Regi Dennis is the VP of Marketing for higher education. He spends his days focusing on branding, communications, inquiry generation, and other marketing activities. The marketing industry for higher education has seen a shift towards digital and social media marketing over the past decade. Effective marketing requires understanding concepts like branding, the value of a school's reputation among prospective students, and collaborating across departments to ensure the student experience delivers on the brand promise.

1. Marketing FOR
HIGHER Education
Regi
Dennis
–
VP,
Marke1ng

3. Higher Ed Marketing
Communication
Inquiry Generation
Branding

4. WHERE DO YOU SPEND YOUR DAY?
Branding
Communications
Generate Inquiries
Honoring academic requests
Retention
Product Development
Public Relations

5. Where I spent my days

6. Advertiser to marketer

7. Industry Spend Trend
Media
Type
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
TV
38%
33%
31%
31%
32%
Magazine
7%
4%
4%
3%
2%
Newspaper
10%
7%
6%
5%
4%
Radio
12%
9%
8%
6%
7%
Int
Display
24%
20%
22%
18%
19%
Int
Search
0%
19%
19%
28%
27%
Outdoor
10%
8%
9%
8%
8%
Based
on
3rd
Party
Measured
Data
Source:
Kantar

11. Marketing 101
Marketing is the process of communicating the
value of a product or service to customers, for the
purpose of selling that product or service.
Marketing can be looked at as an organizational function and a set of
processes for creating, delivering and communicating value to customers,
and customer relationship management that also benefits the organization.
Marketing is the science of choosing target markets through market analysis
and market segmentation, as well as understanding consumer behavior and
providing superior customer value.

12. Marketing 101
Advertising is a form of marketing
communication used to encourage, persuade, or
manipulate an audience (viewers, readers or
listeners; sometimes a specific group) to take or
continue to take some action.
Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with
respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological
advertising is also common. This type of work belongs to a category called
affective labor.

13. Marketing Defined

14. Be a Marketer to Face the
Challenges of Industry

15. Inflation-Adjusted Published Tuition and Fees Relative to
1983‑84, 1983‑84 to 2013‑14 (1983‑84 = 100)
SOURCE:TheCollegeBoard,TrendsinCollegePricing2013.!
!

16. 1,800
1,350
900
450
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Corporate PCs Consumer PCs Tablets Smart phones All mobile phones
Source: Gartner IDC Enders Analysis
Global Annual Sales (m)
More mobile growth coming

17. Rise of Social
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Social Networking Sites twitter
% of adult internet users who use social networking sites or twitter, over time
Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project tracking surveys 2005-2013
2005
8% 8%
18%
72%
2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

19. Reputation and Brand
Source: Niche
50% 48%
45%
7%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Extremely Important somewhat important not important
WHEN IT COMES TO THE COLLEGE SEARCH, HOW IMPORTANT IS A
SCHOOL’S RECONIZABLE NAME/REPUTATION TO YOU?

20. Personal Experience - Brand

21. The Marketer’s
Tool Kit
Have a seat at the table
Be a part of operations & decision making
Practice Marketing

22. Expanding the role of marketing
Academic Collaboration (Product, Place)
– finding the right balance between business and academia
– making sure there is value in the program to communicate
– ensure the value you are advertising is being delivered
Admissions Collaboration (Promotion, Product, Place)
– set balanced expectations of promotion
– ensure admissions experience is educating and compelling
– recruit where your potential students are
Administration Collaboration (Pricing, Place)
– set proper ROI expectations for a fiscal health
– allow marketing to play a part in the entire student life cycle

23. TipsKnow and invest in your brand
– When you do you can truly differentiate and properly communicate it.
Conduct research and know your audience
– You must know everything about why people have an affinity for your brand.
– Understand why they did or did not chose you over the competition
– Be able to speak to them like they want to be spoken to
Understand the difference between strategy and tactics
– Most likely others in your organization will only focus on tactics. Know that it is the strategy
behind it that will truly drive the results.
Track ROI
– Create reports
– Report your reports
– Use your reports
Be an active participant in all stages of the student experience from inquiry to ambassador
– This ensures that the brand promise that is delivered in your advertising is the same as their
experience in the class room and when they graduate. An ambassador is then created,
providing you with the most powerful marketing tool.
– Break down the silos in the organization. Branding is not just about the pretty
advertisement.