Archive for 'Branding/Marketing/Recruiting'

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A little less conversation

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Change.

It’s an emotionally charged word in higher education, if not a dirty one.  And it’s been the war cry here at TargetX since day one.

When I joined the company back in 2005, I was quickly immersed into a culture of higher ed professionals trumpeting the need for industry change.  Defects from a world of cushy benefits and questionable accountability, they struck out on their own to become a voice of change in an industry sliding desperately into denial.

Together the team here wrote blog posts and email newsletters outlining how colleges needed to engage a new generation and operate more efficiently.   We spent years speaking at conferences about the impending shifts in technology, generations, demographics and more.  We even created our ...

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13
APR
0

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Change, College Recruiting, Leadership, Marketing, Overthrowing Dead Culture, Uncategorized

Are you paying attention?

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Before parents and students set foot on your campus for a tour, you can bet they’re searching for reviews of your college online. You may have an archive of wonderful case studies, interviews or testimonials from recent grads and current students on your website, but do you know what the sad truth is? Parents and students don’t always trust them!

After surfing admissions site after admissions site and flipping through countless viewbooks, most of the marketing messages from each college begin to sound the same. So what are students and parents doing? They’re hitting up Google to find college reviews from each school on their list.

What can you do as a higher ed marketing professional? ...

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10
FEB
0

Categories: Best Practice Documents, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Website, Websites

A New Year’s Resolution Toward Authenticity

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Most of my friends and colleagues know I’m not one for the November and December holidays. My nickname is Scrinch , a combination of Scrooge and Grinch. But, I do love New Year’s. It’s global, non-sectarian, and is about a fresh start and beginning.

For years I’ve been preaching about the experience economy and what it means to recruiting students, especially through more authentic, engaging, and memorable campus visits.

I have two titles at TargetX: VP, Consulting and Apostle of Authenticity. My mission as the Apostle of Authenticity is to get schools to be comfortable with who they genuinely are and to embrace their core DNA.

But our industry is overrun with a generation of leaders (most of whom have been raised ...

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19
DEC
0

Categories: Authenticity, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit, Millennial Generation, Millennials

Season's E-Greetings

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Holiday emails are a great opportunity to engage prospective students. You can share with them the celebrations and traditions of your institution, or share all the fun and interesting activities that the New Year will bring to your college. Not sure how to execute the perfect holiday greeting? You’re not the only one.

“Season’s E-Greetings! Great Examples of Year-End Outreach” by Jennifer Doak provides us with some best practices for creating effective holiday e-cards, videos and messages that resonate with your audience (and she shares some examples from colleges and universities too).

Here are a few tips from Doak’s post to keep in mind while creating your college or university’s message:

Tap into student and alumni talent. Alumni can tell stories of their ...

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2
DEC
0

Categories: Best Practice Documents, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Email, Email Campaign Ideas, Email Recruiting, Videos

Tracking trends

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Keeping up with what’s happening in higher education is easier said than done. So when articles like Nancy Griesemer’s “15 College Admissions Trends Worth Watching” comes out — it’s perfect for “on-the-go” counselors and directors of admissions.

Griesemer’s 15 trends come from the 2011 State of College Admission report provided by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). This collection of data from NACAC, the College Board and the federal government makes up a comprehensive document with significant information about college admissions. Here’s just a sampling of Griesemer’s list and what it means for admissions:

The total number of high school graduates is down. We’ll continue to see this decline through 2015. Enrollment and retention offices will be working ...

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4
NOV
1

Categories: Applicants, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Change, Data, Social Networking, Tracking

Curb your…Millennial-bashing?

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These days I’m hearing more and more complaints about Millennials.  ”They’re lazy,” “They can’t solve problems on their own,” “They’re so entitled” — you name it and someone’s got a gripe.

Sadly, it seems “Millennial-bashing” has become the obsession du jour for some circles in higher ed.  And I have to say it’s getting a little old.

True, my jaded Gen-X cusper status makes me an unlikely defender of these close-in-age-but-miles-away-in-mindset peers of mine.  But I’d argue there’s not much to be gained from ragging on a generation that will most likely rule the world someday — if not by deservedness then by sheer numbers alone.

From my point of view, we’d be better off spending our time seeking ways to let our differences ...

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28
OCT
0

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Millennial Generation, Millennials

The pulse of NACAC

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Common themes surfaced as 3,000 plus admissions professionals gathered last week in New Orleans for the annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. The mood among the crowd was filled with excitement and ideas for change in higher education.

In the midst of the conference action, admissions officers from across the country shared their thoughts with us at the annual iThink event which was held on the exhibit hall floor. We asked our friends and colleagues to complete this phrase — “I think admissions…” — and here’s what attendees had to say:

“Admissions is at a crossroads.” Many factors contributed to this widely used phrase, like the higher ed balance between being market driven and education-oriented, branding versus authenticity ...

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30
SEP
0

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Change, Free on Friday Webcasts, Misc., NACAC, Webcast

Is branding the solution?

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Vince Lombardi would begin practice each spring by lifting a football and, with deep resonance, announce, “Men, this is a football.”

To winning teams, the fundamentals are etched in stone; they make up the DNA of every player. When it comes to enrollment, many colleges and universities have lost sight of the fundamentals.

Over the years, I’ve helped build the importance of “institutional branding” as it became a taskmaster, dictating to all who follow. Many say that branded messaging is the cornerstone for enrollment success and the engine driving the perception of institutional significance.

After more than two decades of creating institutional brands, my experience has proven otherwise.

Institutional branding should begin to form after the fundamentals have been drilled into the team. When ...

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16
SEP
1

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, College Recruiting, NACAC, Uncategorized

What Mercedes and other auto brands can teach you about your visit experience

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I’m a car guy.

Back in 6th grade I had subscriptions to Road & Track and Car and Driver. My father sold cars and managed dealerships. He used to quiz me on the year, make, and model of cars we passed while driving – by day and by night (Yes, I can identify a car based upon its headlights).

Take a look at the Global Fortune 500 top 25 companies list. It’s inundated with oil and car companies.

So what does all this mean to you in admissions? At TargetX, we always encourage you to look beyond the school up the road for best practices and to look outside of admissions. Car companies are a great place to look for best ...

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15
SEP
1

Categories: Best Practice Documents, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit Audits Sidebar, Campus Visit Experiences, Change, Customer Service, Uncategorized

What do your walls say?

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While there is no official definition, everyone seems to have something that comes to mind when they think about hotel art. On a whole it refers to those generic art pieces on hotel walls designed not to invoke any real emotion from an individual looking at it. Basically, it won’t offend anyone but makes the room look less empty. Playing it safe.

College admissions spaces have an unfortunate tendency to lean the same way. Your lobby and waiting room walls are frequently covered in historical images of the old gentleman who gave a lot of money to the school and has since died or bragging point articles from years before your current prospective students were even born. The items shown in ...

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15
AUG
0

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit, Campus Visit Experiences, Uncategorized

10 Lessons from Starbucks

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My TargetX colleague, Scott Parks, sent a great blog post link that I’d like to share with you. It’s 10 Lessons from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s book Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul.

The blog post challenges radio broadcasters, who like college administrators are facing challenges, to “think how these lessons apply to you.”  The guts of the post are quoted below. Let me throw out the same challenge: Think how these lessons apply to you.

1.  Don’t Lose Sight of what Matters

“Our strategy was to do more of what worked in the past.  But we were not pushing ourselves to do things better or differently. ...

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22
JUN
0

Categories: Best Practice Documents, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Communication, Customer Service, Storytelling, Student Workers

Know your niche and market to nobody

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When I talk with admissions leaders, cabinets, or boards, everyone wants to talk about what separates them from the school up the road. Yet, most schools tend to look and sound like the school up the road.

It seems like schools that are trying to be all things to all people are the schools that are having enrollment challenges. Ambiguity confuses the market place. A university president once asked, “What’s the greatest mistake we can make regarding a campus visit?” My reply was to have a family get in the car at the end of of their time on campus and say, “Nice school, but nothing special.”

Great marketing and positioning might offend. It might not appeal to the masses, but it ...

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10
MAY
3

Categories: Authenticity, Best Practice Documents, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit Experiences, Outside Resources, Word of Mouth

This summer I am going to…

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We are just days away from May 1 or May 2 as it might be this year, so I’d like to ask you a question.

What are you doing this summer?

I know thoughts of waves crashing and fruity frozen drinks with the warm sun shining might be the last things from your mind.  This is crunch time in the world of admissions.  Either you are holding your breath for the dust to settle on your class, or you are still running around trying to figure out how you are going to fill your class by the fall.  Maybe you should keep one eye on this year’s class and start focusing the other on May 2012.

It’s amazing to me how the summer ...

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29
APR
0

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit, Change

XpertTip No. 163: "Flip the Funnel" part II

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Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned a presentation I’m working on called “Flip the Funnel?“

Well, as usual, the weeks have flown by and tomorrow is the big day.

I’ll be presenting “Flip the Funnel” here in Chicago tomorrow at this year’s EduWeb Conference.  And, as predicted, it’s the day before and I’m still working on finishing my slides;)

In case you missed my initial description, my presentation makes the argument that the traditional “admissions funnel” as we know it has a few, shall we say, “holes” in it.

Sure, “the funnel” does a nice job of illustrating the process most prospects go through to eventually enroll at your institution.

But as the be-all-and-end-all rubric for planning your marketing ...

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26
JUL
2

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Communication Plans, Student Yield

Increase your digital influence

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In admissions, you often cannot attend every conference you would like to, especially when there are so many throughout the year. So, why not attend the shortest conference ever? 60 speakers in 60 minutes.

ThoughtLead held their first 60 in 60 event on July 6. The Influencer Project: The shortest marketing conference ever, discussed how to increase a business’s digital influence in the competitive world of online media. Sixty speakers provided their personal advice on how you can do this today. After listening to the conference, there were several points that were extremely relevant to recruitment and admissions efforts on the web. Here are just a few:

“Make connections online and then go and meet them in person in the ...

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23
JUL
3

Categories: Authenticity, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Communication, Social Media, Websites, Your Website

Appeal on an emotional level

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Colleges and universities need to appeal to prospects on an emotional level through storytelling and the campus experience to engage best-fit students.

The recession has made consumers think differently about how they shop, buy and — in higher education — choose a college. Adweek Research writer Mark Dolliver states, consumers want good value for their money; while rational sales pitches and practical benefits have ruled the school of thought for decades, a shift is necessary to more emotional appeals. The same is true for higher education.

Dolliver reviews the results from a survey of client-side marketers conducted by the Association of National Advertisers and they reveal that emotional benefits should be more balanced with the rational/functional benefits. Marketers see the need for ...

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11
JUN
8

Categories: Authenticity, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit Experiences, Experience, Research, Storytelling

Sell your Ideas.

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It’s May 28th and you have a laundry list of good ideas that you told yourself you would tackle post-May 1st. It’s time to start moving forward. How will you communicate your new ideas to your colleagues, director, dean or VP?

FastCompany.com featured helpful “how-to” tips from Sam Harrison’s new book IdeaSelling: Successfully Pitch Your Creative Ideas to Bosses, Clients, and Other Decision Makers. Harrison shares his top 12 ways to have your ideas heard.

A sampling of Harrison’s tips from IdeaSelling include:

“If they feel they birthed it, they can’t kill it.” Make the idea their idea. Allow your supervisor to help you come up with the idea and the sell will be easier.

“Stand tall, talk short.” No one will ever wish ...

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28
MAY
1

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Change, Communication Plans

Social Media Style Guide

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It seems like everyone is trying to get their arms around social media. The future of “splinternet” is not easy to predict. (Though I agree with a recent Advertising Age Essay that “Facebook Will Rule the Web During the Next Decade.”)

While delayed at the Atlanta airport due to a pothole in the runway in Philadelphia, I got caught up on some reading, and want to share a few other observations about social media.

I’m a big fan of David T. Jones’ Adland Cartoons in the back of Adweek Magazine. This one made me chuckle:

136576-adlandwill-rogers42610

It seems like many colleges and universities social media efforts are guilty of trying ...

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13
MAY
2

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Online Experiences, Outside Resources, Social Networking

Learning from Apple

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Young people’s love for all things Apple may offer lessons for college recruiters.

The Cupertino company and its iconic leader, Steve Jobs, fascinate marketers and motivate them to look for larger meaning in Apple products and ads.

Most recently, the New York Times’ Steve Lohr wrote about the new iPad and how it continues a philosophy of product design that has applicability in higher ed marketing.

Jobs runs counter to the prevailing thought in product design that “more is better,” writes Lohr. Instead, he creates “edited products that cut through complexity, by consciously leaving things out — not cramming every feature that comes into an engineer’s head.”

Overstuffed viewbooks, promotional emails and other recruiting communications would benefit from such a philosophy.

In addition, writes Lohr, ...

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5
FEB
2

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Communication

You can't be all things

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Roger Dooley attracted attention in higher ed circles this summer when he attacked the bland sameness of college branding and questioned the lifeless taglines used by many schools.

The popular blogger and marketing consultant is at it again — pointing out that college branding is all about differentiation. And he relies on some timeless observations in the recently released second edition of Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout, one of the nation’s top marketing strategists.

“Although the entire book is geared toward commercial brand differentiation,” writes Dooley, “some of the comments relate directly to higher education marketing.”

Dooley, who believes an effective college brand should turn off as many prospects as it turns on, was especially interested in Trout’s example of a school ...

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11
DEC
1

Categories: Authenticity, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting

Vote on your favorite advertising icon and slogan

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While the goal of the experience economy is to make advertising obsolete (it’s going that way) I am a fan of great advertising – that which sells products or services and makes emotional connections.

Click this link to cast your vote for your favorite advertising icon and slogan to be inducted to the Advertising Walk of Fame on Madison Avenue.

adweek

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16
SEP
2

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting

The false religion of branding

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Why do marketers still do “branding,” asks respected Internet strategist Augustine Fou. Don’t they realize that branding today is “irrelevant, ineffective, irritating and impotent?”

This will come as a shock to college presidents, board members and others in higher education who remain devoted to the concept of crafting and communicating a brand identity. “It’s not their fault, really,” writes Fou, a top executive with MRM Worldwide. “They’ve been led astray by agencies practicing the false religion of branding.”

For many years, companies and institutions have spent enormous amounts of time and money making up what they want consumers to think or believe about them, says Fou. Then “digital” changed everything.

“The house of cards that is modern-day branding can no longer stand in ...

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4
SEP
5

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting

Condos and Colleges – lessons learned

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For the past nine years I’ve lived in a loft condo on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta. It’s old for Atlanta (built right after WWII – remember Sherman burned the city to the ground). It’s an one-of-kind, art-deco, six story building with plenty of character and plenty of issues. But it’s unique and it’s home!

Since 2000 some nearly 10,000 condos have been added into my neighborhood. Most of them by the same developer; Novare Group. (Or by the other developers who seemingly use the same architect.) These properties all look and sound alike. They have nearly 300 units per tall tower, no human scale to their ...

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9
APR
0

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, College Recruiting

Consider your advertising (it's a cluttered marketplace)

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It’s my goal to make this blog about the campus visit experience and the experience economy, so rarely do I post about traditional advertising.

On my “endless road trip” (as Chronicle of Higher Education writer Eric Hoover called my campus visit travels) I take Atlanta’s MARTA rail to and from the airport. I noticed that the car I was riding on had 4-5 “higher education” ads. Now there are only 10-12 ad spaces per car. I thought this was a fluke, so at each station I changed cars and saw this repeating itself in every car.

There amongst the fast food, felony search, and mobile phone ads was a plethora of “college” ...

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10
MAR
1

Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Experience Economy Stuff, Lists

Leaving Las Vegas (and bad customer service)

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February 25-27 was the TargetX Client Xpert Summit in Las Vegas. We had some 60+ clients from some 40+ colleges and universities from across the country participate. (Some of whom paid their own way to attend because of travel/budget cuts.)

The presentations were engaging and featured many clients.

The conversations and networking even better.

The Experience Excursion an experience.

But customer service in Las Vegas was terrible.

Ironically on the flight out I was reading a two articles in the 3/2/2009 Businessweek that I found relevant:

BTW – What Doesn’t Happen in Las Vegas
Short article about the decrease and cancellations of business meetings in Las Vegas. While perception is everything the article says,

“But in December, the number of corporate meetings was down ...

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1
MAR
1

Categories: Best Practice Documents, Blogs, Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Campus Visit Experiences, Experience Economy Stuff, Lists, Uncategorized, Xpert Summit

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