April 20, 2021

Messaging for the Individual: How Data Can Help You Create Engaging Stories (Part 2)

Messaging for the Individual: How Data Can Help You Create Engaging Stories (Part 2)
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How do we help uncover and explain the most informative and persuasive information to prospective students?

How do we tell stories that get them excited about education?

We start by finding and utilizing data, analyzing that data, and then creating segmented marketing messages that will move the needle.

In part two of a two-part series,Bart Caylor, President & Founder atCaylor Solutions Inc, andTroy Singer, Senior Account Executive atThink Patentedchat withChristine Harper, Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management at the University of Kentucky, andJulie Balog, Chief Marketing Officer at the University of Kentucky about:

- How to utilize data to drive segmentation in messaging.

- How to engage undecided students using data.

- The difference between innovation and ingenuity.

- How the University of Kentucky is helping communities.

Know of a higher education marketing change agent you’d like to hear on the show? Does your university have an interesting story to be featured? Connect withBart CaylororTroy Singer. If you’re not on LinkedIn, check theCaylor SolutionsorThink Patentedwebsites instead!

To hear more interviews like this one, subscribe to The Higher Ed Marketer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.
 

The Higher Ed Marketer podcast is brought to you by Caylor Solutions, an Education Marketing, and Branding Agency.

    

 

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:07.190 You are listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals 2 00:00:07.230 --> 00:00:11.869 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 a 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 --> 00:00:29.980 this podcast is for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to the 6 00:00:30.019 --> 00:00:35.140 High Ed Marketer podcast, where weekly we explore ideas and insights of marketers that 7 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:39.649 we admire in the higher red community. My name is troy singer and I'm 8 00:00:39.729 --> 00:00:44.490 with my cohost, Mark Taylor. This week we are continuing our conversation with 9 00:00:44.689 --> 00:00:49.609 Julie Bailog, Chief Marketing Officer for the University of Kentucky, and Christine Harper, 10 00:00:49.929 --> 00:00:55.799 associate advice president of enrollment management at the University of Kentucky. Let's jump 11 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:02.719 back into the conversation. Julie and Christine, thanks for continuing the conversation now. 12 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:06.469 We know that both of you are big believers and utilizing data to drive 13 00:01:06.510 --> 00:01:10.870 segmentation your messaging and outreach. So, Christine, maybe you can start us 14 00:01:10.870 --> 00:01:14.790 off by explaining the trends that you're seeing in utilizing and I believe you may 15 00:01:14.829 --> 00:01:19.340 have a few examples, like how you regard or approach undecided students. Sure, 16 00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:23.299 yeah, so I love data. I think we talked in the first 17 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:26.780 episode about the art in the science of the work that we do. So 18 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:29.620 I love a good graphic and great content, but I love data the dry 19 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:33.810 gives it. In my role I look at data weekly, daily, you 20 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:37.370 know, I take a size of the pool each week and really look and 21 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:41.409 dive into our freshman I look in on our transfer seeing what trends we have. 22 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:45.489 On a daily basis I'm checking our numbers, but also looking at things 23 00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:48.560 that I get from Julie's team on open rates, so we can see how 24 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:52.280 some of the communications have been, you know, picked up and received and 25 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.560 how the pool is shaping up. But you know, when I have time, 26 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:57.560 which which is few and far between, I really like to dive in 27 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:02.230 deep and so just this winter break I was diving into a lot of data, 28 00:02:02.909 --> 00:02:07.430 looking a lot at our prospect pool down to sophomores and juniors, and 29 00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:13.389 then was really taking a look at our senior prospects as well as our students 30 00:02:13.430 --> 00:02:16.819 that had been admitted or in the process that had applied and notice that we 31 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:22.580 had seen as substantial uptick in students applying in certain areas and that there was 32 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:25.740 definitely a trend that covid had impacted and influenced. But one of the areas 33 00:02:25.780 --> 00:02:30.889 of growth was our undecided or exploring students. So that does change throughout the 34 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:35.370 cycle and depending upon when institution you're at, may go up and down and 35 00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:38.849 for us it just seemed like it was much larger. And for a university 36 00:02:38.129 --> 00:02:43.449 like UK we have lots of options for students. But how do you help 37 00:02:43.530 --> 00:02:46.159 explain that when somebody is coming in? They want the experience but they're not 38 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:51.800 sure? And so over the break I packed Julie and Katie and said, 39 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:53.199 you know, I'm seeing some things in the date. I really feel like, 40 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:57.560 you know, this is an opportunity for us to to convert some of 41 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:01.110 our prospects, share some information and then for our admitted students that were exploring, 42 00:03:01.469 --> 00:03:07.069 share a little bit about why they should choose UK, because they could 43 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:12.310 do an undecided major exploring at any university. And so reached out to colleagues 44 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:15.379 and are stuck a career center and some of our colleges that also have exploration 45 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:21.539 programs and surface some information and said, okay, okay, Katie, here's 46 00:03:21.580 --> 00:03:23.539 here's what I have, here's information I've surface now can you, can you 47 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:29.930 get it into something for our incoming freshman? And, as she typically does, 48 00:03:30.129 --> 00:03:34.289 takes all of these data points and information that's pulled off websites and reports 49 00:03:34.370 --> 00:03:37.050 and and comes up with something great. But I think, you know, 50 00:03:37.169 --> 00:03:40.210 being able to respond to what you're seeing in the data is important. You 51 00:03:40.289 --> 00:03:44.080 know, you can have a tone and a tenor for the what you're what 52 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:47.439 you want for student from when they're a prospect or even a sophomore in junior 53 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:52.120 than a prospect in the senior year application and admit and have all of that 54 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:54.319 set together, but if you're not responding to what you're seeing in the data, 55 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:00.629 you're really missing opportunities, opportunities to to help informed educate the students about 56 00:04:00.710 --> 00:04:03.990 why I do firmly believe that there's an institution out there for any student and 57 00:04:04.349 --> 00:04:08.949 that the student success is on the fit. And so how do we help 58 00:04:09.069 --> 00:04:12.460 explain and uncover some of these things so they can say, oh well, 59 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:15.699 actually, this does sound like a place where I can see myself being successful. 60 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:19.180 And here are some things they're sharing with me early on in the process. 61 00:04:19.420 --> 00:04:23.500 So that was just something. You know, when one example of something 62 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:27.009 that was data informed through the cycle, I like to say you know, 63 00:04:27.290 --> 00:04:30.170 in some of my other previous ex variences I had access to a lot of 64 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:36.610 data, but I was data rich and analysis poor, and I think the 65 00:04:36.769 --> 00:04:42.759 collaboration that Christine and I have is that together we're able to take that data 66 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:47.240 and really make it actionable and use it as a as a road map of 67 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:54.230 how to really impact change. It doesn't matter how much data you have if 68 00:04:54.269 --> 00:04:57.670 you don't know how to look at it, make sense of it and then 69 00:04:57.750 --> 00:05:00.709 turn it into something useful, and I think that's a she leads us very 70 00:05:00.750 --> 00:05:04.670 well in that way. And then once once we understand, okay, this 71 00:05:04.709 --> 00:05:08.540 is what it's telling us, then we know how to work with it in 72 00:05:08.699 --> 00:05:12.939 and make it make it more useful. It's great. I know that when 73 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:16.579 we talked on our pre interview conversation you were not trying to make commercials here, 74 00:05:16.660 --> 00:05:20.529 but you know you're utilizing some some really sophisticated crms and a lot of 75 00:05:20.610 --> 00:05:25.209 the lot of the listeners and marketers that are listening to the podcast, I 76 00:05:25.290 --> 00:05:28.850 mean they are probably utilizing either sales force or slate. I mean you guys 77 00:05:28.850 --> 00:05:31.410 are using both of those and certainly there's a lot of other crms out there. 78 00:05:31.569 --> 00:05:34.410 You know, some of the smaller schools might be finding other ones. 79 00:05:34.410 --> 00:05:38.319 But I think the important thing that you both just mentioned was that finding and 80 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:42.079 utilizing the data that you can gather from those systems, as well as that, 81 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:45.800 ther other analytics systems, whether it's open rates on your mail, whether 82 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:48.399 it's social media are wise, maybe it's, you know, key performance indicators 83 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:51.829 in Google analytics. Are So many places that we can start to gather the 84 00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:55.990 data. But if, to Julie to your point, if your data rich 85 00:05:56.110 --> 00:06:00.189 but you're not analyzing, you're not doing anything with it, you're not creating 86 00:06:00.269 --> 00:06:04.899 that into segmented marketing messages that can move the needle for that particular group. 87 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:09.259 I think that's so important and I know that even even Christine, I know 88 00:06:09.459 --> 00:06:13.220 we had earlier conversations about, you know, the the idea of how to 89 00:06:13.339 --> 00:06:16.980 segment it either for the first Gen's or segmenting it for siblings of current students. 90 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:19.930 I mean there's there's so many different ways to segment that data once you 91 00:06:20.050 --> 00:06:25.129 have it and be able to nurture and massage those messages a little bit better 92 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:28.930 to make them more effective. Yeah, we we really have to have our 93 00:06:29.009 --> 00:06:30.810 ear to the ground, and so I in my in my side. I've 94 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:35.000 got that going on and then Julie has hers also. So where I'm pulling 95 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:40.560 is I'm looking at information that's coming out of common application of what are they 96 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:43.600 seeing and what does that mean? And I think that, because that's one 97 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:46.519 of the larger sources. Again, we're not doing any kind of we have 98 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:48.470 a couple different sources we use, but but they do a nice job of 99 00:06:48.550 --> 00:06:54.069 putting out information and as one of the larger application sources, were the first 100 00:06:54.110 --> 00:06:57.269 to pick up some things that you're seeing in the national media about FAFTS, 101 00:06:57.350 --> 00:07:02.259 the filing rates being down for seniors and low income students and and Firstgen students. 102 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:05.899 And Kentucky as a state, you know we have a huge commitments of 103 00:07:05.939 --> 00:07:11.139 the Commonwealth and we know that we have a large portion of our populations low 104 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:15.459 income, and so this pandemic has this isn't surprising, right. There was 105 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:19.490 information in the spring of the senior year which students, if you looked at 106 00:07:19.569 --> 00:07:25.089 the population in total, most seniors were worried about missing those end of the 107 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:29.649 year events. But when you segmented that data and look at low incompel eligible 108 00:07:29.689 --> 00:07:32.879 students or looked at students of color or looked at students that were first jed, 109 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:38.360 their concerns were very different. Can I afford to go to school? 110 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:42.040 Am I going to graduate? So that's it. You know, we talked 111 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:45.470 at the end of the cycle last year at the pandemic with populations of they 112 00:07:45.589 --> 00:07:48.550 need a different message because they're feeling something differently and the same thing. Now 113 00:07:48.870 --> 00:07:53.029 recently, as we've come to some of that data, Julie and I were 114 00:07:53.069 --> 00:07:55.550 looking at it and say, okay, we have an issue with First Jen 115 00:07:55.629 --> 00:07:59.100 and we have, you know, we are down and some of the a 116 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:01.259 lot of the activities having to right at the deadline. But we can't wait 117 00:08:01.339 --> 00:08:03.939 for the deadline to hit and see where we're going to be. So how 118 00:08:03.939 --> 00:08:07.740 are we going to inform some of this? And so Julie and I talked 119 00:08:07.779 --> 00:08:11.980 and we got a big again, another broad table. We have our first 120 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:16.209 Gen Office of First Gen initiatives, but that serves not only incoming students or 121 00:08:16.370 --> 00:08:20.290 our prospective students, as well as our current students, members of different colleges 122 00:08:20.490 --> 00:08:24.250 and marketing team and members of the enrollment management team, both financial aid and 123 00:08:24.290 --> 00:08:30.160 undergraduated missions, to really talk about how do we target this at different segments 124 00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:35.399 in the population, and and Julie's seem really I mean Katie then started working 125 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.159 with partners that could support so I kind of put the table together. Julie 126 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:41.950 and I put the table together. said here's the problem, here's the data, 127 00:08:41.350 --> 00:08:43.389 and Julie, want to take it from there. As as we're moving 128 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:46.190 forward and some of the things we're doing. Sure, sure, so. 129 00:08:46.509 --> 00:08:50.429 What we did is, for instance, we've created an op Ed, a 130 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:54.710 joint oped with some of our other universities across the state, and so we're 131 00:08:54.779 --> 00:09:00.779 publishing those with other university present presidents from our president. We also are creating 132 00:09:00.940 --> 00:09:05.659 some social media assets and we are going to push those out and then, 133 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:11.090 working with our there's a person on Jay Plant and staff, Mark With who 134 00:09:11.169 --> 00:09:16.450 specializes in media pitching and he's going to help us by reaching out to small 135 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:20.809 town newspapers, radio stations, TV stations across the state to really share. 136 00:09:22.690 --> 00:09:26.080 Listen, we need college as possible for you, but it has to start 137 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:30.759 with filling out your fast but and at the end of the day, this 138 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:33.960 is one of those things where I like to say where the University for Kentucky, 139 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:37.279 not just the University of Kentucky, because at the end of the day 140 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:41.629 we just want these students to understand that going to college can be transformational for 141 00:09:41.750 --> 00:09:46.669 them and and if they don't come to UK, that's okay. They just 142 00:09:46.830 --> 00:09:52.350 need to find the place where they can get that transformational experience. So many 143 00:09:52.710 --> 00:09:56.980 of the people in Kentucky, you know, going to college is not always 144 00:09:56.059 --> 00:09:58.620 as easy for them as it might be in some other states, and so 145 00:09:58.659 --> 00:10:03.379 I think we both felt pretty passionately about that because we know I'm, I 146 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:07.100 said in the first episode, I'm an example of that. You know, 147 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:11.970 my father had a sixth grade education and the fact that I was able to 148 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:16.850 go to college and this literally transformed in my life. To me it's a 149 00:10:16.929 --> 00:10:20.090 mission and I think for a lot of our students we serve abroad array, 150 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:24.039 but I go back to you can come here and you can do anything and 151 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:33.559 we've got the most amazing wrap around services for these students and we don't we 152 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:39.190 don't do things for them that we we create ways for them to be successful 153 00:10:39.389 --> 00:10:41.870 and and you know I won't Belabor this too much, but to me this 154 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:46.629 is an important distinction. A lot of people like to say they're innovative, 155 00:10:46.909 --> 00:10:56.659 and innovation is a good word, except for innovation usually can be funded or 156 00:10:56.740 --> 00:11:01.059 bought. Apple is innovative because they have a whole lot of money. What 157 00:11:01.220 --> 00:11:07.090 you are at UK is we've got ingenuity, because with ingenuity that's what you 158 00:11:07.210 --> 00:11:11.210 get when you're smart and you're clever and you look at the resources you have 159 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:15.129 and you figure out how do you make the most of them, could be 160 00:11:15.169 --> 00:11:18.360 successful, and so I always I like to make that distinction. I think 161 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:24.559 that there's a lot of ingenuity that happens here, but in that probably is 162 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:28.720 a good way to describe the relationship between Christine and me and our teams. 163 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.559 It's a lot of ingenuity, it's a lot of roll up your sleeves, 164 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:33.669 it's a lot of get it done. We're not spending a whole lot more 165 00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:37.470 money than other people, we're just trying to be really smart about how we 166 00:11:37.549 --> 00:11:39.909 do it. Yeah, and Julie, I would add that's that passion to 167 00:11:41.429 --> 00:11:43.230 I mean we really do, and you probably can hear it come through. 168 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:48.779 We're concerned about students across the board. We hope they land somewhere. I 169 00:11:48.820 --> 00:11:52.779 think the pandemic has just made some of the more vulnerable populations even more so 170 00:11:52.379 --> 00:11:56.259 with Internet access, you know, lack of that. I know some students 171 00:11:56.460 --> 00:12:00.860 that are non traditional instruction in high school and they're working a full time job 172 00:12:00.940 --> 00:12:03.529 and then catching up at night because that's what they need to do right now. 173 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:07.090 And so that ingenuity is really critical. And then the passion I think 174 00:12:07.090 --> 00:12:09.210 that a lot of us bring, because that really, it really does steep 175 00:12:09.330 --> 00:12:13.250 through it. We are committed to and so yes, we have growth goals 176 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:16.399 and and we're doing all those things to get that happen. But I too 177 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:22.360 am somebody who ultimately, like I said, fit is important and if you 178 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:24.879 have an impact in helping students find that right choice. Sometimes it may not 179 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.509 be us, but then maybe us later, and so that authenticity and that 180 00:12:30.629 --> 00:12:33.990 ability to try to raise everybody up, you're going to be successful. If 181 00:12:33.029 --> 00:12:37.870 that's the approach that you take. That's great and I know I really appreciate 182 00:12:37.990 --> 00:12:41.470 what you've talked about with the ingenuity because I mean, as I mentioned to 183 00:12:41.509 --> 00:12:45.220 you, you know in our on our previous conversations, a lot of the 184 00:12:45.299 --> 00:12:48.460 audience of the High Ed Marketer is our schools of all sizes. I mean 185 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:52.860 we've got schools the size of UK all the way down to schools that have, 186 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:54.659 you know, fifty or a hundred students. And but I think that 187 00:12:54.779 --> 00:12:58.850 the ingenuity, you know, because I can hear people saying, well, 188 00:12:58.210 --> 00:13:01.330 but it would be great to have slate, it'd be great to have that 189 00:13:01.490 --> 00:13:03.049 kind of budget to be able to do that type of thing. But the 190 00:13:03.090 --> 00:13:07.009 data that you get, you can ask students about that, take in that 191 00:13:07.090 --> 00:13:11.009 data and then it's and then you can start analyzing it, you can start 192 00:13:11.090 --> 00:13:13.399 segmenting based on what you're asking people. So it's not the fact that you 193 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.919 guys just have all the extra resources, it's the ingenuity of if I need 194 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:20.360 that data, I need to figure out how to get that date and sometimes 195 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.480 you have to ask for it. So I love that and Julie also love 196 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:26.350 the fact that we kind of talked about the wrap around services with that UK 197 00:13:26.549 --> 00:13:31.470 has for these different groups that are going to be that mission fit for for 198 00:13:31.629 --> 00:13:33.190 the university, and I know Troy, you've got a couple questions about that 199 00:13:33.309 --> 00:13:37.750 with what just kind of what those partnerships with the other departments look like. 200 00:13:37.429 --> 00:13:41.940 Yes, they both, Julie and Christine, talked about the dedication to the 201 00:13:43.019 --> 00:13:48.100 Commonwealth and I wanted to ask a little bit about the community involvement in the 202 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:52.179 partnerships that are with outside agencies. Julie, could you tell everyone a little 203 00:13:52.179 --> 00:13:56.649 bit about the partnership that you have with the College of Agriculture and how you 204 00:13:56.809 --> 00:14:03.889 reaching out into the counties and helping out the Commonwealth with that partnership? Sure, 205 00:14:03.889 --> 00:14:07.850 Kentucky is one of those states that has many, many counties. We 206 00:14:07.929 --> 00:14:11.720 actually have a hundred and twenty counties and in each of those one hundred pointy 207 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:20.559 counties the College of Agriculture has an egg extension agent and they are a university 208 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.509 employee and we have great collaboration with them in a lot of ways. They're 209 00:14:24.710 --> 00:14:28.909 often opinion leaders in their communities and so, for instance, when I was 210 00:14:28.950 --> 00:14:35.429 down at UK healthcare, we partnered with them initially to get population health information 211 00:14:35.669 --> 00:14:41.539 out, so, for instance, diabetes information or healthy heart information, and 212 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:48.100 so they became a hub that we could use to push out information and they 213 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:52.299 devoured it, they loved it and shared it, and so we're kind of 214 00:14:52.340 --> 00:14:56.529 applying some of that same model here. So one of and I love of 215 00:14:56.730 --> 00:15:00.250 that the College of Bag is just game for anything. So Christine had this 216 00:15:00.330 --> 00:15:05.450 really good idea last such last summer, and so it was this idea of 217 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:11.360 adulting one on one where we would teach life skills to high schoolers. And 218 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:16.759 let Christine tell the story. But yeah, we pitched it and boy did 219 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.669 it take off. Yep, yeah, most it was almost too successful. 220 00:15:20.710 --> 00:15:24.590 Yes, it was an it was a quick turnaround. I mean the pandemic 221 00:15:24.669 --> 00:15:28.070 of just hit right where. Just we were talking through the spring. We're 222 00:15:28.110 --> 00:15:30.909 like, okay, well, you know, if we need to get our 223 00:15:31.429 --> 00:15:33.950 students in here, what can we do? What could be helpful? And 224 00:15:33.149 --> 00:15:37.659 so Julian I went to Cafe, our college of Bag Environmental Science, and 225 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:41.740 then they basically were like, Oh yeah, we're on board. We've got 226 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:45.539 all these extension agents. They're looking for things to do. They've got other 227 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:48.779 things, but this would be great. So put these modules together in this 228 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:52.370 course and we had over five hundred and sixty plus students sign up in a 229 00:15:52.490 --> 00:15:58.210 very short period of time. You know, the marketing was great. The 230 00:15:58.330 --> 00:16:00.850 students loved it. Cafe came back to us, the College of Bag, 231 00:16:00.929 --> 00:16:03.360 and said Hey, can we do it again this year? So when you 232 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:07.440 have a partner that's coming back and saying this is good, how do we 233 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:08.840 enhance it, you know, and what else could we do? And we've 234 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.279 talked about other other suites of things that we could offer because, you know, 235 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:17.720 that was pretty small lift, I mean and they're engage. So we've 236 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:22.230 worked with the Dean to this year, much like we did previous years with 237 00:16:22.269 --> 00:16:25.470 our alumni association, to kind of help them be out there. We're now 238 00:16:25.509 --> 00:16:29.549 working with all the extension agencies, particularly. We started this before, but 239 00:16:29.669 --> 00:16:32.899 it's it was very timely. We started in the fall and then, as 240 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:37.860 we saw the fast of filing information those extension agents in the counties, particularly 241 00:16:37.860 --> 00:16:41.860 at a time where the students are not as easy to see in a high 242 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:45.779 school or, you know, access, they are readily accessible. So we 243 00:16:45.899 --> 00:16:49.009 have now already trained our extension officers on admissions and all of that and we 244 00:16:49.129 --> 00:16:52.970 can push out. We are having students that are having challenges as fast and 245 00:16:52.970 --> 00:16:56.289 the high school counselor is maybe having trouble connecting with some of these students. 246 00:16:56.330 --> 00:17:00.049 If you see them, can you hit this and make sure that you know 247 00:17:00.409 --> 00:17:02.759 they know there's a resource and point them and you may not have all the 248 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:03.960 answers, but you can point them in the right direction and we'll get them 249 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:08.079 what they need. So those collaborations really are fantastic and it happens in multiple 250 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:11.799 different ways. Julie, I mean I remember you calling me on a Saturday 251 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:15.750 morning maybe, and said, hey, we're going to do a vaccination clinic 252 00:17:17.150 --> 00:17:21.230 in about a week. Yes, so what? What? What do we 253 00:17:21.309 --> 00:17:22.509 what do we think? What you know from it? I'm like, well, 254 00:17:22.869 --> 00:17:26.430 you know, and we're doing all the educators right, and we both 255 00:17:26.509 --> 00:17:30.660 were like up, college of Ed. They've got some great continuing education, 256 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:34.740 they've got some great masters programs. They're mostly online. That's the doctoral program 257 00:17:34.819 --> 00:17:37.740 I'm in. But it just continues to go from there, as I talked 258 00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:41.460 about hitting on all cylinders, and Julie just like pitches me in the morning. 259 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:42.140 I'm like, Yep, there's something here. What are we going to 260 00:17:42.180 --> 00:17:48.009 do? Yeah, and I'm happy to report that the web engagement around the 261 00:17:48.210 --> 00:17:51.970 Graduate Program for the College of the head and teachers is up ten percent and 262 00:17:52.049 --> 00:17:55.529 I'd like to think that it has something to do with the fact that we 263 00:17:55.609 --> 00:18:00.440 activated at our Vaccine Clinic when we were vaccinating K through twelve educator. So 264 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:03.359 can't take all the credit, but those are the kinds of moments that you 265 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:04.880 have to be Nimble, and that's another word we use, like you got 266 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:08.920 to beat Nimble, and if you kind of already have some of these things 267 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:15.589 in motion, it's easier to implement them if if you're not starting from scratch. 268 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:19.150 Yeah, that's wonderful. I love that idea of all these different things 269 00:18:19.230 --> 00:18:22.430 going on with the partnerships, but trying to make sure you're living out the 270 00:18:22.509 --> 00:18:27.619 brand, being nimble enough and, you know, going forward with ingenuity so 271 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:30.900 that you can say, how can we take advantage of we're going to be 272 00:18:32.059 --> 00:18:36.500 in the in the community, we're going to be providing mobile clinics for vaccines 273 00:18:36.539 --> 00:18:41.299 or we're going to be providing, you know, agg extension offices. How 274 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:45.650 can we activate that for enrollment? How can we activate that for the for 275 00:18:45.769 --> 00:18:48.529 the for the good of the community? Because I mean to your point, 276 00:18:48.569 --> 00:18:51.769 Julie, and and you know, try and I both our first generation students 277 00:18:51.769 --> 00:18:55.369 as well, the idea that if we can impact those first gen students, 278 00:18:55.410 --> 00:18:57.359 even if they're, you know, fourth graders, that are standing in line 279 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:02.039 with their parents for the vaccines or with grandma and GRANDPA, they're getting an 280 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:04.279 idea and an impression of what UK is all about. Their living out that 281 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.960 brand, their understanding that, Oh wow, I have an opportunity to be 282 00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:11.710 a part of this in the future. I just think that's amazing and I 283 00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:14.150 think that, you know, job well done to the both of you to 284 00:19:15.029 --> 00:19:18.869 not only serving the community but also, you know, activating the community as 285 00:19:18.109 --> 00:19:22.109 part of that. So I think that's I think that's great. Thank you. 286 00:19:22.349 --> 00:19:25.099 We in a I will share this. This is this is new, 287 00:19:25.700 --> 00:19:30.339 but this just this past week because our clinic, our vaccine clinic at Kergerfield. 288 00:19:30.500 --> 00:19:33.339 This is separate from our mobile clinics that were taking out. Our clinic 289 00:19:33.420 --> 00:19:37.700 is doubling in size point where we're vaccinating word to five thousand people a day. 290 00:19:37.259 --> 00:19:42.849 It's all volunteer driven and we need more people. So we created very 291 00:19:42.849 --> 00:19:48.490 quickly a program called cats give back and we've invited our students to volunteer to 292 00:19:48.529 --> 00:19:52.880 go work at the clinic as registrars, as wayfinders. Two thousand students have 293 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:57.160 signed up and that just you know, I use the phrase when I talk 294 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:02.640 about the University of Kentucky students we run to, not from. They like 295 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:03.839 to be part of the solution, they like to be part of it, 296 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:07.430 and I thought that was a great example. I mean students just raise their 297 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:10.109 hand and say, Yep, I want to be a part of that. 298 00:20:10.190 --> 00:20:11.589 Tell me how I can do it, and that's great and right. There 299 00:20:11.750 --> 00:20:15.630 is another story that can be packaged and sent to Christine and, you know, 300 00:20:15.829 --> 00:20:19.150 used as part of the message, which is wonderful. That's great. 301 00:20:19.190 --> 00:20:22.380 Yeah, Yep. and Julie's in those meetings, so she helps get the 302 00:20:22.460 --> 00:20:26.099 door and right. I'm not an enrollment management going to be at a meeting 303 00:20:26.099 --> 00:20:30.220 about vaccinations necessarily like maybe tangentially. But when we talk about mobile clinics and 304 00:20:30.259 --> 00:20:33.019 I said Hey, we'd love to get out in front of these families, 305 00:20:33.059 --> 00:20:37.650 I mean when you talk about the different areas that we're going to first gen, 306 00:20:37.930 --> 00:20:42.569 I mean access to healthcare in particular and with vulnerable populations is important. 307 00:20:42.849 --> 00:20:48.089 And to your point of educating a fourth grader, we've gone out and done 308 00:20:48.130 --> 00:20:49.920 some some work just to say, Hey, did you know that these healthcare 309 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:56.240 careers are available to you? You may not see a physical therapist in your 310 00:20:56.359 --> 00:21:02.160 community, but this is what one does and for some young child that maybe 311 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:04.549 the Huh, this is something I can do and I can be and I 312 00:21:04.630 --> 00:21:07.589 can and UK brought it to me, you know, and so those are 313 00:21:07.750 --> 00:21:11.430 really great things and we're pleased, because Julie's in that room, that she 314 00:21:11.509 --> 00:21:15.509 reaches out and so when the mobile clinics go back for the second shot, 315 00:21:15.869 --> 00:21:18.660 they'll prime come. We're going to have some some fastt information sessions. We're 316 00:21:18.660 --> 00:21:23.099 going to have information. So if you have students or children that that you'd 317 00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:26.700 like that information shared with or you would like it yourself, will have people 318 00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:32.779 there, poison ready to go. So it really is we're very fortunate to 319 00:21:32.890 --> 00:21:36.250 be set up the way that we are and have such great collaborative efforts going 320 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:38.609 on. That's great. That's great, troy, as we knew the end 321 00:21:38.609 --> 00:21:41.569 of the episode, I'd like to ask each of you if you have a 322 00:21:41.690 --> 00:21:47.480 relevant idea, trend or nugget that you could share that others can use right 323 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:52.119 away. What would that be? My nugget would be it would be to 324 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:56.440 understand the journey that in this particular case, the student it's on and to 325 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:03.269 assess that journey because again, marketing is where can I most influence them at 326 00:22:03.309 --> 00:22:06.589 the time they're making their decision. So one of the things that Christine's team 327 00:22:06.589 --> 00:22:08.269 and I did, we did this right when I first started. We mapped 328 00:22:08.309 --> 00:22:11.910 the entire journey. We looked at how are we communicating with an email, 329 00:22:12.109 --> 00:22:17.140 postcard, things like that, and then we assessed. We realized in some 330 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:22.339 areas we were extremely heavy, probably to the point of oversaturating. But then 331 00:22:22.380 --> 00:22:25.700 we looked through the rest of the psycle we realized there are sometimes that we're 332 00:22:25.740 --> 00:22:30.210 probably under communicating. So we tried to together our teams figured out, okay, 333 00:22:30.250 --> 00:22:33.809 let's look at this cadence. But then, in another phrase that I 334 00:22:33.890 --> 00:22:37.369 like to use a lot, its intellectual honesty. We were really intellectually honest 335 00:22:37.410 --> 00:22:41.890 with ourselves of is what we're saying really relevant? Is it authentic? Is 336 00:22:41.970 --> 00:22:45.400 it live our brand? Or we just to see the same and so we 337 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:49.519 spent some time read and in that was a that was a laborious exercise, 338 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:52.720 but it was also an aullhall moment. And you know what, you can 339 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:56.400 do that if your budget is zero. You can sit down and you can 340 00:22:56.519 --> 00:23:00.750 map that journey and understand what are you saying it, because it's always the 341 00:23:00.789 --> 00:23:06.589 right message to the right person at the right time. Thank you, Christine. 342 00:23:07.230 --> 00:23:10.150 Yeah, from my perspective I would say, you know, if you're 343 00:23:10.150 --> 00:23:12.299 sitting in my roles a chief and Roman officer, fine, your chief marketing 344 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:18.059 officer and get really close and and connect. I think that it's really important 345 00:23:18.059 --> 00:23:23.140 to have strong relationships. But my big piece is that I think that education 346 00:23:23.220 --> 00:23:29.089 and cross pollination is critically important. So the more that you can share and 347 00:23:29.730 --> 00:23:33.650 cross pollinate, so having your marketing people in your enrollment management meetings occasionally. 348 00:23:33.690 --> 00:23:38.049 Last year I was in the huddle with Julie's team. My understanding of the 349 00:23:38.210 --> 00:23:44.240 work that their team is doing I can now share with our it team that's 350 00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:47.440 working on a problem. So Julie doesn't have to be there until we get 351 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:51.400 to a certain level. But by doing that, in Cross pollinating and educating 352 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:55.359 everyone, Katie Benet, who's on her team, is like, well, 353 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.390 you know what, this idea came from this meeting that we had, and 354 00:23:57.670 --> 00:24:00.470 she understands a work we're doing. I understand the work they're doing, and 355 00:24:00.869 --> 00:24:06.470 so it really helps you get further faster. And so if there's anything I 356 00:24:06.549 --> 00:24:08.750 would say is is really you got a partner tight but you also have to 357 00:24:08.829 --> 00:24:12.660 make sure that you're providing in the information and you're listening and that you're using 358 00:24:12.740 --> 00:24:17.500 that to inform the decisions you're making moving forward. Thank you, Christine, 359 00:24:17.539 --> 00:24:21.579 and thank you, Julie. Thank you both for your time and being part 360 00:24:21.619 --> 00:24:26.650 of our first two episode experiment. I think Bart would agree that it has 361 00:24:26.690 --> 00:24:30.089 gone extremely well. So again, thank you for joining us on the Higher 362 00:24:30.130 --> 00:24:36.930 Ed Marketer and for our commercial. The Higher Ed Marketer podcast is sponsored by 363 00:24:36.930 --> 00:24:41.960 Kable solutions and education, marketing and branding agency and by thing patented, a 364 00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:47.359 marketing, execution, printing and mailing provider of higher it solutions. On behalf 365 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:51.200 of my partner in creation, Bart Taylor, I'm chroice singer. Thank you 366 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:56.549 for doining us. You've been listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure 367 00:24:56.630 --> 00:25:00.430 that you never miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast 368 00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:04.829 player. If you're listening with apple PODCASTS, we'd love for you to leave 369 00:25:04.869 --> 00:25:08.380 a quick rating of the show. Simply tap the number of stars you think 370 00:25:08.380 --> 00:25:11.940 the podcast deserves. Until next time.