Why are We Dusting Off that Backpack and Heading Back to School?

A survey done last year by Champlain College revealed that 60% of adults have considered returning to college. It is much more feasible now with the offering of high-quality online programs that have flexible schedules. There are many reasons why adults are going back to school, and finding the benefits far outweigh the cost.

Career Enhancement

Out of those adults surveyed, 70% believe that higher education is the secret to career success. Many Fortune 500 companies would agree: offering paid continuing education courses, discounts on partnering college tuition rates, and some even going so far as to require continual renewal of certification courses.

Post-Secondary Degree

Some adults have returned to school for a Masters or Doctorate in their respective fields. For some, they have finally paid off their student loans, or they have become comfortable enough to be able to finance this endeavor. The result can be a higher status in their career, maybe even a promotion, or higher pay grade.

Keeping Up with the Times

The times and technology are constantly changing and many people want to ensure that they are staying abreast of these changes. According to Forbes, many companies are choosing to hire younger talent instead of training employees on new technology and trends. To combat this, workers are staying current by updating their knowledge base with continuing education.

Finishing the Degree

For some adults, going back to school to finish their degree is the goal. This has many benefits including meeting personal fulfillment and that extra push forward that may have been holding them back from a promotion or from applying for a new position.

Changing Career Paths

Other adults are stuck in a career that doesn't suit them and are looking to change their path. A new degree is the perfect way to do that. Learn a new skillset, gain access to career services and a network of alumni, and enter a new career armed with knowledge.

There are so many reasons for adults to return to college. Despite an overwhelming majority of adults citing student loan debt as their "primary hurdle" in returning to school, most realize that the benefits far outweigh the cost. They are gaining new knowledge and skills needed to further their careers and also gaining connections that cannot be replaced.

How To Do Higher Ed Diversity Marketing The Right Way

Recruiting a more diverse student body is one of the more common priorities popping up on universities' strategic plans today. In the latest in a series of published reports, this month an article in The Atlantic shined a light on how high school graduate demographics are shifting from being around 70% Caucasian today to closer to 50% by 2030.

Huffington Post, Inside Higher Ed and numerous others also confirm that, while demographics are changing, universities should be very thoughtful about how they adapt to enroll a more diverse student population that reflects of our broader society.

Luckily, modern enrollment marketing is as nuanced as it is complicated. Big data allows for very creative segmentation, while the expansion of digital media enables colleges to target prospective students that were difficult to reach before.

“Universities should be very thoughtful about how they adapt to enroll a more diverse student population that reflects of our broader society.”

But if you want to recruit a student body that’s more inclusive than the one you have today, think about how you want to address diversity—ethnic, racial, economic, geographic, etc.—in your messaging and on your campus.

How have you positioned diversity on your website? Are your faculty and staff diverse? What services do you have specific to those students who are the first in their families to attend college? Will minority students actually feel at home on your campus? The answers to these questions and more can shape a very powerful narrative and, more importantly, one with greater potential for success. 

The goal of a more diverse and culturally rich academic environment is a noble one. Just be thoughtful and authentic when you have great stories to tell.

4 Ways to Reach Prospective Grad Students

A smiling, polite High School scholar brandishing a diploma and flanked by Mom and Dad may be the ideal target audience for undergrad admissions marketing, but creating a clear picture of the prospective grad student is more challenging.  While plenty of graduate applicants are still fresh-faced twenty-somethings, many are seeking a second career, juggling children at home, or pursuing a passion that they’d previously shelved.  Here are key points universities would be wise to consider when creating marketing content to attract the amorphous grad student audience: 

 1)    Know thyself:

With an understanding of a university’s strengths and weaknesses, you can better allocate money in the budget to bolster certain programs.  A Harvard MBA sells itself, but often schools continue to mail out literature about their most famous programs at the neglect of their unsung academic heroes. 

Cross-promoting less illustrious programs at the same university could attract a greater number of applicants.  For example, if the Iowa MFA webpage provided links to information about the school’s PhD in English Lit, applicants would be enticed to apply to both. 

 2)    Clearly shape the conversation about finances:

Prospective grad students have been consumers longer than undergrads, and further, they are much more likely to be spending their own money rather than their parents’. 

 Give premier real estate in web content and advertising to the most promising scholarships and fellowships the program has to offer.  Offer to assign prospective students individual financial counselors for further questions.  If the program in question isn’t well-funded, have confident answers at the ready and the data to back them up. “Yes, while the program costs $30,000 a year, the average graduate of our program lands a job making $60,000 their first year out, so any loans could reasonably be paid off in a couple of years.”  Avoiding financial conversations makes savvy consumers wary.  

3)    Consider target audiences:

Whether it’s a specific field that is particularly prone to having turnover—like publishing, for example—or a specific demographic ripe for considering higher ed—like recent veterans—do your homework on not just who may be a good fit for your programs, but how they might finance it.  While the new GI Bill is often used for undergraduate education, it is also applicable to grad school doing the research for specific prospective student groups makes them all the more likely to apply.

4)    Promote your University’s lifestyle:

Certainly, adding flavor and color to the landscape of the university does great work to woo undergrads and grad students alike.  For example, some undergrads are drawn to Tulane University for their emphasis on New Orleans itself: the restaurants, the music scene, the surrounding regional charm. 

Grad students are more likely to ask questions like: Is the university in an area with good public schools for children?  Is grad student housing available for couples and families?  Is this a program that can largely be completed at night, or remotely?  Could I feasibly finish the coursework while working full time? 

Consider the myriad lifestyle concerns that will impact the choice of prospective students when drafting marketing content.  The program may be ranked impressively by the Princeton Review or have a celebrity visiting professor, but certain applicants will be better swayed by the campus fitness facility and the flexible hours. 

4 Tips for Higher Ed Content Marketing to Millennials

The problem of marketing to a younger generation isn’t a new one.  While millennials only make up about 10% of general consumers, they (and their parents) are the primary market for Higher Ed marketing.  So, how and where do we reach them?

 1)    Strategy across social media platforms:

While everyone is familiar with Facebook, millennials actually have been leaving it for other, newer, mediums: Instagram and Snapchat, among others.  Facebook can still be useful marketing tool, but a stagnant university “fan” page and typical ad content isn’t going to do the same work as a more personal approach.  (Native content is a buzzworthy phrase for a reason.)

 Also consider how product placement can benefit your brand, whether in traditional outlets like television, or in the form of viral videos or web shows.  Studies show that millennials are especially susceptible to product placement, because they are so used to its ubiquity.  So, while there’s a 98% chance somebody paid a celebrity to wear that Yale hoodie in their music video, millennials are likely to simply take in the image, rather than question its authenticity.  

 2)    Don’t try too hard:

 Learn from missteps made by others: young people have a curated concept of “cool” and will call out brands that are phony.  When McDonald’s tried to coax an indie band to play free under their banner at SXSW, they were blasted on social media and lost a lot of millennial customers. The same holds for schools: if partying is your “thing” (I’m looking at you, LSU), then by all means, make that clear to your prospective students.  But if your institution is better known for excellence in the arts, don’t try to sell millennials on its “coolness”: you’d fare better being straightforward and true to your culture.

3)    Money talks:  

Millennials, and of course, their parents, are more aware of the danger of the student loan crisis than any previous generations.  Devote valuable content space to explaining scholarships and fellowships available, built-in benefits, and plans for students to finance their degree.  (Initiate and control the conversation about finances so that prospective students and their parents realize their options when they look up your university’s tuition.)

4)    Diversify your strategy:

Focus on reaching millennials where they live: on the internet.  Social media, TV, and non-traditional media outlets are all necessary to reach prospective undergrads.  But if their parents are footing the bill, it may make sense to additionally mail traditional promos to homes, knowing it is more likely to reach the parents than the students.  The same remains true for outlets like NPR and newspapers.  If the message of your university is carefully planted in the minds of students and parents alike, your university won’t only have an enthusiastic upcoming freshman, but a mom and dad who are happy to foot the bill.     

Connecting to the Community

Using Social Media to Reinforce the Consumers’ Decision in the Hospital and Health Care System.

Reaching out to the public and creating an open line of communication allows a hospital to tailor services specific to patient wants and needs. By giving the hospital a voice, community members will learn that their opinions and concerns not only matter, but are being heard. Each interaction strengthens the image of the hospital and builds trust among patients.  Connecting frequently through social media deepens the relationship and reinforces the patients’ decision. Almost all US hospitals now have multiple social media accounts.  But are they hitting the target?

People love to talk about their experiences, good or bad. Rely on feedback from patient surveys, social media comments, and word of mouth to know what topics need to be addressed to improve public image. Don’t avoid harsh complaints. Listen to your patients and implement customer services initiatives. Being mindful of patient privacy, respond and comment directly to the individual who complained and let them know you understand their frustration and discuss what steps the hospital and staff are doing to correct the issue.  

In addition to responding to comments, use social media to promote patient education and public health programs. Free clinics, job training, back-to-school immunizations and so many other programs are the heart of communities. By addressing the basic needs of everyday life, the hospital promotes long term health and wellness. Have a record turnout at a women’s health event? Posting pictures will not only enhance visibility of the program but 40% of people will respond better to visual information than plain text. (Source: Zabisco)

Patients often are searching for answers. They are also looking for something else rarely talked about: hope. They want to see positive outcomes, feel inspired and have a reason to feel good about choosing a hospital.

By opening the line of communication, the hospital becomes a friend that is by your side during life’s celebrations and can be depended on during emergencies. Healthcare marketing can be complicated but creating a well-executed social media presence can produce meaningful and measurable results and leave healthcare consumers deeply engaged with your brand while also feeling validated and heard. 

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Sources:

http://www.bpdadvertising.com/blog/top-7-new-year%E2%80%99s-resolutions-digital-marketers#sthash.nhwMQ3I5.dpuf

http://www.jmir.org/2014/11/e264

http://hcmg.nationalresearch.com/public/News.aspx?ID=9

http://www.webmarketinggroup.co.uk/blog/why-every-seo-strategy-needs-infographics/

4 Reasons to Consider Newsfeed Advertising

Social media has become part of most people’s daily routine. Wake up, check Facebook and Snapchat; make coffee, scroll through Instagram. Time to cook dinner? Time for Pinterest. Want to vent, head to Twitter. Going to bed – why not stay up for 2 gratuitous hours going from link to link on YouTube. Seeing how dependent we’ve become on social media, it’s unlikely for someone to go more than a few hours (and in many cases, minutes) without checking one of the many, if not all. 

With social media addictions comes a more distracted audience. Commercial breaks turn into phone breaks.  Advertising, and selling, on consumers favorite social sites may be the best way to reach distracted eyes. With a more targeted approach, brands shouldn’t just be heading online – they should be heading directly for the newsfeed.  Here’s why:

1. Buy Buttons: Within the last year, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest have added buy and shop buttons to their interface. Mobile shopping has rapidly increased and around 1/3 of online shopping now occurs on mobile. With the new buy buttons implemented on suggested and branded posts, it makes it much easier for a consumer to turn a “like” into a purchase.

 2. We live on our phones: In a day and age where some of us are on our phones more than we sleep, and when we do sleep it’s next to our phones, it makes sense to move to mobile.  College students spend almost 8 hours a day on their phones, meaning that while they’re awake you can likely reach them on mobile.  Almost 80% of internet traffic now occurs on mobile, taking the lead from desktops and laptops.  Online browsing on phones has become a filler for when we’re commuting, waiting for our morning coffee, or just plain uncomfortable.  Smartphones are with us wherever we go, and it’s the place where most people are reading their feeds.

 3. Visually Appealing: Most social media is set up as a visual platform, which is an ideal format for displaying retail advertising. An interesting product image will catch the consumer’s eye, and stand out against the everyday status updates.  Creating branded and relatable posts on social media will make the ads less “ad like” and more like a cool story on their newsfeed. Relating to consumers on the interface they understand may help ads be noticed rather than avoided. 

 4. It’s Native: Reach them where they’re already going. 74% of those online have and use social media, and nearly 3 hours a day is spent on all of the different sites or apps.  Each site can also provide insight on the users likes and interests, clicks, searches, etc.  With this information, advertisers can create a more targeted approach and hopefully a more relatable one as well. 

Radio: The Undercover Hero of Advertising

Technology is everywhere and any source of information can be accessed by the quick click of a button. Today, advertising spans across so many new media platforms. But even with the advent of all this new technology, one form of veteran advertising media is still the undercover hero of advertising – radio. Who knew?

Radio is the only medium that truly is everywhere – in homes, cars, restaurants, stores and at work. According to Arbitron, nearly 93% of the US population listens to radio and more than 188 million people hear multiple radio commercials in an average week.

According to the University of Florida, 95 percent of people in their cars listen to the radio and the average American spends 15 hours per week driving, and this makes radio a valuable medium. And radio also has a larger audience than television from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm every day and often hosts the last advertising message the consumer hears before reaching their point of purchase.

Radio is highly targetable. Not only does radio have the ability to reach a wide range of attentive listeners, but radio listeners are loyal to their station, making it easy to target a station for a particular demographic or listener profile. It’s is also an effective direct response medium and advertisers can track the number of listeners on any station at any given time.

Radio is quick to produce and is cost-efficient. Unlike television, radio can be produced in as little as 24 to 48 hours with production costs usually much lower than other mediums. Radio’s low cost per thousand can increase the frequency, reach and longevity of ad campaigns and can therefore increase the company’s return on investment (ROI). In fact, according to a recent Nielsen-Catalina study, when advertising on the radio, on average, there is a $6 ROI for every $1 spent.

So when it comes to choosing your next media strategy, consider including a classic media and let radio be the hero of your message.

The College Research Game

When the school year ends and the weather heats up, students across the country look forward to backyard barbecues, family vacations and sleeping way past noon during their summer break. For many, summer is all about fun in the sun and spending time with family and friends. But for today’s high school students and their parents, the summer before senior year becomes all about the college application process.

Ample free time in the three months off from school allows rising seniors to put more time and energy into gathering information about their prospective higher education goals, and now, more than ever, much of the college research process occurs via digital media.

According to a Pew Research study, 95% of teens (between the ages of 13 and 18 years old) are digital media users, many of which are on Facebook and Twitter. New data on the digital media habits of students from Genius Recruiter suggests that 72% of students followed or liked a prospective university’s Twitter feed or Facebook page and 97% visited the university’s website. The five most viewed features on a school’s website or digital media platform: majors and minors, photos of the campus, curriculum details, residence life and class information. The study also showed that YouTube is one of the top three digital media channels used in the college research process.

Now, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (among others) offer native advertisements in the form of promoted posts, tweets, trends and video clips to advertise to what they call “tailored audiences.” These posts are targeted to users based on their interests and activities, and using data acquired from their conversations, profiles and behavior.  The digital media users are the ones being sold, without even knowing it – reminding us of the old adage that nothing in life is really free. Digital media companies sell advertisers demographic information and browser data to show users ads that directly relate to the sites they've recently visited – in this case, universities.

Two-thirds of students say digital media engagement influences their college decisions.  So, in order for universities to compete for prospective students’ attention, they have to play the marketing game the modern way. It is almost a prerequisite for higher ed. institutions to have a digital media presence and for their information to be a “like” or re-tweet (RT) away.

[For more information on higher education and its advertising possibilities, contact Jacki Friedman here at Furman Roth Advertising.]

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Furman Roth takes home a New Jersey Award!

“Are you feelin’ Jersey?” That was the question posed at this year’s New Jersey Awards dinner. A rousing evening filled with vendors, media agencies and marketers of all kinds, all coming together to celebrate stellar advertising - from digital to collateral. This year the event was replete with the usual inspiring portfolio of creative samples from agencies far and wide.

This first half of the evening was a cocktail hour, during which the crowd walked the room, taking in the creative samples while mingling, sipping Chardonnay and eating smoked salmon, artichokes and some very sweet cherry tomatoes (surprisingly good for this early in the summer – but hey, Jersey tomatas’ are Jersey tomatas’).

Then, after a while, we sat for dinner and enjoyed the main event: the awards. This year, each category was introduced with video snippets: Two Mafioso types sitting in a Trattoria sipping espresso and reading the newspaper while cracking-wise about the upcoming category. It was very Sopranos, very Jersey, very à propos (pardon my French).

We sat and enjoyed a lovely dinner while receiving (drumroll please) our very own award for our print campaign for The Weizmann Institute of Science. Our lifestyle TV commercial, “Weekend Getaway” for Cohen’s Fashion Optical was also an honorable mention, losing out only to the Best in Show. All in all, a successful night for Furman Roth, and a fun night for everyone involved. Check out the award-winning creative right here.

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Brush Your Teeth... And Show Up.

Advertising is what separates the men from the boys, business-wise. But what if you’re just starting your business? Besides baby steps in building your brand message, you need to network.

Why is networking such a powerful tool for new and aspiring business owners?

Business is about people. It starts with an idea, and gets off the ground with networking. Whether you’re looking for customers and clients, help or information, it’s all much easier to achieve when you’re not alone in your home office.

In the old days, there were “clubs” where businessmen could hang out and smoke cigars and slap each other on the back. (Or that’s how I always imagined it.) Nowadays, everyone has a start-up, with needs and services to be exchanged. Get in on it.

How can small business owners best utilize their time at networking events?

Decide ahead of time who you want to meet. If you don’t know who’s going to be there, at least have a goal in mind of what you’d like to accomplish. Connections with press? Information on how other entrepreneurs do things? A chance to practice your elevator pitch?

How about a few networking tips for entrepreneurs?

Brush your teeth, and show up. Showing up at an event, no matter how awkward you might feel, is the most important part. And check your stash of business cards — we’ve all reached into our bags at some point and found we’ve run out.

Dress the part—and then some. When you look across a crowded room, who do you notice? Admittedly, it’s easier for a woman to stand out and still look professional, but any man can benefit from a new pair of glasses or a good haircut.

Find something you have in common with people besides business. Sometimes swapping info on ski resorts or preschools or the best taco trucks can lead to a business connection. And don’t forget to Facebook friend people, or swap Twitter or Instagram names.

Stick with the winners. This old adage has a lot of truth in it. If you find yourself stuck in the corner talking to the caterer’s cousin, you’re not going to get anywhere (unless you’re a cater waiter). Politely say, “It was so nice meeting you. I’m going to go mingle some more.” On the other hand, if he’s a hotshot young web designer, get his card. Then keep moving.

Let the magic happen. Introduce yourself to the person behind you in the line for the bathroom, or next to you at the open bar. You never know when opportunity strikes!

Be a good conversationalist. Don’t stop at “So, what do you do?” Dig further. “What would you do if you could do anything?” You’ll make a more meaningful connection.

Offer to help the people you meet with their projects. It’s not all about you. And being generous often leads to future business and connections.

Your new favorite blog - coming soon!

Over the last one to two months we've made a lot of changes here at Furman Roth. A little office renovation, new flavors of coffee in the snack room, and we conducted a major overhaul of our website. Pretty snazzy, eh?

As you can imagine, we were fairly busy with everything going on. So busy, in fact, that we decided to hold off for a bit on getting our blog rolling. But don't worry, we'll have plenty of super-insightful articles & posts coming your way in the following weeks. So although there's nothing here now aside from this photo of our Creative Supervisor, Jake, pondering a really important strategic decision, check back in the coming weeks for awesome content.