GDA Integrated Services was conceived out of the need for increased integration of the marketing efforts made by colleges. We have always believed the strongest marketing strategies are founded on research. Our goal in forming GDA Integrated Services is to bring market research together with years of administrative experience in higher education to create a unified, comprehensive marketing effort.
With this in mind, we have integrated a number our communications services with prospective students together as Direct Communication. From the initial student search effort to the application stage to enrollment, all of our market research demonstrates that prospective students want and expect personalized and customized contact with colleges. Direct Communication ties all the elements of mass communication with the advantages of one-on-one communication. It brings the best strengths of the print world together with the new digital medium. It is not a quick fix or silver bullet solution (we feel there is no silver bullet out there); direct communication is a strategy that is customized to each individual institution that helps colleges and prospective students learn about each other to see if they are a good match.
Direct Communication has many component parts. Our expertise lies in determining how and when these services will come together to most effectively recruit prospective students.
Direct Mail and Broadcast E-mail
Technology is changing the way in which prospective students choose to communicate with colleges. One of the strongest indicators of this is the recent decision by the College Board, NRCCUA, CBSS, and other list providers to make e-mail addresses available. We can help you determine a search strategy that involves both broadcast e-mail and traditional direct mail.
GDAIS Direct Mail and Broadcast E-mail go well beyond the traditional services of a fulfillment shop. Our approach to both is distinctive – we strive to generate inquiries who are more likely to apply and enroll rather than simply attracting thousands of “soft” inquiries that cost a great deal of time and money to service. Through list selection, audience segmentation, and copywriting, we’ll maximize your search program to deliver targeted messages to your most likely prospects using whichever method students prefer.
Our distinctions include:
Research-Based Letters and E-mails
GDA Integrated Services surveys approximately 10,000 college-bound students each year. Much of the focus of this research is on the kinds of information and communication students want from colleges. With this information, we can help you target messages to specific groups of students.Professional, Targeted Copywriting
Our talented copywriters can assist with the development of your direct mail letter and broadcast e-mail, or, if you prefer, write the entire letter. Because we focus on matriculants rather than inquiry volume, we produce letters that creatively match students’ interests and characteristics with your institution.Personalization, Customization and Variability
One of the important elements of a successful recruitment program is communicating with prospects on a personal level, from the initial search appeal to the deposit acknowledgement letter. Customization through specialized paragraphs, specific references, and postscripts is a hallmark of our letter development process.Testing
The most successful direct mail programs tend to be developed over time with extensive testing and cross testing. We encourage our clients to conduct regular tests within the context of their ongoing programs so they can measure new ideas against previous programs. We’ll help you to develop a more productive and efficient search program according to how your prospects respond best.Similarly, we offer a range of response mechanisms for broadcast e-mail messages in an electronic communication system called Dialog.
Dialog
Using e-mail and Web portal technology, Dialog establishes a personalized, long-term, one-on-one electronic communication flow with students that addresses their educational interests and answers their personal questions. The interaction benefits both students and the college: students get the customized information they need, and the school is able to track the interests of prospective students and qualify hot prospects.
How it works
We feel Dialog is one of the most effective online recruitment tools available. Using Dialog, each student creates a personalized, customized Website with content drawn from a database. Using e-mail notifications, we then follow up on a student’s interests and alert her/him when new information is posted on their personal site, giving them incentive to keep coming back. The idea is to provide students with digestible doses of information over time to slowly build their interest.The Benefits
Students like it, because it provides them with the information they want when they want it. It also allows the institution to shape the experience each student has when visiting its Website – impossible during a regular Web visit. The institution has the added advantage of capturing all the cumulative data provided by the student, which can then be used to further customize and tailor all continued contact with that student. Dialog makes full use of an institution’s existing Website, which greatly economizes its Web and technology resources. Perhaps most important, the Dialog process is highly automated, which helps conserve precious staff time.Flexibility
Because we tailor Dialog to the specific needs of each institution, Dialog can be adjusted to fit into virtually any communications plan. It can function as an auto-response mechanism for students who receive a broadcast e-mail or those students who initiate contact with in institution via the Web or e-mail. Or, Dialog can be much more comprehensive, managing the flow of electronic communication with a prospective students over the months or years that lead to his or her application and enrollment. Our team will work with the admissions office staff to create a Dialog program that best appeals to your ideal prospective students and maximizes the efforts of your staff.The Future of Recruitment
Dialog has been designed to bring the traditional prospect management communications flow of the past into the 21st Century by utilizing electronic communication, automated data management and Web technology. The college develops a customized communication flow with prospective students that encourages, tracks and records their dialog with the admissions office.Our market research tells us that the way students prefer to get their information from colleges is changing almost daily. GDAIS is the only firm that we are aware of that is looking ahead to the next generation of communication techniques and helping colleges get there with a transition strategy that doesn’t call for a double expenditure of resources. Unlike most firms, we do not insist that you buy the “whole package.” Instead we work with you in a joint effort that makes use of the talents of the people at GDAIS and the college.
For more information about Direct Communication or to see a demonstration of Dialog, please contact:
Jonathan Steele
Associate Vice President
33 Main Street, Suite F
Old Saybrook, CT 06475
860-388-3958
Email Jonathan