Silos are costing you: How to win leadership buy-in with real ROI

Any marketer working at a college knows that proving marketing initiatives’ return on investment is critical to securing influence, leadership buy-in, optimizing strategies and driving enrollment growth. Yet, many university marketing teams struggle to measure and communicate the real impact of their efforts in a way that resonates with institutional leadership. The result? Skepticism, budget cuts and missed opportunities.

This session will share Leavey School of Business’s transformation through data-driven marketing. In partnership with student-specialist marketing partner Net Natives, Leavey School of Business adopted marketing technology to unify website analytics, advertising performance and CRM data, allowing them to measure, track and report on true ROI with clarity and confidence.

At the heart of this transformation was a simple yet highly effective strategy employed by the senior assistant dean of marketing and communication at Leavey School of Business: leveraging real-time dashboards to create clear, visual reports for the provost and leadership team. These regular reports, featuring concise insights, not only demonstrated the tangible value of marketing but also helped break down silos between departments, align marketing with broader institutional goals and secure increased budgets for future growth.

You will gain insights into the key benefits of this approach, including:

• Unifying data sources — Integrate website analytics, advertising performance and CRM data to visualize real-time enrollment performance.
• Predicting future enrollments — Use data insights to track enrollment goals against inquiries, applications, and deposits and forecast future intakes.
• Optimizing ROI in real-time — Measure and compare paid and organic conversion rates to fine-tune marketing spend and increase student intake.
• Mapping the attribution journey — Understand which platforms and channels drive the most impact, ensuring the budget is allocated effectively.
• Identifying and resolving pipeline bottlenecks — Gain full visibility into enrollment funnels for each program and intake, enabling quick action to remove obstacles to student recruitment.

By presenting marketing performance in a transparent, actionable way, the Leavey School of Business’s marketing team built trust with leadership, proved the impact of their efforts and ultimately secured the resources needed to scale their initiatives. This session will provide a roadmap for other institutions looking to harness the power of data to transform their marketing strategy.

You will be inspired and equipped with practical strategies to demonstrate ROI, strengthen collaboration with leadership and unlock new growth opportunities for your institution.

Presenters

Craig Kaufman — Santa Clara University Gus Bolognesi — Net Natives Inc