Marketing Report January 2015

Purpose The purpose of this report is to show trend information for recruitment and marketing programs at all University of Mount Olive locations. Where possible, comparisons over time are shown. Marketing and recruitment activities differ for traditional and nontraditional programs, so some comparisons are not appropriate. This is not an enrollment report.

Introduction The following data is gathered from inquiry calls/visits, contact forms, applications, and SSRS reports. Recruitment activities, purchased media, website traffic, and other promotional and marketing efforts help drive students to our website and other points of contact. Information is used to track the kinds of advertising which prompts action for various audiences.

Recruitment Activities

Campus Visitation Faculty, staff, new students and their families attended two special recruitment days designed to recruit new traditional students. There were 190 student visitors with interest in enrolling in Fall 2015.

Nontraditional Recruitment Activities Nontraditional admissions representatives plan and execute various types of recruitment activities depending on their regional territory and the programs offered at their location. Community relations events, recruitment visits, attending a table/booth at a fair and making presentations to prospects are examples of ways that admissions representatives publicize UMO’s programs. Email blasts and special mailings also help to generate enrollment leads. The graph below demonstrates how these events were conducted in January 2015.

First time contacts…. include inquiries and applications from prospects who have never before showed any interest in UMO. This information is a good indicator of the effectiveness of our marketing efforts over time.

First Time Inquiries and Applications- Nontrad Locations First time inquiries and applications to nontrad locations during the last 7 months of the fiscal year showed a growing number of prospects interested in criminal justice and business programs. This summary does not include MBA interest.

Cappex Generates 213 leads in January 2015 The traditional program linkage with Cappex generated approximately 152,000 messages in January. These were sent on behalf of UMO to promote agriculture, religious affiliation, small college environment, art and music, athletics, education, business, biology, honors scholarships, and various others. These messages sparked the interest of 213 first time contacts.

Academic Interest of Traditional Prospects: Jan 2015 In Jan 2015, 667 traditional prospects indicated their interest in UMO for the first time. As usual, many of these students are not sure what their academic major will be (see large number of undeclared in graph below). Agriculture programs were mentioned by 35 first time prospects, 16 had interest in criminal justice, 14 were interested in business, and 19 were interested in RLS. UMO offers over 40 majors in daytime format. Education continues to be a growing interest for new prospects too.

800 callers to UMO During the 7-month period 7/1/14 to 1/31/15, UMO 800 numbers received 1,701 calls, from 1,009 unique callers. About ¼ of the calls went to the receptionist before being transferred to another extension. About 15% of the calls went to the traditional program directly. The remainder went to the various locations.

Applications Received In January 2015, UMO received a total of 552 applications (8 were duplicates) with the majority being received for the traditional location. This summary also provides a view of graduate applications. The 7-month summary of apps received is shown on the next slide.

7-Month Summary of Applications Received

Nontrad Programs January 2015 Ad Source Mentions Nontrad Programs January 2015

Ad Sources Evening College Prospects Last 30 Days Prospects who contacted Evening College mentioned Hobson’s nontrad marketing as their strongest single source of info. There were also frequent referrals from friends, employers, current and previous students.

Ad Sources mentioned by Jacksonville Location Prospects In the last 30 days, prospects in the Jacksonville area mentioned Hobson’s Nontrad marketing program most often as a source of information. Applications received as the first form of contact, as well as referrals from friends, relatives, and students were also significant.

Ad source mentions by New Bern Prospects In the last 30 days, New Bern prospects mentioned TV and radio ads, and referrals from friends, coworkers, and alums as their most frequent source of information about UMO.

Ad Source mentions from RTP Prospects In the last 30 days, RTP prospects mentioned Hobson’s Nontrad marketing program, along with referrals from friends and students, and TV ads as their main sources of information.

Washington ad source mentions In the Washington region, new prospects mentioned referral sources as their top way of getting info about UMO in the last 30 days. Hobson’s Nontrad marketing program received the second most frequent mentions, with TV, billboard and brochures also being listed.

Ad Sources from Wilmington Prospects In the last 30 days, Hobson’s Nontrad program, as well as previous UMO students, friends, coworkers and relatives were important sources of info for first time prospects.

Ad Sources for Prospects interested in onlines Online program prospects, in the last 30 days, said they got their info about UMO from friends, employers and students. They also visited the UMO website and saw ads from other sources.

SJ prospect ad source mentions In the last 30 days, prospects looking to enroll at SJ mentioned the base education office and referrals from friends, students and coworkers as their sources of info about UMO.

Web analytics for UMO www.umo.edu

www.umo.edu Since March 2014, search engines, led by Google, have driven much traffic to UMO. Despite a dip during the recent holiday season, direct traffic and referrals from other websites have increased. The average site visit is about 2.5 pages, and the average pages per view = 2.24 per visitor. New visitors make up about 1/3 of those coming to the site.

Conclusions Lead generation: Hobson’s Nontrad marketing program moved up in lead generation and applications this month Referrals from friends, family, employers, church and UMO students and alums helped to generate leads. These contacts are direct results of many recruitment activities managed by admissions teams in all locations. Applications … are undergoing a format change this term, so we expect to see some positive changes in the use of our form next month; in the meantime, the number of applications received, over 500 a month, and over 4,000 in 7 months, is a good sign. Academic Interest: With the addition of fully online programs, including grad school, more opportunities are available for prospective students. More program options and additional enrollment strategies are needed at the nontrad level in order to increase the yield of applicants to enrolled. Ad sources… show that UMO referrals and paid advertising is distributed, depending on location; these trends are important as locations make their recruitment activity calendars. Web presence is holding steady.