October 20th: 9:15 – 10:15am
Search Engine Optimization: The Basics and Beyond
Drew Stauffer
SEO / Interactive Designer
Jackson Dawson

According to Forrester Research, 85% of marketers and businesses were using or piloting Search Engine Optimization last year, but what is Search Engine Optimization and how can you take advantage of it?
Search Engine Optimization entails structuring your website so that your domain appears when users search for specific keywords and phrases on various search engines. We’ll take an in-depth look at what you need to do to achieve better search engine rankings and how you can continue developing your website and expanding your SEO strategy for years to come.

October 20th: 9:15 – 10:15am
Where Have all the Young Males Gone?
Kate Sherrill
Sr. VP of Communications
Interact Communications, Inc.

Everyone in the marketing business has noticed the trend - young males have gone off the grid! How do you market to a demographic (18-24 year-old males) that isn't watching television, listening to radio stations or reading publications with any consistency? Sure, you can buy ads during the Super Bowl or the NBA finals, but let's face it, that's not practical on a community college marketing budget. So how do you find this group of potential students that is dwindling in numbers on campus when they don't even have home phone numbers? Learn how to go beyond cable television and get online, where this group is easily found. From social networking sites to online gaming, marketing online is cost effective and targeted. Thanks to three years of data on Community College Student Media Preferences, Interact can tell you exactly where to put your marketing muscle to bring the young males back on campus. Community colleges who have participated in the survey wil l also share how they used their colleges' survey results to target their marketing efforts. Intended Audience: Marketing practitioners at two-year colleges. Significance of the presentation: This is a demographic that all colleges are trying to reach, and this unique research provides surprising information about where they are and how to get your message to them.

October 20th: 10:30 – 11:30am
Practical Marketing Research for Colleges
Brad Majors
Director of Marketing
Greenville Technical College

This presentation will help the marketing staff at a college better understand some of the low-cost marketing research options available to them. Included in this presentation will be secondary data analysis, experience surveys, case studies, pilot studies (focus groups, one-on-ones, projective techniques, surveys (online/traditional), experiments and observation. This presentation will also discuss the importance of having a clear objective for the research before beginning, writing a questionnaire that is free of bias, and analyzing/interpreting data so that it can be easily understood by decision-makers.

October 20th: 10:30 – 11:30am
Measuring the Customer's Experience through a Mystery Shopping Program
Terri Giltner
System Director of Marketing
Kentucky Community and Technical College System

As higher education becomes more customer-oriented due to increased competition and the expectations and needs of students, the practice of using mystery shoppers has increased among colleges interested in improving their admissions and recruiting efforts. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) conducted two mystery shopping studies (December 2006, August 2007) to better understand the overall experience prospective students have when contacting the colleges via phone, email and personal visits. Results of both studies indicated that it was not always easy to reach one of our colleges by either phone, e-mail or in person. This presentation reviews how KCTCS established a formal, on-going mystery shopping program tied to a customer service training program, rewards program and organizational performance goals.

October 20th: 10:30 – 11:30am
A Model for Current Student Communications
Elizabeth Cooper
Director
Central Piedmont Community College

Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) is committed to providing timely and comprehensive student communications and has recently created a full time position dedicated to the development and maintenance of on-going communications to current students. The objective of the presentation is to introduce and share details of the model implemented at CPCC to other cohort institutions. The presentation focuses on how CPCC is addressing common challenges in communicating to unique student demographics and how it uses collaborative internal strategies and tactics delivered via integrated marketing communications.  

October 20th: 1:00 – 2:00pm
Holding Yourself Accountable: Using Google Analytics to Track Inquiries
Lynne Kilgore, Marketing Research and Media Analyst, and Mark Little, Director, Central Piedmont Community College

College marketing departments are increasingly held to the same high accountability standards as the corporate world. Budgets are tightening, and as marketing funds dwindle or remain stagnant, the marketing team is expected to maintain a presence in the local community. While many different tactics are used in a campaign, the paid advertising piece is generally the most expensive. As such, this is also the area that usually receives the greatest amount of scrutiny. "How can you justify advertising there? They are really expensive!" "No one reads that rag." "I don't get why we keep directing our money there, even if it IS dirt cheap!" Sound familiar? If so, then this session is for you. We will discuss the use of Google Analytics to track inquiries. ROI may be a difficult nut to crack, but inquiry tracking is an easy and straightforward way to assess basic ad performance. Our time will be spent briefly reviewing Google Analytics' capabilities (why do you need to care about the "bounce rate"?) and ways in which Central Piedmont Community College has used this tool to fine tune its advertising buys.

October 20th: 1:00 – 2:00pm
Don't Bebo on MySpace about Facebook at Our College!
Carolyn Margoni
Manager, Public Relations and Communications Technology
Brevard Community College

With a reported 93% of college students using social networking sites and over 60% logging in daily, the sites are an enticing arena for those of us looking to reach out to and engage with students. However, with stories in the news linking sites such as MySpace and Facebook to a teen committing suicide, gossip and drunken party photos, these sites are often regarded as damaging, dangerous or at best a waste of time. Campuses have banned staff and student access via their computer networks to social network sites and the negative headlines have left parents and administrators reluctant to support using the sites as a communication tool. This presentation explores how to deepen the understanding, within your academic culture, of social network utilities and the positive role these sites can play. We discuss why educational institutions should play a role in providing access to and educating students about online socializing and how student development professionals fit in on the sites. We examine Brevard Community College's strategy to establish a meaningful presence on Facebook and share ideas for page content, engaging students and presenting information so that your pages are not just a replication of your website.

October 20th: 1:00 – 2:00pm
Beyond MySpace: Jumping on the Social Networking Bandwagon
Kate Sherrill
Sr. VP of Communications
Interact Communications, Inc.

Social networking: what is it, who's using it, and why colleges have to get on that bandwagon now! Get the latest research and statistics on who's using social networking sites and how these sites can be used to reach community colleges' target markets. Also, find out how to get senior leadership on board.

October 21st: 9:45 – 10:45am
Social Networking and Its Relevance in the Recruitment Process
Prashant Singh, Account Manager, Hobsons EMT

How can you capitalize on student interest - whether they are prospects, accepted students, current students, or even graduate students - to communicate with them in the way that they want to be reached? What are the benefits and implications of using social networking in your day-to-day communication with students? In this session, Hobsons will share information on the cutting-edge communication methods available today and the benefits they can have to your short- and long-term strategies. We will explain the different types of social networks and how they can be combined with other communication vehicles to build a comprehensive recruitment communications strategy for prospects, applicants, accepted and enrolled students.

October 21st: 9:45 – 10:45am
GIS as Part of Your Market Research Toolkit: Part Deux!
Lynne Kilgore, Marketing Research and Media Analyst, and Mark Little, Director, Central Piedmont Community College

Earlier this year in Savannah, GA, at the NCMPR national conference, we discussed the basics of ESRI's Geographic Information System (GIS) and how Central Piedmont Community College's Marketing Services department uses it to segment and target its diverse customer groups. This time we're going to add another layer: market penetration. Market penetration - the number of your customers in a defined area compared to its total population - gives the marketer an opportunity to assess his or her organization's performance in a specific location. Parts of your service area may be saturated, some may be growing, and some may simply be stagnant. How do you know which is which? Why waste resources on new student prospecting in "X" zip code if "Y" clearly appears to be more profitable? Instead of prospecting, should you be more focused on building repeat customers? What are the data telling you? These are just some of the questions the GIS software can help you answer. In our brief session together we'll review the basics of the software, then discuss some of the successes and challenges we've faced since using this powerful analytical technique as part of our research operations.

October 21st: 9:45 – 10:45am
Making your College Brand Resonate with Non-student Audiences
Mary Karriker
Director of Creative and Art Services
Central Piedmont Community College

Community college marketers are faced with various challenges in extending their brand to non-core college organizations, such as performing arts facilities, conference centers, and non-profit college businesses. Join us at this session as Mary Karriker, Director of Creative and Art Services at Central Piedmont Community Colleges, leads attendees though a discussion of best practices for evolving a college brand identity so that it resonates with non-student audiences, while still reinforcing core visual brand elements. Focus will be placed on innovation within the brand and managing the often times strong propensity for internal organizations to splinter off from the parent brand.