List purchasing from test-providers serves as one of the biggest investments an institution makes each cycle — so it’s critical to take an informed, measured approach. Amanda Gearhart, Director of Audience Strategy for Two Ocean Marketing Services powered by MARKETview, manages these sizable investments on behalf of several prominent institutions. In this blog, she outlines how real-time, comparative data uncovers the greatest areas of opportunity while also monitoring list performance in real time.
MARKETview’s ability to identify the student metrics that matter most to an institution’s goals — referred to as “Critical Elements” — serves as the backbone of Gearhart’s list-building process with the Two Ocean team. These key data points help guide the initial name selections and play an invaluable role in verifying the potential ROI of each list. Gearhart explained how this advanced insight shapes the selection process.
“I’m using Critical Elements to look at an institution’s funnel and pinpoint what it needs to look like to meet their goals. Then I make a recommendation for that future buy based on those areas of opportunity identified. MARKETview data can help you know when it’s appropriate to shift course.”
– Amanda Gearhart
Being able to verify the efficacy of names before purchasing gives institutions greater confidence in making those big investments, knowing that they’re likely to move the needle towards their enrollment and revenue goals. By infusing their decision-making with advanced MARKETview data, Two Ocean is uniquely positioned to make these informed buys. Gearhart shared an example of how accurate market data can help reorient strategy towards the students who are most important to an institution’s goals.
“If we know a school has a desire to reach a certain population of out-of-state students, and the data suggests they need affluence among that population to meet their goals, I can take a closer look at the consumer incomes of out-of-state zip codes. If they aren’t largely comprised of those students, then I know we need to rework something. We don’t want that highest-level strategy to be pointed at the wrong students.”
– Amanda Gearhart
Additionally, using MARKETview’s innovative Prospect View data, Gearhart’s team can see how student populations are shrinking or growing further up funnel than ever before. They’re able to use that insight to better understand where the student landscape is headed and help shape each institution’s list building strategy around that. Gearhart put the importance of early-funnel insight in very plain terms.
“If you don’t have the right students at the very start, you’re unlikely to get the right students at the very end.”
– Amanda Gearhart
With the advanced context from MARKETview, the Two Ocean team can build lists with the foresight and confidence required to meet the incredibly important goals of the institutions they support. Powering their decision making with more advanced data is what enables their team to help institutions reach students more effectively and build their ideal class.
Two Ocean is a comprehensive enrollment marketing partner powered by MARKETview — higher ed’s only real-time, comparative data set. If you want to ensure you receive maximum impact from your list purchasing, reach out to our team so we can chat.