You know how this time of year goes — before you can even put your Halloween costume away, department stores will be all decked-out for the holidays and radio stations will be spinning The Waitresses 24-7.*

But while the premature holiday push can be frustrating, it does remind us that the end of the year is coming on fast.

So today I’d like to remind you to start making plans for any special holiday campaigns you’d like to execute in the next few weeks — especially if they involve creative services.

I know it’s early, but you’ll need the time to brainstorm, refine your concepts and get the right people involved (before it’s too late).

Here are a few ideas to help kick your creativity into gear this season:

• Roll out a series of holiday-related questions on your Facebook page or private social network.  Think “What’s your favorite Thanksgiving side-dish and why?” “What are you grateful for this year?” or “What’s the best holiday song?”

• Consider a page on your school’s website or admissions microsite that details what’s happening on campus over the holidays.  Include dining hall menus, photos and/or video content (especially from the dorms) and a schedule of campus events.

• Create (or have us create) an html holiday email.  While I’m a huge advocate for simplicity, the holiday e-card is a nice chance to do something a bit more “festive.” Just keep it short and authentic to you!

• Try boosting engagement with a contest.  Topics like “Submit Your Favorite Thanksgiving Recipe” or “Holiday Photo Contest” can work well.

As with all campaigns, be sure you’re prioritizing storytelling and revealing your school’s traditions.  Remember the goal is to make it as easy as possible for prospects to imagine themselves as part of your community.

This year, create your plan for the holidays early and give yourself plenty of time to execute it.

Then you can relax and enjoy the parties and well-deserved treats (instead of being stuck in your office sending out emails;)

Adrienne

*P.S.  Don’t get the reference to “The Waitresses?”  Congrats — you’ve somehow been spared the cantankerous (yet highly contagious) ballad that is “Christmas Wrapping.”
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Don’t miss our “Xpert Roundtable” Webcast on November 13th.  Learn more and register at:
www.targetx.com/webcasts

Last week I received a pretty nice email from CVS Pharmacy explaining how easy it would be to transfer my prescriptions online.

It was well-designed, with a nice graphic and very clear call to action. It even had a coupon at the bottom offering me $5 off my next purchase. Score.

One major problem: I’m already a CVS customer! I’ve been getting my prescriptions filled there for at least a decade.

Naturally, I was annoyed. I felt taken advantage of — just another name and email address on some list somewhere. Didn’t these people care that I’d been a long-time client? A loyal customer? Who the heck is in charge of this operation? Do they know anything about email marketing?

And that’s when it hit me. My outrage quickly turned to remorse as I realized I’d probably done the same thing at one time or another. The experience reminded me just how critical data management is.
Read on…

“This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.” - Bill Murray as Phil Connors in Groundhog Day (1993)

We’re officially into the second month of the new year — and already another Super Bowl is history and the soothsaying rodent has had his moment in the sun (literally).

But regardless of the prediction from Punxsutawney, on campus, the Spring semester is well under way.  And for us admissions folks, that means on to more important things — like yield.

Have you given much thought to your upcoming yield initiatives?
Read on…

In 1998, TargetX hit the scene with the first email broadcast tool exclusively for higher education.

Back then, the ability to merge demographics into the subject line or body of an email was considered revolutionary.  Marketers everywhere could hardly contain themselves with thoughts of pushing out messages and achieving direct marketing nirvana.

Oh, how things have changed!  More than a decade later, merging my first name into the subject line of an email not only fails to impress me — it’s downright spammy (not to mention annoying).

Naturally, once everyone could do it, it became abused — and the “cool factor” was gone.  It’s kind of like how I felt when my Dad got an iPod;)

Real, targeted, personal emails don’t need to resort to gimmicky tricks like that because they have something of value to say; something readers need to know and want to hear.
Read on…

Regardless of who you’re voting for tomorrow, I think we all agree that there are very serious economic challenges ahead.

From the collapse of financial giants and 401k blues to dismal projections for the holiday “retail season” — it seems we’ve all got money matters on the brain.

It makes perfect sense then that the cost of college will continue to make headlines in the coming months. And it’s certain to impact your yield.

Is your office prepared to handle it?

On the eve of our nation’s biggest election, I thought I’d offer a few ideas for you to proactively address your cost. While you can’t completely control it, you should be able to control how you communicate it.

Have you considered:

• Adding sessions on paying for college to your open house program?

• Offering a meeting with a financial aid counselor as part of your daily visit program?

• Designing an email campaign that offers tips on getting funding and applying for aid?

• Hosting an online chat for parents with your Directors of Admissions and/or Financial Aid?

• Involving young alumni, parents and current students as part of an effort to relay the benefits of your educational experience?

• Providing additional financial aid training for admissions counselors?

• Asking your bloggers to do a post on “why they chose your school” and “why it’s worth it?”

• Starting a forum topic or group in your social network to specifically talk about financial issues and paying for college?

When it comes down to it, it’s not just about your price tag — it’s about the value and benefits associated with the experience you’re providing. So don’t just focus on money — focus on what they get for the money.

This year, address the issue head-on by giving families the support and information they need to make early decisions about cost.

Then they can focus on another important factor: best fit.

Recently, I received a frantic call from a client who had just done an email broadcast with a typo in it.

Sometimes you can get away with small errors like this, but this situation was a little different. The typo in question was a misspelling of the school’s name — and it went to 90,000 people inviting them to an Open House.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), it was a situation we’ve encountered before.

It’s been said that technology is only as good as the humans who operate it — and we all have those days when we’re either too tired or too distracted to notice a mistake (like right now as I sit here delirious from staying up to watch the World Series;)

Today I thought I’d offer you the same advice I offered our frenzied client:

1. Create a new message and give it a subject line like “Our apologies” or “We’re sorry.”

2. Apologize for your error and let your readers know that attention to detail is important to you.

3. Correct your mistake.

4. Reiterate your call to action (i.e. link to register, your web address, etc.)

5. Keep it brief — a few sentences is just fine.

Want to learn more? Ray Ulmer from TargetX also talked about apology emails in his Recruitment Minute post “Oops is not a four-letter word” from March 2007. He notes an instance when the apology actually had a 20% higher open rate than the original message.

While we all try our best to avoid them, mistakes are inevitable in email communications.

So consider this your “emergency plan” for email blunders and use these strategies to minimize the damage (before you find the President’s Office on line 1;)

Adrienne

P.S. If you like this tip, be sure to check out The Recruitment Minute. It’s one of the fastest and best ways for you to keep up with important topics facing recruitment marketing today.

To subscribe, visit www.targetx.com/knowledge

As a loyal “Mac-geek,” my friends are always surprised at my answer when they ask me what I think of my iPhone.

I tell them that, in all honesty, I’ve had better cell phones. Service is shaky in places, it tends to drop calls and too often I find myself uttering that now iconic wireless anthem: “Can you hear me now?”

You can imagine then, that they are just as puzzled by my next admission: “But I still love it. I would never even dream of getting rid of it.”

Am I crazy? Maybe. It’s just that the user interface is so completely fantastic that I can’t help but put up with that other stuff. It offers such a unique experience that I’ve changed the way I look at cell phones. And, for me, there’s just no turning back.

Which leads me to ask an important question of you:

What is the thing that your school does so well that it causes people to overlook your biggest flaws?

For a few schools in this country, the answer is academics. They offer such a high level of quality and reputation that students would do just about anything to get in and call themselves a graduate.

For others, perhaps it’s customer service. They make folks feel so good about being a part of the community that common problems like older facilities or non-existent parking don’t send families running for the hills.

Do you know what your answer is? If not, try bringing it up at your next staff meeting or après-work gathering. You might learn a good deal about your institution and what we mean when we talk about being authentic.

At its core, authenticity is about getting real about what we do really well, and, conversely, what we don’t. When we’re honest about our imperfections, our core competencies stand out that much more.

So think about what it is that you do best, and make that the focus of your interactions with prospects: your presentations, email campaigns, campus tours, publications — even your college fair “shpeel.”

Whatever your answer is, communicating it is key. Do it well and, like Apple, you’ll find yourself with the best marketing tool there is — loyal customers.

Headed to NACAC in Seattle this week? Be sure to stop by Booth 1020, say hello and tell us more about what your school does really well.

Find out more at www.targetx.com/nacac

Are you using the dreaded phrase?

Today I’d like each of you to look through your email library to see if you begin any messages with a certain phrase — a phrase I believe should be stricken from the lexicon of admissions marketing.

That phrase? “If you haven’t already visited campus.”

I’ve seen it often; a veiled “time saver” that ensures you won’t leave anyone out as you introduce the body of your message.

But what it really does is announce that you have no idea who you are writing to — a veritable “no-no” for any type of media.

Beginning a message by making it clear that you don’t know if that person has visited reeks of the mass marketing practices of days passed.

More than just poor form, using “the phrase” is simply unacceptable in an age of CRM tools, mass customization and relationship recruiting.

It’s like taking a girl on a date one night, only to greet her the next day with “If we haven’t already met…”

Certainly not the way to begin a courtship of any kind, especially if your school is one of the many who tout themselves as a place where you’ll be “a name, not just a number.”

Want to change your ways but not sure where to begin?

Even if you don’t have sophisticated tools to segment your audiences, you can still improve by spending a little quality time with your data (and a “techie” or two never hurt;)

Create a plan and adjust your processes as necessary — just make it clear that you value the reader and know something about them (even if it’s just a little something).

Undoubtedly, employing a strategy like this will take time.  But consider the alternative of broadcasting ineffective messages and wondering why they just aren’t working the way they used to.

These days, students and their parents are spending record amounts of time and money to travel and visit your campus. This year, honor that investment and get to know who you’re really writing to.

Before someone else does.

Want to learn more? Contact me at bartlett@targetx.com for help with creating effective email campaigns.

Heading to NACAC? Visit www.targetx.com/nacac to learn about iThink, iDrink and the WOW Factor.

Two of my best friends and college roommates are high school guidance counselors.

When they aren’t working with students on the college selection process (or wearing one of the myriad other hats that come with the counselor gig), they rely heavily on technology to keep up with their personal lives.

They text message, share YouTube videos and post to photo-sharing sites. And they’re on Facebook. A lot.

Is this your image of the school counselor? If it isn’t, perhaps the way we communicate with prospects isn’t the only thing that needs to change.

Modern guidance offices want what we all want — a better way to keep up. That means making it easier for them to stay updated on important things like new programs and facilities or changes to admissions requirements.

Here are a few ways you can better communicate with the guidance community:

• Do a series of emails focusing on different aspects of the admissions process (think visiting campus, financial aid/scholarships, etc.)

• Host a lunchtime chat for guidance counselors in the fall to talk about the application process or what’s new on campus. Have the Director of Admissions on hand for a real attendance draw.

• Develop an interactive “Counselors” page for your website.

• Ask counselors to check out your social network so they can encourage interested students to join.

• Do a “Top 10 Reasons to Choose XYZ University” poster and/or campaign. Focus on the things that differentiate you from your competitors.

• Promote your student blogs to the guidance office. It’s a great way for them to get an “inside track” on student life (bonus points if one of the bloggers just happens to be a former student…;)

• Invite them to subscribe to receive emails on a regular basis reminding them about news, events and admissions deadlines.

As with all things, authenticity matters most here. You’ve got to be (really) honest about the kinds of students who get in and the kinds of students who thrive on your campus. It’s the only way counselors can help make that “best fit” match.

So this year, do a better job of “influencing the influencers” and reach out to the guidance community with more than a new copy of the viewbook.

Because the need to build dynamic relationships doesn’t just apply to prospects.

Are you guilty of sending narcissistic email messages?

Ok, perhaps “narcissistic” might be a bit too harsh.

But I’ve seen quite a few messages that seem to focus more on what the college wants to say than what the reader wants to hear.

It’s the email equivalent of someone shoving a flyer into my hand as I’m walking down the street. Sure, they may have something they want to say, but hey, I’m busy and I never asked for it.

With email, there’s no need to launch into a three-paragraph history of your school’s origin or your founder’s vision.

It’s probably safe to say that no one wants to scroll through the academically-long-winded description of a new major they’ve never heard of, either.

All of that fun stuff should live on your website. They’ll look for it there if they want to know.

These days, email works better for things like announcements, event registrations, reminders, promotions, surveys, follow up communication, etc. All things that address the “what’s in it for me” question and allow for the interaction that made the medium so popular.

This week, I ask you to take a moment to review the last few email messages you’ve sent to prospects.

Is your content solving a problem or providing value to the reader? Or is it all about you?

This year, try and focus less on what you want to say. Don’t wait until May rolls around to make it all about them.