University of Wisconsin-WhitewaterSchool of Graduate Studies & Continuing Education

Integrated Marketing Communications PlanNontraditional Students

Creative Marketing UnlimitedUniversity of Wisconsin-Whitewater

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents..........................................................................................................................2

Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................4

Secondary Research Summary.....................................................................................................6

Primary Research Summary.........................................................................................................8

SWOT Analysis............................................................................................................................16

Target Audience..........................................................................................................................17

Integrated Marketing Strategy.....................................................................................................21

Objectives.............................................................................................................................21

Key Messages to Target Audience......................................................................................21

Positioning............................................................................................................................21

Key Benefits.........................................................................................................................22

Marketing Communications Strategies and Tactics.............................................................22

Creative Brief...............................................................................................................................24

Online Media Strategy.................................................................................................................25

Website Development..........................................................................................................25

Social Media.........................................................................................................................26

Email Promotion...................................................................................................................29

Search Engine Optimization.................................................................................................31

Print Media Strategy....................................................................................................................33

Evaluation....................................................................................................................................35

Recap of Campaign Objectives............................................................................................35

Nontraditional Student Satisfaction......................................................................................35

Conclusion...................................................................................................................................36

Appendix......................................................................................................................................37

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Executive Summary

UW-Whitewater’s School of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education has expressed an interest in improving marketing communications efforts in nontraditional and adult students in order to increase enrollment from this group. Nontraditional students have an average age of 36.3 years old, and include those that are not students who are coming to college directly from high school. This may include returning veterans, single parents, working adults, or any of a wide variety of individuals in varying life situations.

The primary competition for UW-Whitewater in this group includes all other four year universities in southwestern Wisconsin, as well as online programs such as the University of Phoenix. To a lesser extent, competition comes from two-year universities as well.

To improve our position to convert enrollments from our target audience, we have developed this Integrated Marketing Communications plan to raise awareness of our collegiate programs in order to align our strategies and tactics with the objectives of the School of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education.

The overall theme of the strategy to achieve this goal is to create a well-maintained digital and print marketing campaign in which messaging is consistent across all channels.

The strategies have been developed by examining the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats to our nontraditional and adult learner program, describing the positioning of the UW-Whitewater nontraditional program relative to that of competitors, and summarizing extensive primary and secondary research about needs and behaviors of our target audience.

Based on these initial steps, the strategies and tactics are included that will provide the best opportunity to effectively communicate why UW-Whitewater should be their institution of choice for continuing their education.

Research Objectives

In order to identify how potential nontraditional students can be marketed to most effectively, three research objectives were identified:

1. Identify what factors adult learners consider when selecting an institution for continuing education.

2. Determine value proposition/key benefits to adult learners of pursuing a degree from UW-Whitewater.

3. Gain further understanding of programs and efforts of other institutions.

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Methodology

Recommendations in this report were guided by a wide range of research. Initially, secondary research was performed that examined the offerings and marketing activities of a variety of potential competitor universities, or those that were considered comparable to UW-Whitewater. These included all four-year University of Wisconsin campuses, and other major universities in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. In total, 36 other universities were researched. Secondary research also included an examination of current UW-Whitewater enrollment data and marketing practices, as well as research of industry best-practices in various publications.

Next, primary research was conducted in the form of a mostly open-ended, ten question survey distributed to current UW-Whitewater nontraditional students. Responses were categorized and summarized in the Primary Research Summary. This was designed to gain insights into strengths and weaknesses of UW-Whitewater that are relevant to nontraditional students, how these students get information about colleges when they decide to return to school, motivations for returning to school, and a variety of other areas. This helped identify various target audience segments what types of messaging are important to reach each one.

Finally, an in depth marketing plan was developed including information regarding positioning, creative messaging, which communication channels to use, and how to reach each segment of the audience.

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Secondary Research Summary

Web Page Information Related to Nontraditional Programs-

Finding:

Many universities have a lack of available information to nontraditional students. Of our study group of 31 universities, 36.4% did not even have a separate web page for nontraditional student information. Only 16.1% of universities had an e-mail sign-up for these students. No schools offered a nontraditional student Facebook page.

Separate Web Page Email Sign-up Facebook0.00%

10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

100.00%

73.6%

16.1%

0.0%

Nontraditional Student Marketing Channels

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Search Engine Optimization-

Finding: According to primary research, a Google search is one of the most likely ways that a nontraditional student would search for information related to returning to school to obtain a degree. Only 29.0% of universities in our study group had web pages that could be found on the first page of Google search results for a selection of nontraditional student education keywords.

The graph below compares the proportion of universities that had separate nontraditional student web pages to those that had web pages with page 1 search rankings.

Separate Web Page Page 1- Google0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

73.6%

29.0%

Nontraditional SEO Rankings

FAQ Resources for Nontraditional Programs-

Finding: UW-Whitewater is one of only six schools in our study group (19.4%) that offer a “Frequently Asked Questions” page for nontraditional students. The information on each of these pages was categorized based on 17 content areas.

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UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh offered two of the most informative pages, with information covering 47.1% of content areas.

Of the most common content areas covered, UW-Whitewater lacked information about how nontraditional students can register (66.7% of sites had this information), how to find financial aid for nontraditionals (50.0% of sites had this information), and how nontraditional students can find more information (50.0% of sites had this information).

Primary Research Summary

MethodologyPrimary research was conducted in the form of a comprehensive survey distributed to current nontraditional students at UW-Whitewater. The survey was designed to gain insight into needs of nontraditional students, benefits of the nontraditional program at UW-Whitewater, potential improvements that could be made by the university, and a variety of other areas. Findings have been outlined below.

ResultsNote: Please refer to Appendix for sample responses and word clouds demonstrating common response themes for each survey question.

Q1: What are the main reasons you decided to return to school to get your bachelor's degree?

Finding: The most common motivation for returning to school was that individuals wanted to find a way to advance their career or increase their income (76.5% of respondents). This was followed by individuals who had a lifelong personal goal of receiving a Bachelor’s degree (54.5%). Another common response came from individuals whose employer’s had encouraged them to go back to school to make them a more valuable professional (8.8%).

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Advance my career Personal goal Employer encouragement0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

76.5%

54.4%

8.8%

Reasons for Returning to School

Q2: What were the biggest concerns you had when deciding whether or not to return to school?

Findings: Some of the most common fears that nontraditional students experience before beginning a degree are ‘Can I afford it?’ (49.2% expressed this concern), ‘Can I fit my education into my schedule?’ (43.1%), and ‘Can I handle the coursework?’ (26.2%).

Affordability Time Coursework Fitting in Finding financial aid

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

49.2%43.1%

26.2%

10.8%6.2%

Most Common Concerns

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Q3: What are the main reasons you decided to attend UW-Whitewater instead of another school?

Finding: One of the strongest reasons to attend for many students (51.5% of respondents) was the proximity of UW-Whitewater to where they live. Nontraditional students are likely to be less willing to move due to the fact that they oftentimes have families or jobs. Other common reasons for attending UW-Whitewater included the prestige of the school (36.4%), and the low cost of attendance relative to other area schools (13.6%).

Proximity

to home

Program prestige

Cost of a

ttendance

Online program

Word of m

outh

Class siz

e0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

51.5%

36.4%

13.6% 10.6% 9.1% 9.1%

Main Reasons to Attend UW-Whitewater

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Q4: What other schools did you look at besides UW-Whitewater? Why were you considering those schools?

Finding: The first part of this question, “What other schools did you look at besides UW-Whitewater”, showed that the most popular competitor school was UW-Madison (22.1% of respondents). Other popular schools were UW-Milwaukee (11.8%), and UW-Rock County (5.9%). 19.1% of respondents did not consider any other schools before applying to UW-Whitewater.

UW-M

adison

None

UW-M

ilwauke

e

UW-R

ock County

MATC

Cardinal Stri

tch

Universi

ty of Io

wa0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

22.1% 19.1%11.8% 5.9% 4.4% 2.9% 2.9%

What Other Schools Did You Consider?

Finding: The second part of this question, “Why were you considering those schools?”, showed that the two biggest factors for students when deciding between schools were the proximity to where they live (17.6% of respondents), and whether they offered the academic program they wanted (17.6%). Another key factor included the lifestyle the respondent pictured having at the university (13.2%).

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Proximity to home

Academic programs

The lifestyle Low cost of attendance

University reputation

Great credit transfer

programs

0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%70.0%80.0%90.0%

100.0%

17.6% 17.6% 13.2%5.9% 5.9% 4.4%

Why Did You Consider Those Schools?

Q5: How did you hear/learn about UW-Whitewater?

Finding: The most common response was from those who said that they heard about UW-Whitewater via word-of-mouth from a family member, friend, or coworker (47.1%). Other common responses included those who did online research on their own (19.1%), and those who already knew about UW-Whitewater from living in the area or growing up here (17.6%).

Word-of-m

outh

Online re

search

I live

nearby

I attended before

High schoolr r

ecruite

rs

Adverti

sements

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

47.1%

19.1% 17.6%

5.9% 5.9% 2.9%

How Did You Hear About UW-W?

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Q6: What could UW-Whitewater do differently to reach non-traditional students like you?

Finding: The most common response, “Reach out to two-year schools” (27.9% of respondents) suggests that UW-Whitewater could improve their efforts at marketing to students who are soon-to-be graduates of two-year schools. Other common responses included students that believed UW-Whitewater needs to advertise the nontraditional program more (25.0% of respondents), those that believe the university should emphasize the nontraditional “pad” (20.6%), and those that believe that UW-Whitewater should make the registration process faster or easier (14.7%).

Reach out t

o two-ye

ar sch

ools

More adverti

sing

Adverti

se th

e nontraditional "

pad"

Make re

gistration easie

r

Allow m

ore credits

to tr

ansfer

Better communica

te online options

0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%70.0%80.0%90.0%

100.0%

27.9% 25.0% 20.6%14.7% 13.2% 10.3%

What Could UW-W Do Differently?

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Q7: If another non-traditional student was considering UW-Whitewater and asked your opinion about the school, what would you tell them about UWW?

Finding: A majority of students (57.4%) said that they would simply tell another prospective student that UW-Whitewater was a great school to attend. This question did reveal other strengths of UW-Whitewater, such as “Great professors” (10.3% of respondents), “Great academics” (10.5%), “Take online classes” (10.3%), and “Good class sizes” (8.8%). All of these strengths are things that should be considered when positioning the university’s nontraditional program and messaging to potential students.

Great sch

ool

Great aca

demics

Great professo

rs

Take onlin

e classe

s

Good class

sizes

0.0%20.0%40.0%60.0%80.0%

100.0%

57.4%

10.5% 10.3% 10.3% 8.8%

What Would You Tell Someone About UW-W?

Q8: Which format of classes have you taken at UW-Whitewater? SELECT ALL THAT APPLY

Finding: Online classes are in high demand with nontraditional students. Only 81.5% of respondents had taken online classes. While a high number, this suggests that there is a significant number of nontraditional students (18.5%) who have never taken a face-to-face class

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in their college career. Meanwhile, as many as 70.8% of respondents have participated in at least one online class.

Face-to-face Online Hybrid0.00%

10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00% 81.5%

70.8%

43.1%

Which format of classes have you taken at UW-Whitewater?

Q9: What college is your major from?

Finding: The two most common programs for nontraditional students (in our sample group) came from the College of Business & Economics (40.6% of respondents) and the College of Letters & Sciences (37.5% of respondents).

Business

and Economics

Letters

& Science

s

Arts &

Communication

Education

Undeclared

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

40.6% 37.5%

12.5% 9.4%0.0%

What college is your major from?

Q10: Gender

Finding: Females were far more likely to respond to our survey. 73.9% of respondents were female.

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Gender

Female Male0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%73.9%

26.2%

Gender

Gender

SWOT Analysis

In order to establish how to position the nontraditional program at UW-Whitewater, it is first necessary to examine internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) that affect nontraditional enrollment at UW-Whitewater. Positive factors will need to be taken advantage of, and negative factors will need to be overcome as outlined in later sections of the report. This analysis is based on primary and secondary research.

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Strengths: Weaknesses:

Great local awareness for quality business & education programs

Supportive community of current nontraditional students to help socially transition

Lower tuition costs than most area four-year universities

Strong web presence with most relevant information provided and easy to find

Childcare services are offered to students

Lack of available testimonial videos from current nontraditional students

Nontraditional students have expressed a difficulty in finding information related to admissions and financial aid availability

Campus is located a considerable distance from large population centers

Opportunities: Threats:

Competitors are failing to take advantage of social media to communicate with target audience

Competitors have a lack of available information on their web pages

Local universities like UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee may have tuition prices that are too high for some nontraditional student segments

There are many other universities in the southeastern Wisconsin area that can be considered competitors

Many potential nontraditional students have fears of not fitting in, not having time for school, and not being able to pay for school

Target Audience

The target audience for the UW-Whitewater Nontraditional Program consists of adult individuals who are looking for an education to further their professional careers or fulfill educational goals by receiving their first college degree or second. These individuals typically have other time and financial obligations against which they have to balance time and money put into their education. Our research has highlighted four main audience segments to cater communications efforts to.

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Primary Audience Demographics

Note: Refer to Appendix for a matrix showing segmentation and benefits for individual Target Audience profiles.

Segment A: Working Adults & Stay at Home Parents

These individuals are adults who are already independent and either employed full-time or taking care of their children while their significant other works. They typically have a family (or at least one dependent). These individuals are motivated to advance their career or change career paths, to improve their long-term opportunities. They are somewhat financially sensitive due to the fact that they have significant financial obligations like children and mortgages. They are also sensitive to time commitments as they have jobs and families to tend to while they pursue a degree. For this reason, these individuals may be more interested in part-time education or online degrees, and childcare services are a necessity.

● Males and females● Aged 25+● High school diploma or some college● Have 1+ dependent● Typically employed 35+ hours per week● Household income of $30,000-$65,000● Geographic: Located within 50 miles of the university

Segment B: Single Parents

This segment includes potential students that decided not to pursue a degree after finishing high school or their GED, but are now looking at advancing their education. Adults who have recently become unemployed are also included in this segment. This is due to the fact that many similarities in demographic traits and behavioral traits exist in these people such as age, gender, and campus resources or characteristics that appeal to this group. Segment B is more likely to enroll full-time than their counterparts in Segment A. They are likely not as sensitive to time constraints as those in Segment A, but are equally as sensitive to financial constraints. They are also likely interested in campus resources such as childcare.

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● A high proportion of females, some males● Aged 22-25● High school diploma or GED● May have a dependent● Typically unmarried● Likely unemployed or returning veterans● Household income of $30,000 or less

Segment C: Returning Veterans

The Returning Veterans segment includes a majority of men, but an increasing proportion of women each year, rising from 2% in 1973 to 14% in 2011.1 These individuals are oftentimes either unemployed, or employed part-time. Financial constraints apply to them, but additional government assistance is often available, and should be communicated to this group. They may be single or married, and may have children as well. Services such as tutoring and academic services are likely of particular concern to this group, as well as financial aid. Unique to this group (especially those who are at the younger end of the age range) is that some may be interested in on-campus housing opportunities.

1 Patten, Eileen, and Kim Parker. "Women in the U.S. Military: Growing Share, Distinctive Profile." Pew Research Center. N.p., 22 Dec. 2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2015.

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● Typically males, but a growing number of women● Aged 20-30● High school diploma or GED● May be single or married● May or may not have dependents● May be unemployed or employed full/part time● Household income of $30,000 or less

Segment D: Two-year Degree

Those in the Two-Year Degree segment will be age 20+ and will include roughly an equal proportion of males and females. They will be coming from a two-year school with an Associates or equivalent degree. This means that they will be highly interested in transfer programs and learning how many of their existing credits will transfer. These individuals will be very diverse in lifestyle, age, marital status, and size of family. They are likely sensitive to the cost of continuing their education. These individuals have an understanding of post-secondary education, and are less likely to need information about academic tutoring and similar campus resources. They will want more in-depth information related to their chosen field of study, and on-campus career services.

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Integrated Marketing Strategy

The proposed campaign will use the following strategies and tactics in both online and print media in order to create an integrated marketing communications campaign that can meet the outlined objectives.

Objectives

1. Increase UW-Whitewater enrollment by nontraditional and adult students

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● Male or female● Aged 20+● Have an Associate’s Degree, or are in

progress on completing one● May be single or married● May or may not have dependents● Includes unemployed, part-time, full-

time employed individuals● Household income varies greatly

2. Increase response rates and conversion rates for marketing communications efforts to nontraditional and adult students

3. Increase satisfaction of nontraditional and adult students that choose to attend UW-Whitewater

Key Messages to Target Audience

Key messages are directed to all of the target audience segments. They are simple and straightforward statements that the UW-Whitewater Nontraditional program needs to communicate effectively.

1. The goal of the program at UW-Whitewater is to provide adults an opportunity to get ahead in their career and provide for their family

2. UW-Whitewater is an accepting environment where nontraditional students will fit in

3. The program at UW-Whitewater offers many services to help nontraditional students while balancing school with other responsibilities.

Positioning

The following is a concise statement that describes what the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wants every member of the target audience to perceive and think about their nontraditional program.

“The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater strives to provide the best educational experience possible for nontraditional or adult students to develop themselves, advance in their career, and pursue a degree.”

Key Benefits

The following are some of the most important benefits that the nontraditional program offers, from the perspective of the potential student. Identifying these results is an opportunity to match each benefit offered by UW-Whitewater with an emotional appeal to the potential student in promotional messaging.

1. The Degree: UW-Whitewater offers a wealth of areas of study where an individual can advance in their career and better provide for their family including many that can be completed online or at night.

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2. The Experience: The University offers many student organizations and extracurricular programs that can help nontraditional students find the “college experience” while balancing other areas of their life.

3. The Lifestyle: There are many tools and course options both on campus and online that can help students effectively balance their work/family lives with their education. Examples include childcare services on campus, the Adult Student Outreach office, campus academic services, and more.

4. The Resources: A variety of financial aid, educational, informational, career services, and other resources are offered by UW-Whitewater to help adult students achieve their educational goals and aid in the transition to their dream career.

Tagline: “UW-Whitewater: Education. Opportunity. Possibility.”

This tagline appeals to all target audience segments as it emphasizes the offering of UW-Whitewater (education), what it means to the audience (opportunity), and the unique benefits that they get when enrolling at UW-Whitewater (possibility). This comes in the form of the extensive services that are offered at UW-Whitewater that make degrees attainable to nontraditional or adult students.

Marketing Communications Strategies and Tactics

Strategy:

Create a unique program identity for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater nontraditional program through creative messaging.

Tactics: ● Adjust current messaging to convey new positioning● Emphasize program benefits in all marketing media● Develop a positive “tone-of-voice” in messaging that helps the potential student

feel connected to the program

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Strategy:

Develop an online marketing plan to effectively convey information about the program to potential adult students.

Tactics: ● Add additional information on all online platforms to help potential students better

understand the program● Develop a Facebook page for the UW-Whitewater Nontraditional Program● Develop online video content● Overhaul website SEO practices

Strategy:

Outline a print media campaign to reach out to nontraditional students

Tactics:● Develop an effective mailing campaign● Develop marketing materials for local employment resources (job centers,

staffing agencies, etc.)● Establish relationships with two year schools in the area.

Creative Brief

A creative brief is a set of guidelines that can help ensure that all marketing communication efforts related to the UW-Whitewater Nontraditional program are integrated, appropriate, and targeted to our specific audience. Every point of communication with the audience should follow these guidelines.

Why are we advertising?To promote the UW-Whitewater Nontraditional Program and increase enrollment in this group.

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Who are we trying to communicate with?Nontraditional and adult students who are typically aged 25+, work 35+ hours per week, and oftentimes have a family with children.

What are their current beliefs/views of our program?UW-Whitewater is an institution that offers a variety of very competitive educational programs, but choosing to attend is a big change of life. There is a lot of uncertainty related to feeling like an outsider, handling the workload, and their ability to pay tuition.

What would we like their beliefs/views to be?At the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, receiving a degree is achievable even given the financial and time constraints of adult learners.

What is our most persuasive benefit to communicate?UW-Whitewater has a thriving community of nontraditional students to which it extends educational and financial resources to make the transition manageable.

Why is this believable?UW-Whitewater makes specific efforts to cater to adult students with a campus department specifically for “nontraditional students” (the Adult Student Outreach office). The average age of these students is 36.3 years old, and many of them have children, full-time jobs, and other obligations.

Tone of voice?Accommodating and understanding.

Online Media Strategy

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater already has a significant competitive advantage when it comes to reaching and communicating to nontraditional students via digital media. Significant opportunities are still present to better integrate online media with the overall communication strategy.

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Website Development

Web media targeting for nontraditional students is a significant area of strength for the UW-Whitewater nontraditional program. The website is both well-organized and appealing, and it is very easy to find relevant information. Creating web design, search engine optimization, e-mail promotion, and social media efforts that echo the messaging and tone of the overall strategy will help create effective brand identity. However, there are some minor improvements that should be made to nontraditional-related pages.

1. Frequently Asked Questions pages: In a study of over 30 universities’ nontraditional student web pages, it was found that only six schools in our group featured FAQ pages like UW-Whitewater’s. Information featured on those six schools’ FAQ pages showed that the following questions were featured on other schools’ pages, but not on those of UW-Whitewater.

a. What are admission requirements for nontraditional students?b. Is financial aid available to me? How do I find out?c. What is the cost of attendance?d. When should I apply?

2. Email sign-up: Very few nontraditional programs at other universities featured a link to sign-up for an email list, or to request more information via e-mail. This would be a simple addition to the UW-Whitewater nontraditional pages that could help build the email communication audience and answer potential students’ questions.

3. Testimonial videos: The UW-Whitewater Adult Student Outreach page features a testimonial video prominently. However, it is the only testimonial video that is easy to find on the page. Many respondents to our survey suggested that testimonial videos are a resource that they find valuable. An additional subsection of the Adult Student Outreach page should be created to feature additional testimonial videos that are posted to social media channels.

Social Media

Facebook is the most important current social network to utilize in reaching out to our particular target market. There are over 100 million Facebook users in the United States, over 50% of which visit Facebook daily. It receives more than twice the traffic of all other social media sites combined.

Our specific target market, nontraditional/adult students, matches very well with two of the largest demographics of Facebook users. Individuals aged 25-34 accounted for 22.6% of Facebook users in 2014 per the 2014 Facebook Demographic Report. That same report

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suggested that individuals aged 35-54 accounted for 27.0% of Facebook users, and this group was also one of the fastest growing segments.

There are many potential benefits to using Facebook as a marketing tool. First, it allows us to identify and reach out to previously unknown potential students. We can identify these individuals because they will have liked our page in their search for information while deciding whether to attend, or they may be an active participant in Facebook groups related to nontraditional students. Facebook also allows for fast sharing of video content.

Perhaps the most important benefit for our purposes is that Facebook allows you to develop a community and better communicate the ‘brand personality’ of the UW-Whitewater Nontraditional Program.

Additionally, Twitter should be utilized as a more real-time means of communication by creating a nontraditional program-specific Twitter account. When deciding on account names for these platforms, it is important that the profile both clearly and concisely identifies that the page is specific to nontraditional students, and maintains consistency in branding with names of other social media platforms. Examples could include:

UW-Whitewater Nontraditional Program UW-Whitewater Adult Students Program Adult Students of UW-Whitewater

Social media is a very important part of communication, outreach, and relationship building with current and potential nontraditional students. It is also crucial in SEO efforts, where pages that are active topics of discussion on major social media platforms are often given page-ranking priority over pages that are not mentioned.

Nontraditional Student-Oriented Facebook Page

A page specific to nontraditional/adult students at UW-Whitewater should be created and promoted on web pages related to these students. Two common concerns among nontraditional students were a lack of information and a fear of feeling like an outsider on campus. The Facebook page will allow us to help potential students overcome these fears using the following types of content.

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1. Testimonial videos: Potential nontraditional students express that they want to hear other nontraditional students talk about the school when they are choosing whether to attend and where to attend. This type of content will be some of the most credible and believable marketing communications that can be provided because it comes from peers of our target audience.

2. Discussion prompts: Asking simple questions like “What do you think are some of the biggest challenges of attending college as a nontraditional student” can develop interaction from current students as well as those considering UW-Whitewater. Seeing a responsive and active community on Facebook could help overcome the fear some have of feeling like an outsider on campus. This can also be used as a means of addressing any other potential issues that users may have. This type of post should come on a weekly basis in order to provide ample time for individuals to respond and participate. Discussion prompt activity should be monitored and responded to on a daily basis.

3. Campus resource information: Facebook is an excellent opportunity to communicate messages about the key benefits of UW-Whitewater compared to other universities. This is an opportunity to make sure that the audience is aware that services like financial aid, career counseling, child care, and many other resources are offered to nontraditional students.

4. Articles & information about the benefits of receiving an education: Universities that have successful Facebook pages for their nontraditional programs often link external content (articles, videos, etc.) that show the career opportunities that receiving a degree comes with. This is a tool to make an emotional appeal to the audience by demonstrating the potential impact of going back to school.

5. Facebook advertising: Advertisements can be posted to Facebook that generate awareness of the program as well as encourage an ‘action’ such as visiting our website. Facebook advertisements are valuable in that they can be very carefully targeted to our individual target segments. Students that are interested in or attend local two year schools such as UW-Rock County could be quickly identified and communicated with as well.

Nontraditional Student-Oriented Twitter Page

The real-time nature of Twitter as a social media platform may mean that content has less lasting value, and thus users do not look to Twitter as often for information. However, Twitter provides many organizations tremendous value as a platform for interacting quickly with their audience and answering questions. A Twitter page should be implemented to provide a more personal interaction with individual students as well as to quickly respond to questions and complaints.

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Nontraditional Student YouTube Channel

A nontraditional student-oriented YouTube channel will provide additional social media coverage for the UW-Whitewater nontraditional student program. It will also serve as a resource to host videos such as student testimonials that will be featured on the webpage and in other areas.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn provides a more professional means of communication with target audiences, and students may consider this to be a more credible and ‘believable’ means of communication with an educational institution. This platform can also be used to maintain a connection with nontraditional alumni in order to show potential students what people have achieved with a UW-Whitewater degree.

Email Promotion

Email promotion is one of the primary ways that the UW-Whitewater nontraditional program can reach out to new potential students and provide messaging and information about continuing their education.

While email traditionally has a low response and conversion rate it is also one of the few inexpensive ways to reach out to large groups of people. This factor allows it to remain a valuable marketing communications tool. In order to be effective a large list of quality leads will need to be developed, content will have to be planned to include that appeals to individual

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target segments, and emails need to be carefully scheduled around important dates and deadlines to help gradually influence the audience towards enrollment.

List development-

Growing and managing the list of email contacts is one of the most difficult parts of marketing through this medium. Contacts need to be found in (in an ethical manner) that meet criteria that suggest they may be interested in continuing their education. Some methods of achieving this include:

1. Email sign-ups from the website: Creating a means for the audience to opt-in to our email list manually on our website (as outlined in the Web Development section) is a method of list creation that provides contacts that are already known to be seeking information about our program. These contacts may be more likely to enroll than those found through other means. Information to request for those who opt-in for program emails includes:

Contact information (name, address, email address, phone number) Demographic information (age, gender, marital status, interest in

childcare services) Veteran status Desired area of study How they learned about UW-Whitewater

2. Cooperating with local two-year colleges: If relationships are developed with two-year schools it is possible that they would be willing to provide detailed contact information for their graduates who are interested in continuing on to a four-year degree. If it is demonstrated that UW-Whitewater can provide their graduates with additional opportunities these institutions may be willing to help.

Content-

From the audience perspective, content is the obviously the most important part of email communication. Emails that are sent to contacts need to be customized to individual target audience segments, if possible. This allows for messaging to be specific and to appeal to the specific areas of concerns of each individual contact.

Each email that is sent out should be viewed as an individual point of contact with the audience that either moves them closer or further away from the end goal of getting them to enroll. A

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variety of different types of emails should be developed to continuously move the audience along in this process.

Awareness:

This will be the initial point of contact with an individual, and will serve as a means of providing general information about the UW-Whitewater program for nontraditional students. This step could include a series of several emails. Content should be included that demonstrates what the impact and value of a degree can be such as income statistics and job placement rates. Testimonial videos could be embedded or linked within emails to help establish an emotional appeal that helps the audience develop the feeling that they need a degree.

This step in the process involves helping the audience develop an understanding of why UW-Whitewater should be their institution of choice for their degree. Those that sign-up for the email list through the website can be placed directly at this point in the process.

Consideration:

These emails will have to be the most highly targeted emails. The content should demonstrate that UW-Whitewater provides services and other benefits that appeal to the individual’s given Target Audience segment.

Once again, this can be done through the use of testimonial videos, or pictures from the campus relating to the lifestyle that one would experience while attending UW-Whitewater. In depth explanations in the body text of the email that explain each of the relevant benefits of the program are crucial.

Finally, these emails should feature a call-to-action for a higher engagement form of communication. This would be in the form of an invitation to tour the campus, speak on the phone with somebody for assistance in enrollment/admissions, or an opportunity to speak to a current student or alumni.

Enrollment:

The final point in our ‘conversion funnel’ ends in the individual actually enrolling. By this point, the recipient should have a feeling that they need additional education, and an understanding of the benefits of the UW-Whitewater program.

Content at this stage should help overcome objections and fears that the audience may have when enrolling. Additional information about managing an education with work or

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family obligations, handling the cost of attendance, or a demonstration of the large community of similar individuals on campus are all valuable.

A final call-to-action should be featured that communicates a sense of urgency such as enrollment deadlines.

Search Engine Optimization

One of the main ways that nontraditional students may research information on universities is through an online search engine such as Google or Bing. Achieving a high ranking for important search keywords related to nontraditional student programs, adult degrees, part-time degrees, or online degrees is crucial. Studies show that up to 71.33% of clicks in search engines come from links that are shown in the first page of results.2

A simple process can be followed that will help boost search rankings over time, but search engine optimization (SEO) best practices should be routinely researched as search algorithms are rapidly changing.

Technical SEO:

In a simple SEO technical audit for nontraditional and adult student related pages under the uww.edu domain, it appears that technical SEO practices are already strong. Correct tags are in place to keep each of the site’s pages indexed in major search engines. One potential improvement in this area would be to get more links to pages that are relevant to nontraditional or adult students on other areas of the site, or even on the home page. These are referred to as “internal links”, and help search engines identify important pages.

Keyword research:

Each page that is related to nontraditional students or adult students should be tailored to compete for 3-5 keywords. These are terms or phrases that are related to the content on the given page and that we would like our page to rank highly for in search results. This is determined based on search volume (the number of monthly searches that a given term receives).

2 Schwartz, Barry. "A New Click Through Rate Study for Google Organic Results." Marketing Land. N.p., 1 Oct. 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2015.

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A free tool called Google Adwords Keyword Planner can be used to look up search volume for a term, and ideally words that receive greater than 100 searches but fewer than 7,500. Terms with fewer than 100 searches provide little value in terms of potential clicks while terms with over 7,500 are too difficult to compete for.

Many organizations keep track of keywords that are targeted for each page in a spreadsheet. Information that should be recorded includes the keyword, search volume, and page URL.

Note: See appendix for a table that can guide keyword research as well as provide examples of potentially successful keywords.

Content Development:

Content and media needs to be posted under each page that is valuable and relevant to the page subject. Search algorithms are very advanced at increasing search rankings for pages with good, informative content.

This means that the text in the body of the page should be similar to the page headings. Both of those fields should also contain the 3-5 keywords that are selected for the page.

Additional weight is given to higher-effort content and media on pages. This means that blogs, videos, articles, infographics, and images that help the viewer become more engaged and informed by the page can help drastically increase search rankings.

Inbound Links:

Search algorithms also highly weight the importance of the number of links on the web that point to a given web page. For that reason, it is important to network with webmasters of other sites (perhaps community colleges, employment centers, etc.) to try to get the URL for nontraditional or adult students page linked on other domains.

Public relations can be another very effective way of building an inbound link structure. The more news stories and PR coverage that the UW-Whitewater nontraditional program can achieve, the more likely it is that links to our webpages will be published online.

Print Media Strategy

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Communications through print media should follow similar visual templates to online media by featuring similar graphics, logos, and the campaign slogan. All messaging guidelines outlined in the Creative Brief should be followed for print advertisements as well as online.

After examining some of the print mailings that UW-Whitewater currently distributes to nontraditional students, it is possible that improvements could be made in this area to better match our strategies and tactics.

Three potential types of print marketing communication should be considered.

Individual Mailings

Similar to the pamphlet shown in the “Current Print Mailings” section of the Appendix, efforts should continue to be made to issue pamphlets or other mailings to individual students. However, unlike the current mailings, these should not necessarily apply to individual areas of study at UW-Whitewater, but should instead be more general information about the campus. Whenever possible, each contact should be sent a targeted mailing for their given Target Audience segment that appeals to the specific benefits that are likely to appeal to them.

This type of communication can be used in unison with our email conversion funnel strategy outlined in the Online Media Strategy section, as well. While costly, these print mailings can provide a valuable method of moving an individual target to the beginning of the path towards enrollment.

Scheduling for these mailings should take place several months in advance of enrollment deadlines. This is due to the fact that it takes considerable time to move an individual through the conversion funnel, and mailing too close to these deadlines could result in lost conversions/enrollments.

Marketing Materials for Two-Year Universities & Job Centers

A potential resource for finding contacts is two-year universities who have graduating students. UW-Whitewater is likely to not be considered a competitor to these schools, at least for their graduating students, and thus they may be willing to cooperate by distributing mailings to their

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students or posters on campus that talk about capitalizing on their two-year degree by continuing on to their Bachelor’s Degree.

A full suite of pamphlets and posters should be developed that provide information about credit transfer programs at UW-Whitewater, as well as other benefits that are important to Segment D, Two-Year Degrees. These materials can also be distributed to local job centers, which are city facilities where individuals go to seek information about jobs, education, apprenticeships, and careers.

Marketing Materials for Veteran’s Affairs Organizations

Similar to providing materials to distribute on two-year campuses and job centers, Veteran’s Affairs Organizations are institutions where there are individuals that are likely interested in continuing education.

A unique suite of pamphlets and posters should be developed to appeal specifically to Segment C, Returning Veterans. This would include materials that appeal to specific benefits of this target audience.

The tone-of-voice should be altered slightly for these marketing materials to emphasize respectful and thankful messaging to appeal to the Returning Veteran segment.

Evaluation

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Recap of Campaign Objectives

1. Increase enrollment by nontraditional students2. Increase conversion/response rates for nontraditional student communications3. Increase nontraditional student satisfaction of university services and academics

To determine the effectiveness of the IMC plan, methods of evaluation for each objective need to be developed. It is important to increase overall student enrollment of a university, especially in an area where there is a lack of presence. It is crucial that the nontraditional student is being delivered proper material for their degree, as well as advancement in their career under a constructive learning environment with many time and lifestyle constraints.

Objectives #1 and #2 are easily quantifiable by simply tracking enrollment statistics and conversion/response rates before and after implementation of IMC strategies. However, Objective #3 will require a more active approach to evaluate success.

Nontraditional Student Satisfaction

In order to track the satisfaction of nontraditional students with the UW-Whitewater nontraditional and adult learner program it is necessary that a method be developed to quantify their satisfaction.

A simple method to accomplish this is by developing a survey that will rate satisfaction among a variety of areas for these students. It will be important that the survey remains identical from one semester to the next in order to not skew results. This can also be an opportunity to gain additional insights on the thoughts of the nontraditional student body.

Potential questions could include:

1. Please rate your satisfaction with academic support services on campus such as tutoring, the university testing center, and media labs. (1= Very Unsatisfied 5= Very Satisfied)

2. Please rate your satisfaction with the availability of financial aid at UW-Whitewater. (1= Very Unsatisfied 5= Very Satisfied)

3. Please rate your satisfaction with university childcare services. If this does not apply to you, please select “Not applicable”. (1= Very Unsatisfied 5= Very Satisfied)

Conclusion

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The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater provides a competitive, quality education to nontraditional and adult students.

Strengths include great local awareness, a well-established community of adult students to help nontraditional students transition socially, and an existing advantage over competitors in the area of online communications such as providing in-depth information on their nontraditional web pages.

Some recognized weaknesses of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater when it comes to the nontraditional students are a lack of testimonials from current nontraditional students and a lack of information provided for certain common questions such as admission requirements. Additionally, UW-Whitewater faces the threat of a variety other local universities (both four-year and two-year universities) within the southeastern Wisconsin area.

The school has the opportunity to adopt new positioning and messaging strategies across all points of contact with the aforementioned four select target audiences. This will help build the brand of the University and establish it as the go-to institution for area adults that decide to enrich themselves by pursuing additional education.

By adjusting online and print marketing communications strategies to incorporate consistent messaging and positioning UW-Whitewater can achieve each of their goals outlined in this plan.

These objectives include an increase in enrollment from nontraditional students, an increase in conversion rates and response rates from nontraditional student communication efforts, and an increase in satisfaction from nontraditional or adult students.

Appendix

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Current print advertisements

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Primary Research Responses & Word Clouds

Q1: What are the main reasons you decided to return to school to get your Bachelor’s degree?

Sample responses:

“I was working in a factory doing manual labor on a printing press. This job was done through on the job training and so was the promotion process. Work shifts were twelve hours long three days a week. I cannot be cooped up in a factory for that long. I also wanted to make more money.”

“The reasoning to return to school was both personal and professional. Although gaining awesome experience in the field has advantages re: applicability, there is still the fact that I had not completed my degree. this impacted me anytime new management was hired or I was up for potential promotion. The act of actually coming back and completing my degree has a monumental impact on my personal growth and experience as an individual as well as future professional.”

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Q2: What were the biggest concerns you had when deciding whether or not to return to school?

Sample responses:

“How am I going to be able to afford this and still maintain my home, work and care of my mother along with homework and classes? Would I be able to keep up with the homework?”

“Could I afford it? Would I have time? Did the opportunity pass me by? Would online learning work for me?”

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Q3: What are the main reasons you decided to attend UW-Whitewater instead of another school? Sample responses:

“It is fairly close to Madison (where I am from) and has a good Education program (I am a special education major).”

“I did the research about their Social Work program and really felt it was a positive fit for my situation. Also I knew I did not want to travel to Milwaukee every day for classes. I live 40 minutes away from campus but the commute is not stressful compared to being downtown hustle and bustle of UWM.”

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Q4: What other schools did you look at besides UW-Whitewater? Why were you considering those schools?

Sample responses:

“Madison, MATC. I was considering Madison because of its reputation, but it was too expensive. I was considering MATC because of price.”

“UW-Milwaukee. I wanted an environmental science or safety degree and wanted a public school so those were the only two reasonable options.”

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Q5: How did you hear/learn about UW-Whitewater?

Sample responses:

“I work on campus. It has always been here - I grew up on a farm just outside of Whitewater.”

“Who *hasn't* heard of UW-Whitewater? What I heard most were the radio ads for Young Auditorium on the UW-Whitewater campus.”

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Q6: What could UW-Whitewater do differently to reach non-traditional students like you?

Sample responses:

“Invite me to tours. Call me on the phone. Include an email address and phone number on the correspondence I receive from the mysterious person who responds to the on-line application. I had one heck of a time trying to talk to a human being at your university who didn't try to steer me back to the website for information. All I really wanted to do was sit down with a counselor and talk about what I'd need to do to get started and what to expect. I didn't get to talk with anyone until Planet Purple... which, for me, was less than a week before classes started. You really need to make your website more user-friendly. It is very hard to navigate and find information on specific degrees. Yes, it's easy enough for your employees to find things. You need to make it very, very obvious to the rest of us how to find things.”

“Utilize technical college information to provide additional material to recent graduates; provide information on transfer of credits and provide a better pathway to complete courses through technical colleges to transfer into UWW.”

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Q7: If another non-traditional student was considering UW-Whitewater and asked your opinion about the school, what would you tell them about UW-Whitewater?

Sample responses:

“I would recommend UWW 100% and tell them that it's a good fit for non-traditional students.”

“I would tell them that I really enjoy Whitewater. The class sizes are small enough to still be personable and most of the teachers are always willing to give you their time and help.”

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Segment Age Gender Education Family/Marital Status Important Benefits

Working Adults & Stay at Home Parents

25+ years Males and females High school diploma/GED

Have 1+ dependent Part-time programs Online degrees Child care services Academic tutoring/services Community of similar individuals

Single Parents 22-25 years Mostly females High school diploma/GED

Typically unmarried At least one dependent

Child care services Financial aid Career services

Returning Veterans

20-30 years Mostly male High school diploma/GED

Single or married May or may not have

dependents

On-campus housing opportunities Financial aid Child care services Academic tutoring Community of similar individuals

Two-Year Degrees 20+ years Male or female Associate’s Degree

May or may not have dependents

Credit transfer program Information specific to their field of

study Financial aid Career services

Target Audience –Benefit Matrix

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SEO Keyword Research Template

SEO keyword research is an ongoing process that continues as webpages are changed and maintained. The researcher should put themselves in the position of the target audience by thinking about what types of search terms they might use while gathering information or considering going to college. These should be keywords that are relevant to UW-Whitewater (and the specific URL that the keyword will be used on), but also general enough to have adequate search volume. Some potential examples include:

Keyword Search VolumeOnline Degrees 27,100 Online Degrees 22,200 Adult Learning 8,100 College Online 6,600 Online College Classes 6,600 Going Back to School 2,900 Wisconsin Colleges 2,400 College Online Courses 1,900 Night Classes 1,900 Business Degree Online 1,900 Going Back to College 1,600 Adult Students 480 Scholarships for Adult Students 390 Adult Student 260 How to go Back to College 260 Nontraditional Students 170 What is a Nontraditional Student 140 Grants for Nontraditional Students 110

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Welcome Email Series

Segment A: Working Adults/ Stay at Home Parents

Subject Line: UW-Whitewater: Work During the Day, Study at Night!

Body Text: UW-Whitewater offers a variety of degrees available at night or online that fit your schedule.

Do you want to earn more money, change careers, or simply fulfill a goal of getting a degree? UW-Whitewater wants to help you achieve that goal. Many successful people have received our degrees even while working full-time and raising children. We offer many services such as childcare, academic tutoring, and online academic services to help you in your education.

Why, you may ask? We want you to succeed!

Other Content: Embed testimonial videos from others who fit this target audience profile. The campaign tagline could also be featured. Link to the nontraditional-related webpages where the audience can find additional information to further engage them.

Timing: This email should be sent before the end of the typical workday, around 2pm-3pm. This allows time for full-time parents to view the email before children get home from school and for employed individuals to see it before leaving work.

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Segment B: Single Parents

Subject Line: UW-Whitewater: Decide your future!

Body Text: UW-Whitewater strives to make a college degree attainable for hard-workers, no matter the circumstances. Education is a key for many to keep improving their future and finding a rewarding career.

With services like childcare facilities, academic tutoring, and financial aid help, people from all walks of life have fulfilled their dreams with UW-Whitewater degrees.

Other Content: Embed testimonial videos from others who fit this target audience profile. The campaign tagline could also be featured. Provide a link to webpages related to childcare services so to further engage the audience and move them further in the path to enrolling.

Timing: These emails should be sent in late morning. This allows more time in the day for single parents to see the email. This segment has a particularly unpredictable schedule, and sending the email between 10am and 2pm should be optimal. Continue to experiment with different times to see when the best click-through and open rates are achieved.

Segment C: Returning Veterans

Subject Line: UW-Whitewater: Degrees and Opportunities for Veterans

Body Text: UW-Whitewater is a veteran-friendly campus, with a thriving community of current and former military personal that understand you and your needs.

There are many services and options for returning veterans who now hope to advance their career by receiving a degree. Here (link), you can find information related to financial aid options and other campus services that can help you achieve your dreams!

Other Content: Include pictures and graphics that show veterans and military personnel on campus or in class. This may help this target audience segment better identify with the messages we are trying to communicate. If appropriate, use the campaign tagline as well.

Timing: Depending on how recently the individual’s service ended, this segment may be accustomed to waking up early. Testing should be done to determine best timing for these emails by sending some in the morning (7am to 9am) and some in the late afternoon (2pm to 4pm) to see which time is more successful.

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Segment D: Two Year Degrees

Subject Line: UW-Whitewater: Keep Your Momentum, Continue Your Education

Body Text: UW-Whitewater offers an extensive credit transfer program that recognizes credits from many two and four year colleges! This allows those with two-year degrees to have a head start towards receiving their Bachelors’.

If you’re interested in furthering your education and your career opportunities go to http://www.uww.edu/aaec/student-tools/transfer for more information about how your credits will transfer.

Other Content: Include pictures and other content that shows students learning, meeting with academic advisers, and similar activities. Videos showing testimonials from individuals who have transferred to UW-Whitewater from two-year schools could be embedded as well. If appropriate, include the campaign tagline as well.

Timing: Send these emails in the late afternoon (2pm-4pm).

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