One of our most read and shared blog posts this past year was our “2013 Predictions” blog post in which we emphasized three major trends that we felt would significantly impact higher education marketing for the upcoming year. Rounding out the first quarter of 2013 we are not only supporting and standing behind those predictions, but are staffing to support Next Generation Marketing in Higher Education.

So what is Next Generation Marketing? Next Generation Marketing is about what’s
next. As Barri Roberon at Columbia Teacher’s College says, “If I am following what
other colleges and universitys are doing from a marketing perspective, I am behind.
I want to know what’s next and how we can make a larger impact on our overall goals.”

This can be done in three major ways:

• Using the Web as the hub of your marketing activity
• Using Data/Web Analytics to drive decision-making
• Practicing the tenants of Inbound Marketing

Our goal as an organization was to move from a conversation about Next Generation
Marketing to actually “doing” Next Generation Marketing. We are pleased to have
dozens of clients that realize that same vision. As we evaluate market readiness
we realize that the adult and graduate school market‘s prospective students are
already there; online, day in and out, expecting a powerful and engaging web
presence. With inbound marketing “insert definition” and a solid digital strategy the
conversation has moved to “this works!”

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Brenda Harms to our team at Converge Consulting
who will lead the firms Adult Student Marketing effort. Dr. Harms has spent the past
12 years in the Higher Education marketplace as an administrator and consultant
leading the conversation on the Adult Student.

The addition of Brenda is a natural evolution for Converge and allows us the
opportunity to expand our product/service offerings even further. Converge
Consulting now brings the best of both worlds together; an adult student expert and
a firm who is pushing the envelope and disrupting the traditional marketing space
with innovative, ROI based solutions.

We look forward to future conversations and your feedback on Next Generation
Marketing and what it means to your institution.

For more information contact us at ann@convergeconsulting.org