Sometimes we get so caught up in a web project that we forget to take a step back and think about the whole picture. How will this web feature or element fit into our holistic marketing campaign? A virtual tour is one of those web elements that is worthy of taking a step back. As Kyle James, CEO of nuCloud, explains, “an interactive map of campus is always a virtual tour but a virtual tour is not always an interactive campus map.” This is important because although 49 percent of prospective students are influenced by a campus map this feature also serves many other audiences including alumni, current
students, athletic fans, special event fans and many more. We need a feature that helps us meet financial enrollment goals but doesn’t leave the rest of our audiences without a valuable resource.
Kyle and Corie Martin, Manager of Creative Web Services at Western Kentucky University, don’t just tell us that we need this project, they give us the whole picture on how it fits into our overall web strategy. Western Kentucky University use nuCloud’s platform and have built a compelling virtual tour for their university. The specific story telling angle of the presentation is especially important because we commonly forget exactly how prospective students do come to make that final decision to enroll in a
college and how web features like a virtual tour play into that.
A vital element to starting any project that will cost time and money, web related or otherwise, is to establish the goals and financial benefits of doing the project. Kyle has done a great job of putting together an easy to understand Interactive Map ROI calculator to help defend the value of an interactive campus map. Not only do they give you this calculator, but they close out the presentation with a number of things not to do now that he has convinced you that you should tackle this project. This easy to follow presentation is something that Kyle’s bold enough to freely share, give away invaluable
research, an ROI calculator and pitfalls to avoid. He’s also giving away this information to anyone looking at doing this project no matter if you are looking at going with his interactive campus map platform or another direction.
“We’re just super passionate about the value of an interactive campus map to all colleges and universities. We believe we have built a product that does it the right way, but we know there are multiple ways to tackle a problem. The least we can do is try to educate as many people as possible with all these resources for when they are ready to make a decision on their interactive campus map.”