MARKETING HIGHER EDUCATION A periodic electronic Newsletter to help you market your school, community college, college, or university. Vol. XII, no. 11, November, 1998 -------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS Admissions Web Site Review. by Robert "Bob" S. Topor, Topor Consulting Group International, and Professor Elizabeth "Liz" Pollard, Smoke Signals Enterprises University of Arizona Green Mountain College McMaster University -------------------------------------------------- Admissions Web Site Review. by Robert "Bob" S. Topor, Topor Consulting Group International, and Professor Elizabeth "Liz" Pollard, Smoke Signals Enterprises In the past many years, Topor Consulting Group International has performed an annual review of admissions outreach materials. This year we are changing. This year, a few things are different. * With the explosion of the Internet, we have shifted from traditional admissions printed materials to electronic (Web site) offerings. * In the past we have conducted our surveys in the summer (when many students search out higher education). This year, because of the death of Bob Topor's wife Martha, we were forced to readjust our schedule. * We still have our focus on admissions, overlooking other aspects of a school's offerings and operation. We continue to place attention on the potential student, looking through her or his eyes. Ideally we would hire actual students to review sites, as we suggest you do. Nevertheless, we hope this review plants ideas in your mind. Pay careful attention to the issues we examine here. Look at your site in a similar way. Of course these ideas are based on objective concerns. They are open to interpretation. That, in itself, is a warning to you. Expect your Web site to be viewed by many different people, each with his or her unique concerns. * The Web sites we have reviewed here are chosen at random, for better or worse. They represent public and private institutions in the U.S., and one Canadian school. -------------------------------------------------- PUBLIC INSTITUTION The University of Arizona was selected at random for this study. Its URL is http:// www.arizona.edu This site opens with a colorful home page. It loads quickly. The primary graphic is a photo of the University with a cactus graphic to the left. The photo shows many students off to class. Superimposing the cactus are clickable links. The Admissions links are labeled " Prospective Students" and "Enrolled Students." I find this bothersome from a marketing viewpoint. It is an example of a school thinking from the inside-in, rather than from the outside-in. The inside-in thinking focuses attention on the provider (The University of Arizona). The creator has put her/his attention on the provider rather than on the USER. Does the potential applicant think of himself as a "Prospective student?:" I doubt it! Or does he think of himself as a consumer of information about "admission to a university?" It is a fine distinction but a very important one. It is the difference between thinking of yourself (selfishly) or of the "customer." This selfish attitude pervades higher education and has now seeped into electronic communications. It does not demonstrate a very marketing-savvy approach. This reflects the danger of NOT designing and writing a web site by an accomplished marketer! When I click on "prospective students" I find a page titled "Welcome." This page serves very little function. Confusingly it includes links to faculty and alumni, staff and administrators! I question the logic of this decision. The graphic is a collage of campus and area photos, kind of jumbled and confusing. No real marketing message is delivered here. It is relatively benign. Clicking on prospective undergraduates, I find a page with more clickable offerings: About Tucson, Academics, Career Services, Costs, How to Apply, Programs for New and Prospective Students, Preparing for College, Support for Your Studies, Transfer Students, UA Facilitators. I question the logic of this hierarchical order. Research is needed to verify that this is the correct order of importance. I rather doubt it! Is the town of Tucson more important than costs? Or academics? Or Career? What impression does that order leave you with? For me, I think about a party school, where local bars are more important than serious studies! Is this the image the U of A wants to project? I doubt it! When I click on "About Tucson," I get more links to museums, state parks, arts district, city week, cultural diversity, folk music and festivals, hiking guide, missions, Mount Lemmon, movies, murals, restaurants, Sabino Canyon, Skiing, Tucson Events Guide, Tucson Orienteering Club, and US-Mexico Borderlands Research. So, for the U of A, this is the most important information for a "prospective student." I really doubt it. The links at the bottom are for directory, campus map, search, calendar and comments. To me, this site demonstrates the confusion we find in much of higher education about defining what we are all about and clearly communicating and marketing it to interested target audiences. Rather, we flounder about in a sea of bureaucratic information, attempting to be everything to everybody, really just doing damage to ourselves in the costly process! To quote my son , "it sucks!" Going back to the academics page, I find a much better introduction to the University but only followed by a "boilerplate" of alphabetical listings of majors and majors by college. Rather esoteric stuff for one not well versed in all the details of higher education! -Bob Topor I would add a few other concerns to Bob's. First, while the graphics at the site are colorful and attractive, beyond the Home page, some of them take too long to load. In addition, for most information, there are too many menu layers to go through to get to specifics. In other words, users are apt to ask eventually, "Where's the beef?" I, too, am concerned about the priorities displayed in menu choices. Is the location of the school really more important than "What can I study there, and how good are the programs?" or "How do I get in if they have what I want?" For example, when one finally reaches the Admissions page, the menu choice "How to Apply," is at least half way down the menu, while "About Tucson" is at the top, but this is not the only place. The whole impression is exactly what Bob has described, "inside-in" thinking, where the university and its hierarchy is more important than the consumer! Under "Academics," the first choice presented is an alphabetical list of majors, not a bad start, but colleges and departments are only listed for a major where more than one college offers it. When a major is clicked, it leads to catalog text on the specific major apparently put together for this purpose. There is no full picture of the college or department. A separate Web site for the college is referenced at the bottom of the screen, but since the college name is given at the top, why not hotlink that? For the full view, one must then visit the hierarchical listing and click on the appropriate school. This necessitates a lot of clicking and waiting back and forth. It also means a lot of duplication of information. Why not combine the two, going from a listing of a major to its coverage under the appropriate college or department, and including quick links there to the full view, rather than providing different routes to different presentations? -Liz Pollard -------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL OFFER For Marketing Higher Education newsletter subscribers ONLY. Download the updated second edition of Bob's "classic" book, Marketing Higher Education - A Practical Guide, directly from his Web site at http://www.marketinged.com Special Deal: As a subscriber to this newsletter you have permission to make copies and distribute on your campus... a great aid for marketing committees! Make as many copies as you like (limited to your campus). You can get this book from the Home page on Bob's web site. It costs $40 (U.S.) It is easy to download to your computer, then you can reproduce it in your print shop or make photocopies. The first edition of this book has been one of CASE's best selling publications and has been used around the world. If you have questions call Bob at (650) 962-1105. NEW! "The Complete Guide to Focus Group Marketing Research in Higher Education" book is now available for downloading to your computer... Bob Topor's 55-page practical guidebook for running focus groups is now available for downloading. As subscriber to this electronic newsletter you have permission to purchase this book and make unlimited copies for use on your campus (copyright free). Regular cost is $32 in printed copy. You can purchase it for only $25. It is a great guide for how to do focus groups and has been Bob's best selling book ever! Don't miss this special offer! It's easy to order (secured credit card) and download... just log on to Bob's web site at http://www.marketinged.com and find it on his home page. Questions? Call Bob at (650) 962-1105 or e-mail him at topor@marketinged.com NEW! Download "Wasabi & Ginger" ($35.95 US) .... a book by Bob and his partner Dr. Moshe Engelberg .... for life development. It combines ideas from the business world with ones for personal satisfaction and success. You can use these ideas both in your business ventures as well as your personal life and success activities. Bon Appetit! This book is easy to download from Bob's web site: http://www.marketinged.com -------------------------------------------------- PRIVATE INSTITUTION Green Mountain College http:// www.greenmtn.edu By contrast, Green Mountain College opens its Web site with a home page displaying a photo of a pile of books, an autumn leaf and some hiking shoes and socks on top of them. Sure, this is a smaller and more concise institution than the U of A, but immediately I am drawn by its directness and honesty. Interestingly, one of the primary clickable links is labeled "Admissions and financial aid" Now, THAT is thinking much more from the "prospective student's" point of view! I like the slogan "Natural Curiosity is our first requirement." This does a lot to position the school amongst its competitors. Other links from this home page include academics, athletics, facts and figures, student life, alumni association, geoethics, directory , and Welsh heritage! Note how that outline in itself communicates a lot about the school! Clicking on Admissions we find a page of links designed to hone down the viewer and direct her or his attention to more specific areas such as transfer, international, campus visits. and contact links. Over all, I find this site developed from a sense of marketing savvy, much more logically than the previous. Of course, the larger the institution, the more difficult the task. However, this size challenge offers the opportunity to become visible... if it is done well! - Bob Topor One of the immediate impressions I have at this site is of simplicity and clarity. The pages load quickly and smoothly, and the menu structure is logical and without glitches. The school's identity and position among its peers is immediately established with its slogan, and it is obvious in every area that this attitude is carried through. Admissions, like the Home Page, has a straightforward menu, with simple priorities. The choices begin with Admissions Procedure, which includes requirements for admission, steps in applying, and accessible contact information. An electronic application form is an obvious choice to requesting a printed one. There is a hot link to campus visits and interviews handily placed in this sequence, as well as a link to the Academics section for information on courses and majors. In addition, Financial Aids is quickly and easily accessed from logical places, including Admissions, the Home Page, and the Facts and Figures menu choice. In short, Green Mountain College has made things simple for potential students and anticipated their questions and information needs. Their priorities are clear from the logic of their menu structures. Instead of starting from the campus hierarchies, they have stressed the needs of the consumer, and the results are predictable! - Liz Pollard -------------------------------------------------- CANADIAN McMaster University http://www.mcmaster.ca This home page follows an (unwritten) formula. What we see happening in all of higher education is replication by imitation. This home page looks like hundreds of others. The photo montage could be used by any school in any country! Where is the imagination we expect from higher education? This same sort of problem occurred with printed viewbooks. After a while, the only thing different about a viewbook was the name on the cover! All the rest could be anticipated. Dull. Dull. Dull. Colleges and universities are known by their DIFFERENCES; not similarities! When will we learn that? This university makes the same mistake we saw at the University of Arizona. The admissions is labeled "Prospective and Registered Students" How many applicants think of themselves as a "prospective" students? I should think most of them are concerned about Admissions. (Point of view, again) When I click on this item I get to a page listing the Registrars Office, Academic Information, Year 1 Handbook, Campus Tours, Email contacts, Student Personalized Data, Services to Students, Clubs, Organizations and Publications, Student Financial Aid, and how to send an electronic postcard from McMaster. With the exception of Academics and Financial aid, much of this information is rather incidental to ADMISSIONS! Again, I perceive an inside-in approach to marketing this place. They have, unfortunately, spent more time on imitation than on creation! I give them a D- on creativity and marketing. Sad. Clicking on the first entry (Registrar) we find the first mention of Admissions. This assumes all students know that one of the functions of a Registrar is Admissions. I wager that most prospective students don't know this! Academic information yields a graphic map to assist the prospective student seeking information! This is a very bad solution to a problem. This site seems to have been designed by an engineer! It does not suggest anyone with PR or marketing skills was involved. -Bob Topor I second Bob's comments on this Web site. It's difficult to see where McMaster differs from a thousand other schools by looking at this presentation. It's as if someone devised a set of rules and went strictly by them to create a carbon copy of other colleges' sites! In addition, the crucial pages, "Prospective and Registered Students," is slow to load, making matters worse for the consumer. There is another generic photograph of a group of students in a wooded area somewhere, something that would fit almost any college's Web site, but does nothing to distinguish McMaster! Both Admissions application and procedures are covered under "Prospective Student Information," an unfortunate choice of designation for potential or future students and consumers of what the school has to offer. All the usual predictable information is presented in this section, including a virtual campus tour, complete with clickable maps. Unfortunately, some of the graphics on the tour pages fail to load at all. The photos presented of buildings on the tour either include no people at all or are on such a large scale the people are barely visible! There is an optional track for the tour using VRML and Javascripts, but to view it, most people will have to download software, an extra step, and the program is suitable only for the latest, greatest computers, something many young folks looking for a college don't have available to them. In addition, when I clicked on the link to download the special viewer, the browser couldn't connect to the site. To their credit, at least the tour without VRML and Javascript is offered as well. This site would have far more potential marketing power if more attention were paid to the consumer. It's another example of "inside-in" thinking, unfortunately, rather than a marketing model. - Liz Pollard ********** Bob Topor * Marketing Evangelist Topor Consulting Group International E-mail: topor@marketinged.com ********** & Liz Pollard * Smoke Signals Enterprises Web site: http://www.smokesig.com E-mail: lpollard@smokesig.com ********* NOTICE: As a subscriber to this electronic newsletter, you have permission to reproduce and use this article on your campus. All others please note ©1998, Topor Consulting Group International. Comments about, or requests to reprint should be directed to Bob Topor at topor@marketinged.com. ********** -------------------------------------------------- Original posting: 11/29/98 Marketing Higher Education Newsletter is published by Topor Consulting Group International (http://www.marketinged.com). Newsletter posted by WEBB Internet Marketing & Consulting (http://www.firstchapter.com). copyright 1998 Topor Consulting Group International