What Is Online Program Management?
One of higher education's most persistent challenges is finding new funding sources for research, technology and capital improvements while overall enrollment revenue and state support languish. Investments in rapidly changing online technology can be too costly and/or too complex without partners to share the costs and risks of launching new programs.
Online Program Management (OPM) partners:
Create functional transactional systems for finding and engaging prospective students
Support students, process registrations, and increase overall student retention
Develop and execute digital marketing strategies
Conduct market research and analytics
Provide the latest marketing technology infrastructure
At some institutions, hiring professionals with the innovative skills needed to promote, support and retain today's students has become a near impossible task.
Online program management teams come equipped with digital marketing experts, web developers, data analysts, education technologists and student support specialists to create a seamless process for students in any phase of the student lifecycle.
Student Lifecycle:
Recruitment:
Locating prospective students and converting them to admits requires an understanding of not only your audience but also the competitors already entrenched in the market. Some prospects search for up to two years before choosing a program. Investing in prospects for an extended period with the possibility they won't convert is financially risky without the backing of an OPM.
Retention:
To attain the full Lifetime Revenue (LTR) potential from a student, they must complete a program in its entirety. Ensuring that students return semester after semester to complete a program is much more difficult than it seems. Online program managers continually show students the value of completing a program while discovering and eliminating obstacles throughout the student lifecycle.
Alumni Engagement:
Many students complete online programs without ever setting foot on campus. This physical absence presents challenges in building loyalty and encouraging engagement in alumni groups. Through student support services and digital marketing strategies, OPMs can create personal relationships with alumni while building brand loyalty.
Why choose an OPM versus doing it yourself in-house?
It's tempting to launch an online program without outside vendors. After all, no one knows your program better than you. However, handing over the reins to an online program management company has many benefits that outweigh the risks. An established OPM can launch your online program faster, more efficiently and more successfully because of these key differentiators:
Funding:
Accelerate overall revenue growth and cash flow while only paying an OPM partner from paid enrollments.
Staffing:
Get access to the latest skills and best practices to promote and launch your programs and support your students.
Time:
Double your enrollments over a shorter timeline than current capabilities allow.
Marketing Technology (MarTech):
Why buy when you can keep up with the latest best-practice technologies used to find, engage, enroll and retain more students in your higher education programs?
Types of OPM Models
Online Program Management is a top choice for many institutions due to the different financial models available. As a hybrid OPM, Apollidon offers both a full-service, traditional revenue-share model and a fee-for-services model.
Full-Service Revenue-Share Model
To facilitate a collaborative methodology that maximizes enrollments in online and continuing education programs, Apollidon offers a full-service approach for online program management. This model provides the optimal amount of consulting, infrastructure support, marketing resources and student support services to differentiate each program offered by your institution, as well as accelerate student recruitment worldwide.
Partnered with Apollidon, your institution shares in the tuition revenue for all new students that enroll in the contracted programs. Fees for this model can either be a percentage of tuition costs or a fixed price per enrollment. Our university-partner fee structure is simple, straightforward and all-inclusive.
Fee-for-Services Model
We also offer à la carte services to match your current business needs. From market research to scaled marketing to student support services, we provide targeted services to blend with your established processes. Through a discovery process to determine the scope of the project, we will work with you to create a feasible budget.
How is your staff involved in the OPM process?
Apollidon views the OPM model as a partnership with the department and faculty. We start with our onboarding process, gathering critical information about internal and external stakeholders, program specifics, technology requirements, process workflows, student experience, and department and university variables — all vital considerations when executing successful marketing campaigns. Ultimately, this comprehensive overview helps guide our pursuit of sustainable enrollment growth.
How your personnel will be involved:
Defining the services to be outsourced
Familiarizing the Apollidon team with the program in general terms
Providing ongoing information about changes and modifications to the program (e.g., change requests to update course information)
Approving all marketing activities
Apollidon OPM Advantage
We Understand Your Market
Apollidon’s market research practices and proprietary methodologies uncover market dynamics, differentiators and pathways to attract and retain high-quality students to your programs. We continuously hone our digital marketing campaigns to ensure that the highest-quality students are contacted, connected and admitted.
We Analyze the Competition and Partner for Future Success
Apollidon utilizes proprietary methodologies to benchmark institutions, colleges, fields of study and/or specific online programs. Our Quadrant Insights allow clients to easily see their market positioning, competitive benchmarks, institution clustering and required attributes to gain leadership positioning on one comprehensive graph.
We Offer Exclusivity by Program for Our Fully Integrated Services Approach
Exclusivity by program means that we only represent one program of its kind, rather than multiple competing programs: a policy that ensures a singular focus on understanding the program’s audience and their needs, the employment landscape and job qualifications. This translates into customized marketing materials, messaging and campaign strategies for each audience.
We Customize Higher Education Platforms to Integrate With Your Systems
Apollidon has developed a modular technology platform with analytics to track both the demographics and interest of potential students in specific coursework. We tailor student relationship management (SRM) infrastructure to the specific demands of online higher education, which allows us to manage the full cycle of student information from initial interest and engagement activities through to graduation and alumni information. This infrastructure includes a scalable CRM system integrated with the latest available tools in predictive analytics, data analytics and dashboard reporting.
We Specialize in Response Management Digital Marketing
Apollidon is a team of marketing experts with years of experience in digital marketing, specializing in online undergraduate and graduate programs in higher education. We excel at understanding the DNA of these programs and highlighting differentiators, such as a professors’ background and research, their approach to teaching and the unique content their programs address. This requires a very close collaboration with program faculty, administration and admission services personnel. We have successfully focused on undergraduate and graduate degree programs that are fully online, hybrid and interdisciplinary. For example, hybrid programs use a variety of innovative solutions to include hands-on requirements (e.g., lab work, clinical experience and group discussions).
We Are Data-Driven With Strong Analytic Capability
As programs and enrollments grow, performance analytics are paramount. Creating the right set of performance metrics and data analytics with accompanying dashboards that provide accurate, real-time statuses of program progress is essential for program growth. Apollidon can assist with the implementation of data visualization tools and/or provide the dashboards and analytic services to convert data into actionable insights.
What Is Online Program Management?
One of higher education's most persistent challenges is finding new funding sources for research, technology and capital improvements while overall enrollment revenue and state support languish. Investments in rapidly changing online technology can be too costly and/or too complex without partners to share the costs and risks of launching new programs.
Online Program Management (OPM) partners:
Create functional transactional systems for finding and engaging prospective students
Support students, process registrations, and increase overall student retention
Develop and execute digital marketing strategies
Conduct market research and analytics
Provide the latest marketing technology infrastructure
At some institutions, hiring professionals with the innovative skills needed to promote, support and retain today's students has become a near impossible task.
Online program management teams come equipped with digital marketing experts, web developers, data analysts, education technologists and student support specialists to create a seamless process for students in any phase of the student lifecycle.
Student Lifecycle:
Recruitment:
Locating prospective students and converting them to admits requires an understanding of not only your audience but also the competitors already entrenched in the market. Some prospects search for up to two years before choosing a program. Investing in prospects for an extended period with the possibility they won't convert is financially risky without the backing of an OPM.
Retention:
To attain the full Lifetime Revenue (LTR) potential from a student, they must complete a program in its entirety. Ensuring that students return semester after semester to complete a program is much more difficult than it seems. Online program managers continually show students the value of completing a program while discovering and eliminating obstacles throughout the student lifecycle.
Alumni Engagement:
Many students complete online programs without ever setting foot on campus. This physical absence presents challenges in building loyalty and encouraging engagement in alumni groups. Through student support services and digital marketing strategies, OPMs can create personal relationships with alumni while building brand loyalty.
Why choose an OPM versus doing it yourself in-house?
It's tempting to launch an online program without outside vendors. After all, no one knows your program better than you. However, handing over the reins to an online program management company has many benefits that outweigh the risks. An established OPM can launch your online program faster, more efficiently and more successfully because of these key differentiators:
Funding:
Accelerate overall revenue growth and cash flow while only paying an OPM partner from paid enrollments.
Staffing:
Get access to the latest skills and best practices to promote and launch your programs and support your students.
Time:
Double your enrollments over a shorter timeline than current capabilities allow.
Marketing Technology (MarTech):
Why buy when you can keep up with the latest best-practice technologies used to find, engage, enroll and retain more students in your higher education programs?
Types of OPM Models
Online Program Management is a top choice for many institutions due to the different financial models available. As a hybrid OPM, Apollidon offers both a full-service, traditional revenue-share model and a fee-for-services model.
Full-Service Revenue-Share Model
To facilitate a collaborative methodology that maximizes enrollments in online and continuing education programs, Apollidon offers a full-service approach for online program management. This model provides the optimal amount of consulting, infrastructure support, marketing resources and student support services to differentiate each program offered by your institution, as well as accelerate student recruitment worldwide.
Partnered with Apollidon, your institution shares in the tuition revenue for all new students that enroll in the contracted programs. Fees for this model can either be a percentage of tuition costs or a fixed price per enrollment. Our university-partner fee structure is simple, straightforward and all-inclusive.
Fee-for-Services Model
We also offer à la carte services to match your current business needs. From market research to scaled marketing to student support services, we provide targeted services to blend with your established processes. Through a discovery process to determine the scope of the project, we will work with you to create a feasible budget.
How is your staff involved in the OPM process?
Apollidon views the OPM model as a partnership with the department and faculty. We start with our onboarding process, gathering critical information about internal and external stakeholders, program specifics, technology requirements, process workflows, student experience, and department and university variables — all vital considerations when executing successful marketing campaigns. Ultimately, this comprehensive overview helps guide our pursuit of sustainable enrollment growth.
How your personnel will be involved:
Defining the services to be outsourced
Familiarizing the Apollidon team with the program in general terms
Providing ongoing information about changes and modifications to the program (e.g., change requests to update course information)
Approving all marketing activities
Apollidon OPM Advantage
We Understand Your Market
Apollidon’s market research practices and proprietary methodologies uncover market dynamics, differentiators and pathways to attract and retain high-quality students to your programs. We continuously hone our digital marketing campaigns to ensure that the highest-quality students are contacted, connected and admitted.
We Analyze the Competition and Partner for Future Success
Apollidon utilizes proprietary methodologies to benchmark institutions, colleges, fields of study and/or specific online programs. Our Quadrant Insights allow clients to easily see their market positioning, competitive benchmarks, institution clustering and required attributes to gain leadership positioning on one comprehensive graph.
We Offer Exclusivity by Program for Our Fully Integrated Services Approach
Exclusivity by program means that we only represent one program of its kind, rather than multiple competing programs: a policy that ensures a singular focus on understanding the program’s audience and their needs, the employment landscape and job qualifications. This translates into customized marketing materials, messaging and campaign strategies for each audience.
We Customize Higher Education Platforms to Integrate With Your Systems
Apollidon has developed a modular technology platform with analytics to track both the demographics and interest of potential students in specific coursework. We tailor student relationship management (SRM) infrastructure to the specific demands of online higher education, which allows us to manage the full cycle of student information from initial interest and engagement activities through to graduation and alumni information. This infrastructure includes a scalable CRM system integrated with the latest available tools in predictive analytics, data analytics and dashboard reporting.
We Specialize in Response Management Digital Marketing
Apollidon is a team of marketing experts with years of experience in digital marketing, specializing in online undergraduate and graduate programs in higher education. We excel at understanding the DNA of these programs and highlighting differentiators, such as a professors’ background and research, their approach to teaching and the unique content their programs address. This requires a very close collaboration with program faculty, administration and admission services personnel. We have successfully focused on undergraduate and graduate degree programs that are fully online, hybrid and interdisciplinary. For example, hybrid programs use a variety of innovative solutions to include hands-on requirements (e.g., lab work, clinical experience and group discussions).
We Are Data-Driven With Strong Analytic Capability
As programs and enrollments grow, performance analytics are paramount. Creating the right set of performance metrics and data analytics with accompanying dashboards that provide accurate, real-time statuses of program progress is essential for program growth. Apollidon can assist with the implementation of data visualization tools and/or provide the dashboards and analytic services to convert data into actionable insights.