Up to $10 per piece! That’s how much a direct mail package, written, designed, printed, posted, using targeted mailing lists to prospective students (or their parents/guardians), can cost these days. Yes, that figure is wildly expensive, but for most institutions, the cost associated with direct mail are probably closer to $1 per piece or less… [1]
But nevertheless, the price to create and distribute a direct mail piece has risen dramatically over the years, while ROI hasn’t seemed to keep pace. And for the EDU marketing space, this – along with another issue we’ll cover in just a second- has become an expensive problem.
Now, direct mail is indeed a powerful marketing tool, and one that your school should consider using if it’s not already, as traditionally, it works. It works quite well, in fact, when the copy is on point, it speaks to the desires of the prospective student, and the data targeting is excellent.
However, the “other issue” we just mentioned is precisely what may be causing direct mail ROI to greatly suffer… making the real costs of direct mail much higher. That other issue? The data.
You see, the problem we’re seeing now is that some targeted mailing lists are, well, not that well targeted.
For example, and this actually just happened, my 10th grade son came to me late Tuesday afternoon with a massive smile on his face. He said, “Dad, I’m going to play football at (SEC Powerhouse University)!”
I thought he was just joking around until he handed me a direct mail piece from the school. In the piece, the Powerhouse SEC school did indeed invite him to enroll there with the opportunity to try out for the football team as a walk-on.
Huh?
He’s 5’9” and 120lbs. Oh, and he’s never played organized football in his life… and has no desire to. That smile on his face was one of pure sarcasm.
This left me wondering how many completely mis-targeted direct mail pieces this one school in particular sent out… and how much money they wasted. If every 5’9” 10th grader in our state received the same letter… we’re talking tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars out the window.
Now, we clearly can’t blame the school. They most likely outsourced the mailing lists, the creative copy, and everything else, as cheaply as possible… to a company that’s throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.
However, we (and the school) can blame the company that’s trying to “see what sticks” for the silly letter we received. Their data targeting was, at least in this case, god-awful.
But it’s not just direct mail where we’re seeing mis-targeting and waste.
This year alone, nearly $600 billion will be spent on digital advertising. And by 2032, just 7 or so short years from now, that figure is expected to surpass $1.25 trillion.[2]
But as more and more advertisers flood the digital marketplace with nonstop messaging and a seemingly endless supply of cash to burn, grabbing the eyeballs of today’s prospective students has become far more difficult than it used to be. Even if the targeting is dead on.
For example, a few years back, your school could have been running targeted Google Ads campaigns and been receiving clicks for about 10-20 cents apiece. Today, that same click costs an average of $4.10.[3]
That’s a 4,000% increase in CPC. Clearly, there has to be a better way…
And we, Conversion Media Group, believe there is.
In fact, our clients can attest to it, as our methodology doesn’t use the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach. And we don’t send letters to 120lb 10th graders inviting them to join the university football team.
You see, we are digital marketers, and the owners and operators of US based, EDU-focused contact centers. We primarily procure new student leads for online colleges and trade schools and focus our efforts on adult learners (not 10th graders).
We conduct inbound and outbound phone calls, send outbound SMS text, conduct instant chat, video chat, do full social media contact, email contact, lead generation, and lead nurturing.
As a result of our expertise, and this is where the opportunity for you is, we can produce what are called live transfer leads.
Live transfer leads are people we’ve gotten to know through various contact points, nurtured them and actually speak with them on the telephone. Yes, on the telephone, getting to know them on a more human level.
Now, once a prospective student indicates they’re interested in what your school has to offer, we can transfer the call, in real-time, directly to your enrollment department. It doesn’t get any more targeted than this.
So, if you’re looking to generate new students for your online college, trade, or vocational school…
Then partnering with Conversion Media Group should be at the top of 2025’s to-do list.
Simply give us a call (we love real conversation) at: 1 (800) 419-3201.
Or you can click HERE for other ways to contact us.
[1] How Much Does Direct Mail Marketing Cost? – PostGrid
[2] Digital Ad Spending Market Size to Hit USD 1,367 Bn by 2033
[3] Google Ads Benchmarks 2024 by Industry [Original & Latest data]