In moving into a more strategic role, I’ve seemed to have stumbled upon an issue I’d not previously thought of: many people define things differently. How can you measure without a complete understanding of what each term you’re measuring if people are not all on the same page?
Prospects. Leads. Inquiries. Visits. Applicants. Accepts. Enrolled. All of these need to be defined and agreed upon across the board. Only then can you assign values to each of these to begin to measure the return on investment of your marketing tactics.
The industry defines these terms differently. Institutions define them specifically. Regardless of what you prescribe to, its important to be sure that internally anyone using them uses them consistently.
