One of the first meetings our team schedules with any new client is the discovery meeting. This phase is crucial for laying out every project – whether it is an inbound marketing project, digital advertising project or website redesign.
Why is this phase so important? It drives the strategy, design, copy and most importantly, our joint goals for the project.
During this time, we dig deeper into your university, your college and your programs to gather details on what you’ve tried and whether your efforts were successful. We get to know your program directors, faculty members, marketing personnel and tech support. We uncover what sets your program, faculty and university apart. If the conversation goes well, you convince me to go back to school and study a new field, earn a master’s degree or at the very least, visit your campus.
[Tweet “Pretend you’re describing your dream date. Instead of dinner, we focus on submitted lead forms.”]
Components of Discovery
Define and align goals
This is when you tell us what you want the digital campaigns to accomplish. We want to hear how you will measure success – maybe you want an even ratio of domestic to international applicants, an increase in leads from key feeder schools or more registrations for an on-campus information session. Whatever it is, we’ll help you set realistic goals and provide benchmark data.
Understand your target audience
We want to hear all about your students: your average students, your ideal students and even the students you want less of. Tell us about their hobbies, their interests, what drives them to pursue a degree and what holds them back. Tell us where they come from, how they spend their time and what their family is like. Pretend you’re describing your dream date to us, only instead of dinner, we’ll focus on submitted lead forms.
Examine program(s) in detail
We want to know the same things prospects want to know when evaluating your program. What are the pre-requisites? Is it flexible and affordable? Can I take classes online? What do alumni have to say? When is the next start date?
Tell us which faculty members currently work or have formerly worked in their fields. Share recognition and rankings your program has received. Tell us how it can advance a student’s career or fulfill their intrinsic desire to learn. Help us build an effective strategy to fill your lead pool.
Discovery never ends. We continue gathering information and competitive insights, reviewing past marketing data and continually researching your target demographic to ensure we can generate new strategies for your goals.
Questions about discovery? Ready to begin your digital advertising journey? Check out our digital advertising services.
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