Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck With Video in 2023

Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Shane Kehl: It's Friday. Energy is high, and we're ready to dive in. I'm Shane Keel, chief Entertainment Officer at Enrollify, and every other week, Mickey Baes and I will discuss how institutions can take high level strategies and tactics and implement them into their enrollment marketing strategy in a practical way, grab your coffee, open your notes.

[00:00:17] It's time for Fanatical Fridays.

[00:00:34] Hello and welcome to episode 61 of Fanatical Fridays, Mickey. It is Friday. How are you feeling? I'm feeling 

[00:00:42] Mickey Baines: like it's spring and it's not. Um, yeah, I'm waiting for the cold to drop. Um, it's going to happen at some point, but I, I don't know. It feels like it's 60 or so. Did. Today and my, my daffodils are starting to sprout and we're recording this.

[00:00:56] It's not even Valentine's Day yet, right? Yeah. So that is [00:01:00] early in Pennsylvania to start seeing your spring flowers come up. Uh, so I'm, I'm waiting for, uh, that arctic blast to hit us, um, which may or may not include snow. I've not really seen snow weather than flury this year. That's the least amount I think I've seen in 20 years, um, in this series.

[00:01:15] But it's Friday. I'm ready to be fanatical about things. . 

[00:01:19] Shane Kehl: Awesome. Well, I think with the one thing let's, let's be fanatical about today is video. I think that's a. A good topic. Just thinking about now too, as people are kind of, again, planning out their year, we're moving into summer when, you know, speaking of your, your daffodils, you wanna film when it's your campus is at it's most beautiful.

[00:01:37] Um, yes. Which is when it's nice and warm. Flowers are 

[00:01:39] Mickey Baines: blooming nice and warm, or you know, some campuses, if you've got a nice layer of snow, we can give you a pretty image. Now walking out and. On the video while that snow's happening. Yeah, that might be a challenge, . Um, but, uh, it, you know, there are some pretty moments you can capture with snow.

[00:01:56] Uh, maybe that's just a silent video, you know, with just text [00:02:00] front. I'm already, I'm already skipping, I'm already throwing out ideas. 

[00:02:02] Shane Kehl: Yeah. I think one of the things around video, you know, we often hear, and I'm sure you've heard, is, you know, it's this, it's a huge production. It's a whole thing that, you know, people think video is either you film it on your phone and it's.

[00:02:15] Or you basically film a Hollywood movie, um, and there's no in between. Right? And there's a million different options in between and there's kind of all different levels of investment and things you can go into. But I think today, let's talk about, you know, practical video. You have, you know, 10, $20,000 to throw towards video for the whole thing.

[00:02:33] Shooting, editing, and kind of the production of mm-hmm. of all of it. Mm-hmm. . , where do you start? How do you know you don't have, let's say you're at a university and you don't have any videos and your dean or whoever comes to you and, Hey, we need video. Right? And that, that's probably typically how some of these things go.

[00:02:50] We don't have it. Other schools do, our competitors do, and now we want it go make a video. That's your direction. What's your kind of starting point for figuring out [00:03:00] topically, what do we even wanna make a video about? 

[00:03:03] Mickey Baines: First? I'm gonna begin by looking at the, the enrollment. , what is the video going to?

[00:03:09] Where are we gonna position it in terms of its ability to, to help enroll students? Mm-hmm. , because I'm assuming that's what the video is for. So step one is to figure out where. , where's it gonna step in? Um, is, is this like part of a digital campaign? Is this part of, um, getting folks that are already in our pipeline to start an application, complete the application to accept an offer of admission?

[00:03:33] What are we trying to do with it? And then I'm going to fine tune that once I know where it is. Let's just say that last one I threw as an offer of mission. Well, you know what, if you're not already doing a video from the. to to welcome a student, a prospective student, uh, and get them, you know, I'd start there cuz probably can do that pretty cheap, like mm-hmm.

[00:03:51] I might be able to do that. Um, informally. When I say informally, I mean it could be in the office. We could be using a video tool where they're just kind of [00:04:00] recording a, an acceptance and we're excited, um, all the way up to, um, if it's to get someone, say they're in the pipeline, we're gonna get 'em to campus.

[00:04:07] Well maybe do a little short video to say this is how we're gonna start the tour. Uh, but I think what I'm trying to do. , once I know where in the funnel it is, I wanna start finding the right way to help my perspective students see themselves in our program. Whether, and I say in our program specifically, cause that might be on campus, it might be virtually mm-hmm.

[00:04:26] uh, but I want them to see themselves as a student, uh, at my institution. And, uh, and I have to understand where they're in that, in that scheme. What, what stage of the enrollment process end. So I know what to present to them so they can visualize themselves in there, uh, that way. So that's where I'm.

[00:04:43] Awesome. 

[00:04:43] Shane Kehl: So let's say, let's pivot a tiny bit. Let's say you feel like it's more of an awareness or lead gen play. You wanna make people. More aware of your, your institution and you're trying to generate more interest traffic [00:05:00] to your site. And ideally, you know, they're, they're driven to your site and they're compelled to fill out a form.

[00:05:05] So the video has to be a little bit more informational without being dry and boring. Let's say we're taking that approach for, for your university. , where are you Kind of in the, in the content strategy part of the video, which should obviously be done before you do any film, rather than just going around and filming a whole bunch of stuff and then trying to piece it together later.

[00:05:26] You should have a good storyboard put together. But even before that, just thinking topically the goal is generate awareness and, and get some leads. Um, what types of things are you gonna try and tee up to film that you think help? A healthy video, um, that can accomplish those objectives. 

[00:05:44] Mickey Baines: So, so next after I'm gonna start looking at my population I'm trying to connect with because how I connect with, uh, a graduate student.

[00:05:52] A non-traditional student who's looking to complete a degree or a traditional undergraduate student, or the parent of a traditional undergraduate student mm-hmm. , um, [00:06:00] I think differs and I want to target my, my audience, um, specifically. So I'm gonna look at that and then, you know, if we're trying to get awareness out, are we trying to get awareness of they know who we are?

[00:06:11] Are they trying to get awareness about what we offer? All of those types of things. Um, you know, and, and, you know, here. I can tell you, I can probably, it's probably easier for me to say, give you some examples of things I'm not gonna do. So if I've got an online program, I'm not doing beautiful shots around campus.

[00:06:26] Yeah. I'm not gonna start there. I I, I gotta find a way to present, cuz this is online, I want them to know who we are as an online institution. Mm-hmm. . Um, and, and then, then also doesn't matter, that's where budget kind of comes into play because then we kinda have an idea. So like, if I'm trying to get awareness out, one of the, you know, if we, I've got money to do a series, so let's then think, let's think large.

[00:06:46] University of South Carolina did something. I really like my alma mater, so I am more attuned to see it. Um, they created with, um, their last, uh, president, he retired, he left, he came back as an, in an interim role to fill a void. Uh, [00:07:00] and then as they were bringing a new president on, they kind of replicated a little bit of what, um, Jerry Seinfeld does with comedians and cars getting coffee.

[00:07:07] It was, yeah. Uh, the president going around sometimes in a car, sometimes in a golf cart talking to other people. Mm-hmm. , uh, sometimes students. They had, um, uh, a young lady who was a member of the women's basketball team, who was a i, I think Player of the year last year. Um, he did that. He, he even had, I think the mascot in there, which the mascot doesn't talk, but, but asking questions through that, which was kind of funny.

[00:07:27] And then they've had faculty members and other folks. I think that's, A good way to, to bring personality. Yeah. For me, I'm a warm and fuzzy. I like to find personality moments. Mm-hmm. . Um, so formal videos aren't necessarily it for me. Yeah. Um, you know, when, when, when I'm inviting people personally, like to, like if I'm, we're doing a webinar next week, so if I'm inviting people to the webinar, my email that goes out as a reminder to attend the webinar or my, my email that goes out has an intro video of me just probably wearing this outfit.

[00:07:57] Cause I think it's being record. today, [00:08:00] um, saying, you know, here's what we're gonna cover. I really want to have you here. That to me is informal and that's how I'm doing, like, introducing video there, right? Mm-hmm. So, mm-hmm. . So I, you, you have to know your tone. Um, and you have to know the warm and fuzzy piece, how much of that you want to have and how personal you want to be.

[00:08:17] And then I think that kind of helps you kind of figure out, cause say we wanna be personal. I don't know that you need a VP of enrollment management doing it right. , it could be a director of missions, but I'm gonna be honest, I might wanna know the person out of that director of missions, cuz they may not be good on camera.

[00:08:31] Mm-hmm. . Um, it's gotta be authentic. Am I talking to the camera? Is the camera capturing me, talking to other people? Those types of ideas come into play to help kind of formulate what it is we're saying and then how, not just what we're saying then how it's being said, if it's trying to capture conversations with other people.

[00:08:46] for me, I don't want it scripted. Mm-hmm. . I might wanna say, here are the topics, but I want it to be natural. I don't really like putting fake people in. I don't want actors in there. But, you know, actors can memorize and do lines more authentically if it's scripted than other [00:09:00] people. And, and if you capture awkwardness and you know, then I'll say this, people don't know my, my undergrad.

[00:09:07] was in theater. Now, that doesn't make me an expert at this, but, but there's certain things I'm looking at that might be a little more in the weeds than other people. You might bring someone in for marketing or your video production team or a third party company that that's got a director in there. But there's certain things that I'm looking at, I don't want to necessarily direct it, but there's certain emotions.

[00:09:23] And what I will tell you is when that camera's on, if you're not being 100% authentic, it picks. Yeah, it's the little slightest thing and it becomes awkward. And the more those little slight things you have to edit out, the more difficult it's to really get that fluid conversation. So for me, I want authenticity and I don't like scripts because of it.

[00:09:41] Yeah. Um, and, and so I just kind of go in out and give people, Hey, we're gonna talk about four things. This is an idea. Mm-hmm. , we'll go as long as we need to go. Kind of similar to how we're doing this podcast. Like we, we haven't scripted this. We know what we're talking about, video. And you share with me a few things, you know you wanna cover and we go Right.

[00:09:56] And that, I think, gives you an authentic. Piece now, then you [00:10:00] gotta look at length. Is this a commercial? Is this a video that's played? Are we editing it down just to 30 seconds or is it like a five minute video that we might get a 32nd clip out of for commercial? You know, all of those I think are components.

[00:10:13] Um, and then the other thing, when you're talking about budget, how does it play in the midst of everything else that I. . Mm-hmm. , I loved when, when I was, you know, still in higher ed and, and doing this for myself. I loved to do our, our, we, we were using personas and I had students coming in to play certain per well because they were that persona type, um, to help tell their story in a way that connected with other perspective students.

[00:10:38] And we would record, um, video and audio, 20 minute conversation. Mm-hmm. . Um, and in that, I got a, like a 10, 15 minute video I had. I got one or two TV spots. . I got one or two radio spots. I had a photographer there at the same time getting all the [00:11:00] billboards and they were actually taking the photos while we're doing the recording, not separate.

[00:11:04] Um mm-hmm. , I think we did some separate shots, but we also got some during the interview and then that really built the entire. all the content I needed to, that needed to be edited and touched up and typed up, all that kind of stuff. But that really created it in that one moment. So it wasn't just this one video I spent all those dollars for.

[00:11:21] I got video, I got commercials, right? TV and radio. I got billboard photos, I got website, photos, print. Mm-hmm. If I needed print materials, all of that was done. And then the content that might need to be typed up for print material. Is done, it's captured, it's all recorded, all of that in one piece. And I would try to do two to three persona types at a time.

[00:11:42] Mm-hmm. so I could get the best bang for the buck. And, and the way we did it, we didn't, A lot of schools will say, Hey, you know, July one, we're gonna do this big project and we're gonna roll out all these new personas. I actually didn't do that. I would do two or three at a time, but I had five personas and I would just keep rotating them so that I had [00:12:00] consistent use of them and could always have something new and fresh coming in rather than doing all at the beginning of one year.

[00:12:06] Yeah, I might do three in the summer and I might do two in the spring, and then between summer and winter, I'm rolling out those three. and then spring I'm getting two more and I'm rolling out two more, and then in repeating that process in the summer. Yeah. Um, and that, you know, I maybe could have gotten a better bang for the buck if I'd done 'em all at once, but then I'm like holding it back for a longer period of time to release and I just kind of wanted to spread out and giving new material.

[00:12:30] Yeah. Because we always need new material. Uh, and that's why I kind of did it. . And then I would say other pieces that we're talking about, what do we do? How do we record? Depending upon the style you go with, do we have it like this? Where's a conversation? Do you have music kind of floating in the background?

[00:12:46] And if, and if you think, ah, I don't know about all that stuff, yeah, it's in the weeds a little bit. But if you have it like go on YouTube, find TV show or, or movie you really like and, and go see the, the edits or the behind the scenes there and watch a scene that as [00:13:00] they're kind of recording, whether it's an outtake or not.

[00:13:02] of with music, without music. Mm-hmm. with professional sound without it, because that music sets a tone and that, that was always, I don't know why it is important to me as much as it is, but I was really involved in like picking that, that right tone, because that emotional feel I wanted someone to have out of that.

[00:13:23] Yeah. The story was there. , but the music is what either draws you in. Mm-hmm. keeps you in and maintains that emotional feel you want. Yeah. Uh, and so I had, you know, here, once I, and I didn't necessarily know the tone until I heard the interview. I mean, I knew the students stories going into the interview because I knew where I wanted to push them.

[00:13:44] Right. Um, but then once I heard how it went and unfolded, then I would go spend time and say, okay, here, you know, each, each persona might have four or five. Sounds or, or song, not songs, but pieces that I would put behind it to find the right [00:14:00] mix. Um, and then, you know, then you've got it together. But all to me, all that comes into play.

[00:14:06] And then, and if you're not paying attention to those things, the little slightest miss. Yeah, you can take what could have been a great piece in making it an okay piece. 

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[00:15:59] All right, [00:16:00] folks, back to the show.

[00:16:05] Shane Kehl: Going back to what you were saying earlier too about the, the questioning and kind of getting the most bang for your buck when you are recording right, you, you go through all the work of setting up a good shot, getting all your audio equipment lined, the lighting perfect, like all these, like to set up a really good shot if you're gonna be interviewing somebody or capturing a conversation.

[00:16:22] there's work there. That takes a good bit of time, right? Yeah. And so you wanna get the most out of that. And so really thinking about your, your outline of questions as how do we start at a topic, as you mentioned for this, this podcast, we start at video and then we, we get more and more narrow into a specific, you know, finite thing and really approaching your interviews or your conversations that way so that you can take that top snippet the first five minutes.

[00:16:46] And that's kind of like a general awareness video. You can take that last five minutes and it might be very specific. A program to a person, to an athletic team, whatever it might be. Um, but you're kind of like, you're building in these segments within this core piece that [00:17:00] gives you a full 20 minute interview that you can release.

[00:17:03] Kind of like the raw footage almost that's professionally produced. And then you also have all these other snippets and then you kind of have. I feel like with any, you know, interviews we've, we've done for any, you know, video production, whether it's with students, faculty, deans, whomever. There's always the, like the golden nugget line that you hear and you're like, yes, that's, that's the one we want to, like, that's your one liner you kind of throw out there in a quick.

[00:17:25] you know, YouTube pre-roll ad that's like you're five second, you just need something zippy that gets people like, whoa, that was not what I was expecting. Yeah. Um, and really I think those longer conversations, it just, it takes people time to warm up. You kind of have to just kind of get into the flow of it and you never know what you're gonna get.

[00:17:42] Whereas if you try and go in maybe a little bit more of like, Hey, we're just gonna kind of, you know, shoot the shit here, um, you're, you're gonna end up with a, a messy interview. When you go to the editing stage too, it's kind of hard to piece together because you're all over the place and, and it's kind of unclear of what you're talking [00:18:00] about.

[00:18:00] And now you wasted kind of all this time and energy and the, the final product doesn't match the amount of effort that maybe originally went into the 

[00:18:06] Mickey Baines: piece. The hardest video for me is the top of the funnel video. when you're trying to get brand buildup brand, uh, because there's so many things you're trying to cover with one video.

[00:18:16] Say you're an art school, to me that's easier because I can really focus in on that video. Mm-hmm. versus University of South Carolina. I don't know how many programs they have. You, I mean, they've got, they, it's a large university. They're gonna have more money. They can create more than one video. Yeah. So let's be real.

[00:18:30] But let's say you got 50 programs and you've got money for a video, right. And you want it for top of the funnel. You either go too broad. And it doesn't really help a heck of a. You get too narrow and it's helpful, but for a very narrow subset of your population and, and mm-hmm. , I think you gotta find that, that blend.

[00:18:51] You can't, you know, I don't, I don't know that it's gonna be effective to be everything to everybody. Right. Cuz you don't have anything other, and if you do, what you have is a 32nd TV spot. [00:19:00] Not a real Yeah. Piece for, um, you know, that you might have playing and looping at a, at a college fair or something.

[00:19:06] I don't. 

[00:19:07] Shane Kehl: And I think what we're going back to what you were saying earlier though, with understanding. Your attended audience for the video, right, of if you want to generate, you know, brand and, and general awareness or leads, that high level video for 50 programs is never really gonna work as, as a one-off video.

[00:19:24] But if you're looking to push, you know, people at the applicant stage to deposit and you have something to offer, you can then kind of tweak it a little bit more to be general. But it's about one specific thing for a variety. populations within the one population of submitted applicants who haven't deposited, right?

[00:19:41] Like, yep, that's specific, but it's for broad programs or it's either broad programs, something very specific to, to one particular topic that you can promote that's more typically something like an incentive and all programs open house where you're trying to push, push that out, and the value of coming to an event, for example.[00:20:00] 

[00:20:00] Um, but typically that's not somebody's first entry point. And so it is, that becomes a big challenge when you only have budget for one video and you're trying to equally promote all of your programs. That's, that's borderline impossible. And if anyone has a good one, I'd love to see it. Cuz I think you'll get copied quite a few times.

[00:20:16] It's hard to do . 

[00:20:17] Mickey Baines: Um, it has, it's hard to distinguish yourself in those, I mean, if, if, if. , I can't think of what one might look like. Uh, turn on, uh, college sports on any weekend, uh, and go to E S P N and turn it on. And, you know, there's always that each school gets one ad that plays mm-hmm. , uh, and they're usually around halftime or near the beginning of the game.

[00:20:38] Uh, and you know, that, that's, that's, that's your 32nd spot. And, and that one's even focused because it's usually more about athletics or Yeah. You know, and. Okay, that's gonna be good. I mean, that's gonna do brand stuff. Mm-hmm. , but, um, you know, if you're really trying to get someone to take an action off of that, right?

[00:20:57] Hmm. The action is go to the website [00:21:00] maybe. Yeah. You know, I'm thinking of if I wanted to, to do something that's not all that expensive, um, I might get some students sign releases and, and then, um, without sharing those students' names, having my counselors maybe read their. , here's some sample essays people put on an application.

[00:21:19] Um, you know, some of 'em might be funny, some of 'em might demonstrate a real smart person. I saw a LinkedIn post, um, uh, this week someone was posting, I shared it with my, with my wife because my oldest is a, a first freshman in, in high school. Um, and I, it was like, it was like Stanford, you know, these, these Ivy Leagues and other, you know, schools, you know, , what, 2% or less than 2%, whatever, get accepted, that kind of stuff.

[00:21:46] Mm-hmm. . Um, and it just was like a bio and a post of a. An incoming student, the freshman, or a, um, a highlight of this freshman after spending the last six months or whatever, uh, solo navigating the [00:22:00] world and their plane, uh, this student accomplished all these extra things like , holy shit. Like, yeah, you wanna make me feel really bad about myself, you just didn't.

[00:22:10] Right? Like . Um, you know, so I'm thinking of those. What if we just showed some comical ways that people apply because, you know, people worry about the admissions essay, so, right. You know what it, let's, let's read some, let's show some of those, um, right. Um, let's do a segment that talks about what to think about, um, what are we gonna ask you when you come to campus for an interview.

[00:22:30] Mm-hmm. , you know, those types of things. What are really good examples and really bad examples of someone submitting their portfolio for our arts program. Yeah. Um, you know, you can use video. to really demonstrate something, to teach something in and give personality. Mm-hmm. , um, of faculty, of staff, of even students through that.

[00:22:48] Yeah. And I think that, um, can be less expensive cuz you don't need a, you know, a six person production crew. Yeah. Um, to come in to do that. And, you know, [00:23:00] that's, that's what I like to, to do these days. Yeah. Um, to, to kind of break through all of the noise. Right. Um, 

[00:23:06] Shane Kehl: And I think that also 

[00:23:07] Mickey Baines: just, you know, any secret shopping effort Yeah.

[00:23:10] Of more than five institutions, you'll see the noise that's out there. And it's not like someone's inquiring to two institutions. They're inquiring to many. Yeah. And they're also getting hit by. The schools that are buying lists, which are eight out of 10 mm-hmm. , um, to start promoting stuff. Yeah. And so to break through the noise, I think that's really important.

[00:23:31] Shane Kehl: And I think as you're saying too, some of the, the more maybe application focused, the, the trying to get, you know, that your most qualified perspective students to be able to structure their application in a way that best showcases themselves. You're, you're, they might write something. is great, but not aligned with maybe what you're looking for as an institution, but they do have a version of a response that you want, and that is you and you.

[00:23:59] You're almost [00:24:00] giving them a little bit of guidance of here's kind of what we're looking for. We want somebody with personality. If you just write some really great technical piece and we're like, oh, this person sounds really smart, right? And it's like, yes, but we want people with personality. We want people that are their authentic selves in this.

[00:24:18] if you're, you know, consider yourself a funny person. Throw some jokes in your, like, we want that type of stuff. And I think encouraging people to be themselves will also allow you to better kind of pick the students that you feel like are gonna be the best fit for your institution. Um, which again, is just, that goes all the way back to, you know, when you guys are a good fit.

[00:24:36] It's just mm-hmm. for your student retention. It's great. And, and it really helps out, you know, the, the strength and health of, of your university and your, your programs and your faculty and your student body as a. . Yeah. 

[00:24:47] Mickey Baines: It, it, it, it does. Yeah. And, and again, I think when I get stuck, let's say I'm trying to come up with this video concept for top of the funnel.

[00:24:57] If, when I get stuck on that, find the [00:25:00] areas where you don't struggle. So like, coming up with those ideas in the middle of a funnel, don't be afraid to, to pivot and start there, and then that'll help give you experience and generate idea. . Mm-hmm. of other opportunities or go out and look at what other folks are doing at the top.

[00:25:16] Maybe that gives you some ideas. Don't, you know, obviously copy everything cuz you copy, you're not gonna stand out and you're gonna be just like they are, which is right. Probably like. , eight out of 10 other schools are doing the same thing. Yeah. Cause they're so similar. Um, but you know, when I get stuck on that type of idea, let's find another idea that will work and then just play with that.

[00:25:35] Just to help kind of keep branching off, take a step further to get to that idea point where you need to have, uh, and usually I can figure, you know, for myself, I just gimme a half a day to like, sit down and really think through that and I'll figure it out. Mm-hmm. , if you don't force it, if you don't love the idea, don't necessarily just.

[00:25:51] and don't give yourself 30 minutes to think it through. Yeah. Um, because then you're gonna shortchange the outcome that you want from it. Right. 

[00:25:58] Shane Kehl: Okay. So let's [00:26:00] say video is, is made you decided on your, your topic. Um, what are some important things to think about in the marketing and promotion of this video?

[00:26:12] One that kind, it just popped into my head as you were talking about the, uh, the ESPN commercials and, you know, , they often, I've seen a million of 'em. I feel like it's almost always a direct kind of like visit our homepage type of url. Yeah. Where I'm like, how are you measuring, how do you know who's coming from this ad to your home page?

[00:26:33] Like, that seems like the worst tracking system ever. How are you understanding any of that versus some type of, you know, very specific vanity URL that then, you know, redirects you, you're tracking the exact number of people thinking about. Like that. What are some other things to maybe keep in mind, um, as you begin, you know, putting it on your website, going out to social, what are things to, just to think about, to make sure that you are able to measure the value of this video?

[00:26:59] I think what's [00:27:00] intimidating for some people is thinking we have 20 grand and we're throwing it into creating a kick ass video, and we love the video. Yeah, but how are we gonna measure whether that video is successful or not? What are, what are some maybe tips and tricks to make sure you're at least getting the bare minimum kind of ROI level understanding of, of your video?

[00:27:19] Mickey Baines: Well, I think the, the, the key is, you know, where is it placed in this, in the, in the funnel piece. if it's at the top, you can't be looking how many students you enroll from the video because Right. That's not what that video is doing. That video is drawing people into something. Um, and, and if it's truly a brand video, then going to the homepage is not, you know, you're, you're, I don't know how you, you don't measure brand efforts versus conversion or tactical efforts.

[00:27:47] Right. Um, and so, Yeah, you might send 'em to the, to the homepage. That's the most natural place to send them. And you're just, that's gonna be just a piece that you're not necessarily measuring. And, um, probably are still like 60% of the schools cause they're just [00:28:00] not measuring that, that piece, especially at a large institution.

[00:28:02] Mm-hmm. , you know, if it is a something in the midst of that funnel, then of course then in, then those vendored URLs become, begin to be more important. But then it's not just vendor URLs, you know, what do we have from a portal perspective? If they've already begun an application, are we getting 'em to a portal and are we looking at those portal efforts they have in there?

[00:28:20] Because then that video might drive 'em to another. Component that's inside the portal. Take this action. You can see how many people are taking that action. How are you getting it to them? Is it, you know, are we doing this through social, are we doing it through sms? Is it just, is it a video that you maybe post only in the portal?

[00:28:36] You know, those types of things. Um, and then you kind of just look and I'm, I'm, I'm looking at who took that action. You know, when it's tactical, I want an action. . Um, it might be giving me a transcript, it might be applying and, and doing that. Maybe they start application, but they're not give the essay, you know, and I'm doing this, you know, funny essays and that's where I'm kind of delivering in it at that moment.[00:29:00] 

[00:29:00] Uh, and then I'm doing that. And then, you know, if I'm looking at taking an action and taking action, how much time do I want to give them to take an action? Yeah. Um, and doing that. So, but, you know, before I deploy it, I want to know the measurement first. Right? So that, when. Plan on how to deploy it, we can ensure that we're able to measure those things.

[00:29:19] Yeah. If we're just saying, yeah, we're gonna measure that, it's gonna deploy it. Yeah, we're gonna measure it. The people that are helping you deploy it, because you're likely not doing it all yourself, may not be thinking about the same way. And so they're not tracking it in that way, or they're not planning on you trying to track it that way, or that you wanna be able to understand a certain piece of that.

[00:29:34] So being on that same page and the same definition of we are gonna track it, what does that mean? How we're gonna do it? Who's gonna see it? All that needs to be define. So that when you're ready to deploy, you have that information out your hands and you don't have to then go try to, you know, put together 14 reports that you combine together.

[00:29:49] Try to figure it out, or you just have to say, we just don't know. Yeah. 

[00:29:53] Shane Kehl: And I think another thing to keep in mind too is as you're thinking about deployment, like I thinking about this as you mentioned, SMS is, um, [00:30:00] you know, through the various platforms, social, sms, whatever it might be, you have your different dimensions that are be, like, if you're saying an sms, it should be a vertical video.

[00:30:08] If you're on Instagram, it should be square, you know, and thinking about. The, you know, dimensions of your video and making sure, especially if you're outsourcing, because you can't come back to 'em and be like, Hey, by the way, can we get, they're gonna be like, no, we've moved on to the next project, or That's gonna be another blah, blah, blah, a thousand dollars, and making sure that you have your deployment plan as you're going through those editing phases so that you can understand.

[00:30:32] Okay, great. Here's what we need from the editor in order to be able to deploy these things in the most effective way and how again, we're, we're reaching this perspective student, this applicant, whatever it might be. That's an 

[00:30:42] Mickey Baines: excellent point. When you think about size and dimension. Mm-hmm. , your marketer's gonna think of those things.

[00:30:49] The internal admissions folks may or may not think of 'em the same way. Yeah. So think about, and also the length. Yep. You know, if it's 10 seconds, 30 seconds, two minutes. [00:31:00] five minutes, which platform, which length, which dimensions for each platform. Right. You know, and then do they take you to a page? Does they take you back to YouTube?

[00:31:12] You know, where, wherever it's gonna take you, TikTok, wherever. Mm-hmm. , you know? But I think all of those kind of play in, and that's where when you, when you think about gathering the video, doing the recording piece, that you also know when you're recording. This is how it's gonna be used, the various ways we want to be able to use it.

[00:31:28] Now you might record it and come out because I have, you know, let's be real. I've recorded some videos out there that. It to be used in every channel I wanted. Yeah. Um, I've had some that I recorded that I was able to get what I wanted for the audio commercial, but I couldn't get a TV spot of it because I had to butcher the audio in such a way to get it recorded that the video wasn't kind of worked that way.

[00:31:47] Mm-hmm. . Um, and so I had a longer video, but I couldn't use a TV spot on that particular one. Um, and, and when you, so when you think about, this is our one video, I need this to be able to get out on. [00:32:00] I need it to be out on, probably not TikTok and LinkedIn, but let's just say LinkedIn. Sure. And I want to get something on YouTube.

[00:32:07] Now you're starting to think about the cl, the link of the clips that you might be able to have. Right. And how it needs to be pulled together. To do that, that needs to be in mind. And whoever's responsible for the direct direction of it, um, needs to know that as well, so that they're capturing enough, right.

[00:32:22] In a particular way to capture it. Those all need to be defined. That's the same thing with. . Mm-hmm. , where it's gonna play also has an impact on what it is you're gonna try to measure. Um, where they're gonna link to all that has some impact. And so tracking that down, what type of UTM and we collecting on this, that has to be in there and, and planned out accordingly.

[00:32:43] Shane Kehl: Yeah. And I think that all loops back again, when you're thinking about your content strategy and, you know, what are we talking about? Why are we talking about it? How, what format are we talking about it in a, a conversation, an interview where we're just filming the. person being interviewed, how, how are we structuring all this?

[00:32:59] You're [00:33:00] supposed to be thinking about all these things ahead of time, so that ideally it's, it's more of a plug and play for your editor rather than, oh, actually we want this. And it's like, well, we don't have any. 15 second snippets for you to use for this ad format. Um, we, you know, we can't, there we would be cutting somebody off in the middle of a sentence.

[00:33:16] Everything was too long. We never tried to structure it that way. And then you run into all these problems after that you thought were gonna be a breeze or that, you know, in the video editing process, they're just magicians that can make anything work and any time, you know, constraint. And that's always tricky.

[00:33:28] So yeah, I think it all comes back to that initial content strategy and planning and really making. You have a full understanding of the deployment and as you were mentioning, getting the right people in the room, marketing versus admissions, you're gonna think about the video differently and um, really coming together and thinking, you know, how best can we.

[00:33:45] Leverage this for, for both sides. Um, you know, and thinking about, you know, the video people and what they need for, for success and that's a bigger meeting, but video done well is not easy, otherwise everybody would be doing it. And so yes, it's the kind of, the importance of it's intimidating in [00:34:00] everybody.

[00:34:00] Mickey Baines: All these factors if you haven't done them before, right? It's an intimidating thing. Uh, it's why. Third party, uh, folks exist because they, they do it regularly and it's not as intimidating and they can bring forward the ideas and the direction and they can bring through the idea that the content needs to be used in these different channels.

[00:34:17] They begin to understand that, um, . And that also, of course, then brings with it a cost. Um, that increases, that limits you from two videos or three videos to one. Right. Uh, but you know, there's, there's viable experience that comes with that, that helps you in that roi. Mm-hmm. . So, uh, yeah. And I think that's doing it without 

[00:34:36] Shane Kehl: that in month.

[00:34:37] Yeah, a really good point of, of how do you maybe hire for your first video? Outsource it. Yeah. Um, and try and learn everything you can. How, what process are they making you go through to order to, you know, create these videos and how are they structuring things? And then just kind of pull all that information as you're going through it and, and store it so that ideally then you can.

[00:34:55] you know, at the very worst you're freelancing, uh, a videographer or an editor [00:35:00] if you don't have one on staff, but you're able to kind of manage the content strategy and the, the planning and all that other stuff that's mm-hmm. , you know, some of the more intimidating stuff if you haven't done before, as you said.

[00:35:08] I think that's, that's a really great point. That's video in a 34 minute nutshell. Mickey, what other things are you working on? Do you have, coming up, I think, you know, starting to talk a little bit more. , you and your, your professional experiences and you know, having gone through all these things, what are other things?

[00:35:25] How should people stay up to date in, in the latest Mickey? 

[00:35:31] Mickey Baines: Uh, well, you know, I've got a, a second podcast. We have on a roll, offi, CRM improv, Jamie Gleason, one of your colleagues there. Uh, as, as my co-host, we talk all things higher ed crm, whether it's admissions, enrollment, student success, ways of Grow. We, we have two episodes that just dropped, um, recently.

[00:35:49] Uh, it's a two-parter. The real question we're trying to ask is, when you think about crm, do you want a single platform that has everything or you want a platform where you plug all the other tools in for [00:36:00] your different types of functionality? Mm-hmm. , uh, part one, we bring in a friend of mine, Lynn Lipkin.

[00:36:04] Um, I've known Lynn for. Almost 20 years at this point. Um, Lynn, um, used to be with Ellucian many, many years ago, uh, when I was still in the higher ed. Um, he came on campus to help us implement ssis. S He and I have stayed in, in, uh, close contact over the years, but from that kind of c i o type perspective, what is his thoughts on it?

[00:36:24] And then we brought in. Uh, another, uh, friend of mine, um, Terraceta sas, Dr. Sas, who's a VP of enrollment and student, uh, affairs, uh, at a community college down in Virginia. She talked from her perspective on it. Um, she has a great vision for what C R M Technology does to support her team as they engage prospective and current students, uh, to get that so, We had a lot of fun.

[00:36:50] Two different episodes. It was just too much to put into one, so we separated it out. Uh, and I think that's a really good perspective to have. Um, very cool. I will also say, you know, in terms of what, what I'm, what's on my [00:37:00] mind, um, and this kind of blends between recruitment, admissions, enrollment management, strategies and tactics.

[00:37:07] And with c, crm, you know, is data. Um, yeah. Zero party data, first party. , you know, what do we have? What are we using? Um, what are we, what do we have that we're not using? What sh don't we have that we could be using, and how do we begin getting it? You know, as you, as you think about being more tactical and getting advanced in your, in your strategies and tactics, which then also, by the way, does require more technology to do that.

[00:37:32] Mm-hmm. . In order for technology to do that, you need data. And that is really on my mind, this. Um, and so looking at what data we don't have that we need, how are we gonna get it? When are we gonna collect it? What is the means with which we're gonna collect it? All those are questions. You know, we're talking about planning for video and all these components.

[00:37:49] When you think about trying to be more segmented in your, in your efforts, uh, and, and more personalized in your efforts, that requires data to get to that point, to make it relevant, to make it personalized, to a, [00:38:00] to, to you as a prospective student. And so, , you know, thinking about that. That's, that's really on my mind, uh, right now.

[00:38:06] Yeah. Um, that's gonna be something I wanna talk about a lot over the next year. I mean, I've got several conference presentations. Well, I've done a webinar already on it this year. I've got a couple of the twists and turns on this topic coming up probably in the spring. Um, I've got a virtual conference I'm presenting in a couple of weeks.

[00:38:22] We'll talk a little bit about it. And then I've got two other conferences, um, in-person conferences, one in Texas and one in New York later on in April, where we, we'll be talking about it more. So it's, I. , think of a reason not to be thinking about that . Um, yeah. From a World Ranch perspective, when you think about how you do a better job and, you know, you're, we're losing data as you know, as you go, admissions optional, fewer students taking tests, things that you can get through third party data is starting to be reduced.

[00:38:48] Um, and, uh, and we need to find other ways to get data so we better understand where our prospects are. And, and that's really one of my 

[00:38:54] Shane Kehl: focal points from here. Yeah. That's awesome. Sounds like there can be no shortage of a Mickey sourced [00:39:00] content in, uh, in 2023. Yeah, it's. Yep. Awesome. Well, thank you all for listening, uh, to episode 61 of Fanatical Fridays.

[00:39:09] Um, we'll hopefully see for you in two weeks. Two weeks. All righty. Thanks all for listening. Have a good one. Yep.

[00:39:31] Zach Busekrus: Hey all, Zach from Enrollify here. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Fanatical Fridays with Mickey Baines. If you like this episode, do us a huge favor and hit that follow and subscribe button below. Furthermore, if you've got just two minutes to spare, we would greatly appreciate you leaving a rating and a review of this show on Apple Podcast.

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