Feb 1st 12 Posted by Eric Sickler

President Barack Obama on Higher Education Marketing?

“So let me put colleges and universities on notice:  If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can’t be a luxury. It is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.” If you heard those words live during the president’s State of the Union speech last week, there’s a good chance something inside... read more

Apr 14th 11 Posted by Eric Sickler

Launch Major Marketing Projects With Verve

When building a strong case to support doing something new or different, humans working in an organization usually default to building a laundry list of associated benefits. For example, “We should do a capital campaign so we can build a new Student Center.” Or, “We should revamp our core curriculum so our students will graduate with a skills set that will make them more immediately employable.”  In... read more

Nov 19th 10 Posted by Eric Sickler

Digital Communication Plays a Vital Role in Higher Ed Marketing

This post appeared originally on the Broadband for America blog <http://www.broadbandforamerica.com/blog>. Broadband for America is a coalition of 300+ members who aim to make broadband access to the Internet available to every household in the nation; to provide data transfer speeds to make that broadband experience valuable to users; and to provide the bandwidth necessary for content providers... read more

Sep 20th 10 Posted by Eric Sickler

Drake Advantage Interview

In response to a flurry of national attention about Drake University’s new “Drake Advantage” creative concept, Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen recently interviewed me via e-mail. The Drake Advantage concept is symbolized by a stylized “D+” that features the school’s distinctive “D” mark. Thought you might enjoy seeing the bits and pieces that didn’t make Marc’s final story: Q:... read more

Jan 25th 10 Posted by Eric Sickler

Recruitment Messaging: Focus!

Findings from the 2009 FALL TeensTALK® study, administered in November to 500 college-bound high school students across the country, reveal some critically important strategic advice for recruiters who want to make sure they’re sending the right messages to prospective students at the right time. Faithful TeensTALK® blog readers may recall that a few short months ago when the 2009 SUMMER TeensTALK®... read more

Nov 30th 09 Posted by Eric Sickler

Mobile Messaging Gone Wild

Findings from Stamats’ SPRING TeensTALK® study are being double-checked and proofed as you read this, and I’m excited to share them with you on my next blog post. Until then, here’s a brief collection of unnerving teen-focused research you can use to impress friends, colleagues and family members… Our friends at The Nielsen Company reported that during the first quarter of this year, teenagers... read more

Nov 6th 09 Posted by Eric Sickler

The 2009 Freshman Application Story

Moody’s Investor Service just released a “Special Comment” report on the findings of a recent survey of their rated private and public colleges and universities. Just more than 150 schools participated, but don’t let the smallish sample put you off; Moody’s interpretation and subsequent forecast will greatly shape the near-term financial future of higher education. Specifically, “…Moody’s... read more

Oct 23rd 09 Posted by Eric Sickler

Future of Online Campus Tours?

This week we launched the FALL edition of Stamats’ 2009 TeensTALK® study. As soon as findings are analyzed, I’ll share some juicy tidbits in this blog space. But for now, I’d like to share an interesting phenomenon that might change the dreams you have for the next incarnation of your student recruitment Web site. In the last couple of months I’ve been approached by no fewer than a half-dozen... read more

Sep 18th 09 Posted by Eric Sickler

Sharpen Your Campus Visit Experience

A funny thing happened on the way to the campus visit. Well actually, it happened during the campus visit in a roundabout way. Findings in Stamats’ 2009 SUMMER TeensTALK® study shine a bright light on something you’ve probably assumed for years, but may have back-burnered for too long. As college-bound prospective students sorted through their college options late last year, those who placed greatest... read more

Aug 31st 09 Posted by Eric Sickler

Does This College Fit Me?

For a bunch of years a long time ago I ran an undergraduate admission program at a really great, mid-sized independent liberal arts college in the middle of one of the toughest recruitment markets in the nation (because there were so many other really great, mid-sized independent liberal arts colleges within shouting distance of mine). And every spring, my super staff and I would agonize through yield... read more