International Alumni Programs: University of Miami

After years of understanding the benefits of strong alumni relations, but not having the resources to implement such a program, we decided to partner with a well-known web development/marketing company last year to help accomplish our long-standing goals. Since moving forward, we’ve been able to build a strong Alumni database, as well as an Ambassador program to help market our program, without using too much of our limited resources.

Alumni Network

Web-based Database

We decided that the core of our alumni relations’ strategy should center on a database that was easy to access, manage and use to contact alumni. It made sense to build a web-based system that was accessible through our Web site and allowed alumni to update their own contact information. Keeping administrators from having to input data saves valuable time they can spend on other tasks.

Networking Ability

The next step in the process was to allow alumni to contact other alumni from the program through the database. By giving users the ability to search for other past students based on name, graduation date and country, they are able to network, both socially and professionally. The most valuable component of this feature is that past students have an incentive to keep their contact information up-to-date, which can then be leveraged by our program to use for alumni newsletters and information we want sent to them.

Database Population

One of the biggest challenges involved in building our alumni database has been initial data collection. To solve this problem, we will institute a simple process that will facilitate registering in the database. Before students complete their program, we will use our Media Center as part of our exit strategy. Students are instructed to sit down in front of a computer, go to our Web site and set up a profile. This gets them familiar with the database and its capabilities, as well as keeps our administrators from having to enter the information.

Marketing Benefits

Alumni Newsletters

One of the major benefits of an alumni newsletter is to promote word-of-mouth referrals, which is the number one way students find out about our program. In every newsletter we send, we encourage past students to tell their friends and family about us, as well as clearly state upcoming starting dates and promotions. Another great benefit is the ability to announce upcoming recruiting fairs in other countries and ask alumni to join us at the booth in an effort to better showcase the program.

Alumni Ambassadors

We have always known that current and past students are our most powerful marketers. Our web-based system showcases specific students who’ve volunteered to answer questions about the program and give prospects a more personable feel. Prospects can come to our site, select a past student based on geographical location and instantly send an email, asking about their personal experience. We’re copied on these emails to ensure professional responses, as well as check usage of the system.

We want to minimize resources so we feel it’s essential that marketing of the Alumni Network happen while students are enrolled in classes. Making sure that they are not only aware of the database, but also signed up on it before they leave the school. This is a very important component so that the system functions well.

Summary

We are very pleased with the system our outside vendor has built and feel it has benefited our program. We now have a solution in place that brings us much closer to our goals for alumni relations and increasing word-of-mouth referrals.