Last fall, William Jewell College announced that tuition would be reduced by 45%, from $33,500 to $18,360 per year. This decision was made, in part, to show prospective students that Jewell was both affordable and accessible.

Jewell’s marketing team increasingly focused on this tuition decrease in recent advertisement campaigns targeted toward prospective students. The advertisements from the College – which can be seen across a variety of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram – focus on the tuition decrease, new programs at Jewell and the quality of a Jewell education.

When determining the topic of advertisements, the marketing team aims to display programs that Jewell wants to grow and display the majors that are in high demand.

“Once we have developed our messages, we use the platform that best targets the intended demographic,” said Eric Blair, vice president of enrollment and marketing at Jewell. “Our media buyers then use analytics, trends and even predictive modeling to advise us on best practices for the messaging that will yield the best click-through rates, opens, engagement, shares, etc. We analyze performance and can make changes accordingly. We also use the recruitment cycle for determining advertisement content and placement. Early in the school year, we entice campus visits, then move to apply and deposit for seniors with general college messages to sophomores and junior inquiries.”

Overall, the marketing department wants each advertisement to reflect the brand of Jewell as The Critical Thinking College. The branding of Jewell as a critical thinking institute is embedded within all media produced by the College.

However, each advertisement might focus on a different topic or theme. For example, current video advertisements produced by William Jewell focus on the new women’s wrestling program and tuition decrease.

“Because most ads are delivered in short-term consumption mediums – billboards, digital ads, 15-30 second videos – messaging focuses on a differentiator – the change in tuition, new women’s wrestling program, no ACT/SAT required –and the graphic design or logos will support the underlying brand,” Blair said. “Our direct mail and email campaigns used to nurture interest is where we take a prospective student on the deeper brand journey and what it means when we refer to Jewell as The Critical Thinking College.”

In Jewell’s current advertisement campaign, there is a notable focus on marketing Jewell as an affordable, private education.

In a photo campaign that appears on Facebook and Instagram, advertisements feature pictures of various student activities with captions that include “Give your student access to a world-class private education” and “The world-class private education your student dreamed of, but never believed was within reach ̶̶ now $18,360/yr.”

“Ads this academic year are focusing on affordability, opportunities and accessibility [and] equity,” Blair said. “These include several topics, such as Jewell’s new wrestling and powerlifting programs, the Oxbridge Honors Program, tuition cost, holistic admission, the value of a private education, three-year degree options and critical thinking. In focus groups and ad engagement, we’ve seen the most interest in messages of cost [and] no ACT/SAT admission requirement.”

In this particular advertisement campaign, there is just one stock image being used while all other images are of Jewell students. This stock image features two Black women laughing against a plain backdrop.

The image can be found on Unsplash – a site where users can download stock photos that are copyright-free. Though this advertisement campaign uses a stock image, the marketing team prefers to use images of real students when possible.

“We always prefer images of our own students when possible,” Blair said. “In this campaign, we used one stock photo. This particular ad was used primarily on Facebook and targeting adults 40-65 in addition to our typical high school audience. The intent is to convey visually where the students are at the current moment – in high school – and the copy asks the viewer to ponder the future. By using a photo that is not of Jewell students it leaves the mind open to what could be rather than what is. There will be other times in the future when we use stock photos for wholly pragmatic purposes as well. We take a lot of photos of students each year but there may be a need for a specific setting, with a particular demographic of student in mind that also conveys the right mood that we just don’t have to work with. In those instances, we will acquire a stock photo or change our strategy.”

Jewell students might notice a Jewell advertisement in their Snapchat and TikTok feeds this year. The marketing team has begun to expand its use of social media platforms beyond Facebook and Instagram to reach prospective students. Sites such as Snapchat and TikTok are generally used more by a younger audience pool, between the ages of 15 and 25. 

“You have to find your audience where they are, and prospective students like Snapchat and TikTok,” Blair said. “Of all social platforms, Snapchat yielded the largest number of form submissions. Our videos on YouTube also have performed well. The women’s wrestling ad has done very well on Snapchat and TikTok in terms of views and swipe-ups. We’re very excited to continue to leverage these social outlets in the future and build a stronger Snapchat and TikTok presence.”

Marketing materials produced throughout the Brand Mission include billboards, posters, a website redesign, a Brand book and email signatures. The intention of these products is to advertise and promote Jewell to the wider Kansas City community.

Throughout this campaign, marketing materials have been designed and managed by Barkley, a large design and marketing firm located in downtown Kansas City.

Jason Parks, Earned Value Professional and Managing Director at Barkley, said that the firm has used the data collected to clarify the Brand Mission message and how best to apply it. This was a multi-step process, including marketing and action oriented phases.

Page from the Brand book

“The first thing we did was we created a brand book that brought to life what this brand is,” said Parks. “Then we’re also creating collateral materials for college fairs and when prospective students tour Jewell. All the collateral that’s provided is sort of bringing the idea to life, so we’ve provided that. The first big activation was the escape room tournament among all the high schools in the area, that was our idea and we executed that. From the social media perspective, we’re partnering with Cara [Dahlor, Director of Communications], and the team there at Jewell. So, we’re providing guidance for that, for the big topic areas. There’s some staff at Jewell that does kind of the daily stuff and we’re working with them on that. Then, we’re also responsible for a complete website redevelopment.”

According to John Dobson, account supervisor at Barkley, the redesign of jewell.edu will be complete this February. Statistics obtained regarding site usage will be used to gauge the response to the new look and identify what appeals to users.

“Information will be gathered from website visitors in a few ways. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are two free tools that are often utilized to monitor a number of data points including page views, traffic source, time spent on site, among others. These tools integrate with paid search and display banner ad campaigns, such as student recruitment advertising, in order to track the effectiveness of messaging and targeting,” said Dobson.

While website analysis will allow for the marketing material’s reception to be assessed, the initial materials distributed have been constructed based on data aggregated about Jewell by Kurt Bartolich, Founder and Brand Internalist at Gutsbranding.

Over a period of 12 months, fall 2016 to the present, Bartolich has surveyed approximately 2,500 individuals to assess Jewell’s climate and identify strengths and weaknesses. This process has generated approximately 26,875 pieces of data, which have been used to inform the marketing materials Barkley produced. Of these data points, 1,063 were qualitative and 25,822 were quantitative.

The number of data points collected is calculated by multiplying the number of interviewees by the number of answers they provided.

The most comprehensive piece of marketing material is the Brand book. Initial designs and drafts of this book were created in August and a final version was released to faculty this October. This book is 34 pages long and contains images, key words and slogans, which have been used to inform all subsequent marketing material that Jewell has released. This book also features alumni and their accomplishments, including those of Trevor Nicks, Marqus Moye, Conner Hazelrigg and Daniel Belcher.

Page from the Brand book

Representatives from Barkley are pleased with the reception of the Brand book.

“We’ve only heard very positive things… it’s been a hit with everyone. The feedback we’ve received has been very positive,” said Parks.

“The response to the brand book has been one of excitement and optimism,” said Dobson.

Bartolich has also been pleased with the progress of the Brand Mission. Commenting on the Net Promotor Score (NPS) values, which have had slower than expected growth, he asserted that any positive growth is a good sign and that it is not uncommon for change to occur slowly.

“When we say change we can’t expect revolution, we can only expect evolution,” said Bartolich.

Over the past 12 months the average NPS for Jewell across all student groups has increased from -13 percent to +2 percent.

Bartolich does not believe that these scores are reason for alarm and thinks that they may reflect the critical thinking of Jewell students. He commented this attitude meant gathering data at Jewell was particularly enlightening.

“[The] passion of students, their forthrightness, their candor. I never once felt like I wasn’t getting their truth, about the campus, their environment,” said Bartolich. “Students will tell you what they really think and believe. I think that’s, in part, the kinds of people who go to Jewell, and it’s the way you engage in your classrooms and I think it’s also the expectation to critically think.”

Overall, those involved are pleased with the progress of the Brand Mission and will continue to promote Jewell using Barkley’s marketing materials.

“The goal really is to help make Jewell famous,” said Parks.

Photos by Sofia Arthurs-Schoppe.