Gragg Blog

Online Lead Quality Summit Roundup and Recap or Why the Chicken Didn’t Cross the Road

Posted by Katie Leas on September 28, 2009  |  No Comments

Being a lifelong nerd, I was excited to attend the sessions at the TARGUSinfo Online Lead Quality Summit or #OLQS last week in Las Vegas. It’s like a little taste of being back in school except without the tests. I mean look at me, I’m basically writing an essay now, so it’s full circle. And there were parties (sadly, I did not attend due to health reasons, aka, sinus infections are evil.)

I did live tweet the sessions as both GoWithGragg and my personal Twitter account until both my Blackberry and my laptop died early deaths. Not having a device to connect to the Internet for 12 hours was PAINFUL.

The conference proved to be well planned and organized and the TARGUSinfo staff was out mingling with the rest of us- and the logo-ed M&Ms were a nice touch. I started with the lead scoring presentation on Wednesday and saw our friends from PlattForm Advertising/ Ad Venture Interactive out in the audience as well. You’ll see plenty of play- by- plays about the different tracks and sessions so I’m going to highlight what stood out to me at this conference instead of giving you straight up notes for the test that follows.

Keynote: Stewart Butterfield, co-founder Flickr

I saw a tweet from someone asking about the relevance of Stewart Butterfield’s presentation. I’m a bit of an existentialist so I was vibing but to put it simply:  the relevance was the link of evolution of technology and usership. Online media is about identity. The better we, the marketers,  understand users the better we can be at innovating and capturing users, thus creating offers and products to engage them. I’ll save my social media rants.

Best Sessions:

These are sessions that jazzed me up. I mean can’t sit still have to scribble still thinking about it later that night while watching Glee pumped up about working in online lead generation sessions. Oh, and data is sexy.

“2010 Privacy Debate: Who and What will Drive Resolution?” aka the Data Privacy Panel- I know right? It sounds sooooo glamorous, but wow, these guys had chemistry and life. They also caught the audience in moments of ignorance. We as marketers need to be much more in touch with how we are perceived with regard to our lust for data. We hold control over our brand. Highlights:

• Best Practices will help the industry
• Image is everything when it comes to Relevance vs Creepy
• Standardized nomenclature and logoing will help with best practices, trust, and getting rid of the “creepy” stigma
• Be aware of the movement by state legislatures as they work to regulate the Internet
• IAB introduced a new white paper–Online Lead Generation: Data Security Best Practices

“Improving Conversion the New Way: One Customer at a Time” Murthy Nukala, CEO/Founder, Adchemy

There was enough Twitter chatter to tell me that I was not the only person enjoying this session. Murthy Nukala introduced the theory of “de-averaging” or different ads/different paths for different users. It’s a pretty simple concept and for those of us who have run full on SEM campaigns, it’s pretty basic. You create relevance for your user to get them to do what you want. The change here was the back-end processes that are used to serve that process. Tactics to use: design from the outside in, not from the inside out. Always put the user at the center of what you’re doing. Basically, cookie cutters are good for sugar cookies, but not online marketing.

Dave Zinman of Yahoo also gave a nice presentation about display advertising and most people picked up the statistic that “16 seconds is the average time a user spends engaged with a rich media ad unit.” He also quizzed us which just fed into my “yippee skippee I’m back in school” fantasy.

Worst Sessions:

These were either flat or offered no value to me (and potentially just irritated me) We’re talking I wanna run up on stage and throw a chicken at you so you’ll cross the road.

“Legendary Lead Generation Campaign” or the Debate that Wasn’t.  Now, I’m not arguing the intelligence of the folks on stage, Jere Doyle and Rob Carbonaro (I tweeted this, but was it just me or does Rob Carbonaro sort of resemble Michael J. Fox?) but this was a sorry excuse for a debate. Perhaps my expectation was out of line, but you should always be able to argue the con side even if you don’t agree. A debate should not be drenched in compromise- BORING. Where was the fight? the passion? the reason for the audience to listen to both of you? The panelists were smart and savvy so why were they so blah? Isn’t a debate about presenting two sides of an argument? I would have happily stepped up on stage and taken the con on any of the points. Seriously, ask me. I’ll do it.

“Lead Scoring: Mend the Leaks in Your Lead Pipeline”

I am likely in the minority here, but this presentation irritated me on so many levels. It also inspired me to sit around and think of all sorts of interesting research studies to conduct on lead scoring and conversion. The trouble is, I’d have to find willing participants- my bubble was burst a bit when I expressed my experimental ideas to Darryl. The blase acceptance of lead scoring and the lack of solid data or varied testing bothered me. It also showed me how much opportunity exists in this market. I’m also of the belief similar to Ed Powell, see his comment on the Lead Blog post, that you can create a self fulfilling prophesy. I like to say, you’re going to skew your data. You are folks. The simple act of doing something affects the outcome (think quantum mechanics.) I’ll write more about my ideas on lead scoring and the testing I’d like to do.  My stats teacher liked to remind us that statistics lie and liars use statistics. Well, every time I analyze data, I try to see every side of it. I think the folks on the panel are in the cave (yeah, I worked Plato in too.) Again, I might be unpopular with this one.  We take a position or decide an outcome, say my top scored leads are going to be the best converting and I’m going to save X dollars and make X more dollars, and we then gather data to support our position. I’m hoping the conference next May in New Orleans that’s devoted to the topic of lead scoring will not just be a love fest.

Put me on the stage folks, and I’ll help drive your debate. Although, maybe Targus doesn’t want a debate? They are trying to sell product after all.

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Wanna read more about the experience from other people? Check out these blogs:

Lead Critic Day 1 Financial Recap

Lead Blog Lead Scoring Post

Things to Consider When Developing a Website for Your School

Posted by patrick on September 18, 2009  |  1 Comment

By: Gregory Gragg, President, Gragg Advertising

At Gragg Advertising, we build between 50-75 web and micro sites per year and are currently managing 60 sites day-to-day. These sites range from basic informational to e-commerce sites. In all cases, we increase the traffic to the sites, as well as lead volume back to the school.

We see a lot of our prospects and clients overlook the importance of direct marketing tactics in design and technical development. So let’s outline some of the most common strategies to consider when managing the development and day-to-day activity on your website.

1. Lead Generation

No matter how basic or dynamic your website needs to be, the goal of your school’s website should be to deliver a lead to your admissions team. There are a low percentage of visitors that will enroll without speaking to an admissions representative.

Leads can be generated by making sure you have:
• “Contact or Email Us” buttons on every page above the fold
• Campus phone number on every page above the fold
• A contact form on the home page
• Some form of call to action on every page

There should be at least one contact opportunity and one call-to-action on every page of the site.

I know what some of you are saying, “Isn’t this overkill?” and “It could muck up the artistic design of the site!”

My answer is “YES.” We live in an environment that requires each and every school to get the lead in to their school as soon as possible. And even though we all appreciate exquisite design, a good design that lacks direct response elements will not help in expediting the enrollment process.

So, when you are starting to map out the design of your site, do it with the knowledge that you must designate real estate to allow for leads and starts to come from the site.

2. Website Structure and Design

Before beginning to design or program, a good web developer will sit down with the client and map out your site on paper. We call it a “site map.” It details each and every page, and why that page is important, and how the pages connect.

What we find is that a lot of clients will eliminate pages once we determine that they do not add value or do not fit in with the overall goal of the site.

By putting it on paper and agreeing to the formal layout and structure of the site, you can save yourself a lot of time and energy.

3. Just Enough Information

Full disclosure is not what you are going for. Only provide enough information on your website to whet the appetite of the potential student. This example is extreme, but I have seen schools load their catalog, have a student center, have a faculty interface, list out the entire course description of every curriculum they teach, as well as throw the price of the course at the potential student.

Your admissions staff is your strongest sales tool; you want to provide only enough information to motivate prospective students to become leads. If you inundate any prospect with too much information, they tend to over think and find a reason not to buy. This can happen via the web page, collateral or a sales person themselves.

Your website should give enough information to outline the features, advantages and benefits of your school, contact opportunities, programs offered and lengths, start dates, calls to action and simple “add- ons” like a connection to Google maps for how to find the school.

4. Demonstrate Success

You will build credibility with both visitors and search engines by including rich content like images and video. Websites that adhere to web standards will rank higher with search engines, so all multimedia content should include “alt-tags”, which are behind the scenes mark-up or code.

So include pictures, testimonial text and videos of graduates and employers. I know, I know, I said keep it simple, but testimonials are an effective way to sell the benefits of your school and allow prospective students to see people like themselves succeeding at school and after graduation.

5. Focus Your Website on the Consumer

Websites should be easy for the potential student to navigate and use. The visitor should be able to get to any location on the site within one or two clicks and then back to where they began in one click.

A lot of web developers fail to check the design of a website in the various browsers people might use. With the increasing number of browsers for people to choose from: Firefox, Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Opera, Safari and now, Google Chrome, developers need to cross reference the design and technical aspects of your site in every major browser. This step is important, but frequently overlooked.

Making the site easy to navigate and view is a simple way to keep the prospective student excited about working through your site.

6. Don’t Use Your Website URL in Other Forms of Advertising

At the very least, each medium should have its own unique URL. A lot of people are still utilizing their primary web URL in TV, newsprint, direct mail, radio and other traditional media. We see anywhere from 10% to 30% residual lead generation from standard sources to the web. If you are using your primary Web URL, you are attributing leads to your website that have in fact been generated by other sources.

A lot of people have “drop down” lead tracking mechanisms on their sites. While these do work, they do not catch 100% of the residual volume. Having “unique URLs” for every media source, if not every media channel, gives you up-to-date information on what is truly generating leads for your school.

7. Have Pre-Determined Criteria for Measuring Success

As with all advertising, you will want to know how the success of your web-based campaign will be measured. You should already know daily traffic counts to your site as well as unique visitors and lead volumes. Make use of website reporting tools to track visitors and referrals. Review the reports, make changes to the site’s content, tags and designs to see if acquisition can be improved. Re-test to measure the changes. Then rinse and repeat.

As you spend money on further developing your site, you will want to know if that money was put to good use and if the traffic, unique visitors and leads have increased.

Know the basics:
a. What is an acceptable cost per lead?
b. What is an acceptable cost per enrollment?
c. What is an acceptable conversion rate?

8. Run an Ongoing SEO Program

Writing good content-rich copy for your site that search engines will perceive as relevant to consumer searches is as important as having a website itself. Search Engine Optimization is the process of web page development that focuses on optimizing a search engine’s ability to “read” a web page and determine its value to consumers. SEO should be seen as an adjective to describe the technical presentation of a web page’s content. SEO is most effective with monthly review and refinement. SEO should focus on legitimacy and relevancy, in terms of both local and national searches on all search engines.

Now that have I gotten the text book explanation out of the way, the most important point here is to make sure you are utilizing a sophisticated SEO program or SEO specialist to stay on top of this. This program is expensive, but all of our SEO clients have seen a minimum of 30% growth in annual traffic and leads. That is our expectation.

Obviously, there are a lot of other items to consider when developing your site, but these are the basics. If you start with these, you will be on your way to harnessing the power of the Information Super Highway.

The Importance of Creating a Diversified Marketing Mix

Posted by patrick on September 15, 2009  |  1 Comment

By: Stacy Scott, Senior Account Service Manager, Gragg Advertising

Developing a diversified marketing mix is crucial to the success of any advertising campaign. One medium does not have a broad enough reach to fully target an audience. Running a minimum five touch point marketing mix will help ensure that the advertising message fully penetrates the market.

Television is a very high volume lead source with a broad reach. This medium offers a wide range of programming that can be purchased to reach most target demographics. Testing is key to determine which programming will produce efficient results. A minimum of two spots per hour should be run to achieve optimal frequency and drive results. Female audiences typically watch during day and male audiences tune into late fringe and overnights. Prime Time should be used mainly for branding awareness.

Another source that can be strong for delivering the advertising message is Daily Papers. Results vary by market and are usually stronger in larger markets. The creative should be designed with the lay-out of the publication in mind. The creative should be eye-catching, stand out and make the reader want to take action. Positioning is also very important. If running a display ad in the Daily Paper is too expensive, line-ads are an economical alternative but not always as effective.

Job and discount papers are great for traditional ads as well as inserts. These are usually much more affordable and typically great response vehicles for specific target markets. This is an efficient medium to run multiple advertisements.

To reach a more targeted demographic with a specific message, direct mail can be a very strong medium. Of all the sources used for advertising, direct mail allows the advertiser to speak directly to the potential consumer and customize the piece to them, personally.

Web-based advertising is on the rise and becoming a very integrated part of most marketing campaigns. Pay Per Lead, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Social Networking were barely in existence five or ten years ago. Present day, these mediums are a thriving source for advertising.

Pay Per Lead (PPL) allows prospective consumers to research information online by searching keywords or directories. The prospect seeking additional information fills out a request form which includes contact information. The web site then qualifies the lead based on the filters established. If the prospect qualifies as a lead the contact information is sent via email or web based posting.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process of web page development which focuses on a web search engine’s ability to “read” a web page. SEO should be seen as an adjective to describe the technical nature of the content that the web page presents. SEO is most effective with monthly review and refinement. SEO should focus on legitimacy and relevancy.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the purchasing and management of key word buys associated with “like” phases used in searches that drive potential sales to your web site. It can also include the establishment of “links” to your site that increase the relevancy of directed key word searches. This is ongoing and protection is critical for your branded name.

Now more than ever, traditional media drives more traffic to the web. Many advertisers have made the fatal mistake of seeing their web results outperforming traditional media and move their budgets to only Interactive channels. Without traditional media to drive traffic to the Internet, web results dropped off.

Internal lead databases are prime for converting leads into customers. These are individuals who have already expressed interest in a specific service. They are familiar with the company and for one reason or another, did not convert. Regular email campaigns to this list are an inexpensive way to keep the brand in front of the prospect. Refreshing the database list regularly is essential to a successful email campaign.

To determine which marketing mix is most effective, testing and evaluation is needed. All leads or inquiries should be tied to the advertising that generated the lead. Unique phone numbers and URL’s make this tracking possible. This analysis should be well tracked to compare against as new tests occur. Once enough data is collected, benchmarks can be set to compare future lead flow against and ultimately increase efficiencies.

Tracking leads alone does not help increase revenue. Conversion must also be compared to the lead sources and evaluated to determine which medium is producing the most qualified leads. Most markets will take three to four months to develop an optimal marketing mix. Based on the results, weekly or monthly updates to the advertising campaign may be needed. Patience is very important in during this period, but keep in mind that making too many frequent changes can make it difficult to determine what is working. Stick with what you know, and what the number continue to support. The rest is history.

Online Video As A Career School Marketing Tool

Posted by patrick on September 11, 2009  |  1 Comment

By: Darryl Mattox, Agency Director, Gragg Advertising

Until recently only a few Internet-savvy Career School marketers have used online videos as a tool for promoting their schools. With the recent advancements in technology, and more importantly, the low-cost availability of high speed internet access for prospective students, we have seen that number increase significantly. In large part, the increase has been because the use of video as a marketing tool has become cost-effective and a simple way to market to our target audience.

No longer can career school marketers ignore online video as a marketing tool. It is already playing a major role in online marketing and will play an even greater role in the future.

More and more schools are using online videos to create buzz, to promote their school and to sell their message to prospects and students alike. Schools are really beginning to take advantage of the immediate connection and effectiveness of online video as a part of their overall marketing plan. Most marketers understand the importance of building a relationship with the prospective student. This can be done by introducing the prospect to what the school has to offer, and to the benefits of attending the school. Online videos make it easier to make a connection.

As this trend continues to grow we will see every website become a broadcast marketing tool. In addition to turning our own proprietary websites into mini television channels, we will explore opportunities and ways to take advantage of videos on specific niche or a broad topic sites catering to the interest of our target audience.

No longer is online video the exclusive tool of the large corporate school groups. Even the smallest schools can use and benefit from implementing their own videos. A simple video or digital camera can produce an informational video within minutes. You can then upload these videos to your own website or distribute them around the web to various sites and social media outlets such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and others.
Online video is already being used as an effective marketing tool for traditional products and services. There is no reason why Career Schools can’t follow their lead. A few of the benefits of using video to promote your school and/or programs include:

1. Introducing and creating awareness for your school and programs offered.

2. Building a more personal relationship with potential students.
3. Creating buzz for new and existing programs.

4. Enriching the content of your current site.

5. Keeping current students informed and interested in new program offerings.

From a marketing viewpoint: videos, podcasts, webcasting and video casting are all phrases for the same thing: they are all ways to get your message in front of your target audience. Remember, people get their information differently. You want to make sure you reach as many of them as possible by providing options. Online video will help you reach more prospective students with a message that cannot be effectively conveyed through traditional media or a static online message.

Perhaps, more importantly, online videos will make it easier for you to market your programs and your school to your target audience. It is one more tool every marketer should have in their arsenal.

Offline Media Impact on Online Advertising

Posted by patrick on September 9, 2009  |  No Comments

By Stephanie Oehlert, Media Director, Gragg Advertising

Looking back as few as 15 to 20 years ago, the majority of people answering a direct response ad simply called the phone number provided. The next phase in response to direct response ads brought call tracking phone numbers. It is essential in direct response advertising to be able to measure your return on investment. Advertisers could identify what source generated the bulk of their customers by what phone number they called. Improvements could be made to fine tune the advertising schedule based on what performed the best.

Advertisers included their web address in the ads, but then relied on the respondent identifying where they heard about the company on their website to track performance of different Media sources. This evolved to some advertisers using unique URLs in their advertising. A combination of call tracking phone numbers and a unique URL in your advertisement gives you the best opportunity to track the effectiveness of your media sources. However, as consumers usage of the Internet has increased, their quest for knowledge and comparison shopping has also increased.

The way audiences consume media has changed over this period of time also. While media activities used to be consumed one at a time, today’s consumers are utilizing multiple media sources all at the same time. A study by Harris Interactive found that while online, 68% of people were also listing to CDs/MP3s, 57% were also watching TV and 45% were listening to the radio. People have been raised and trained to multi-task. It certainly makes and advertiser’s job more difficult to track investments down to the penny. We have always known that a multi-media mix raised overall reach and that certain media, especially television, had an impact on other advertising sources. The more awareness a consumer had of a company, through exposure to multiple media sources, the more likely that consumer would be to respond. This fact, in combination with the consumer’s behavior adapting to consume multiple media sources at the same time and search for more information before making decisions, has led us to where we are today.

Even with tracking in place, we know there is an impact that traditional media has in driving online response as well as non-media and overall lead flow. There is a growing number of people that will not call the phone number in the advertisement or use the unique URL listed, but instead they will search online for the product or service by name. Once upon a time these people would look in the Yellow Pages, but now they go online. If they have not remembered the school by name, they may do a search for the program they are interested in. This typically will generate results for Pay Per Lead, School Search portals, SEM and school websites. A study by Jupiter Research indicates the following statistics for offline Media driving online search:

Following this same train of thought, our company, Gragg Advertising, who specializes in the Career School industry, examined 50 different clients’ data over an eighteen month period. We found that television spending had the largest impact on overall lead flow, website leads and non-media leads. Print spending had the largest impact on pay-per-lead in the school search portal category and also had impact on overall lead flow. Overall offline Media spend directly impacted online lead flow, non-media leads and overall lead flow.

Our findings were corroborated by the statistical findings in the Jupiter Research. Their study showed that 66% of those who responded to an offline advertisement visited the website or a search engine to learn more, while only 14% called a phone number from the advertisement. of those responding online, 70% did so in response to television advertising. To break the data down further, we can see a pattern with the younger demographic that has grown up with computers in their household. Younger consumers are less likely to respond to offline ads: 25% of 18 to 24 year olds visited a company’s website when the URL was featured in an offline ad, whereas with consumers age 25+, 39% visited a company’s website.

Because of the lower costs advertisers are seeing with online, many advertisers are shifting their budgets to online. It is important to have an appropriate balance between offline and online spending. Without the offline stimulus driving the online response, there may be a lack of demand in search and online leads. It’s important to measure results at different levels of spending and see how your overall customer acquisition costs and conversion rates change at each level. This type of smart budget planning will position your company to gain where others don’t. It is also important to understand that every different audience segment has different response behavior. It is crucial to an advertiser’s success for them to offer many options for response and track the results.

An Effective Interactive Marketing Approach for Career Schools

Posted by patrick on September 2, 2009  |  No Comments

By Lisa Olmedo, Director of Business Development, Gragg Advertising

Today’s potential student has grown up with the Internet available; most students have been “surfing the web” since kindergarten. It makes sense that the Internet is where our potential students are most comfortable looking for answers. As school owners, marketers and admissions we know this. What escapes the majority of us is how to best reach our potential students with this interactive approach. How does our particular school stand out? How can we compete with “The Big Boys?” How do we best spend our marketing dollars?

First, we must define interactive marketing and the different initiatives it takes to create a holistic approach to online lead generation. Second we want to define what an exclusive lead on the Internet is. Third and most important is creating an effective interactive marketing mix for your school.

Interactive marketing is the approach to generating leads on the Internet by several different means. A lead is an inquiry that a potential student has initiated through searching online for information about a particular school.

An exclusive lead is an inquiry that only has the potential to go to your individual school. This lead is generated by a custom campaign and will usually cost a little more on the front end but the cost-per-start is well in line. A non-exclusive lead is a valid lead that has competition for the potential student’s attention. These leads are necessary for most budgets to fill the pipeline and get the inquiries needed to meet start goal expectations.

Webchat, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Lead (PPL), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Email Marketing, Websites, Micro Sites, Landing Pages… There are so many ways to reach our potential students, but where do we start?

The answer is START WITH YOUR OWN SCHOOL WEBSITE! A school’s websites should be the number one lead generator for an Interactive marketing campaign. Your website is your highest converting Internet lead. Use your website like a sales tool; make it easy to read and make contact information readily available. Include a contact form on the home page, Webchat should be available and always, always have the phone number in large print in the upper right hand corner of every page.

After you have your website optimized and now it is your number one lead generator you will need to keep it the efficient tool it has become. By implementing an SEO program you will ensure that your website is working for you on a daily basis and driving leads to your school that are highly convertible. Although some of us would like to stop there it is impossible for one website to do all of the work on the Internet. There is just no way for your website to be everywhere at once.

To enhance your lead generation efforts, you should also create an SEM program and a PPL program. An SEM program will help to market your school on certain keywords that are popular for your individual school. Keywords like your name, programs offered and geographical location will be affordable for your budget and the cost-per-start should be in line with your goals.

Most schools do not have an unlimited marketing budget, so how do we drive some of the more generic searches to our individual school? The answer; we don’t. By creating a successful PPL program you let the vendors fight it out for keywords like Medical Assisting, Graphic Design, Accounting, Paralegal Assistant and many more. Most individual schools can not compete with “The Big Boys” and they do not have to. Creating a PPL program on your own may be an overwhelming task that you just do not have time for. Using an aggregator will help you manage time and build an effective program. Aggregators will monitor vendors that will be the best converters for your school’s individual campuses and programs as well as handle negotiation, monitor caps and police for quality and best practices.

Creating an effective and efficient Interactive marketing campaign is not rocket science but is does take time and attention. The Internet is where potential students are looking for answers and they are no longer just looking in their own backyards; competition is fierce and far-reaching. It is vital that each school has a voice and that your students are able to find your school’s information easily. By creating an efficient website and keeping it current with an SEO program, you have taken the first step. Enhancing your lead generation efforts with effective SEM and PPL campaigns will further your success and drive the leads you need to prosper in this competitive industry.