Bryan Wolf, Marketing Applications Producer at Indiana University Bloomington, is one of the 12 presenters of the 2018 Higher Ed Analytics Conference.
In this 3-question interview, Bryan tells us about what’s coming in 2018, the challenges of embracing analytics in higher ed and the best ways to keep learning about data and measurement for higher ed marketers..
1) What’s coming for higher ed analytics and measurement in 2018?
I believe we will see improvements in the collection of data and, in particular, a push towards less aggregate data. With these improvements, we will begin to see higher ed institutions start adopting, with more regularity, the practices the business sector has been doing for quite some time. Our students are intimately familiar with being marketed to by these businesses and they expect a high level of communication and individualization. There is no better way to individualize communications and embrace true marketing automation than to know more about our constituents.
At the IU Bloomington Office of Enrollment Management, we are adopting new tools that more efficiently collect data and match web and email analytics with actual students in our CRM(s). We have tools that grab UTM codes from web visits driven by our marketing efforts, match these visits to our prospective students, and store this information as interactions within the CRM. We can then use this data to gain valuable information about particular cohorts and also to track the impact of communications and initiatives on real enrollment outcomes.
2) What’s preventing higher education from embracing data and analytics more widely for digital marketing?
Most institutions have been around for a long time. With that comes a “standard” way of doing things, for better or worse. This leads us to think we have to adhere to certain messaging points and causes us to be slow to adjust, but it also creates a false security in those traditional brand decisions and narratives, rather than encouraging exploration of true and measurable data-based answers.
Part of the problem is that decision makers are not given data in an easily digestible format. There is often a disconnect between the people who live and breathe the data, the people who are qualified to analyze that data, and then the people who actually have the power to make decisions on that data. As higher education marketers, we’re all too familiar with how challenging it can be to simply get the approval to put our initiatives into action. I believe that providing decision makers with clear and concise dashboards, insights, and suggestions will lead to much more successful buy-in.
Also, there is a persistent idea that higher education operates so differently from other sectors that the same marketing practices that commercial businesses use could not possibly work for us. Yes, there are restrictions and hoops we must jump through every day to successfully market to our constituents, but that need not limit us from adopting more modern practices moving forward. Actually, I’d wager that we have no choice but to adopt them if we are to continue being competitive.
3) What are the best ways to keep learning about analytics, measurement and data?
I am inquisitive by nature—I want to know the why and how of things. Therefore, whenever I want a particular outcome, I ask what we have done in the past to reach that goal and what can we do going forward to make our current workflow better. This often leads me to seek out education documenting what I want to achieve and to perform tests and studies on our own data. For me, it’s all about asking the right questions.
Beyond directly seeking the education I need to accomplish a goal, our team will often share resources, tutorials, articles etc. via internal social media. We are encouraged to stay fresh by attending conferences, listening to podcasts, seeking out articles, and doing all that we can to further our knowledge and be on the leading edge of higher education marketing.
A conference focusing on higher ed analytics?
The Higher Ed Analytics Conference is a must-attend event for higher ed marketing professionals and teams looking for new ideas and best practices.
Read below what a few of your higher ed colleagues who attended the past editions of the Higher Ed Analytics Conference say about the experience.
Tags: HEA18, Higher Ed Marketing, Higher Ed News