4. Targeted, Nuanced Marketing and Messaging: Our marketing strategy leverages data-driven insights to engage potential students: It takes a cross-functional team of marketing subject matter experts to build a competitive, well-differentiated program in the crowded online space.
Though it can be overwhelming to navigate, today’s learners are in control of their decision-making journey. They are empowered with endless resources to find information on their own, in a matter of seconds and across multiple devices.
Fact is, the vast majority of prospective students develop a shortlist before ever contacting anyone from the university. That means marketing must do the heavy lifting upfront to generate leads and enroll students by creating a frictionless experience for whatever information-gathering stage they are in.
5. Integrating Online Programs with Your Institution: To ensure the success of online programs, you must integrate these programs into your overall operating and financial structure. When done properly, your institution can share revenue back to the departments, and those departments can use that revenue to promote faculty hiring and overall growth.
Ultimately, you must create integrated, long-term arrangements that make online programs part of the overall mission – and business – of your school.
6. Focus on Employability: Through online learning, your institution has the opportunity to provide value-added expertise to today’s companies and their employees. Companies can use high-quality online programs to train their workforce, helping them attract and retain key talent. For this reason, some universities are partnering with companies to develop curriculum targeted at their specific industry and market.
For example, the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business has created an online MBA program that allows students to select from a variety of specializations to tailor their MBA to suit their employers’ needs and their career aspirations. And all students can take an “Active Learning Project” course, which allows them to address a significant challenge being faced by their employer in the classroom.
Teams of 4-5 MBA students are formed around each project, and they dedicate 14 weeks to applying their MBA and career skills to solving that problem for the employer. It’s a chance to solve messy real-world problems and create value for employers—sometimes garnering a nice promotion in the process!
As online programs continue to grow, it’s important that university leaders take advantage of innovative strategies to stay competitive and provide the best possible academic outcomes for their students. By embracing best practices in program design, pricing, admissions, marketing, and integration, your institution can thrive in the current market environment and be well positioned for the phases yet to come.
Judy Frels the assistant dean of Online Programs at University of Maryland School of Business. Frels is a clinical professor of marketing and teaches Marketing Strategy and leads Action Learning Projects at the EMBA and MBA levels at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.
Kevin Capitani is president of Pearson North America.
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