College Admissions "Version 2014"- Student prospects today are 95% digital. While traditional methods of outreach such as direct mail will still be the norm, schools can develop an integrated media approach that includes increased online and mobile communications to get the student prospects more connected and engaged. This explanation includes a checklist to help you chart the way to new approach strategies.

1. © 2014 Big Dog Innovations

2. Think About Where Your Target Market is
Spending Their Time These Days
The fact of the matter is student prospects between the ages
of 16-21 invest over 90% of their communications time in
mobile and social media platforms today

3. Moreover, Their Parents, Usually Between The
Ages of 35 to 55 Are Cross Media Invested

4. Direct Mail Is Still The Primary Launching Point,
But Your Target Market Overwhelmingly Prefers Digital
Give them the option to connect with you digitally. Make the digital option,
the “Call to-Action” (CTA), prominent. Once you get them there, you can
stay digitally connected AND use traditional media such as print when you
need to.

5. When planning new “integrated approaches” we suggest a
mind-mapping exercise using these 7 buckets to stay on track-
 Rewriting your approach using whiteboards- we think whiteboards
are awesome for this vertical
 Update and begin to formalize your present lifecycle
 Define your new communication opportunity roadmaps
 Increase message relevancy by mapping your data
 Structure and produce your cross media “look and feel”
 Define your connect and engage online interactions
 Build your “if-then automation” logistics to define your trigger points
See next slides for illustrations

6. “Whiteboarding” can be fun; for many schools it’s
been a long time since this was last done!

7. Organizing and updating admissions workflow can become a
newly documented process, particularly as “cross media”
continues to infiltrate your communications lifecycles

8. When planning moves towards the execution phase your
cross media “if-then roadmap” may start to look like this

9. When student prospect data is added to your strategy plan the
resulting “segmented messaging” outcomes positions you to
dramatically impact acceptance rates & quality of student scores

10. Thus, Your Outreach Program
Could Look Like This…

11. Initial Touch Data Version A-
Scholarships Under 100 Miles

12. Initial Touch Data Version B-
Scholarships Over 100 Miles
(with data-driven communications you can have unlimited
versions)
12

13. Personalized Digital Engagement Pages With
Responsive Design for Web, Tablet & Smartphone

14. With Pre-programmed 2nd & 3rd
Touches for Non-responders

15. Example- 3rd Touch Non-responders
15

16. Depending on student-prospect activities &
responses, automated triggers can define-
 Notifications for admissions officers and what their next steps should be
 Drip nurture student prospects via mobile messaging- take your Look
Book and put pieces of it into mobile push messaging; it’s the media
format with a 99% open rate on the platforms they live on today
 Drip nurture student prospects with content that most closely fits their
demonstrated areas of interest
 Email (or any media) follow-through parents of prospective students
 Update the school’s internal database

17. A Great Example of Staying Digitally Connected With Them is With Your Look
Book; Build Stickiness Using Drip Messages- Use Mobile To Your Advantage
You’ll accomplish three things by doing this-
1. You’ll continue to connect with them using mobile- where they live today
2. You’ll show them that your school is hip- most other schools are not mobile optimized yet
3. Over time you’ll dramatically reduce the printed costs of your Look Books

18. Great Data Preparation Can Let You Know Which
Lists, Profiles & Approaches Worked Best, Putting You In
The Cat-Bird’s Seat Next Time Your Purchase Lists

19. Remember, When It comes To
The Student Search Process Today…
 Old tactics no longer yield the same results
 You’ll still use many of the same tools- direct mail, e,
website, recruiters and open houses
 But, your approach plans will need to change with the
times- after all your student prospects already have

20. Someday, perhaps it can
all be synchronized!

21. Always happy to elaborate or share further…

22. I’d love to know if this deck was helpful to you in any way.
Plus, what you might like to see more of, or differently…
Peter Winters 917 301-9100
pwinters@bigdoginnovations.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/peterwintersbigdoginnovations/
SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/BigDogInnovations
Cross Media Implementation Team-
MSP Digital Marketing
www.mspdigital.com