Going Deep Into The Valley.
Increase enrollment & lower costs? We Can. We Did.
In 2017, Hudson Valley Community College was struggling in the enrollment crash as all higher-education institutions have been in the last decade. Hudson Valley selected Overit as its marketing partner to execute a series of multi-pronged strategic marketing campaigns that communicated key messages to its target audiences while enhancing the college’s reputation, boosting enrollment, and conveying the college’s breadth of offerings.
Overit & HVCC - The results (Year over year)
Updating a Message / Hudson Valley Community College Brand Campaign
One of our first major tasks was to re-articulate for the students, faculty, staff, and community the impact and influence of Hudson Valley on the region. We wanted to communicate with strength and clarity that Hudson Valley ensures benefits for students, outcomes of a Hudson Valley education, and impacts on the regional economy and job force.
With a new campaign tagline, YOU CAN, we declared with boldness and confidence that this two-year college fights like a four-year, offering the same quality of education as its regional counterparts for a significantly lower cost. This, we told the market, is the smart choice.
Our finalized branding efforts were carried over to in-print, online, TV commercials, and travel pieces and brochures.
Updated Personas For A Smarter Media Plan
We examined the Hudson Valley audience to identify more specific targets and the best corresponding message for that audience. These messages were then pushed out to a multitude of platforms, including:
- Pay-per-click advertising
- Social media marketing
- Public relations
- Direct mail
- Display remarketing
- Email marketing
- Pre-roll advertising
- TV / Radio / OOH
- In-mall advertising
- Community relations & sponsorships
The result was an overwhelming increase in leads, pageviews, sessions, and CRT and a decrease in CPC.
What the Focus Groups Said
To launch our new brand campaign, we wanted to feel confident we understood our audience as it functions today. This generation is already unique in remarkable ways from the generation that preceded them. We conducted four focus groups with two sets of parents and two sets of students to determine:
What is a student’s priority when choosing a school?
What is a parent’s priority?
How did students and parents intend to pay for higher education?
Could they recognize Hudson Valley’s branding?
On that last point, we discovered they could. We knew we were speaking from the platform of a well-established institution with incomparable brand equity in its market. We knew a brand campaign was the perfect strategy to streamline and strengthen the college’s message.
The Digital Approach
Overit’s comprehensive online advertising efforts target those pursuing skilled trades or liberal arts educations, as well as adult and online learners, students interested in four-year transfer options, mid-career adults looking to change or expand skill sets, and other relevant groups. We deployed search advertising, display advertising, intent-based display ads, Facebook ads, and video preroll market to prospective students in the Capital Region. Our online advertising campaigns were supported by extensive custom ad design using a variety of digital formats, including static display advertisements, animated HTML5 versions, pre-roll advertising, radio scripts, print assets, and more.
Email Marketing
Overit’s comprehensive online advertising efforts target those pursuing skilled trades or liberal arts educations, as well as adult and online learners, students interested in four-year transfer options, mid-career adults looking to change or expand skill sets, and other relevant groups. We deployed search advertising, display advertising, intent-based display ads, Facebook ads, and video preroll market to prospective students in the Capital Region. Our online advertising campaigns were supported by extensive custom ad design using a variety of digital formats, including static display advertisements, animated HTML5 versions, pre-roll advertising, radio scripts, print assets, and more.
This resulted in 1,203 emails sent, a 47% open rate, and a 16% click-through rate.
The Media Plan
Combining our media expertise with the voluminous and complex needs of the school was a major challenge we were thrilled to surmount. By capturing very refined personas for Hudson Valley’s many programs, we were able to target specific audiences in the region and speak to them directly.
New mediums were explored such as streaming services under traditional media, and new social platforms under digital media. Streaming services such as OTT and Hulu allow us to not only target by age, gender, and location, but also by utilizing third party data and specifying homes with high school students as a target. In 2018, 85% of teens ages 13-17 use YouTube and 69% of teens ages 13-17 use Snapchat – making it vital to advertise on those platforms in the latest academic year.
Because Hudson Valley offers a continuous series of admissions events and academic programs — including open houses, instant admission days, spring enrollment, summer get-ahead courses, fall enrollment, skilled trades, and more — identifying those audiences could be tricky. Can you talk to a liberal arts student the same way you talk to an automotive tech student? Well, sure. You can. But do you want to?
We didn’t. We wanted to send very clear messages to each about what the outcomes could be for them on their respective paths. Our liberal arts student is likely to pursue one of Hudson Valley’s more than 250 transfer agreements. Our automotive tech student might be emboldened by our 97% placement rate. With smart media placement and sharp messaging, we were able to get the most important messaging out to the audience who most needs to hear it.
Public Relations
Overit’s communications team highlighted milestones and important events at Hudson Valley and shared them with an expansive media outlet network to amplify the marketing messages through visuals and news storytelling. Overit worked with the college’s communications staff to accomplish this with numerous stories. Some include an announcement with other area community colleges taking action against the trade workers skills gap; the dedication of Hudson Valley’s Albany Center for Education; preview construction tours of and the opening of the new Center for Advanced Manufacturing Building; and, the unveiling of the new Athletics Logo during an annual community day event. These events and more translate to an average of $37,272.65 in earned media per month.
The Data
Using a comprehensive digital dashboard, Overit complied all of the marketing metrics by campaign in one place, which updates automatically, minute by minute. By having all of the marketing data in one place, the Hudson Valley marketing team was empowered to have more meaningful conversations with leadership about their marketing efforts, spends, and results. In addition to campaign data, Overit created a digital application funnel allowing us to track how many prospective students entered the application process to further drill down on how well campaign efforts were performing with respect to the ultimate goal: student applications. This funnel was placed on the dashboard.
