Transcript Mining your data for enrolment gold!

McMaster University
Christine Brooks-Cappadocia – Marketing Manager
Lisa Boniface – Assistant Director
McMaster Experience
 Evolution of marketing expertise
 Marketing manager – overall/all programs
 Program managers – program marketing
 Educate program managers
 Become more focused and strategic
 Now we have 2 marketing assistants
 Will share our experience + what we have
learned
In this session you will learn how to:
 Collect and analyze demographic and
behavioural data
 Create segment profiles
 Develop marketing strategies to reach
specific segments
Demographic Data
 City
 House or apartment
 Postal code
 Age/generation
 Gender
 Employer and employer address
 Title
 Previous education
 How did you hear about us
 Application data
Behavioural Data
 Area of interest
 Preferred course format
 Learning goals
◦ Length of time to complete program
◦ Diploma, professional certification
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Buying patterns
Enrolment data
Results of past marketing activities
 Source code
 Contact created date
 Events attended
 Emails clicked on and URLs
 Google analytics
 Reports and learnings
Surveys
What is a segment?
 No such thing as an “average” student
 5-7 segments per program
 Need to be able to describe (create a profile)
 Things we need to know about segments:
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Behaviours
Demographics
Needs, motives, desires
Where to find more of them
Example:
25-35 year old women, with a University
degree in psychology or sociology, working in
mental health. They want to be certified in
addictions counseling. They want online
courses because it provides flexibility. They do
not have employer support with tuition
assistance, so they will be paying their own
way.
Look for Patterns
 Aggregate data
 I start with geographic data
 City sort – compare with census data
 FSA sort
 Gender sort
 Age range sort
 Employers
 Sales data
Adding Context
 Compare with what you think you know
 Investigate surprises
 Establish base segments – pockets of like
people
 by program, geographic, psychographics,
demographic/behaviour
 Segment is only helpful if you can find more
of them – keep digging
Example:
Our behaviour interviews of best customers
showed that the consistent factor for all of them
was that they each had a parent, teacher or
mentor, who read to them as children. There is no
way to act on this information that will pay off in
the short-term. However, we have a pocket of
people who live within 10 km of the main
university campus. I can hit them with outdoor
advertising; list buys unaddressed list buys,
community events, etc.
Sometimes we need more information
 Eg. professional designation, job title,
employer
 Surveys
 Behavioural interviews
 Market tests
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Size
lifetime value
80:20 rule
Example:
 Human Resources program
Profile Example:
Generation Y (23-30 years of age), females,
graduates of McMaster University. Most want
the diploma credential and 40% also intend to
pursue the professional designation.
Like to know:
 Which degree programs did they graduate
from?
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Identify a few key strategies, tactics and
messages
Establish metrics and goals
Determine the value of each new prospect
◦ This determines how much you can spend
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Benchmark conversion rates
Example – Gen Y, McMaster grads
 Tailored messaging and brand
 Use what you know to reflect the segment’s
needs and information sources
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Campus events
Relationships with feeder programs
On-campus promotions
Clubs
Alumni association
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Start with what you already know
Keep it simple
Look for patterns
Don’t guess – make data-driven decisions
Identify segments and develop focused
marketing activities
Evaluate, revise and repeat