It's been a productive year, and as we reflect on it, we can see so much has changed in the world of community colleges in such a short period of time. Looking ahead to 2020, we are expecting even more big things to come, and there are several clues from this year that help us formulate those predictions.
In this episode, Dr. Pamela Cox-Otto, CEO of Interact, and Cheryl Broom, president of Interact, share the top community college trends of 2019 and tell you what should be on your radar in the new year.
Show Notes:
17:00 - Schoolcraft College
35:05 - *Date To Be Confirmed*
pam.coxotto@interactcom.com
cheryl.broom@interactcom.com
info@interactcom.com
It's been a productive year, and as we reflect on it, we can see so much has changed in the world of community colleges in such a short period of time. Looking ahead to 2020, we are expecting even more big things to come, and there are several clues from this year that help us formulate those predictions.
In this episode, Dr. Pamela Cox-Otto, CEO of Interact, and Cheryl Broom, president of Interact, share the top community college trends of 2019 and tell you what should be on your radar in the new year.
Show Notes:
17:00 - Schoolcraft College
35:05 - *Date To Be Confirmed*
pam.coxotto@interactcom.com
cheryl.broom@interactcom.com
info@interactcom.com
Marketing for community colleges is tough, but after 20 years of working solely with two-year technical and community colleges, we've learned a few things. Now we want to share them with you. Welcome to the Community College Marketing MasterClass podcast. If you're looking for expert insights from industry experts, you've come to the right place. Bringing more than two decades of marketing and communications experience, please welcome your host and Interact Communications president, Cheryl Broom.
Cheryl Broom:Well, thank you for joining the Community College Marketing MasterClass. I'm Cheryl Broom, president of Interact.
Pam Cox-Otto:And I'm Pam Cox-Otto, CEO of Interact.
Cheryl Broom:And we are sitting in Pam's hotel room in….
Pam Cox-Otto:High above Waikiki, Hawaii! Yeah.
Cheryl Broom:…in beautiful Waikiki, Hawaii. And the last time that we actually did a podcast together, we were at Google.
Pam Cox-Otto:That's true. It's been a while.
Cheryl Broom:Yeah, so we have to meet up at exotic locations.
Pam Cox-Otto:So we'll do another one when we're in New York City next year.
Cheryl Broom:Oh, the big reveal.
Pam Cox-Otto:Is that a secret?
Cheryl Broom:Not anymore.
Pam Cox-Otto:Oh, I don’t have to tell anything. I’ll stop.
Cheryl Broom:I think you just let the cat out of the bag.
Pam Cox-Otto:I just said we're going to New York, missy.
Cheryl Broom:Well, we had a great week. We met with some of our clients out here from the University of Hawaii Community College System. Had a really great time working with them, and as part of our work, Pam did a workshop on the community college trends that we've been seeing the past year. So we thought this would be a perfect way to wrap up the podcasts this year by talking about what we've seen and what colleges have experienced and what they should brace for.
Pam Cox-Otto:One of the things that I tell everybody is that the advantage of only working with two-year schools like we do is that we see so many different schools from coast to coast that we see the patterns. If it's happening in Texas and California and New York, then something's happening. And sometimes when you're in one place you think, well, it's just me. It's just my college is doing this. And so this allows us the chance to kind of share with you things that we think are bigger than your college, bigger than your state, your region. These are trends. Big trends, national ones.
Cheryl Broom:And not just marketing trends, college-wide trends.
Pam Cox-Otto:Exactly. I'm not telling you what the coolest new app is or all of those things. For the most part, that's… You find those on your own. Instead, what I'm talking about are the patterns of service and what people are looking at and what colleges are hoping and betting on in the future. So that's kind of the big-picture stuff.
Cheryl Broom:And before we dive into them, Pam had mentioned New York. So at the end of the podcast we will tell you what is going to happen in New York. And for those of you listening, it might involve you as well. So, enough to listen to the podcast for. But there's a little carrot to keep you going.
Pam Cox-Otto:Wow, excellent cliffhanger. Excellent. So the trends that I'm saying, and there's only, you know, there's a little more than a handful of them, but the first one that I think is critical is that colleges are really starting to invest in distance learning and distance services. And when I say distance learning, I mean you've all been able to offer classes for a while, right? I want to take one English class and I go up and I take one English class. Many of you have gone beyond that. You're offering full programs. But at this point people are realizing that getting people onto your campus is getting harder and harder. Life is picking up speed. So they're starting to do things, not just can I send a class out, but how do I offer all sorts of support services, tutoring, counseling, the kinds of things that allow you to hook into the classes and be successful. The best part about this, the classes are asynchronous. That means the people who are working the night shift before they go to bed at, you know, eight in the morning, they can take a class and the class is recorded and it's going to be something that allows them to move ahead. So this is a good thing. It's a big thing, but the word of warning is it's also a very competitive thing. You know that Harvard's up there, you know Stanford's up there, you know Coursera, you know all of these other places that are for-profits. So colleges need to offer something that not only is inexpensive, right, high value, but in fact also is able to compete with some of these other more prestigious institutions that are offering courses.
Cheryl Broom:And colleges have to be more creative than just offering classes online. They also have to offer support and services for students who are learning online who might not be able to come to the campus for counseling and that type of support.
Pam Cox-Otto:Well, and realize, you know, we've always had a tough time getting them to join alumni groups, et cetera. Now imagine trying to get them to feel connected to you when they've never come on your campus, when they've never met a teacher face to face. So one of the things I would tell you to be involved in, is start sticking your nose into this kind of thing and asking yourself what are the communications we could be doing to be tying people closer to the college?
Cheryl Broom:Right. One of the really interesting initiatives that came out in California, and it was a subject of our podcast last month, is the Online Education Initiative, where you can now search for a class you need across all of California's community colleges who are participating in the initiative and be automatically enrolled in that college. So you can start taking online classes anywhere. It doesn't matter what your home college is.
Pam Cox-Otto:And that's a really powerful concept. I know Michigan started that probably five years ago. Smaller system, but they threw themselves into the same thing. And what we're finding is, particularly when you've got urban and really remote rural, this allows people the chance to take really high-quality classes from folks who know their stuff, even if they're at the end of the earth as it were.
Cheryl Broom:Yeah. And it helps your college because you still get that student to count as your graduate, but they're getting access to classes that they might not be able to get through your institution.
Pam Cox-Otto:Well, and it means you should start looking at what you're offering because you could become one of the loadstones that pulls people in and generates interest. But probably not if you're just offering English 101 or the basic kinds of things.
Cheryl Broom:Right.
Pam Cox-Otto:So the second trend that I see is—and many of you are very aware of this—community colleges are bounding into baccalaureate degrees. We knew this was happening when colleges started dropping the word“community” out of their names. So we used to be“blah blah community college” and now we're just“blah blah college” because we were setting the stage for the fact that we're not just offering associate degrees, we're also offering full baccalaureate degrees. Initially, we were doing it basically because we simply can't seem to fill the nursing and the teacher buckets all the way to the top. And the idea was if there were more institutions offering those kinds of programs, then we'd be able to meet the need. I'm not sure that's happened, but what it's done is it's opened a really big door for less expensive bachelor's degrees because we're not raising our tuition for the bachelor's degrees, or at least most colleges are not. So it means that you're able to take a program, get your bachelor's degree, stay closer to home if that's important to you, and also pay less for it. That's the good news. The bad news in all of this is the four-year schools have always been just a teensy bit snotty about the quality of education at two-year schools. And this is actually fueling more of that debate because the students that come to two-year colleges to get their bachelor's degrees aren't getting those units into the four-year school and four-year schools are struggling. And because of that, among other things, you'll find them starting to recruit your students right out of year one, year two, even before they hit year two. So the good news is you've expanded your offerings. The bad news is you've cut into the four-year units that they offer and don't think they're not going to push back. So all that collegiality stuff that we always talk about, well, it's good if it's lasting in your area, but in some places it's not really holding. We've always had a friendly competition going on and then we've transferred students to them. Now they're finding that they're hungry and they're wanting to take our students much earlier. So, heads up, community college folks, you're going to need to be competing in a different market. And remember, you need to be thinking about how you can talk about your faculty in terms of academic rigor and why learning from people who are at a two-year school is just as good, perhaps even better than a four-year. But you need to have those answers and you need to be talking about that in your community.
Cheryl Broom:You gave some advice to our colleagues in Hawaii to start looking at their data and see if any of their students are leaving before transferring. You know, after their first year, if they're, if they're basically being poached.
Pam Cox-Otto:Exactly. Well, and I've seen it happen in other states, so I would be… You know, Hawaii is a little different because it's the University of Hawaii system and the community colleges are nestled in that organization, a little bit like the old MnSCU system, Minnesota State system was as well. So in a way, the units for the entire organization, they've not gone away. The bad news is if the two-year schools are being held accountable for higher standards of retention, higher graduation rates, and then you're in a system where your sister institutions are poaching your students—sometimes after only one semester, sometimes at the end of the first year—if you're getting credit for them, everything's fine. If you are not, then what's happening is you've got a divided house here, and in many senses you're going to find that it's going to get tougher and tougher to sustain your funding.
Cheryl Broom:Well, we have one client, Cypress College in California, who has a bachelor's degree in mortuary science. And they're actually full this year, so had a hundred percent capacity. But really interesting, these specialized degrees that you couldn't get anywhere else.
Pam Cox-Otto:And there are a lot of them out there. I strongly encourage you to be thinking about one, what is your flagship program? What is the program that you offer that sets you apart that your president brags about when he or she goes out to a community event? And then, could that be something that could be expanded into the bachelor’s area, that would in fact meet the needs of your community in a way that others can't? So, there's plenty of opportunities in this. Just, heads up, be aware, the market is getting more competitive.
Cheryl Broom:Yes. Good point. Okay. Number three.
Pam Cox-Otto:Number three is community colleges are partnering with our enemies. They're not our enemies. Our friends and our colleagues, the four-year colleges. And part of this whole piece is that it started originally, I think, in California, with community colleges had been granted priority admissions into Cal State and UCs because, for the longest times, the four-years have understood that the two-year colleges were feeders. And so we've got all of these articulation agreements that show we can transfer to here, to there. And those things are strong. They in fact make it much easier for the student to start with you and move on. But that partnership has to be managed, because the truth is so many of the four-year schools are now opening up little tiny branch offices on the community college campus where a student can pop by and somebody can say, hey, you don't need to wait. You know, your grades are fine. Come on up. And the closer we create that tight relationship, it can be good for the student, but the danger is when we're having our feet held to the fire to keep them and graduate them, that's the danger. So if you're not fully into things like reverse transfer, start looking at it. Start expanding it. And, in fact, I would start thinking about rolling that into your relationship with the four-year schools. If you poach them early then you are going to make it very easy for them to reverse transfer so that we can get our units because we've handed them off to you gift wrapped.
Cheryl Broom:One of the interesting things that I've seen around that is that there are colleges who have programs where the four-years are now on the community college campus. So, you know, you're not fully utilizing your college space, and maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so a four-year university will come in and offer a bachelor's degree in nursing program over the weekend, discount their tuition, and give priority admission to your students. So your space is being utilized and the four-years are getting enrollments, because they're struggling as well.
Pam Cox-Otto:Yeah. This is, if you have not been paying attention, the number of for-profits and private schools that have been turning belly-up, going out of business, is increasing steadily. There's a lot of reasons for it. And if you haven't heard me go on and on and on about the new Pew study about how folks are not respecting education as a way forward, you need to go look at Pew. That's P-E-W, as opposed to“pew-pew!” They’re like I said the same thing, aren't they? Never mind. But you need to go up and look at that, because there's a major sea change in how people view education. And because of that, there's been a 7% decrease in the number of people going on to college education, despite the fact that the population is up. So there's fewer bodies to go around, and many people live and die by enrollment, as you know.
Cheryl Broom:Yeah. It's really, it is such an interesting shift, too, especially for those colleges that have these four-year partnerships, because, for the community college marketer, you're now starting to market four-years as well, and for other institutions. So you're trying to sell your students to stay on your campus and get a four-year degree that's offered through[inaudible] or maybe a public school.
Pam Cox-Otto:Well, and that's part of the reason your brand needs to be strong, and, because what you need to do is not have your brand overwhelmed by the four-year institution that's coming on your campus, which means your core identity has to be strong and you have to create it the minute they come in the door and maintain it. A lot of times we don't do that. We sell them the identity and then we forget it about, you know, day one of classes. So, remember.
Cheryl Broom:Right, right. Well, I just like seeing that these four-year institutions, they need us, they need us more than we need them, in many ways.
Pam Cox-Otto:That's true, because the hottest thing right now is CTE training. Right? That's the thing. So, come to us at a two-year institution, and we will get you the kinds of job skills that'll send you out into the world where you can make a decent living. Right? The four-years still suffer from that ivory tower kind of thing, and so not as many people are going there. So you mix our having the hot CTE courses with their having an ivory tower image. They're coming to us to try to fill up their classes. So, you know, don't roll over. Make harder bargains. Have them help you feed students back into your reverse transfer. Longest time we've been the redheaded stepchild. Right? You're not that anymore. You need to be taking control of your relationships with these four-year schools. Number four, community colleges are going after seniors, and I mean the real ones. I mean, I, like, oh, well, me! People who are well past high school, the folks who are either looking at early retirement or have retired already. AACC developed a program designed to attract people who are 50 years and older, kind of a back to work 50-plus initiative was looking on pulling people back in, giving them some job skills. There's a lot of people who have basically been stay-at-home, whether stay-at-home husbands, stay-at-home wives, and then they get to retirement and they're thinking, this is my chance to do something more. Or they don't have the skills that… Because they have great family skills, but they may not have great job skills. So they're looking at what can I do that's meaningful kinds of work? And I notice, I was up on Facebook, Harvard is offering things in, you know, an entire degree/certificate in becoming a community activist. I was looking at that, honestly. I was thinking, how can I, how can I go into the community and shake things up to save the planet? Yeah, that's me. Sorry. Can't help myself. So they were looking at going after the“okay, boomers” and seeing if they can pull them back in. And the answer is they are interested. Many of them, you know, want to stay around the house and do things. But a lot of them still have this idea of social activism. I want to do things for my community. So, the kinds of programs that would plug people back into their communities. You know, one of the biggest problems as people age, the number one cause of depression is that your social groups began to fall apart. You move, you don't connect. So the ability of a community college to bring people back together through programs that plug them back into their community so that they're forming social relationships while doing good? That's a three-fer, gang. So that's an audience that you probably have not been thinking of, but they're credit units. Many cases, the money is not a problem, so they're not going to feed into your unit to folks who need financial aid. So, seniors. Think about that as a real audience. You might want to do some numbers to see how large the populations are. The nice part about them is they tend to cluster. There are lots of senior and retirement facilities, so there's, you know, you might even be able to make the kind of relationship where you offer classes on senior areas and it's a twofer for them as well.
Cheryl Broom:Have you seen any colleges doing this really well?
Pam Cox-Otto:There's a college in Michigan that has always had a senior program where they literally have a pool dedicated to just seniors to come in and work out, and they have food service that's inexpensive meals for them. And the name has just gone out my ear, but it's, I'll, I will addend it at the end, I swear.
Cheryl Broom:We'll put it in the notes.
Pam Cox-Otto:We’ll put it in the notes. Excellent. Yes, it's inability to name nouns under pressure. But they have a real reputation in their community for being a center for seniors. And remember, seniors vote. So if you are in a place where your tax levy, your rate, the ability to pass bonds all depend on voter approval, making sure that seniors have opportunities on your campus is a really, really, really smart move.
Cheryl Broom:I think, from a marketing perspective, you could really hit it out of the park with a campaign if you had a senior population, speaking directly to them about what the college offers, and would be a great way….
Pam Cox-Otto:Well, tie it together with your foundation, because that's also, these are folks who are looking to leave a legacy, so tied in together with doing good while giving back. Those are things that I think will be useful in the long run.
Cheryl Broom:I love that, too, because the diversity that community colleges have, even in terms of age, brings such richness into the classroom. So, having boomers in the classroom with that real-world experience and sharing, you know, what they've gone through would really enrich the education of younger students.
Pam Cox-Otto:And if you don't believe that, watch Up again. The ending of Up, right?
Cheryl Broom:Oh, that movie!
Pam Cox-Otto:I know, I know. Sorry.
Cheryl Broom:That’s one of my favorites.
Pam Cox-Otto:“Squirrel!” I had to go there. Number five, community colleges are going after enrollment across different student groups, unique student groups. Reverse transfer, we've already talked about it. That's a major opportunity. A lot of schools are very much into it. A lot of them aren't at all. So, start looking at that. If you're not familiar with reverse transfer, it's basically where I get, let's say, 30 units from my community college. I transfer to the local, or wherever it is, four-year school, and then I take those units there and eventually those units transfer back to my community college. So I complete a degree at the community college while I'm working on my four-year degree. And the thing I always tell people is life's uncertain. Get all the degrees you can under your belt, because the number of people that start with you and transfer elsewhere and don't finish is about 50% of the population. So these are people who are coming up empty at two colleges. Reverse transfer is a way to help give them something that lifts them up. Concurrent, dual enrollment. Major win. Most of you are heavily into that. The bad news, of course, it's also undercutting community colleges. In a sense, you're eating your seed corn, right? These are students who might've taken a class earlier, then they might have come to you. Now, the students who were, who are your outstanding students, maybe they never would have come to you. So you've now gotten a small, this group that chose to come to you rather than AP. So is that good? Absolutely, it's good. But also, be aware of the fact that, depending on the mix of your population, you may in fact be giving them cheaper enrollment for the more expensive college enrollment when they graduated. So it's a balancing act. I know you've got people looking at that. Veterans are turning to community colleges in larger numbers. That's a critical piece. But also, you know, you should be looking at new citizens, people who are new immigrants, not that we have huge numbers of those right now, but they'll come back. And when that happens, the ability with ESL programs, et cetera, to be able to go after those unique groups, the families of people who have become immigrants, those are all powerful things. And we're realizing more and more that we can't just depend on the traditional student as in high school graduate, recent, and then the working adult who's maybe not where they want to be. We have to start stratifying our marketing. And that's just critical.
Cheryl Broom:Yeah. And this also speaks to the importance of having a marketing plan that is broken out by audience. Because if you’re just doing broadcast messages, you're not going to be doing yourself a service anymore.
Pam Cox-Otto:No. No. And the whole point and the reason why digital marketing is such a good thing is that you can stratify your marketing messages and to not… To just create one campaign with one voice aimed at one set of people, even if it's traditional high school or working adult, you're too narrowly focused. You need to be breaking that out.
Cheryl Broom:Yeah. And the reasons that a boomer would come back to your college versus a veteran are very different and your marketing should speak to what's important to each of those groups.
Pam Cox-Otto:Well, and also tie it in together with the fact that not only are you helping yourself, but your family and your community. I think more and more people are yearning for connection, and that ability that you're not just doing it for yourself, you're doing it for your family, you're doing it for your community. I think those are powerful messages that tie people together.
Cheryl Broom:Right. Get some emotion in your marketing.
Pam Cox-Otto:Ya think? You know, as opposed to accessible, close to home, and easy to get into. Really, really? Number six, more partnerships with business. One of the things I fully admit, when I came from California—I was at Rio Hondo—came from California and began to work with my collage in Wisconsin. I went from a community college to a technical college, and in the beginning I was a little, you know, sad, like, they don't have a theater and there's none of these artsy classes. And you know, where's the fun stuff? It was all CTE-focused in the Wisconsin system. But what I realized really soon was the incredible power that CTE has to tie the college closer to businesses. And in many cases, when the economy was down, they would actually increase the budgets to the community colleges on the backs of the four-year. They'd cut the four-year funding and really invest in two-year schools because we were putting people into jobs and those jobs were feeding businesses and allowing them to grow and then generate more economy for the community. Right? So, bottom line is CTE education and certificates are very attractive to employers, particularly in players that have a large workforce where they need to have skills, where they need to be able to communicate. That's more useful than a generic AA degree. And if you're feeding part of their employment funnel, there's many things they'll do. Wisconsin, for example, it wasn't exactly the kind of system where the businesses were paying for people, but they certainly gave grants. They allowed space where the training could be done on their own site for the businesses. So, stackable certificates, stackable credentials, those kinds of things in a modular approach to agree, very powerful. Businesses like it, they're willing to support it, not only verbally but with money and space. And if they're only giving you lip service, start looking at how you can pull them in to be supporting you in other ways. Remember, it's all about resources, gang. You're either getting students, you're getting funding, or you're getting good will. And in a perfect world you get all three. So, business is part of the driver, the economic engine of your community. And when you are seen as being part, actively part of that economic engine, it makes the community more willing to work with you to do things. So, build those relationships and—let me think of it—ah, milk them. Don't just settle for what they give you, because you are seriously a partner in helping them be successful.
Cheryl Broom:And I think that colleges have to stop thinking of themselves as just the starting point in a student's journey. Like, we want to not just educate students, but we want to help them get jobs and be connected to industry and our community. And so we need to follow them through their whole journey.
Pam Cox-Otto:Well, exactly. For so long, I think community colleges, we've known we were tied to the community, but when they left we'd say, well, I guess they got what they needed. Or when they started work we'd say, well, we got them on their way and we're done now. No, you're not. We should be staying with them in such a way that when they really understand that job and they're saying,“gosh, is there more?” we're there with the next credential to help them move on their way up. We've done that with nursing for a long time, but it's only now that we're realizing that works in virtually every business, right? You start out as a receptionist but you move up to another, slightly more, a job with different skills. Those things happen, whether you're in an office building or a manufacturing plant, and we need to be involved in that and staying in touch. Number seven, globalization means a larger stage, and it's very appropriate that we're sitting here in Hawaii because sometimes when I'm in California and Seattle and, you know, the whole, particularly the West Coast, folks will say, oh, we're part of the Pacific Rim. Well, okay, yeah, the mainland may be the Pacific Rim, but seriously, Hawaii is the halfway point between East meets West. And so you can totally see this globalization here. I look out my window and I see Japanese and Chinese tourists coming here to be married, right? And they're investing in the economy. And we were talking today with the, or two days ago, with our Hawaiian teammates basically saying, you know, when you're looking at what you can do, you may want to also be looking East as well as West because there are opportunities where people would come here and learn. They've got a beautiful Hawaiian culinary academy here and it pulls from around the world. And that kind of seeing yourself in a larger stage, that's a critical part. In the old days, everybody—in fact, I, this was one of those things when I moved to Wisconsin—before they offered a program, they'd say, do we really need these kinds of workers in the area? And people would say, well, no, but they're really big, maybe an hour away in Rochester, Minnesota. And we'd go,“Nope. Then we're not offering it.” Because it had to be offered, needed, exactly in our districts. Well, more and more, people are mobile enough that you need to not quite be so myopic. It's okay to look slightly beyond your district if you're serving this broader state, community, regional need. Because we're at the point now where if there's no good doctors or hospitals in, you know, an hour away, you're probably not going to have them in your region as well. So in other words, we're all going to starve together if we're not careful. So we need to start having a bigger view and linking our degrees to opportunities that are global.
Cheryl Broom:And we have such a unique system. Like, we're in a perfect opportunity to promote that across the world, because there really isn't anything like community colleges anywhere else in the world.
Pam Cox-Otto:Nothing. I go to Germany and, you know, they stay in the equivalent of high school longer and then their college degrees go on and on forever. That midpoint where you can get skills and upgrade and be more employable, that midpoint doesn't exist in Europe, really. It doesn't exist in China or the Asian countries. So we have a selling point that I think we've not leveraged. So you know, I always, you know, the question I always ask folks at the end of the day is what should we be focusing on? Those are my big, my big concepts. But the piece that I want to be telling each and every one of you is we should be focusing on retention. More and more states have rolled retention and graduation into the funding model. Right? And a lot of times marketing is not involved in that. They think it's all student services and what's going on in the classroom. And don't get me wrong, clearly those are the foundations of retention, but the messaging about how you remind people why they're here and the pride that people should have, so that when they get done with a tough class, they don't just go, well, thank God I don't have to do that again. Instead they say to themselves, I'm one step closer and I'm better than I knew I was because, look, I've just completed that and I'm through, right? Those messages, for the most part, you have unique faculty and staff who think of it, but nine out of ten folks don't think to remind a student how proud we are of them and how they've done good stuff. And that's why you have to be involved in retention, because you are the masters of messaging, and to remind people that even when they get a C and they wanted a B, they're one step closer to their goal. That's a blip. That doesn't matter. The one step closer to the goal to building a better life for their family, to offering more to their community. That's the goal. And for the most part, people are wrapped up in their teaching and they forget to do that. So, I tell you, basically, if you'd recruit a student, that's a good thing. If you keep a student, that's even better.
Cheryl Broom:Right. And if you help a student get a job—.
Pam Cox-Otto:I think the only thing we can say is“Bazinga!”.
Cheryl Broom:“Bazinga!”.
Pam Cox-Otto:Sorry, I’m… You know I’m a geek, y’all.
Cheryl Broom:Well, excellent tips for turns that we've seen this year. So what should we be looking forward to now? It's going to be 2020.
Pam Cox-Otto:2020! Well, there's a lot of new social media, folks launching new products, trying to not Facebook off the hill. We know that Facebook is a, let's just say, a less than front facing transparent actor. So I think there's going to be people starting to bleed from there. Yes, they've been going to Instagram for a long time, but Facebook owns Instagram. So, pick your poison, I guess. So I think there's going to be a lot of new social media things that'll be happening in, and opportunities that way. And guys, we're entering a volatile time for education, and everyone I talked to that's a finance person says we are on the cusp of a downturn, and you know what that means. The downturn hits, enrollment will go up, and they'll start cutting marketing budgets. So, once again, start helping with retention now, because that need will not go away.
Cheryl Broom:Right, exactly. You want to show how valuable you are, not just in the front of the funnel, but all the way through it.
Pam Cox-Otto:Exactly. Well, and when money gets tight, you should be really working with your foundation to help them generate resources, and if your foundation is going outside or is not using you, that's a real missed opportunity, because when times get tough, people need folks to give money to support the college and those are the people that you should be involved with.
Cheryl Broom:Great. Okay, now, speaking of social media, we've got your tips. We've got your big thinking about the trends that we've seen this last year, and we've promised, as our teaser, to tell people what's happening in April.
Pam Cox-Otto:I think you should tell them.
Cheryl Broom:So, this last year, Pam and I took our clients to the Google headquarters in the Bay Area in California, where we met with higher education experts and learned about trends in higher education. They were actually so impressed with how many community colleges participated and the depth of knowledge, that their education experts are starting to treat community college marketing differently than four-year. So we actually impacted the thinking of Google, which is pretty amazing, right? It's about time.
Pam Cox-Otto:Yeah. Well, and, you know, for a long time we've just been lumped, you know, when people run their data, they don't even break out. They just say four-year degree and some college. Right? So what they're realizing is there's an awful lot more people in our wheelhouse than in other wheelhouses and they're realizing they'd better pay attention to that grouping.
Cheryl Broom:Well, then, Google and YouTube have been so impressed with the work that Interact’s done with our community college clients, and also just the community colleges as a whole, that they've invited us to come back, but this time to the new location in Manhattan, in New York. So it's one of the headquarters for YouTube and a new Google office and apparently it's in the old Chelsea Market and it's supposed to be amazing.
Pam Cox-Otto:Actually, the whole Chelsea Market alone is supposed to be amazing, and the offices are supposed to be a, you make it a tear in your eye. I'm just saying.
Cheryl Broom:So we're putting together the workshop along with Google and YouTube experts to give you a day straight from Google so you can get trained on the latest technology and what's happening in social media and what's happening with higher education online. It's going to be amazing.
Pam Cox-Otto:And the fact that you're stuck in the Chelsea Market in New York, well, we can't help that. That's on you.
Cheryl Broom:Pam would say it's going to be, what's your word? Bazinga. So it's happening April 20th, so save the date. If you're interested in attending, just shoot Pam and I over an email and we can get you on our list. We won't be able to take everybody. So space is limited, so we want to make sure that those colleges who really want to send their staff or come themselves have the opportunity to do so.
Pam Cox-Otto:And you can bring more than one. I mean, one of the best parts about having another person who comes with you is that you've got two of you who can be evangelists. Then your notes can be a little more wonky because between the two of you, you'll get it.
Cheryl Broom:So interactcom.com, our emails are up, our phone numbers are up on the website, so reach out and let us know if you're interested and look out for some other information from us later on this year.
Pam Cox-Otto:It will happen.
Cheryl Broom:Yay! So, Pam?
Pam Cox-Otto:Yes?
Cheryl Broom:Mahalo.
Pam Cox-Otto:Mahalo.
Cheryl Broom:And aloha.
Pam Cox-Otto:I think I could sing now.“I want to go back to my little grass shack.” Never mind.
Cheryl Broom:Oh my gosh. What about“Drunken Sailor?”.
Pam Cox-Otto:No, we're not doing that. We’re not doing that. It’s a signature song, but no.
Cheryl Broom:That's how I'm going to keep, that's how many people hooked for the next one with you.
Pam Cox-Otto:I know,“Drunken Sailor.”.
Cheryl Broom:Is you will sing“Drunken Sailor.”.
Pam Cox-Otto:Oh, I think not, missy.
Cheryl Broom:Well, as always, it's been a pleasure. And you are heading back to the States?
Pam Cox-Otto:I am. On my way back to Wisconsin, and you aren't, apparently.
Cheryl Broom:No, I am island hopping.
Pam Cox-Otto:Oh, you island hopper.
Cheryl Broom:I know.
Pam Cox-Otto:You're going to miss being in a beautiful snowstorm. I'm sad.
Cheryl Broom:I will think of you, Pam, when I'm on the beach with my mai tai.
Pam Cox-Otto:Thanks for joining us. We hope you got something useful again.
Cheryl Broom:Yes, thank you and happy holidays and I hope everyone has a great new year.
Pam Cox-Otto:Ditto.
Cheryl Broom:Till next time. Bye-bye.
Announcer:Thank you for joining the Community College Marketing MasterClass podcast. For more great tips on how to improve marketing and communications at your two-year college, visit interactcom.com. And join us next time as we discuss and share actionable, time-tested strategies on topics directly related to community college marketing.