1 Slow Growth to Major Growth: The Marketing of an Online Degree Program Dr. Roger Von Holzen Ms....

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Slow Growth to Major Growth: The Marketing of an Online Degree Program

Dr. Roger Von HolzenMs. Darla Runyon

Center for Information Technology in EducationNorthwest Missouri State University

Maryville, MO

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The Failure to Thrive

• Many online programs feed off traditional student enrollment

• Problem has its basis in three major areas:– lack of a strategic plan– lack of fully developed online degree

programs– lack of marketing*

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NorthwestOnline

• Spring of 1998 Northwest focused in on the emerging online Associate in Applied Science business degree programs

• Articulated 2+2 programs – Bachelor of Science degree program in

Business Management– BS in Accounting program devised later*

4Example

The Articulated Program

• Unique aspects of these articulated programs:– up to 82-85 credit hours from the community

college may be transferred into Northwest– some courses are transferred into Northwest

at the junior or senior course level

• Became basis for online degree completion programs*

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• Colorado Electronic Community College• Kansas City Kansas Community College• Metropolitan Community Colleges of Kansas

City, MO• Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids,

IA• Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, NE• North Central Missouri College, Trenton, MO• Tulsa Community College, Tulsa, OK*

Signed Agreements

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The Virtual Web Site

• Developed NorthwestOnline.org web site• Developed in cooperation with eCollege.com

– The course management software for the online courses

– Support desks for faculty and students

• Virtual campus services were up and running over a three month period

• Facilitated and organized the internal marketing process*

7Web Site

The Virtual Web Site

• Areas involved:– admissions– registration– course catalog– student services– financial aid– academic information

• Helped move the campus bureaucracy very quickly into the digital, web-based era*

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In the beginning...

• NorthwestOnline.org launched in August 1999

• No one came--at least, very few

• Few students signed up for the courses simply because few students knew about them!

• We had forgotten to market*

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Devising a Marketing Plan

• Fall 1999 semester– Organized effort undertaken to market

the online courses– Quickly became evident that beyond

external marketing, additional internally marketing was also needed*

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Internal Marketing

• Focused on academic and administrative groups and departments

• Goal was to streamline the bureaucratic processes for online students– Minimize number of forwarded e-mail

messages and telephone calls– One stop shopping as the ultimate goal*

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Internal Marketing

• Significant challenge: Getting personnel to forgo past procedures and to devise new and innovative means of tackling problems– For example, campus network account

usernames and passwords*

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On-Campus Marketing

• Promoted the availability of online courses for off-campus students during the summer trimester

• Encouraged the taking of online courses as a means of shorten the time to graduation*

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On-Campus Marketing

• Marketing program focused primarily on four tracks

• Track One: Need for a separate listing of the online courses in the student course offerings publication– This was in addition to the departmental listing of the

courses – Helped to focus student attention on the variety of

courses that were available online – Encouraged some students to sign up for more than

one online course*

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On-Campus Marketing

• Track Two: Informed Northwest faculty advisors of online options– Get faculty to advise students to sign up for

online courses to get around scheduling conflicts*

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On-Campus Marketing

• Track Three: Campus-wide student spam– Announced the availability of the online

courses – Web address pointing to further information– Proved to be a very effective marketing

technique• Option has been curtailed by the administration

due to the spamming abuse*

Spam

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On-Campus Marketing

• Track Four: Print advertising– Ads in the student campus newspaper

• Large ads, often humorous, were placed on a weekly basis in the newspaper running up to and through the student registration period

– Placement of advertising tent cards in the Union and library*

Tent CardAd 2Ad 1

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Regional and National Marketing

• Goal: to tap into the huge population that has not been traditionally serviced by the university*

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Regional and National Marketing

• One targeted group were high school students who were interested in taking college courses beyond the dual credit option

• Posters and fliers were sent out to high schools in the University's 19 county service region

• Enables students to get a head start on their college careers by enrolling in online general education courses*

Poster

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Regional and National Marketing

• A second target group were Northwest alumni

• Articles and announcements were placed in the alumni publication– Emphasized the option for Northwest

graduates to "return to school" through the online programs in order to enhance their backgrounds or to change careers*

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Regional and National Marketing

• Posters and fliers geared to adult learners were sent out to 500 regional businesses – Addresses came from Northwest’s Career

Services office– The businesses have direct links as

employers of Northwest graduates• Ads were also placed in regional training

publications*

AdPoster

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Regional and National Marketing

• Ads were placed in the Army's Stars and Stripes newspaper

• Information about the online degree programs was uploaded to the major online search engines and online education portal web sites– Requires periodic monitoring and

updating*

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Co-Marketing

• KC REACHE Consortium--8 members– Target 1,500 largest businesses in Kansas City

– Spot advertisements on public TV

• The co-marketing of online degree programs to AAS graduates with our articulated community college partners– Get students to return to the community colleges to

take more general education courses and then transfer to Northwest to complete their BS degrees*

ePostcardPosterVideo

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Enrollment Management

• Northwest Online virtual campus site hosts an inquiry link allowing visitors to the site the opportunity to find out more about online courses and degree programs at Northwest

• This online inquiry form is submitted electronically to the Admissions office at Northwest*

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Enrollment Management

• Once these inquires are received, a key contact person in the Admissions office replies individually to each e-mail message

• Information from the inquiry forms is entered into a database of prospective online students*

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Enrollment Management

• Online inquirers are mailed:– a cover letter with a viewbook, which fully

describes Northwest and its students services

– a brochure which summarizes the online degree programs

• Once a prospective student has been admitted to the university, he/she is connected with an online advisor to assist in the development of his/her online academic program*

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Effectiveness of Marketing Effort

• Followed a comprehensive, integrated approach to both the internal and external marketing

• Targeted students who had not been traditionally serviced by the university

• Led to both a steady increase in the number of courses offered online and in the number of students enrolled

• Marketing budget: 0.42%-1.25%*

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0

24

68

1012

1416

1820

Online Courses

Fall 1999Spring 2000Summer 2000Fall 2000Spring 2001

Number of online courses offered through Northwest Online

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0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Students Enrolled in Online Courses

Fall 1999Spring 2000Summer 2000Fall 2000Spring 2001

Students enrolled in Northwest Online courses

29Ad

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Dr. Roger Von Holzenrvh@mail.nwmissouri.edu

Ms. Darla Runyondrunyon@mail.nwmissouri.edu

www.NorthwestOnline.orgwww.nwmissouri.eduwww.nwmissouri.edu/~cite/