Client Feedback Details
Gray Helps a Local State University Better Serve its Community's Needs
Recently, our client, the Chief Marketing Officer of Extended Campuses at a local state University had to make critical decisions for a campus in a small community. She needed to find programs that would best meet the needs of the community and its employers, today and in the future. The University had lots of ideas and opinions about which programs would best serve the community. However, despite limited funding, she was determined to find a data-driven, systematic approach to evaluate all the options for current and new programs. She reached out to Gray Associates for help.
Working with Gray she learned, “We could have been headed in a different direction without the data Gray provided. Some of the programs we favored were probably not viable,” explains the CMO. “We had access to all of the normal sources of data (BLS and IPEDS) but how do you put it all together in a meaningful way?”
It was an investment for the University. But, as the CMO explained, “the detail and sophistication that Gray brought to the process of their research was critical to assure that my University was getting the results that we needed – this was not a one-size-fits-all type of market research project.”
Partnerships that Create Lasting Value
“Gray became an extension of the University and truly understood what we wanted and needed. We have an extremely collaborative partnership,” said the CMO.
In preparation for an on-site Program Evaluation session, Gray conducted interviews with external stakeholders to uncover potential program needs. Along with this qualitative research, Gray collaborated with the CMO and her team to develop a custom scoring system to screen every IPEDS program. “The flexibility of their software systems allowed us to put emphasis on areas that were important to us,” explained the CMO.
With a solid foundation of research in place, a working session with the core team refined the custom scoring system so it would identify and rank the programs that best aligned with the local state University’s mission and the community’s needs. In the session, the team reviewed the data and scores for potential programs and chose new programs to develop.
“Gray was extremely easy to work with, and often went above and beyond in their efforts. The market research work they completed was some of the best I have ever seen, and exceeded my expectations.”
“Gray was extremely easy to work with, and often went above and beyond in their efforts. The market research work they completed was some of the best I have ever seen, and exceeded my expectations.”
Chief Marketing Officer
Local State University
Disseminate Information Throughout Organization
“The information and data were presented exceptionally well,” explains the CMO. “The findings from their research were presented to our executive leadership, and easily understood by my entire team. Gray answered all of our questions thoroughly, which helped build credibility in the outcome.”
“Throughout the process, Gray offered to present the information to the other constituents which was extremely helpful to me. Sometimes it’s best to allow those that performed the research to present the findings, as that helps strengthen the partnership and allow for all questions to be answered,” said the CMO.
“Knowing the high quality of the work that had been performed, I was able to present the findings to the President of the University with confidence.”
“Knowing the high quality of the work that had been performed, I was able to present the findings to the President of the University with confidence.”
Chief Marketing Officer
Local State University
“The detail and sophistication that Gray brought to the process of their research was critical to assure that my University received the results we needed.”
Chief Marketing Officer
Local State University