Just finished writing up my presentation description for the Stamats Conference. I don’t mind saying that I had a really hard time wrapping my head around this one - not that I feel uncomfortable discussing technology implementation or tracking for ROI. Rather, I think that fitting it all in one presentation and giving really practical, usable advice to your audience is difficult at best. However, I’ve come up with a framework that I think is going to make for a really good presentation….it may even be a bit more fun than people will expect (Let’s be honest - ROI is not sexy. Hence why it’s usually overlooked).

So here it is:

Begin With the End in Mind: Implementing Technology with an Eye on ROI

We’ve reached a point where most universities understand that interactive technologies are beneficial in marketing their institution to prospective students, alumni, the media and internal audiences. But many don’t go beyond a year-end report in assessing the results of their strategies. The real potential of using technologies as a component of your marketing mix is in your ability to track ROI in real time and adjust your tactics as a result of that tracking.

So, what does success look like and how do you measure it from the get-go? What is a blog view worth to your organization? A click through on a link in an email? A post on a message board? A visit to your site as a result of a Facebook ad? How do you calculate ROI for user actions that don’t have a price tag attached? This presentation will seek to answer these questions and more. It will cover the following areas:

-Setting up tracking methods and measurable goals during implementation instead of after-the-fact
-Integrating Google Analytics with your technologies to taking tracking to the next level
-Assigning monetary value to metrics to take your success beyond anecdotal evidence to hard numbers
-Relating results back to the business goals of your organization to illustrate ROI to your higher ups