February 14, 2020
SEM update from marketing and communications
K-State Community,
As we continue to implement strategies outlined in our Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) plan, tremendous progress is being made to better market our great university. The many moving parts will soon begin to converge and truly strengthen our voice in a highly competitive landscape.
At the beginning of January, we launched the K-State Online website using new, mobile-friendly templates. The work is ongoing, as the web is never really done. Early results are encouraging:
- Since the site launched, it has attracted over 40% more visitors than the previous site over the same time period in 2019. The number of mobile users also continues to increase.
- The number of tracked leads generated from the site is four times what the previous site generated.
- In just over a month, nearly 450 people clicked to the online application, which was not trackable before. We are better able to see which pages people visit and how they engage with our site.
As the Communications and Marketing web team works to make the K-State Online templates available to campus, another major component goes live this week. A new program finder provides streamlined pathways to explore our academic areas without having to navigate our complicated organizational structure. The academics landing page has also been updated using our new templates.
The program finder is built around academic program interest areas agreed upon by the Dean's Council last year, with input from the colleges/departments. We will be publishing updated guides to undergraduate majors and programs at the same time. Our next priorities continue to focus on enrollment, specifically the admissions, student financial assistance and college/campus websites.
The launch of the interest area project coincides with new advertising efforts on social media and Google, allowing us to specifically promote the programs in our interest areas. The Ad Hoc Marketing and Communications team is also working to identify a single digital advertising vendor across all campuses to maximize budgets and better coordinate our messaging. We appreciate the cooperation and willingness to collaborate.
Another major initiative is the development of the university's new brand campaign with our partner BVK. The initial creative work is being completed, and we'll meet with college communicators later this month to share the progress and discuss our next steps. BVK will also conduct additional workshops for our campuses and colleges to ensure a coordinated approach to the campaign. A new brand guide will also be made available during this semester.
A lot of great work is being done by a lot of great people. Please recognize the tremendous hours put in by the Global Campus and DCM web and marketing teams in conjunction with the enrollment management team. The level of teamwork and collaboration is an example of what can be accomplished when we work across organizational lines to accomplish a common goal.
There is much more to do as we work to stabilize our enrollment and provide more opportunities for our students to make the world a better place. We appreciate your continued patience and support to strengthen our One Voice.
Thanks,
Jeff Morris
Vice President for Communications and Marketing