Transcript Slow Growth to Major Growth--The Marketing of an Online

Slow Growth to Major Growth:
The Marketing of an Online
Degree Program
Dr. Roger Von Holzen
Ms. Darla Runyon
Center for Information Technology in Education
Northwest Missouri State University
Maryville, MO
1
The Failure to Thrive
• Many online programs feed off
traditional student enrollment
• Problem has its basis in three major
areas:
– lack of a strategic plan
– lack of fully developed online degree
programs
– lack of marketing*
2
NorthwestOnline
• Spring of 1998 Northwest focused in on
the emerging online Associate in
Applied Science business degree
programs
• Articulated 2+2 programs
– Bachelor of Science degree program in
Business Management
– BS in Accounting program devised later*
3
The Articulated Program
• Unique aspects of these articulated
programs:
– up to 82-85 credit hours from the
community college may be transferred into
Northwest
– some courses are transferred into
Northwest at the junior or senior course
level
• Became basis for online degree
completion programs*
Example
4
Signed Agreements
• Colorado Electronic Community College
• Kansas City Kansas Community College
• Metropolitan Community Colleges of
Kansas City, MO
• Kirkwood Community College, Cedar
Rapids, IA
• Metropolitan Community College,
Omaha, NE
• North Central Missouri College,
Trenton, MO
• Tulsa Community College, Tulsa, OK*
5
The Virtual Web Site
• Developed NorthwestOnline.org web site
• Developed in cooperation with
eCollege.com
– The course management software for the
online courses
– Support desks for faculty and students
• Virtual campus services were up and
running over a three month period
• Facilitated and organized the internal
marketing process*
6
The Virtual Web Site
• Areas involved:
–
–
–
–
–
–
admissions
registration
course catalog
student services
financial aid
academic information
• Helped move the campus bureaucracy
very quickly into the digital, web-based
era*
Web Site
7
In the beginning...
• NorthwestOnline.org launched in
August 1999
• No one came--at least, very few
• Few students signed up for the courses
simply because few students knew about
them!
• We had forgotten to market*
8
Devising a Marketing Plan
• Fall 1999 semester
– Organized effort undertaken to market
the online courses
– Quickly became evident that beyond
external marketing, additional internally
marketing was also needed*
9
Internal Marketing
• Focused on academic and
administrative groups and departments
• Goal was to streamline the bureaucratic
processes for online students
– Minimize number of forwarded e-mail
messages and telephone calls
– One stop shopping as the ultimate goal*
10
Internal Marketing
• Significant challenge: Getting personnel
to forgo past procedures and to devise
new and innovative means of tackling
problems
– For example, campus network account
usernames and passwords*
11
On-Campus Marketing
• Promoted the availability of online
courses for off-campus students during
the summer trimester
• Encouraged the taking of online courses
as a means of shorten the time to
graduation*
12
On-Campus Marketing
• Marketing program focused primarily on
four tracks
• Track One: Need for a separate listing of
the online courses in the student course
offerings publication
– This was in addition to the departmental
listing of the courses
– Helped to focus student attention on the
variety of courses that were available online
– Encouraged some students to sign up for
more than one online course*
13
On-Campus Marketing
• Track Two: Informed Northwest faculty
advisors of online options
– Get faculty to advise students to sign up for
online courses to get around scheduling
conflicts*
14
On-Campus Marketing
• Track Three: Campus-wide student
spam
– Announced the availability of the online
courses
– Web address pointing to further
information
– Proved to be a very effective marketing
technique
• Option has been curtailed by the administration
due to the spamming abuse*
Spam
15
On-Campus Marketing
• Track Four: Print advertising
– Ads in the student campus newspaper
• Large ads, often humorous, were placed on a
weekly basis in the newspaper running up to and
through the student registration period
– Placement of advertising tent cards in the
Union and library*
Ad 1
Ad 2
Tent Card
16
Regional and National Marketing
• Goal: to tap into the huge population
that has not been traditionally serviced
by the university*
17
Regional and National Marketing
• One targeted group were high school students
who were interested in taking college courses
beyond the dual credit option
• Posters and fliers were sent out to high schools
in the University's 19 county service region
• Enables students to get a head start on their
college careers by enrolling in online general
education courses*
Poster
18
Regional and National Marketing
• A second target group were Northwest
alumni
• Articles and announcements were
placed in the alumni publication
– Emphasized the option for Northwest
graduates to "return to school" through
the online programs in order to enhance
their backgrounds or to change careers*
19
Regional and National Marketing
• Posters and fliers geared to adult learners
were sent out to 500 regional businesses
– Addresses came from Northwest’s Career
Services office
– The businesses have direct links as
employers of Northwest graduates
• Ads were also placed in regional training
publications*
Poster
Ad
20
Regional and National Marketing
• Ads were placed in the Army's Stars
and Stripes newspaper
• Information about the online degree
programs was uploaded to the major
online search engines and online
education portal web sites
– Requires periodic monitoring and
updating*
21
Co-Marketing
• KC REACHE Consortium--8 members
– Target 1,500 largest businesses in Kansas City
– Spot advertisements on public TV
• The co-marketing of online degree programs
to AAS graduates with our articulated
community college partners
– Get students to return to the community colleges
to take more general education courses and then
transfer to Northwest to complete their BS
degrees*
Video
Poster
ePostcard
22
Enrollment Management
• Northwest Online virtual campus site
hosts an inquiry link allowing visitors to
the site the opportunity to find out more
about online courses and degree
programs at Northwest
• This online inquiry form is submitted
electronically to the Admissions office at
Northwest*
23
Enrollment Management
• Once these inquires are received, a key
contact person in the Admissions office
replies individually to each e-mail
message
• Information from the inquiry forms is
entered into a database of prospective
online students*
24
Enrollment Management
• Online inquirers are mailed:
– a cover letter with a viewbook, which fully
describes Northwest and its students services
– a brochure which summarizes the online
degree programs
• Once a prospective student has been
admitted to the university, he/she is
connected with an online advisor to assist
in the development of his/her online
academic program*
25
Effectiveness of Marketing Effort
• Followed a comprehensive, integrated
approach to both the internal and
external marketing
• Targeted students who had not been
traditionally serviced by the university
• Led to both a steady increase in the
number of courses offered online and in
the number of students enrolled
• Marketing budget: 0.42%-1.25%*
26
Number of online courses offered
through Northwest Online
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Fall 1999
Spring 2000
Summer 2000
Fall 2000
Spring 2001
Online Courses
27
Students enrolled in Northwest
Online courses
300
250
200
Fall 1999
Spring 2000
Summer 2000
Fall 2000
Spring 2001
150
100
50
0
Students Enrolled in Online Courses
28
Ad
29
Dr. Roger Von Holzen
[email protected]
Ms. Darla Runyon
[email protected]
www.NorthwestOnline.org
www.nwmissouri.edu
www.nwmissouri.edu/~cite/
30