearyPMG we help companies in a number of different verticals including financial services, telecommunications and the for-profit education space. Our experience is deeply rooted in the EDU space with over 10 years of marketing experience helping schools of all types generate quality leads. With that said, it was interesting to listen to sessions covering all verticals. It seems like topics surrounding Title IV, gainful employment and appropriate marketing practices are at the top of everyone’s list.

Another topic during this session included whether or not there is any room for new lead generation sources. Steven Isaac, CEO at Education Dynamics claimed, in jest, that there was absolutely no room, but then he conceded that there are fairly low barriers to entry so companies will always be able to enter into the space. He does believe that there is a limited supply of quality leads, and new companies responding to an increase in demand will ultimately result in decreased lead quality.

Conclusion

Overall it was a great show. It is always nice to have face-to-face meetings with our current clients, future clients and marketing partners. Along with the networking opportunities, the session topics are always aligned with what GearyPMG is interested in, so it really makes it an all-around great event.

I recently wrote an article about how lead management is a major component of many industries—including enrollment marketing. A study released by Leads360 showed that converting a lead is 57 percent lead quality and 43 percent an efficient sales process. This bears mentioning because it shows that conversion is not based just on lead quality; it is a combination of lead management and quality.

Speed to contact
The first problem is a perceived lack of urgency around contacting leads. Education marketers must understand that their potential students are researching several institutions at one time. They probably don’t have an idea of which career college best meets their needs, so they need your help deciding. As a rule of thumb, most users complete 2-3 forms before ending their research. Consider contact speed the most important factor in lead management. Students need to be addressed when their interest is high. A minute later, they may lose interest or, even worse, enroll with another institution.

A study performed by MIT, and recently confirmed by LeadQual, showed that the odds of converting a lead are five times greater when the lead is contacted within five minutes of form completion versus waiting 10 minutes. The worst possible scenario is when students are not called at all. The same survey notes that of a 423 lead sample, 37 percent were never contacted. Edu marketers should use a lead management system to guarantee timely lead delivery.

The rules of lead management are simple: Call your leads, and call them within five minutes. Doing so will greatly affect your bottom line, guaranteed.

Call frequency
Finding a call frequency “sweet spot” is another issue of concern for education marketers.

Another survey by Leads360 proved that contacting a student 6 times is optimal. Calling a lead at a higher frequency than recommended will not improve your chances of making contact. One other thing to note is that marketers have an 87 percent higher chance of contacting the lead on call No. 2 versus call No. 1.

I suggest calling potential students at different times during the day and take note of any trends.

Try not to focus on just lead generation and think about the larger lead management picture. As an edu marketer, it’s your responsibility to process leads effectively. Effectively managing leads needs to be a top priority for education marketers.