Speed to lead is a key factor in remaining competitive in any industry. With Internet2Phone^TM our clients have the opportunity to connect with prospects in less than 60 seconds of an online lead form submission. Companies investing in online lead generation rely on this product to reach prospects before their competition even gets the chance.

Analysis proves clients using Internet2Phone^TM have a 20 percent increase in conversion rate. Internet2Phone^TM enables you to remain top-of-mind with your prospects as we instantly push a phone call to your sales representatives to initiate a conversation with the lead. Here’s how it works:

1. Lead submits a form online
2. Gragg sends an automated call to your company
3. Representatives press 1 to accept and call the lead
4. Our system initiates a phone call directly to the lead
5. *New!* Gragg re-prompts the automated call if representative is unable to accept in Step 3

With increasingly busy schedules, we understand challenges representatives face while trying to reach prospects. To accommodate we have introduced a new re-prompt feature of speed to lead. In the event a representative is unable to respond and accept the initial lead delivery, our system will re-queue delivery for that lead five minutes later for another opportunity for connection. Reports have shown higher acceptance rates among re-prompted leads when compared to first attempts, which means more opportunities for conversions and sales.

To learn more about how Gragg can help you reach your prospects before the competition give us a call at 1.800.GRAGGADV.

Filed under: About Us, Admissions, Advertising Industry, Best Practices, Lead Generation, Technology by admin
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By Julie Ray, Account Executive

When it comes to problem solving, planning and coming up with the next big idea or invention, most companies utilize brainstorming sessions with key employees. Each week, meetings are held to solve problems and plan for accounts at Gragg Advertising. I am sure most companies operate in a similar fashion. This structure has existed for many years and has great validity in the fact that teams (historically) have come up with the best ideas. Existing within these meetings are the following personality types.

1. The Meek – quiet, timid, distracted, computer user
2. The Controller – controls the conversation, we all have one of these
3. The Idea Crusher – could be the boss, IT providing a reality check, or someone unwilling to put in the effort
4. The Facilitator – the person who probably called the meeting, keeps things moving when they get bogged down

Due to these polarizing personality types, meetings tend to be dominated by a select few while others just vanish. This leads to meetings loosing focus and a failure of bringing any new ideas to the table. About six months ago, I came across an article that focused on the ways to become a better brainstorming company. This style, known as “brainsteering,” fosters individual participation from each attendee. From that technique I chose five steps that I thought would be the most helpful and productive.

1. Shoot for Quantity
• Try to gain as many ideas as possible. Think “no idea is a bad idea”.
2. Choose GREAT People
• Bring people into the conversation that are experts in the areas you need help in. Don’t select people based solely on their rank or position.
3. Divide and Conquer
• Instead of having one fluid conversion that could potentially last for hours and end up nowhere, divide into groups of three or five. There is a science behind selecting an odd number of people.
4. Focus the Conversation
• Provide one question to each group and have the group come up with as many solutions as possible within a time frame. The most important take-away from the article was to not allow other ideas to come up during these highly focused sub-group conversations. At the end of the time, give each sub-group a few more minutes to narrow down their list to include the TOP ideas that came out of their “power session”.
5. Develop a Plan
• No idea that comes up in your brainstorming session can immediately be put into place; however, the plan to implement can and should be done promptly. From this activity, many ideas will be generated. The best way to narrow down the list is to look at the practicality and execution time of each idea/solution.

By utilizing this exercise, people will feel involved in the success of solving a problem or helping the company. Whether or not their idea was chosen, they contributed to the conversation.

In conclusion, don’t be a brainstorming dummy. Don’t think that anything should ever continue being done the way it was before. This will only result in generating the same solutions and practices. In the end, this will only help in overall company growth and involvement, which is a win-win!

Filed under: Advertising Industry, Best Practices, Conferences, Culture, Employee Blog, Graggians, Lead Generation, Marketing by admin
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How To Close More Sales From Your Online Leads

By Marty M. Fahncke

Lead generation is big business. Every day millions of leads are generated online for a wide range of industries including insurance quotes, college degree programs, auto loans, and home repair.

But what happens after the lead is created? The next step is the sale, and that’s an area where many companies fall short. Are your sales conversion rates where they should be?  If not, this article is for you.

I’ve been in touch with some of the top experts in sales conversion, as well as a few companies who are masters at making conversions happen. From my discussion with them, I’ve compiled some powerful and effective tactics to increase conversions for your business. Here are the Top 5 tactics to solve the Conversion Conundrum.

Respond Quickly

The speed by which your sales team responds to an online lead is directly correlated to your conversion. The quicker you respond to an inquiry, the higher the odds it will turn into a lead or start. If you are dealing with non-exclusive leads, the “need for speed” is even more acute. In fact, Andrew Schrage, co-owner of Money Crashers Personal Finance, cites an InsideSales.com statistic that close to half of online sales go to the vendor who responds first.

A hot prospect can turn into a cold lead in a hurry. “Follow up quickly, strike while the iron is hot, and be prepared. A lead doesn’t mean someone is ready to buy, it means they’re ready to consider,” said Jeff Goldberg, sales trainer for Jeff Goldberg and Associates.

According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that try to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving queries are nearly 7 times as likely to have meaningful conversations with key decision makers as firms that try to contact prospects even an hour later. Yet only 37% of companies respond to queries within an hour. Is your company one of the 37% following up on your leads promptly?  Or is your company one of the 63% losing sales because of slow response?

Provide Social Proof

Goldberg further advises that your sales team tell a “Verbal Proof Story”. This is a story about someone else, similar to the prospect, who by doing business with you lived happily ever after. Social proof can be a key factor in closing more sales. According to Robert Cialdini’s bestselling book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, “[O]ne means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct…We view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it”. In other words, people tend to do what they see others just like them doing. As you attempt to convert the sale, ask yourself these questions: What kind of testimonials are you using? Are they compelling? Are they true? Do they make your prospect feel comfortable doing business with you?

Be A Problem Solver

“Think of yourself as a doctor,” shared Marc Wayshak, sales coach and the author of Game Plan Selling. “A good doctor will thoroughly examine a patient before telling the patient if there is a solution. Only a quack doctor would offer a solution without identifying the real problem. Sales people must have this same mindset with their prospects.”

The days of the scripted sales pitches are over. Prospects are more informed, more connected, and busier than ever before. They want customized solutions to their immediate problems. If you can solve those problems, you’ll win the sale.

To solve problems, you’ve got to uncover them. Often, the prospects real “hot button” or actual problem is much different than what they tell you up front. To get to their true problem or pain point you’ve got to ask the right questions. “Maintaining control of the interview is the key to driving the conversation in the direction you want it to go. This allows you to ask the questions and gain the commitment from the prospect necessary to drive toward conversion,” said Thermo Interactive’s Keith Elliott.

Chat Them Up

Olejo.com, an online specialty bedding and mattresses store, found that warming up their prospects during the lead generation process helped to increase conversions.“30% of all of our sales start as chats, and we are able to capture data with an email or phone number on 90% of the customers who engage in our chat functionality,” said Dan Dietz of Olejo. As you will find in the “Nurture” section below, securing that email or phone number can often be nearly as critical as getting the full lead. Dietz indicated that chat provides three functions which help drive more conversions for his business:

1)    Chat engages customers who otherwise would not feel comfortable calling in and talking to a sales rep right off the bat. It works as a soft introduction to the products we offer and provides an easy way for the sales agent to help guide the customer to the products they are looking for.

2)    Chat establishes a relationship and helps drive a follow up call.

3)    A huge lift in reaching and converting prospects when it comes to following up with customers via telephone. Our sales agents are able to accurately segment customers and track their shopping actions after the first chat. This allows our sales agents to know the right time to call the customer to give them the best chance of closing the sale.”

“Online chat is an excellent tool to drive conversions. For one of our clients, we experienced an 80% conversion rate of those who engaged in chat to actually setting an appointment with our client,” said Nicole Tackett, Product Development Manager of Gragg Advertising.

Nurture

Depending on your business category, conversion rates may hover between 2% to 50%. That means up to 98% of your leads won’t convert on the first call. Many businesses simply discard those leads after a few attempts to reach or close the sale. That’s a huge mistake. “When you consider that the average prospect needs to be ‘touched’ 5 to 7 times before they buy, most sales teams won’t do that. They’ll stop long before that and call it a ‘dead lead’,” said Scott Harvey, Chief Marketing Alchemist of Honest Website Marketing.  “But even your dead leads have value if you nurture them.”  Tactics to nurture a lead may include email newsletters, connecting on social media, and direct mail.

An eye doctor Harvey’s organization works with experienced a substantial conversion lift when a nurturing campaign was implemented over the top of their existing Google Adwords campaign. “When we added lead capture to their website they got between 60 and 90 additional leads per month consistently, without impacting the number of phone calls they received,” Harvey said. They are extremely conservative, and only ‘drip’ nurturing content out to their list twice per month. So it took a little while before they started to see a return. After 3 months, their conversion rate for people who started as email-only leads stabilized at about 12%. That’s about 6 to 10 sales conversions per month, which is over 200% more clients than they get from pure phone call-in prospects.

Bonus Tip:  Ask For The Business. 

This simple but fundamental step is so often overlooked it’s criminal.  In monitoring thousands upon thousands of prospect interactions during my career, it never ceases to amaze me how often the rep simply isn’t asking for business. They will talk with the prospect about anything and everything before they will actually commit to the close. You and your team need to be monitoring, coaching, and training your sales team to move efficiently through the information gathering and qualification process, and don’t be afraid to ask for the sale when the time is right.

In summary, some of the most effective ways to solve the conversion conundrum is to get back to basics, with just a few 21^st century twists thrown in:

• Respond Quickly: Don’t let the lead sit for even one minute longer than necessary.
• Provide Social Proof: Testimonials, case studies, and third party endorsements are gold in the lead conversion process.
• Be a problem solver: Remember the doctor story.  Diagnose, THEN prescribe.
• Keep the lines of communications open: Start the conversion process early with chat features on your website then continue to communicate with even your “declines” by nurturing them back to hot prospect status.
• Finally, ask for the sale: You don’t get what you don’t ask for.

Good luck!

About Marty M. Fahncke
An expert in multi-channel direct response marketing with over 25 years experience, Marty M. Fahncke brings a unique and proven track record of success to his readers. Having been involved in marketing campaigns that have generated over one BILLION dollars in sales, Marty has seen what works…and what doesn’t. As Director of Strategic Aggregation Marketing for Gragg Advertising, Marty and his team generate millions of online leads annually for Gragg’s clients.

Filed under: Advertising Industry, Best Practices, Direct Response, Lead Generation, Marketing, Online Marketing, Pay-Per-Lead, Search Engines, Technology, Uncategorized by admin
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2012 Review

When we take some time to review 2012 as a whole, it’s very easy to view the year as a disappointment. Between multiple schools closing their doors, a slew of negative congressional reports, and new legislation that put for-profit colleges in the cross hairs, this past year was not without its problems.

When reviewing the data we have for the past year, we begin to notice that 2012 was not nearly as bad as we originally thought. There was some contraction, but there was also expansion for many schools. The vast majority of the negative impacts we all felt over the past year were directly the cause of an adjustment in the economics of our industry. I will not get long winded on this subject, but this is the third economic adjustment I have seen in the last 25 years in the education business. In addition, I understand the negative impact of government involvement and the politics played that have impacted our industry. I believe all business is cyclical. There will be good times and bad, and you have to weather them both.

Regarding accusations and congressional investigations, in every industry there are “good players” and “bad players”. This is true of non-profit, community, and for-profit colleges. We all know Congress has targeted the for-profits and have disregarded the negative aspects of Community and Traditional Colleges, all of which have issues beyond acceptability. Maybe someday congress will realize this and correct the greater issues.

The purpose of this article (sorry it took me so long to get to this) will be to review the data from the past 12 months, put it into context regarding both the economic and politically charged climate, and then take a look forward at prospects for the coming years.

The years 2005 – 2009 were outrageously good to the career and for-profit colleges as a whole. With a perfect storm of a down economy, layoffs and people considering career changes, more and more people wanted to go back to school. As a result of traditional colleges simply being unable to handle the volume of students, not to mention they were ill equipped to handle the unique attributes of a non-traditional student, the for-profit colleges experienced an average of 18-20% growth year over year. However, as we saw these numbers continue to grow and grow, that level of growth was simply unsustainable.

With the economy seeing improvement and people starting to be comfortable in their jobs, the number of new students started to plateau in 2011 and 2012. Couple this with the fact that the number of for-profit and private non-profit colleges and curriculum continued to expand, resulting in a very competitive education environment and a diluted pool of potential students. We saturated the market and are continuing to do so. This saturation has had an impact on school groups who didn’t notice or accept the change and continued to run their business as they always have. Successful schools, both large and small, have had to adapt to the changing EDU environment.  Schools have had to learn to be more analytical regarding admissions, open enrollment, curriculum development, curriculum cancellation, scholarships, student retention, cash basis students and career services.

2013 Preview

We are in a time of change for education. We need to change with it and follow the market. This means doing a better job at curriculum development and student based programs that focus on the “student first” and not just profits. I believe in making money, but we need to focus on reinvesting in our businesses. This means investing in programs that grow students and make their students success their priority. In addition, we need to focus on putting the right student in the right class. I feel there is curriculum that is good with “Open Enrollment”, but this should not include all curriculums.

Giving assessment tests for admissions should be a part of certain higher level classes. We need to do a better job of not accepting students that have a low chance of graduating in higher level classes. This will reduce drop out and default. Basically, don’t enroll a student in “Court Reporting” until they can successfully pass the required remedial classes.

Schools are going to have to adjust to new regulations and legislation that have stuck. The good news is, there are a lot of great business people in this sector who are smart and can make the appropriate changes. Schools who adapt to these changes and find new ways to thrive will be the ones that come out on top. Those that dig in their heels and refuse to adapt will ultimately crumble under the weight and inevitability of change.

It’s important to note the task before us is not to find a way to reinvent the wheel. Many of the things that have worked in the past will continue to work moving forward. What is necessary is to simply modify some of those tactics. No longer is it prudent to buy more and more inquiries on the assumption they will convert. Guerrilla tactics, such as optimizing the number of leads developed from your website and through referrals, need to be implemented. Additionally, the leads that are received need to be worked in a more efficient and effective manner. In my previous article, The Strategy of PPL, I discussed the key role a well trained admissions department has with regard to increasing conversions. While it seems like a no brainer, so many schools fail to have a thorough process in place for working leads and meeting or exceeding industry averages for converting leads (and simply changing the way you count leads or calculate conversions does not make an admissions department successful). This cannot continue if you hope to continue to grow.

When looking towards the future, one area that stands out is the growing importance of mobile. By 2014 it is forecasted that mobile searches will surpass traditional PC based searches. With mobile’s place in the total media mix increasing by 12% already in 2012, the need to have a mobile site in place is critical. Last month Gragg Advertising sent out an email outlining the importance of having a responsive website. Data was provided showing over the next few years tablet sales are expected to grow by 38%, while PC sales will actually decline by 1.2%. By utilizing a responsive design your site adapts to the new and emerging devices, not the other way around. If you think your site is fine and doesn’t need to enhance the users mobile experience, know that a study done in 2013 showed sites with mobile friendly versions saw conversions rise from 2.8% to 6.6%. The time to adapt is now.

Conclusion

Overall, the past year has been a tumultuous ride. Between schools closing their doors, an apparent downturn in public sentiment and increased regulations it can seem like the sky is falling. However, when we step back from the situation and take some time to thoroughly review how the past year has gone, we notice that things were not nearly as bad as they seemed. What seemed like turbulence was actually just change, and change is something we all can deal with and use to our advantage.

Over the coming year we will continue to be challenged to find new and innovative ways to grow our business. But this is nothing new. Efficiency, balance and being on the cutting edge of new technologies are critical to future success. This is why we at Gragg are already working to put together a mobile task force that will meet regularly to discuss new and exciting opportunities for our clients.

The media will find a new story to write about, congress will find a new industry to harass, and business will go on. But it will not, and can not, go on as usual. By leading your company through change you will not only continue to grow, but position yourself as a leader in the industry.

If you have any thoughts or input please email me at ggragg@graggadv.com

If you would like to stop receiving white papers from me, just email me back and ask me to take you off my list.

Filed under: About Us, Admissions, Advertising Industry, Culture, Direct Response, Gainful employment ruling, Gragg In The News, Kansas City, Lead Generation, Marketing, Media, Online Marketing, Pay-Per-Click, Pay-Per-Lead, Politics, Retention, Search Engines by admin
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Knowing is Half the Battle

A properly trained and prepared admissions staff is your organizations greatest asset when turning potential leads into conversions. But what makes a great representative? Without the proper training, your admissions team is likely not prepared to manage potential students expectations, questions and fears regarding returning to school.

With this in mind, Gragg Advertising created Educate2Excel to help train admissions representatives to become experts in recruiting, enrollment and retention. By utilizing this service, admissions representatives will improve their skills in email communication, interviews, navigating obstacles, and much more.

Knowledge is Power

Educate2Excel is a five week, five course, online training program utilizing an interactive learning environment and instructor-led classes. Each class is available individually as well. Classes include Introduction to Admissions, Psychology of a Prospective Student, Navigating the Buying Cycle, Compliance 101, and Methods of Effective Communication. Certification is available to all individuals who complete the five week program.

Have it Your Way

Every schools needs are different which is why Gragg Advertising also offers customized admissions training. We will work with your team to design a specific training program that will meet your needs. Whatever need your team has, we will create a program to address it through both on-site and webex training.

Contact your account service representative at Gragg Advertising today for more information on Educate2Excel, or call 877-GRAGGADV.

Filed under: About Us, Admissions, Advertising Industry, Lead Generation, Marketing, Online Marketing, Pay-Per-Lead, Technology, Uncategorized by admin
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Overview

Over the past few years I have noticed increasing demands put on career colleges’ marketing departments to deliver large quantities of leads to their admissions department.  The thought behind this is simple.  The more leads that the admission’s team has to work, the higher number of conversions they will have.  As Pay Per Lead (PPL) is a cheap, easy, and fast way to get large quantities of inquiries, the temptation is there to sacrifice, other, more costly, advertising mediums.  While this is an understandable impulse, it is also a recipe for trouble.  The following are several points as to why a disproportionate level of PPL leads can hurt your overall goals.

Why PPL?

The first point I will address is why there is a tendency to focus in on PPL inquiries over other advertising strategies.  There is no question, if you want a large number of inquiries, for the lowest cost, PPL can fill the need.  In addition, PPL inquiries can be tracked easily to determine conversion rates.  These are excellent reasons why PPL needs to be a part of your overall campaign.    However, as the proportion of advertising budget spent on PPL rises over 50%, conversion rates begin to drop.  Over the past five quarters a research study was completed showing the ramifications of clients that more than doubled their spending in PPL.  As you can see from the data, this drastically affected their Cost Per Start.

The Proper Mix

It’s important to remember that while the average cost per start for a medium such as television may be higher than PPL, cutting any one traditional medium from your campaign can affect overall lead volume.  I suggest a holistic approach to your campaigns with appropriate levels of spending in your media mix.  As a part of the research study referenced above, data was analyzed to find out how a PPL heavy media mix can affect not only the PPL conversion, but all other media types as well.  As you can see, in the 1^st and 2^nd Quarter of this year, with a drastic reduction in budget for most of the remaining media types a drop in conversion rate happened across the board.  It’s easy to believe no matter how many inquiries you add to a campaign the conversion rates stay the same, but the data simply does not support this.

Overloaded Admissions Teams

The biggest obstacle when it comes to simply adding more inquiries to your budget each month is also the simplest.  While you may be doubling your number of inquiries, are you doubling the staff it takes to contact those potential students?  Your school could be receiving thousands of leads each month, but if your admissions team cannot contact them all, what is the point?  In order to properly convert an inquiry, admissions teams need time to be able to attempt to contact the potential student with 3-5 minutes of submission.  Research shows that multiple attempts are needed and conversion can take upwards of 2-4 weeks.  Inundating admissions representatives with inquiries will inevitably drop the number of contact attempts and eventually burn out even the best employee.

Conclusion

The analysis shown above clearly shows allocating a disproportionate amount of your budget to PPL each month can drastically reduce your overall conversion rate.  Not only does the reduction of other mediums affect the performance of the PPL inquiries receive, but the drastic increase in the number of inquiries received each month can overload an already overworked admissions department.  As previously stated, a holistic balanced approach to your campaign is the best way to approach your media mix.

The focus of your campaign, as it pertains to PPL, needs to be squarely focused on two things: 1) quality inquiries; 2) the process in place to work these inquiries.  Next in this three part series, we will answer the questions “What is a quality lead?” and “What process should be in place to work these leads?”

If you have any thoughts or input please email me at chuck@graggadv.com

If you would like to stop receiving white papers from me, just email me back and ask me to take you off my list.

Filed under: Advertising Industry, Best Practices, Lead Generation, Marketing, Media, Online Marketing, Pay-Per-Lead, Technology by admin
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Wouldn’t it be nice to reach a prospective client immediately after they contact you? When they are ready to buy, you should be ready to talk. By instantaneously reaching your audience and assisting them with their decision making you are increasing the chance of converting the prospect into a client.

Gragg Advertising developed a custom tool to communicate with prospective clients almost immediately after they submit and inquiry via the web. Here’s how Internet2Phone™ works:

• Each request receives an automated Internet2Phone™ call that contacts you
• You have the option to Press 1 to connect with the sales inquiry
• You’re connected immediately after they’ve submitted a request.

Here’s proof it works:

Recent analysis has shown that one Gragg Advertising client had an overall conversion rate of 3.9 percent across all media.  Once the client implemented Internet2Phone™, the conversion rate jumped to 4.7 percent – a 20 percent increase! Further research showed that calls lasting over two minutes converted at 6.8 percent – a 74 percent increase!

Use Internet2Phone™ as your automated solution to reach your customer base, connect with each lead, and the longer the call lasts – the higher the chance for conversion and more sales for you.

Filed under: Direct Response, Lead Generation, Retention, Technology by admin
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Background

Gragg Advertising has been viewed as an expert in the EDU space.  By using memorable creative to drive measurable results, Gragg has the unique ability to prove its expertise through proven data and metrics.  This is why Gragg Advertising values and creates our webinars and white papers, to demonstrate how meaningful data can be used to improve revenue and market share.  Gragg aims to prove to each client, both current and potential, how their marketing dollars will be measured, tracked and improved upon month-over-month, year-over-year until we find the optimal marketing recipe.  One Gragg client is a shining example of how an agency can truly partner with a client to achieve exceptional results, and in less than two years.

When this EDU client came to Gragg, its overall internet paid lead to enrollment conversion rate was 2.1%.  Internet paid, for this study, is a combination of pay-per-lead (affiliate/PPL) and search engine marketing (pay-per-click) leads.  Gragg measures industry standard conversion rates for PPL at 3-5% and 6-11% for SEM, which means that this client was well below industry standards on both media types.

For the four quarters that Gragg has been working with this client, there was a 2.1% increase in lead to enrollment conversion rate to a 5.5%, or a 150% improvement.  Total enrollments increased 238% while total spending decreased by 66%.

Method

Based on the size of the client, Gragg looked at many variables that could affect advertising and lead generation.  Direct response is not just about having someone respond to advertising and submit their information or call.  It is about making the offline conversion-to-start, sale, application, etc. that drives revenue and success.

This client has campuses in many different markets: from densely populated major metropolitan markets to rural towns.  Understanding what works in one market does not necessarily help in another is a good start.  Gragg worked directly with our client through daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly, to analyze trends and provide recommendations.  The success of Gragg’s client can be attributed to a cohesive strategy, discussion and planning by both parties.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Driving exclusive SEM leads for schools is becoming more difficult as more schools shift to gather unique leads through their website and search engine marketing: both SEO and SEM, also known as pay-per-click or PPC.  Cost-per-lead has increased for most schools due to increased competition in paid search.  Gragg’s SEM program has nearly quadrupled in volume in 12 months and continues to grow quickly.  With over a 90% retention rate and clients adding to existing budget, SEM has been an extremely effective solution at driving leads, revenue and expanding market share.

For this client, Gragg applied many unique tactics and strategies to maximize the efficiency of the campaign.  Constant A/B testing, “going mobile” and other initiatives initiated by Gragg’s SEM team contributed to the increase in lead flow, decrease in spend and overall increase in enrollment revenue.  By partnering with our client and communicating internally, we were able to shift funds, run tests and increase the performance of all internet leads and maximize the budget allocated.

The biggest success was the ability to test and improve campaign features by working with the client and using data to make decisions.  Gragg compiled multiple in-depth analysis projects ranging from programs enrolled, to opportunities for PPL and SEM.  This maximized lead flow for under-performing programs and helped minimize missed opportunities.

PPL (Pay Per Lead)

When Gragg first began working with this client, delivering leads evenly throughout the month for all campuses posed a problem for the PPL department.  Since then, Gragg has cut back on the amount of vendors and allocated more leads to vendors with higher conversion rates. Receiving the raw lead and start data from the client allowed Gragg to pass that data to our vendors, who then optimized their campaigns for the client, displaying the importance of data sharing.

The most recent recruitment term, May 2011 to September 2011, consisted of internal communication between SEM and PPL. Together, we strategically shifted budget between campaigns to achieve optimal results. This strategy produced the highest converting term for the client for PPL at 4.37%.

Analysis projects

Data analysis is an integral part of Gragg’s service to its clients.  Clients love research, and Gragg focuses on taking data and turning it into useful information that can assist in making key marketing decisions.  Through partnering with clients to acquire raw marketing data, Gragg was able to take an in-depth analysis on the correlation between traditional media and internet leads.  The focus of the study was to understand and analyze the correlation between these two categories to determine if efficiencies within television advertising could be partnered with paid search impressions to increase program revenue.  By layering TV spot times with paid search impressions, Gragg was able to develop correlations between TV and online lead flow.  Gragg was able to see  there was a direct correlation between online lead flow and TV spots; this was drawn by looking at both week day and/or spot time.

With this information, Gragg was able to suggest areas in which to capitalize on more efficient marketing mixes: from what programs to focus on TV, what keywords we can better monitor and where leads are coming from and how to maximize volume by program for increased enrollments,

This is just one of the many analysis projects Gragg has been able to provide to clients this year.  Competitive market research, focusing on interactive and traditional media, is one of many additional reports  Gragg Advertising continually suggests and delivers to its clients.  These analysis opportunities help provide insight into what is occurring within each client’s market.  Reports on industry standard marketing mixes, and where our client falls within these, are also provided on a quarterly basis to benchmark overall performance for Gragg, as well as the college as a whole.

Gragg Ancillary Products

In order to better serve our clients and help them to maximize their marketing spend, Gragg has developed a series of tools in order to increase conversions and streamline the lead flow process for admissions representatives or sales staff. Based on the strengths and weaknesses of different clients, we implement these tools in order to resolve the weaknesses in the process.

LeadBridge

While schools strive to work leads to their full potential, some students may not be ready to enroll at the time they are calling in and as we know lead to start time varies by program, school awareness and even time of year. LeadBridge optimizes this by reaching out to prospects  through a multi-touch strategy.  Because this client had been seeing poor conversions rates, LeadBridge was a sensible product offering to optimize return.

By contacting  interested students through email, direct mail, social media, out bound calling and texting we were able to reach more students than a busy admissions team may be able to. Through this analysis, we saw 21 percent of converted leads were treated by LeadBridge.  Those conversions were not likely to occur if not for LeadBridge and the additional contact provided.  In this case, the client was only running some elements of LeadBridge. Fully integrating recirculated leads into LeadBridge will garner an even higher conversion rate.  By allowing students to have a continued awareness of the school at hand, they are able to communicate with the school through their preferred method of communication and enroll in school when the time was right for them.

Internet2Phone™

As part of LeadBridge, Gragg Advertising offers Internet2Phone, a product offering hot lead transfers from online lead forms to admission representatives. Internet2Phone allows you to streamline the process of first contact with your hot prospect by getting them on the phone as soon as possible. This automated system puts interested students in touch with admissions representatives immediately, preventing them from continuing their online research. Gragg saw this as an area of opportunity and began running Internet2Phone with two campuses, allowing for an increased conversion rate of 4.7 percent. Calls lasting more than two minutes converted at 6.8 percent. In this case, over 50 percent of the calls lasted longer than two minutes, meaning they were nearly 60 percent more likely to convert than those leads that had not been contacted early.  After the client saw successes, it began running I2P with its remaining campuses.

Implementing auxiliary tools allow our clients to achieve better results with their existing lead flow. Streamlining the process of first contact with your prospects allows your team to be more successful with little to no extra work.

Conclusion

The positive results of this client can be attributed to both the direct media services and ancillary products Gragg suggested.  In order to accomplish the most effective media mix and propose product suggestions, clients need to partner with their agency.  This client was extremely open to suggestions and our recommendations, allowing Gragg to strategize proactively.  A three to six month plan was in place but a partnership allowed both companies to work together to shift budgets throughout based on the results and maximize outcomes. Planning ahead of time allows Gragg to achieve optimum placement and the best results for clients.

In conclusion, Gragg was able to work with its client over the last four quarters to optimize the media mix using strategic analysis projects, shifting the media mix and incorporating ancillary products as recommended by Gragg to further increase enrollments.  This process has been extremely successful for this client and is always the ultimate goal for clients to see successes like this.  By using data and lead refinement products to improve clients’ bottom line and provide the recommendations Gragg Advertising is able to ensure the most efficient use of clients marketing budget.

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This month, APSCU released Guidance for APSCU Members: The Misrepresentation Rule and 3^rd Party Vendors. This document offers a plain language description of the program integrity regulation for Title IV institutions. In addition to the explanation of the regulations, APSCU advises its members on an internal compliance initiative, records retention policies, contract clauses, due diligence and legal advice to name a few. I have selected the portion of the guidance document to specifically identify how Gragg Advertising handles Compliance concerns for our clients.

Establish and Internal Compliance Policy:

Gragg Compliance is employed by schools to handle all 3^rd party compliance issues regarding online advertising.  IntegriShield is the system put in place to monitor and track vendor pages that reference the school and their lead generation methods. We track and flag all instances of misrepresentation, enticement, incorrect information, IPEDs data, disclosure links, etc.  All non compliant landing pages, banners, ads, information pages and any other placement of online advertising are monitored for compliance with the FTC, Department of Education and federal regulations.  All of these pages are tracked, documented and saved in our database for reference as well as all of our communication with these vendors and affiliates for reference.  All of this is located in ALPINE for client reference.  Additionally, this is reported to the client on a weekly basis with a high level analysis.

Due Diligence:

The purpose of tracking and storing violations of 3^rd parties is to give our clients the information necessary to choose the proper 3^rd party vendors and vet out the vendors that practice non compliant methods of advertising and lead generation.  Gragg practices full disclosure so that all of our clients are aware of the bad actors in your industry.  ALPINE allows our clients to look at violations by vendor to help make determinations about furthering or eliminating business relationships. It has been our experience that most vendors are quick to comply, while some have no intent. Those who choose not to comply should be shut off immediately and documented to show due diligence in the event of a complaint by use of the school name. Gragg will work with your outside counsel to sue these web page owners and file complaints with Google to have their pages removed. As you may be aware, this can be a lengthy process, but all documentation can always be provided to show action on a particular issue.

Content Pre-Approval Requirement in Contracts with 3^rd Parties:

Gragg contracts with vendors on a client’s behalf as an aggregator.  We always indemnify our clients and take full responsibility for the leads we purchase on your behalf. We also have an insurance policy to cover any wrong doing on our part.  We are moving in direction to require pre-approval, but as many people in the industry know, often vendors are purchasing leads from affiliates and not always do we know where these leads originate, which is why we have developed the IntegriShield system.  IntergriShield tracks all leads sources in an attempt to find the origination of leads and hold vendors responsible for their affiliate/vendor relationships.

Contracting with 3^rd Parties:

Gragg contracts with all 3^rd parties as an aggregator.  Our contracts include indemnification, warranties of use, and employs specific standard of conduct requirements.  If you have specific questions about the integrity of our contracts, please do not hesitate to contact us and we can answer any questions you might have.

Record Retention:

All of our vendor communication is stored and accessible to our clients at all times.  Screen shots, URLs and emails are all stored in our system for your benefit and retrieval when and if you need it.  There is not a current time limit on our data storage. We hold everything and discard nothing at this time. While the FTC has a 5 year statute of limitation, we do not have a current policy to purge information at any time in the future.

Customer Service and Complaints:

As part of our IntegriShield product, negative user comments on social media or user generated sites are flagged and brought to the attention of our clients. Every negative comment we discover is sent in a weekly report to the client. Gragg also has an Internet Content Management Department if you would like to have the responses outsourced.

Obtain Legal Advice:

Gragg in no way intends to represent your company in a legal manner or give legal advice regarding your school.  We partner with you to create a compliance policy with your school so that due diligence is met on a day to day basis. We will work with your school’s attorney to make sure you are doing everything you can to practice business within the law and according to industry standards.

Jennifer Flood, JD

This post is guest written by our Compliance Manager, Jennifer Flood.

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November 15, 2011 is the deadline for Gainful Employment disclosure statistics to be reported to the Department of Education for the 2010-2011 award year. To the extent that information is available for programs that prepare students for gainful employment in a particular area of practice, information about those programs must be submitted to the Department of Education to be considered for Title IV funding.  http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-02/pdf/2011-19534.pdf

Lawsuits

A large number of schools are being investigated for dishonest recruiting practices, inflated job placement rates and rate of tuition compared to available salary upon completion.   One school recently settled with 8,500 former students for $40 million.  Career Education Corp, which owns the schools, faces another class action lawsuit under similar facts.

Responsibility Lies on the Schools

Schools must comply with federal regulations regarding recruiting, advertising, enrollment practices,  and the manner in which they obtain and enroll students. Disregarding these rules can be financially  devastating, as many schools have recently discovered. A lawsuit was just filed in August of 2011 against Education Management Corp. alleging widespread fraud. The government is allowed triple damages in these types of cases, putting many schools at risk to lose their federal funding from 2003 to present X 3.   http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/education/09forprofit.html

Gragg Compliance

We make sure your school is compliant with all federal regulations and with the directives from the Department of Education. We track and monitor all online advertisements to uncover cases of enticement, inflated salary, misrepresentation, as well as many other factors. Gragg manages your disclosures that are required for the receipt of Title IV funds which is the financial life blood of your organization.

This post is guest written by our Compliance Manager, Jennifer Flood.

Filed under: Conferences, Lead Generation by admin
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