SimpsonScarborough: Intelligent Marketing for Higher Education

After reading about the release of a new study by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) about CFOs in higher education, I find the desire to find out more and more from these individuals. Approximatley 43% of the 974 CFOs who were interviewed as part of NACUBO's study stated that their chief source of frustration is "never having enough money". One-third cited that their relationship with deans is difficult because everyone wants more money than is available. After recently completing a marketing return on investment (ROI) study for a campus, the "never enough money" idea is even more common in the marketing budget and the inequity of marketing spending across departments doesn't help to quell the desire for more money among deans which supports the results of this study. About 60% of the CFOs have spent half of their careers in higher education and only one-fourth say they need a higher salary. I often wonder if the compensation was higher would the 40% who have not been in higher education for half their careers increase? Would campuses benefit from more private industry CFOs?

Dana Edwards

Senior Consultant

SimpsonScarborough

People have asked me many times about the idea of surveying visitors to a college or university Web site. At first blush, this seems like a great idea......we are getting all those hits to our site, why don't we just ask those folks what they want and need so we can build our site to be more effective?

Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. I mean put yourself in the user's seat. You are on the Budget Rental Car site trying to book a car for your trip tomorrow and you basically want to get it done in 3 seconds or less. Whoops....a pop up box opens, "We'd like your feedback about our Web site!" What's your reaction? You are completely annoyed, of course, and wish you had gone to the Avis site instead. NOT the reaction you are seeking from your Web visitors.

A better approach is to conduct an independent study of your Web site. You can use qualitative and quantitative research to get at what your Web visitors want and need without bothering them WHILE they are trying to use it. If you ARE going to survey Web visitors, this article in Quirk's has some good recommendations on how to do it while minimizing any negative effect you might have on your visitors.

Elizabeth Scarborough

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Is it funny or pathetic that I can relate to this commercial?

Cat Herding

Getting a college campus on board with a unified strategy for promoting its identity is just like this. But, you know, when it comes down to it, I can't imagine doing anything else either.

Elizabeth Scarborough

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The opportunities to use social media networks for marketing research became readily apparent even as Facebook was just launching. I mean, customers are out there collecting on social media sites to talk about their favorite products. It's a marketing researcher's dream.....customers collected in one place....ready to be interviewed and questioned about any number of things related to your brand? My idea of heaven!

As the brandsavant says, one way to use social media for marketing research is to sign up for one of the "heavy duty monitoring services" like Radian6, Trackur, or Tweetfeel. This type of "sentiment analysis" is "far from perfect, but on a pretty good day, it will give you a good idea of the consumer zeitgeist out there for your [brand]." If anyone in higher ed is using these tools, email me and tell me about your experience! 

Most colleges have social networks for alumni. Just think of the possibilities this offers for your marketing research effort. I was talking with a development person the other day and she was telling me how they need to do a series of research projects over the next year to help with preparations for the launch of a campaign. Hello! Some of that research could be done easily and affordably by tapping the online alumni network. Now, it's not that easy because you have skewing issues to explore and deal with. But, still, a robust network offers lots of options for conducting your research. Exciting possibilities abound for the future!!!

Elizabeth Scarborough

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The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education has recently issued the results of a survey sponsored by themselves and conducted by mStoner and Slover Linett Strategies. The survey looked at how colleges and universities are using social media.... Who is using it, at what level, how much investment is taking place in social media?

 Some of the highlights include that at least 83% of respondents stated their school had at least one person working on social media and 7% had four or more people (please note that this does not necessarily mean full time).

 Of the social media outlets, 94% of respondents employ Facebook, Twitter was used by 67%, 61% use LinkedIn and YouTube by 59%.

 This survey was reported on by Inside Higher Ed's June 20^th edition. My favorite quote in the article was by Andrew Gossen, Cornell's senior director for social media. He stated, "I think five years from now the whole (return on investment) question is going to seem naïve. It would be like asking for the ROI on your telephone service."

 Is social media a phase? If it is, it will be a long one!

 Tom Hayes

th@simpsonscarborough.com

First parents, now presidents. We're all trying to be our "kids'" friends. This article in The Washington Post discusses college presidents who are getting out of their offices and hanging out with students. Steven Knapp at GWU judged a pie eating contest. Edward Ayers at University of Richmond deejayed at his inaugurtion party. Micheal Roth at Wesleyan University played piano at an open-mic night. Lawrence Bacow at Tufts served hot chocolate to students sledding on his lawn.

On the one hand, I think this is great. These presidents are relatable and they are creating memories that their future alumni will remember forever. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder if these presidents are falling into the same bad habits I have as a parent. Where is the line between "friend" and "parent" or "friend" and "president?" It's blurry to say the least.

The headmaster at our childrens' school just recommended all parents read, Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. I think I am going to go order a copy now. Maybe I should send one to Steven Knapp as well.

Elizabeth Scarborough

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We're kicking off a new branding research project and the client asked me yesterday to describe the common challenges schools face when they are working to research and then develop their brand strategies. Well, every college has its own idiosyncrasies, so lots of different challenges pop us for us all the time that are new and surprising.  But, there ARE some common issues that can really hinder the progress of any effort to unify a campus around a focused identity strategy.  

1. General lack of understanding of basic marketing principles - Some people think when we use the term "brand," we are talking about the logo or tagline.  We always have to do a lot of education about how when we refer to "brand," they should be thinking about the sum total of all the images and perceptions that contribute to the institution's identity. We find ourselves explaining this to college faculty and staff over and over again. And, this is but one example of the lack of understanding that can really hinder what we are trying to accomplish.  I am not saying this to be critical. I mean, I know absolutely nothing about physics and if someone gave me an hour long presentation on it, I would still know basically nothing.......the same is true when we are trying to help people understand marketing. 

2. General lack of appreciation for marketing....or worse, a disdain for it - Some faculty just can't stand it when we use the word "marketing" and it's worse with the word "brand." On some campuses, we are essentially forbidden from using the word "brand." If we accidentally refer to "brand" in a memo, we are asked to remove it.  Surprisingly, this doesn't really annoy me. I mean on the one hand, I often think, "grow up and get over it!" But, on the other, I just want to make sure our projects are successful and people buy in......the latter always wins out. There have been occasions where I've had faculty members literally attack me in meetings about how they think marketing is evil.....it's associated with big corporations who are perceived to be attempting to manipulate customers for profit. So, I don't mind treading lightly on the marketing-speak because faculty buy-in is essential.

3. Intense fixation on the creative execution as opposed to the strategy - The research and strategy work that you need to put into place to drive the creative is not as exciting or sexy as the creative itself.  So, often folks just want to jump to the creative.  It's much more fun and interesting to talk about what your tagline is going to be or what a TV ad might look like than it is to struggle with the difficult work of getting your campus to agree on one simple positioning statement.  

4. Rigid adherence to a house of brands strategy - Generally speaking, deans want to control their own marketing and their own message. In many cases, this is very simply driven by power, ego, and control.  We refer to it as a "me" as opposed to a "we" kind of attitude and it manifests when people say things like, "Our college is so different from all the others....our marcomms need to look this way or that because that's what appeals to OUR audience."  It's the very worst when people actually believe that the over-arching college or university identity actually HURTS the identity of a school within it. I mean it's just the ultimate in ego-driven thinking and it happens all the time. Branding success truly requires an "all for one" kind of a culture. 

5. Lack of presidential support - As with anything, lack of presidential support will kill any campus project.  But, when it comes to a branding project, even a neutral president who doesn't actively engage with the process can really hurt.

I'm writing about this because there are things you can do to avoid these common problems when you are working to develop your institution's identity. For example, frequent meetings with faculty to engage them and give them a voice in the process are critical. Those meetings need to reinforce marketing fundamentals, chip away at the "marketing is evil" mindset, and drive toward the identification of authentic brand attributes. As with most things on a college campus, the process is as important as the end product. 

Elizabeth Scarborough

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The featured video "YouTube vs. Your Good Name" in The Chronicle of Higher Education shows how one well-placed viral video on a user-generated site, like YouTube can undo all of an institution's effort to polishing their image.

As the video shows, on YouTube the first hit for Auburn University is of a football pre-game show from 2007. Innocent enough. But, if you type in University of Idaho, you're taken to a video about "web pages that suck" with an individual criticizing a University of Idaho web site.

Who is watching out for YOU on YouTube? That's a question you should be asking of yourself or your PR manager.

- Renee Kart