Enrollment Marketing: How to Leverage a Mascot Program

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:07.190 You were listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals 2 00:00:07.230 --> 00:00:11.910 in higher education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student 3 00:00:11.949 --> 00:00:16.230 recruitment, don't have relations, marketing trends, new technologies and so much more. 4 00:00:16.989 --> 00:00:20.230 If you are looking for conversations centered around where the industry is going, 5 00:00:20.750 --> 00:00:29.660 this podcast is for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to episode 6 00:00:29.780 --> 00:00:35.100 five of the Higher Ed Marketer podcast. I'm troy singer, with my partnering 7 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:40.689 creation, the Cohost, Bart Taylor. Hello, Bart, Hey, troy, 8 00:00:40.770 --> 00:00:43.810 how are you today? It's going well with me. We're like excited 9 00:00:43.929 --> 00:00:49.409 to to have this conversation today. I'm excited and I just want to remind 10 00:00:49.490 --> 00:00:53.640 you, in case you've forgotten and let everyone else know, that our one 11 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:58.640 year anniversaries coming up from the time that we first met and started working together. 12 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:02.719 I did not know that will happy anniversary, Troy. Happy Anniversary to 13 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.750 you too, and yes, I'm the one in this dynamic duo that remembered. 14 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:11.390 So I don't know if that's a great segue, but please tell us 15 00:01:11.390 --> 00:01:15.629 about today's guest, since I now know that there is a personal connection for 16 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:19.900 you. Yeah, so Christy lafree is the director of enrollment marketing at Butler 17 00:01:19.939 --> 00:01:23.780 University and she and I met several years ago. I have a student at 18 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:29.340 Butler, my my oldest son, Benjamin, and is a junior studying journalism, 19 00:01:29.459 --> 00:01:34.170 photo journalism, at Butler University, and so there's been some some aspects 20 00:01:34.209 --> 00:01:38.090 of this conversation that impacted me both as a marketer, a professional hired marketer, 21 00:01:38.489 --> 00:01:42.170 as well as just a parent and how I receive that marketing. So 22 00:01:42.250 --> 00:01:46.370 it'll be a good conversation. It will be so without further ado. Let's 23 00:01:46.409 --> 00:01:52.359 bring Christian. We are so looking forward to our conversation with Christy Laffree, 24 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:57.400 director of enrollment marketing at Butler University, to the Higher Ed Marketing podcasts which, 25 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:02.390 if I bet anything, there might be some subjects around dynamic dogs and 26 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:07.909 dynamic cats today. Hello, Christy, Hi try. Thank you both for 27 00:02:08.030 --> 00:02:12.310 having me here. I appreciate it and yes, I do have some dog 28 00:02:12.509 --> 00:02:16.180 and cat stories to share and I want to make sure we get into them 29 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:21.060 at the appropriate time. But if you would tell us about your role at 30 00:02:21.139 --> 00:02:23.939 Butler, sure, I'm happy to so. Like you said, I am 31 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:28.819 director of enrollment marketing at Butler University in Indianapolis. I have been a part 32 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:32.689 of the Butler community for almost eight years now. I actually began a Butler 33 00:02:32.729 --> 00:02:37.770 in the opposite admission. My team and I have since transition to these central 34 00:02:37.930 --> 00:02:43.650 marketing communications office, but we also operate in really close partnership with our partners 35 00:02:43.689 --> 00:02:46.719 and enrollment management. So in many ways we're a part of both teams and 36 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:51.719 we found that that partnership is is very successful for us. My primary role 37 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:58.400 is to oversee the develop of marketing strategies for perspective students at both the undergraduate 38 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.990 and graduate level, and our approach is really full funnel. So we handle 39 00:03:02.069 --> 00:03:09.150 everything from student search efforts to application generation, to yield to melt prevention campaigns. 40 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:13.099 The funnel goes on and on and on. Right as we're, as 41 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:16.020 we're all aware, and like most enrollment marketing teams are, we're really full 42 00:03:16.099 --> 00:03:22.620 service. So we handle everything from direct mail and publications to crm and email 43 00:03:22.659 --> 00:03:27.930 marketing strategy to web and digital to social, etc. Etc. Etc. 44 00:03:28.449 --> 00:03:31.330 And really our primary effort is to make sure that what we are doing on 45 00:03:31.409 --> 00:03:37.009 the marketing side and what we're putting in front of prospective students is really complementing 46 00:03:37.250 --> 00:03:39.610 what admission is doing on the recruitment side of the house. So we are 47 00:03:39.650 --> 00:03:44.879 always trying to making sure that what we're doing is in sync and helping us 48 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:49.080 meet our enrollment goals. And being in the central marketing office gives us the 49 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:53.560 added Ben a set of being really close and really involved with institutional brand efforts. 50 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:57.110 So there's some terrific synergy there as well. That's great, Christie. 51 00:03:57.150 --> 00:04:00.629 Appreciate you kind of doing that introduction and I think you and I met probably 52 00:04:00.669 --> 00:04:03.590 three years ago, good when I was on campus and I had been working 53 00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:06.789 with Butler over the over the years on different projects, but I think some 54 00:04:06.870 --> 00:04:10.580 of the work that that the reason I got introduced to you, as I 55 00:04:10.659 --> 00:04:15.060 was commenting with one of my contacts about just the the personal aspect of being 56 00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:18.980 a parent of a student who decided to attend Butler and so your work personally 57 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:21.500 affect to my family and so I got a chance to introduce you, know, 58 00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:25.170 be introduced to you and talk a little bit about that. So tell 59 00:04:25.170 --> 00:04:29.050 me a little bit more about what went into the the parent flow of the 60 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:32.569 calm flow strategy that that kind of affected me and my wife in how we 61 00:04:33.129 --> 00:04:36.889 helped our son navigate his college choices. I'm just so the audience knows, 62 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:43.319 and full transparency. He's a junior about the university studying journalism and loves it, 63 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:46.120 and just about to say he's real happy, isn't he's really happy. 64 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.800 So I got to put that plug in. So, but I do know 65 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:55.230 that a lot of the ways that you guys communicated directly with parents and with 66 00:04:55.470 --> 00:04:58.110 me and my wife made a difference. So tell me a little bit about 67 00:04:58.189 --> 00:05:00.149 you know what that strategy was and how that played out and and why you 68 00:05:00.189 --> 00:05:03.949 saw that as a need. Sure, happy to so. Prospective students are, 69 00:05:04.069 --> 00:05:06.699 of course, our primary audience, but we have spent a lot of 70 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:12.860 time in the last few years really thinking about and developing strategies for our secondary 71 00:05:12.899 --> 00:05:17.500 audiences, other people who are involved in the college search and the decisionmaking process 72 00:05:17.579 --> 00:05:20.490 and of course, like in your case, Bart, that that most often 73 00:05:20.529 --> 00:05:26.569 includes parents. So our goal with how we engage with parents is really twofold. 74 00:05:26.810 --> 00:05:30.769 First, we always aim to keep parents aware of their students admission process, 75 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:35.560 aware of where they're at in their application process, upcoming downline, reminders, 76 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.720 next steps, all of that kind of transactional stuff. We know that 77 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:46.279 parents are often the ones reminding their kids about upcoming deadlines and getting your transcripts 78 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:49.189 in and all that good stuff. So this is a pretty easy strategy for 79 00:05:49.230 --> 00:05:55.149 us to execute. We just include parents in the majority of our transactional communications, 80 00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:59.350 are oftentimes on the CC line, and it's it's really simple and I 81 00:05:59.550 --> 00:06:01.110 wish it maybe was a bit more strategic than that, but we have just 82 00:06:01.189 --> 00:06:05.500 found that looping them in and keeping them in the know has proven to be 83 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:10.100 really, really helpful and I know a lot of parents just appreciate having that 84 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:14.500 ability to get reminders, etc. At the same time as their students. 85 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:16.259 I was gonna say that was so important to us. So yeah, good. 86 00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:21.529 But in addition to that, we also know that parents are often deeply 87 00:06:21.610 --> 00:06:27.329 involved in the college choice and in the decision making process. So we know 88 00:06:27.529 --> 00:06:30.290 that as marketers, we need to be spending just as much time promoting our 89 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:35.240 institution and sharing what makes Butler a special place with parents as we do with 90 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:39.680 their students, and we do that in a few different ways. We really 91 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:43.199 have kind of a blend of an and or an or approach, I would 92 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.910 say. In many of our campaigns we will send communications to both students and 93 00:06:47.110 --> 00:06:50.110 their parents. You know, anytime we are working on, you know, 94 00:06:50.230 --> 00:06:55.189 our our view book series or a new email campaign or a website, we 95 00:06:55.350 --> 00:06:58.629 make sure that we are keeping all audiences in mind when we do that piece. 96 00:06:59.230 --> 00:07:02.100 We assume mom or dad or grandma, our GRANDPA are likely the ones 97 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:05.860 getting the mail. I'm not sure that's as accurate now in the in the 98 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:10.540 e learning covid era, but prior to that, you know, we knew 99 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:15.139 that they were often the first ones seeing seeing information from us, and we 100 00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:18.610 again just really try to keep all audiences in mind as we're working on those 101 00:07:18.730 --> 00:07:23.850 pieces. As we go further down in our enrollment funnel, that's where we 102 00:07:23.970 --> 00:07:26.730 start at times segmenting. So this is where we get into kind of the 103 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:30.720 or part of our approach. So there may be times where we send different 104 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:34.920 different campaigns and different materials to parents versus students. Parents, of course, 105 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:40.839 are curious about the return on investment of a Butler degree and how their student 106 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:45.670 will be prepared post college, but students may want more information about what it's 107 00:07:45.670 --> 00:07:49.670 like to live on campus or ability to participate in quizzes and polls and things 108 00:07:49.709 --> 00:07:54.910 along that along that nature. So we do at times kind of divide and 109 00:07:55.269 --> 00:08:01.300 create those different paths. I think that's really interesting and even like I will 110 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:03.819 testify to the fact that, yes, parents are the ones seeing the email, 111 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:09.819 because so few colleges were including us on the comflow. Mean Butler, 112 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:11.300 out of this seven colleges is you applied to, Butler, was the only 113 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:16.329 one that was actually including us on any confluence. So naturally we were looking 114 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:18.329 at our email every day as professionals. We'd bring it up in the evening 115 00:08:18.490 --> 00:08:20.569 say hey, did you see the visit day? Did you see this coming 116 00:08:20.569 --> 00:08:24.089 up the transactional as well as just having a good sense of what was going 117 00:08:24.250 --> 00:08:28.160 on. And so I can certainly say that that was that was a very 118 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.040 effective campaign. But I think one thing I wanted to just kind of point 119 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:33.279 out and and mention, and you can respond to this, but I think 120 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:37.519 that you can only do what you can with the data that you can collect, 121 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:41.080 and so we've done some campaigns for different different schools. We're we've done, 122 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:43.429 you know, some lead generation type things and we might have purchased lists 123 00:08:43.549 --> 00:08:46.389 or they might just be coming in from the web, but will often ask, 124 00:08:46.429 --> 00:08:50.909 as an optional question, please include your parents email address. I've always, 125 00:08:50.909 --> 00:08:52.750 always, always been shocked at how many students will actually just volunteer that 126 00:08:52.870 --> 00:08:56.460 pretty quickly, but you can't do that kind of parent communication without having their 127 00:08:56.500 --> 00:09:00.460 email. And so I mean, would you agree that you've got to ask 128 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:03.820 for those things if you're going to actually try to do something? Absolutely yes, 129 00:09:03.899 --> 00:09:07.700 and that's a really good point. You know that that parent strategy I 130 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:09.970 just talked about is only as effective as the data that we have in our 131 00:09:11.009 --> 00:09:15.649 system and yield. You know, of course the application is that primary data 132 00:09:15.730 --> 00:09:16.970 collection point where you do get a lot of that. So we yield. 133 00:09:18.009 --> 00:09:20.610 It does become a bit easier, but that focus has been there for us, 134 00:09:20.889 --> 00:09:24.840 you know, even just in the last twelve months, two years, 135 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:28.600 is how do we begin getting more parent contact information or earlier in the funnel, 136 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:33.159 and we've tried a couple different approaches with that, but we're really thoughtful 137 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:39.950 with everything from our inquiry forms to visit registrations. What seems to be fairly 138 00:09:41.029 --> 00:09:46.190 common is we have seen that students will most often volunteer one parents contact information, 139 00:09:46.309 --> 00:09:48.909 which for us, of course, one is better than nothing. But 140 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:52.940 we've also begun thinking about, you know, if we have mom's email or 141 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:56.500 dad's email, how do we provide then the opportunity to add another parent or 142 00:09:56.500 --> 00:10:01.019 another family member to the mix as well. So definitely an important piece to 143 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:05.539 consider as you do more in the parent space. Christy, I have to 144 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:09.570 deliver on my promise from the beginning of our interview. Please tell us about 145 00:10:09.570 --> 00:10:13.929 blue, because many of our listeners may not be familiar with him. Yes, 146 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:16.649 yes, so Butler blue, the fourth, or who we call blue 147 00:10:16.809 --> 00:10:22.440 for short, is our university's live mascot. He is a sixty five pound 148 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:26.320 English bulldog. He is the only co worker whose weight I know and I 149 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:31.559 have permission to share externally. He he is a huge part of what we 150 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.509 do at Butler. So our live mascot program at Butler has a really rich 151 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:39.789 tradition. Blue is the fourth Butler blue dog that we've had. He was 152 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:46.029 actually introduced around this time last year as a little tiny puppy and our former 153 00:10:46.110 --> 00:10:48.950 mascot, Butler blue, the third, who I know many indie folks are 154 00:10:48.950 --> 00:10:52.500 are familiar with. We called him TRIPP, has since retired, but blue, 155 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:56.620 he lives on campus with a member of our marketing team. Before covid 156 00:10:56.740 --> 00:11:00.220 he came to the same office I did every day. And Butler are marketing 157 00:11:00.259 --> 00:11:03.379 and our admission teams or house in the same building, which is super, 158 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:07.450 super convenient. Blue has a huge following on social media, as you know, 159 00:11:07.490 --> 00:11:13.009 especially from the athletics crowd, but really his reaches nationwide these days and 160 00:11:13.370 --> 00:11:16.570 the mask at we have found is often the first thing people do know about 161 00:11:16.610 --> 00:11:20.440 Butler or when I share where I work with someone, that's immediately the first 162 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:24.279 thing they ask questions about. So Blues Great, huge, huge part of 163 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:26.480 what we do and a huge part of our success. That's great, I 164 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:28.879 think. I think blue is a great Asst. I mean, living here 165 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:33.710 in Indianapolis, obviously I've been aware of him, but I think he kind 166 00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:35.990 of made national attention obviously when he came on the scene in the two thousand 167 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:39.990 and ten and two thousand and eleven, kind of that Cinderella story where Butler 168 00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:43.230 made it to the final four men's basketball in the NCAA tournament. So but 169 00:11:43.389 --> 00:11:46.379 he's so much more than just a sports mascot. I mean, ill tell 170 00:11:46.419 --> 00:11:50.980 us how he helps out with some enrollment. Definitely blue is is really like 171 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:56.340 having another fee on our enrollment marketing team. I mean he just heat his 172 00:11:56.539 --> 00:12:01.059 reach and his impact with prospective students just continues to grow and we continue to 173 00:12:01.139 --> 00:12:05.129 think of new ways to integrate him into what we're doing with admission and with 174 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:09.610 prospective students. We began really doing that about five or six years ago. 175 00:12:09.490 --> 00:12:13.809 We decided to send I believe it was trip at the time. We sent 176 00:12:13.929 --> 00:12:20.919 trip to the home of a prospective applicant and he surprised that student with their 177 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.360 letter of admission right on their doorstep, kind of like a publisher clearinghouse style 178 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:30.230 delivery almost, and we've continued that effort ever since. We call that are 179 00:12:30.269 --> 00:12:33.549 Butler bound campaign. We have delivered now, I believe, almost four hundred 180 00:12:33.710 --> 00:12:37.470 offers of admission that way over the last five to six years. Really Fun 181 00:12:37.549 --> 00:12:41.269 Campaign, one of my favorite things to do with Butler. We have done 182 00:12:41.309 --> 00:12:46.340 surprises at homes, at schools. Prior to Covid we did we did a 183 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:52.100 surprise in a locker room during a high school basketball halftime. Trip came running 184 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:58.460 in and surprise the student. We've gone to kids work. It's really it's 185 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:01.690 a really fun effort. We do them national way too. So I think 186 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:05.049 that there is kind of an assumption that most of these visits are done locally, 187 00:13:05.210 --> 00:13:09.809 but we've actually done visits in twenty five states now. So again, 188 00:13:09.009 --> 00:13:13.639 pre covid, the mascot, would often travel with our basketball team and as 189 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:16.559 he went to those other markets, we use that opportunity to find applicants in 190 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:20.279 the area and find students who were waiting on their news. That's great. 191 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.759 The Mascot program social reach is huge for us to and this is where I 192 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:28.549 consider myself really lucky, because in many ways it's almost like we have two 193 00:13:28.590 --> 00:13:35.070 institutional accounts at Butler and we know that prospective students are probably more often following 194 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:41.230 blue on instagram or tick tock before they're going to follow Butler. You and 195 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:43.659 and we're really okay with that. We have leaned into that and we have 196 00:13:45.019 --> 00:13:50.340 thought about creative ways for blue to introduce brand messaging on his platforms for that 197 00:13:50.419 --> 00:13:52.500 audience. The other thing that we have the gun doing more of, and 198 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:56.610 Bart, if I have my math right, I'm thinking that your pets may 199 00:13:56.649 --> 00:14:01.129 have received this. Yes, we have be done really leveraging blue and prior 200 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:05.529 to blue trip in our enrollment materials. So direct mail, sometimes we'll send 201 00:14:05.610 --> 00:14:09.360 email from his email address. We use the voice of blue to communicate with 202 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:13.799 prospective students and the best example of that would be what what we call our 203 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.840 pet compflow and Bart and my right that your pets were recipients. Yeah, 204 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:20.080 and I have to tell you, I mean that. I just have to 205 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.759 tell that story to everyone because I tell that story everywhere I go. But 206 00:14:24.350 --> 00:14:26.590 you know, my son, what we like to hear. Yeah, and 207 00:14:26.789 --> 00:14:30.470 and so so been was, you know, Butler was a flyer for him. 208 00:14:30.470 --> 00:14:33.789 He was going to do photojournalism and and applied to all the schools around 209 00:14:33.789 --> 00:14:37.870 the nation that were kind of top, top listed in that and we were 210 00:14:37.870 --> 00:14:39.620 at a college fair and he said, why, want to go talk to 211 00:14:39.659 --> 00:14:41.059 Butler, I want to see what they have to say. And they said 212 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:43.940 yeah, we could put something together and all this and stuff. So he 213 00:14:43.980 --> 00:14:46.340 went ahead and implied and we were kind of in the middle, I think, 214 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:48.700 of February and he had been accepted and there had been some other things 215 00:14:48.779 --> 00:14:52.169 going on. On a Saturday we came home and he was not there, 216 00:14:52.289 --> 00:14:54.570 but the rest of the family came home and there were two letters on the 217 00:14:54.649 --> 00:14:58.529 counter, one addressed to tigger, our dog, and want addressed the stormy, 218 00:14:58.649 --> 00:15:01.889 our cat, from Butler University and they were, you know, kind 219 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:07.840 of note card sized and very unique. Had little sketch of things on it 220 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:09.840 and we were just dying to know what was in it because it was like 221 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:15.000 this is strange. Our chat and our dog never get mail. And so 222 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.200 did you think it was a vet vet notice like hey, you got a 223 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:22.789 point, they're coming up here. Yeah, and so so when when Ben 224 00:15:22.870 --> 00:15:24.590 got home, everyone was like Ben, there's got mail in there for tigger 225 00:15:24.629 --> 00:15:26.549 and storm and you've got to go look at it and all this stuff. 226 00:15:26.549 --> 00:15:31.269 And so so he opened it up and you know, there's a great letter 227 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:35.110 from blue to our dog tigger. That was, you know, kind of 228 00:15:35.149 --> 00:15:39.659 a dog the dog type of conversation. You know, he was congratulating tigger 229 00:15:39.779 --> 00:15:41.980 for that his human had been accepted to Butler University and he was going to 230 00:15:43.059 --> 00:15:46.139 protect him just like he would if it was his own human and just a 231 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:50.409 real kind of brother to brother. Dog The dog conversation. And the envelope 232 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:54.169 also had a Bandana for the dog to wear with the but or logo on 233 00:15:54.250 --> 00:15:56.809 it, with blue. And then for the cat it was a little bit 234 00:15:56.850 --> 00:16:00.730 more tepid. It was a little bit hey, your here, your human 235 00:16:00.769 --> 00:16:03.889 has been even accepted, but I know I'm a dog, your cat. 236 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:08.200 Let's respect each other. And it was just brilliant, brilliant copywriting and just 237 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:11.639 another smaller Bandanna for the cat and that was harder to get on the cat 238 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:17.519 than it was the dog. But my son was just so thrilled with that 239 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:21.990 his smile as he was reading it that he was just smile across his face. 240 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:25.350 took the time to put put them on his cat and his dog and 241 00:16:25.750 --> 00:16:29.429 take pictures and I really believe, and I've told several people, that was 242 00:16:29.470 --> 00:16:33.179 the moment he decided to go to Butler University. I think that that was 243 00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:36.580 the that was the tipping point. It was it was personalized, it was 244 00:16:36.700 --> 00:16:41.779 something that they respected his passion, which was his pets, and they kind 245 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:44.620 of, you know, you guys entered into hit that part of his world 246 00:16:44.740 --> 00:16:48.210 that no one else did, and so I think that was a brilliant thing 247 00:16:48.289 --> 00:16:52.529 and I just and I've told you before, Christy, Bravo, I think 248 00:16:52.529 --> 00:16:56.169 that was something that I'd love to hear. How many students that that's the 249 00:16:56.250 --> 00:16:59.450 tipping point, but it was just such a such a great memory for me 250 00:16:59.649 --> 00:17:02.840 and my family. Well, thank you. Thank you for your kind words. 251 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:04.920 It's so fun hearing the other side of it because, you know, 252 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:08.119 those of us on the marketing team we clean up a list and send them 253 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:11.240 out and there's always a few days, will they like it, etc. 254 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:14.960 Every year and no matter how many times we do it. So it's great 255 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:17.789 to hear that it's as effective as we hoped it would be. And I 256 00:17:17.869 --> 00:17:19.589 think you told me that when you pitch that I did to your to your 257 00:17:19.710 --> 00:17:23.390 vice president and or whoever did, weren't sure about it. Yeah, and 258 00:17:23.589 --> 00:17:29.109 and I can't blame her. We had a very least. We had a 259 00:17:29.150 --> 00:17:33.579 very loose concept of what we wanted to do and there really wasn't a way 260 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:36.660 to explain it without sounding like I was a little bit off my rocker. 261 00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:40.460 But she went for it and we tried it and I think this will be 262 00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:44.730 I hope there's no students who are awaiting awaiting this package because I want to 263 00:17:44.730 --> 00:17:47.329 surprise them, but I think this will be the fifth year that we've done 264 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:51.289 this campaign and we call it our pet tom flow and it's exactly what it 265 00:17:51.369 --> 00:17:56.009 sounds like. We send direct mail to the dogs and cats of admitted students 266 00:17:56.089 --> 00:18:00.680 with a little piece of Butler gear and that note just reassuring them that blue 267 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:04.000 is going to look after their human and have their humans back and be there 268 00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:08.799 for anything they may need a Butler and there's so many things about this campaign 269 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:12.349 that I love. You know, of course everyone loves getting Butler gear and 270 00:18:12.549 --> 00:18:17.589 the personalization factor is really fun. But I think that I think the piece 271 00:18:17.630 --> 00:18:21.789 that makes it most successful is that message, the message that we're kind of 272 00:18:21.789 --> 00:18:25.829 subtly sending in that piece that we've got their back and they're going to find 273 00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:30.140 a family, a Butler and that community that the high schoolers are often looking 274 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:33.099 for R and we have just found that that really resonates with the Butler way 275 00:18:33.299 --> 00:18:38.099 and resonates with who we are as an institution. The real gold in this 276 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:42.049 campaign too, I think, is the awareness piece. So the yield part 277 00:18:42.089 --> 00:18:45.650 of it great, fantastic. Be Awareness those is the piece that's a little 278 00:18:45.690 --> 00:18:51.170 bit harder to measure, but we have found is that for every family who 279 00:18:51.490 --> 00:18:55.130 receives the piece, they tell their friends, their neighbors, their co workers, 280 00:18:55.569 --> 00:19:00.279 etc. and they're often posting to their own social accounts. So that 281 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:03.079 piece we've been really pleased with to just knowing that were able to get the 282 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:06.759 Butler brand in front of a whole bunch of eyeballs. But yeah, the 283 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:10.589 first time I pitched it rightfully. So there were some questions about what do 284 00:19:10.670 --> 00:19:11.910 you want to do and how are we going to do that? But we 285 00:19:11.990 --> 00:19:15.869 have a lot of fun with it and it's by far one of our favorite, 286 00:19:15.950 --> 00:19:19.549 our favorite campaigns. To execute it sounds wonderful and obviously it takes some 287 00:19:19.750 --> 00:19:25.380 thinking and planning around data to pull that off. Could you talk about your 288 00:19:25.420 --> 00:19:30.299 thoughts on the of the importance of personalization within student recruitment? Sure, sure, 289 00:19:30.539 --> 00:19:33.619 so we do. We do quite a bit of what I would call 290 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:38.650 data mining and Butler and data collection and looking at data that we have available 291 00:19:38.730 --> 00:19:42.609 to us at our fingertips, and we have both an admission and an Ike 292 00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:45.769 and marketing. We have a terrific slight team, a terrific C RM team 293 00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:49.329 and a lot of really talented people that are willing to think outside of the 294 00:19:49.369 --> 00:19:53.039 box and this is a great example of that. We often, I think, 295 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:59.559 challenge ourselves to to work backwards at times. So we will spend time 296 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:04.160 looking at our applications, at our forms, probably more time than some of 297 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:07.589 my partners and I wish we did. But what we spend time thinking about 298 00:20:07.670 --> 00:20:11.309 the data that we already do have and we think backwards about how could we 299 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:15.029 be using this creatively. Are Their opportunity these here and what we're doing on 300 00:20:15.109 --> 00:20:18.990 the marketing side to further personalize things and for data that we don't have, 301 00:20:19.269 --> 00:20:23.299 that that we think would be valuable. We've started just asking it and students 302 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:26.140 will tell you they will, I will. They're eager to tell you things 303 00:20:26.180 --> 00:20:30.819 about themselves that you can use that information to deliver them content that they're looking 304 00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:36.890 for and content that they're most interested in. So that's something I honestly continue 305 00:20:36.970 --> 00:20:40.130 to be surprised with. Is, like you said, Bart, how eager 306 00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:44.089 they are to tell you things about themselves to enshare their story. Yeah, 307 00:20:44.130 --> 00:20:47.049 I think that's so true and I think the whole idea of just that they 308 00:20:47.170 --> 00:20:51.440 want to be known and they want to be they want personal relationships. I 309 00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:55.319 mean a lot of what I've read about generation Z is they desire those close 310 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.920 relationships. They desire of one of my son's, you know, had a 311 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.319 chance to see some of his friends a couple weeks ago and kind of a 312 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.240 covid bubble type of thing, and and the next day he was on social 313 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:06.869 media all day and it's like, well, it's because he had that feeling 314 00:21:07.029 --> 00:21:10.589 that I am missing this, I want this or and so I think that 315 00:21:10.750 --> 00:21:17.230 personalization allows a college or university who might be unpersonal to them to start to 316 00:21:17.509 --> 00:21:19.500 be personal and get into their world a little bit. So is that kind 317 00:21:19.500 --> 00:21:22.660 of what you think? Where do you think all that's going with generation Z 318 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:25.740 and how do you think that affects their decisionmaking? Yeah, that's a great 319 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:29.339 question. I think what we're doing on the parent communication side in many ways 320 00:21:29.500 --> 00:21:33.009 is already a bit of a delicate balance. We're very careful. We never 321 00:21:33.089 --> 00:21:36.410 want to take the student out of the driver's seat. We never want to 322 00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:40.849 make students feel like we're going around them to mom or dad or were communicating 323 00:21:40.890 --> 00:21:44.450 certain things that they're parents that were not also communicating to them. And what 324 00:21:44.609 --> 00:21:47.009 we know about Gen z? One of the things we know is that they 325 00:21:47.130 --> 00:21:51.880 tend to be fairly independent, even more independent than the generation before them, 326 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:56.119 millennials, and as a millennial myself, I feel like I'm allowed to knock 327 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:57.079 on us a little bit that. You know, of course we have that 328 00:21:57.160 --> 00:22:03.190 reputation for being a little bit codependent on parents and you know, helicopter parents 329 00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:06.269 and all that stuff. So with Gen Z it's tough to say that. 330 00:22:06.390 --> 00:22:08.190 I think we may need to really revisit you know, even in a few 331 00:22:08.269 --> 00:22:12.109 years, how we are communicating with parents to make sure that we are respecting 332 00:22:12.509 --> 00:22:18.539 a student's decisionmaking power and just thinking about how that may come across to students 333 00:22:18.539 --> 00:22:22.099 who do wish to be fully in charge of their of their future. So 334 00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:27.339 we will see where things go. Christ the one of our biggest goals is 335 00:22:27.539 --> 00:22:33.250 to share and to explore insights and ideas that other marketers can glean, that 336 00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:37.250 can apply and can learn from, and I certainly think that you've delivered today. 337 00:22:37.329 --> 00:22:41.730 So thank you very much. But I do want to mention that in 338 00:22:41.890 --> 00:22:45.839 our conversation preparing for today you had mentioned the side hustle that you're engage with. 339 00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:49.200 So if you would, if you could tell us about that and how 340 00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:52.799 it helps you keep sharp. Sure. So, my dad and I we 341 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:59.869 kind of accidentally started a business a few years ago and he had recently retired 342 00:23:00.150 --> 00:23:03.869 and he had some recycled Palette Wood and his garage. I couldn't tell you 343 00:23:03.910 --> 00:23:07.990 where he got it from, and me, being the needy daughter, said 344 00:23:07.029 --> 00:23:10.750 Hey, could you cut that into the shape of Indiana for me? You 345 00:23:10.829 --> 00:23:14.539 know that would look so cool in my house, and he did and rather 346 00:23:14.700 --> 00:23:17.779 than hanging it up in my house. I decided to see if I could 347 00:23:17.779 --> 00:23:22.140 sell it online, which I did very quickly, and since then we have 348 00:23:22.259 --> 00:23:27.089 started making dozens of varieties of these signs and most states even dog breaths. 349 00:23:27.130 --> 00:23:30.930 We do a lot of dog signs for people and we've been we've been selling 350 00:23:30.970 --> 00:23:36.289 them online. So when I'm not doing marketing for Butler during business hours, 351 00:23:36.450 --> 00:23:40.970 I'm doing marketing for kind of our homegrown gig on the side, learning how 352 00:23:41.009 --> 00:23:45.240 to use Etsy, learning what digital marketing looks like in that on my retail 353 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:48.480 space. So oftentimes occasionally digging splinters out of my hands, a little bit 354 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:51.920 less glamorous than what you may think, but yeah, it does. It 355 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:53.680 does help us, or helps me stay sharp on the job as well. 356 00:23:55.079 --> 00:23:59.829 Thank you very much and before we leave, we delivered on the dog we 357 00:23:59.990 --> 00:24:03.710 need to deliver on the cat information. Yes, yes, pretty much everybody 358 00:24:03.750 --> 00:24:07.349 on my team at Butler are huge dog people. Of course, you kind 359 00:24:07.349 --> 00:24:11.019 of have to be to work in Butler. There are a few of us 360 00:24:11.059 --> 00:24:14.740 who are cat lovers and I am probably the most I'm embarrassed to be sitting 361 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:18.019 this on a podcast, but I am by far the most like Cat lady 362 00:24:18.859 --> 00:24:22.420 on our team and so far. I loved hearing that you like the cat 363 00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:26.009 piece because that was the copywriting that I said I've got this, and Michael 364 00:24:26.009 --> 00:24:29.609 Calton Mark, who was really at the beginning of our mascot program, wrote 365 00:24:29.609 --> 00:24:32.210 the dog side. So you know, we want to make sure that all 366 00:24:32.289 --> 00:24:36.410 pets, all pets, have that opportunity for engagement and this was a really 367 00:24:36.450 --> 00:24:41.160 fun way to make that happen. That is wonderful and again I appreciate your 368 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:45.720 time and appreciate all the valuable information that you've shared. Is someone has a 369 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:48.640 question, we're just wanted to connect with you. How would the best way 370 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.910 for them to do that be? Emails probably the best way to get in 371 00:24:52.950 --> 00:24:56.710 touch with me and I'm happy to take questions. My email address is k 372 00:24:56.190 --> 00:25:02.630 La free las re at Butler dot eed you. I'm not nearly as active 373 00:25:02.670 --> 00:25:04.589 as I probably should be on twitter, but you can also find me there 374 00:25:04.750 --> 00:25:11.019 at Christy lafree perfect. Thanks again, Christy, into everyone else, all 375 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:15.779 of our listeners. The High Ed Marketer podcast is sponsored by Taylor solutions and 376 00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:21.099 education, marketing and branding agency and by thin, patented, a marketing, 377 00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:26.369 execution, printing and mailing provider of higher it solutions on behalf of my cohost, 378 00:25:26.490 --> 00:25:32.529 barred Taylor, I'm troy singer. Thank you for joining us. You've 379 00:25:32.569 --> 00:25:36.359 been listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure that you never miss an 380 00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:41.200 episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. If you're listening 381 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:44.480 with apple PODCASTS, we'd love for you to leave a quick rating of the 382 00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:48.319 show. Simply tap the number of stars you think the podcast deserves. Until 383 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:48.799 next time,