We want students to see our service name (studyabroad.com) and identify its function (on-line directory). They know about the web, they know how to use it, now all they need is our address. We will be trying to make our address a universal name similar to Xerox, Rollerblade and Velcro. The focus of our ads will be simple and direct since our name is our address. Simple ads, simple message, clear and to the point.
The student campaign will utilize two print elements this fall. First and foremost will be the poster campaign which we believe to have been quite successful last year. Professional agents placed over 15,000 posters at schools in 20 states last academic year. We will be adding 8 new agents and 17 new states (NC, SC, AL, KY, MO, AR, NM, AZ, NV, OR, WA, ID, MT, WI, IL, AK and HI) this fall to our professional agent campaign. The quantity of posters will be increased to 15,000 per semester. Posters will be professionally placed in well over half of all schools nationwide.
studyabroad.com will be placing an insert into the 1 million circulation "Students Choice" college ad packs 1996 issue. Students Choice is a nationally distributed advertising medium that targets four year college students, primarily through dorm room distribution. Ad packs are delivered to the students during the "move-in" period of late August and early September. Other advertisers include Sprint and Citibank. The 1 million circulation will directly reach approximately 12% of the US four year college enrollment.
To better address our market, we have been developing a user database. It is a compilation of a number of different sources and is intended to identify International Offices and Foreign Study Advisors at schools around the country. Our database includes studyabroad.com usage statistics to help us understand the depth of interest in International Education at the individual schools. This database will help us in our efforts to promote the site to administrators as well as students. Last year we mailed media kits and posters to 500 schools nationwide, plus mouse pads to an additional 100. This year, we have created a User Guide and will offer those in our user database the option of ordering supplies at no cost (brochure stands or adhesive pockets filled with User Guides, and a new version of mouse pad).
We are also developing plans to loan computers to International Office resource centers so that students may view our site directly from the office of an advisor. Our offering will include a customized version of a web browser that will include home pages for the study abroad offices, detailing school policy and potential transfer issues. We will start accepting applications for this program in the fall and issue loaner packages beginning in the spring. This concept is still very early in the development phase as we must work with the individual schools and their procedures for donations. We believe that the loaning of a devices should keep it off the books within the schools and thus not affect budgets or allocations to the departments.
Our advertising is starting to incorporate the phrase:
One site, one hundred countries, thousands of listings, millions of hits...endless possibilities.
To brag just a little, we believe that our initial growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. We attribute the growth and success of our operation to the fact that our site is being marketed TO THE STUDENTS, the consumers of International Education. Nobody else is doing this, and thus, nobody is succeeding like studyabroad.com.
Our marketing efforts will continue to build the volume. That will drive the site. That will reward the investments our advertisers are making in us. It's a big circle, and it works!
This month we offer pieces written by Bill Hoffa and Margit Johnson. You can also access selected past articles from Transitions Abroad through the Forum. Information about subscribing to Transitions Abroad (the print version), ordering back issues and ordering Transitions Abroad publications is also available at this site.
3165 Altavista: (http://altavista.digital.com/)
2441 Webcrawler: (http://www.webcrawler.com/)
2092 Magellan: (http://magellan.mckinley.com/)
1742 Lycos: http://www.lycos.com/)
1424 Excite: (http://www.excite.com/)
1205 InfoSeek:
(http://guide.infoseek.com/)
852 Yahoo: (http://www.yahoo.com/)
In addition to just indexing millions (in some cases 10s of millions) of web pages, many of the search sites now offer reviews or lists of "Select Sites." Only a small percentage of web sites are ever reveiwed or placed on these lists, so we are proud to included on a number of them. Check these out:
The winner is Tokyo International University of America. The listings were submitted by Loren Waller. Tokyo International offers English Language, American Studies, and TOEFL courses in Salem, Oregon.
And as a new budget year begins for many of you, now is the time to consider setting up your advertising plan with studyabroad.com. Please call Mark Shay or Mark Landon to discuss the services which are most appropiate for you.
(610) 364-0400
http://www.studyabroad.com
