We can’t do one well if we aren’t doing the other • Integration brings consistency to the marketing messaging and approaches you are using with all your audiences • Organizational structure is the biggest barrier to integration “Long-term brand equity and growth depends on our ability to successfully integrate and implement all elements of a comprehensive marketing program.” Timm F Crull, Chairman & CEO of Nestle
is a consistent, coordinated system that reduces the extent to which there are institutional units drifting in a random, disorganized fashion • Creating communication efficiencies • The relationship between the University and its units is clear • Budgets and staffs must be consolidated • Marketing communications university-wide must be identical • Units have no identity of their own Integrated Marketing Means Integrated Marketing Does NOT Mean
marketplace • Heightened uncertainty about the future • Need to do more with less: limited resources and increased demands • Protects against economic downtimes and help create sustainable advantages • In order to broaden your appeal, you must narrow your focus • Drives enrollment and advancement goals long term • You want to shape your image, not have your image “shape you” Why Develop a Strong Institutional Brand? “If you can, be first. If you can't be first, create a new category in which you can be first.” Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
a significant impact on our target audiences • The higher education landscape is changing dramatically: – New and unique learning options abound – Consumers are better educated because of readily accessible information • We are responsible for generating our revenue through tuition, fundraising, and other sources • We are historically inwardly focused, rather than customer-centric • We have renegade marketers in our colleges/schools; each having a very small impact Why Do I Need To Integrate My Marketing?
& Donors Legislators The Media Peer Institutions Business Leaders Community Residents Efficiency – How much duplication of marketing effort exists within your college/school? – Are resources of time and money being spent as efficiently as possible? Effectiveness – Are key marketing messages and differentiators penetrating your target audiences? – Is your school taking advantage of every opportunity to reinforce your brand?
& branding principles (e.g., marketing=advertising or branding=the logo) • Lack of financial commitment to the marketing/branding function (in the commercial world, investments of 12%-18% of operating budget are common) • Arguments that marketing cheapens the academy • Culture of modesty about quality of the institution • Arguments that various schools or programs within the institution are too different to support one common strategy/approach • Fear among campus marketers that budgets and staffs will be lost as a result of integration Why Is Branding So Difficult?
to represent “truths” about your institution AND be compelling to your target audiences • Developing your brand requires your entire campus (or unit/staff) to agree on something • The desire for buy-in will slow you down; finding the balance can be very difficult • Your brand has to be “institutionalized” and influence decision-making in seemingly unrelated areas • Your brand has to be effectively and consistently communicated to your key target audiences • Developing your brand requires integrated marketing
brand is only half the challenge; living it is the other (more difficult) half • The marketing department will be responsible for promoting your brand, the rest of the school is responsible for: • Living up to it • Reinforcing it in every interaction • Making it tangible • Making strategic business decisions to reinforce the brand • We can’t expect your school to reinforce the brand strategy if they weren’t involved in creating it “A brand is a living entity—and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures” Michael Eisner, CEO Disney
to want a relationship with your institution? What your community believes in and does very well? What are competing schools not doing or not emphasizing? Your brand positioning
Research Plan Audience Sampling Frame Qualitative Research Quantitative Research Prospective Undergraduate Students Rising high-school seniors who are on the school’s inquiry database 2 online focus groups Online Survey Parents of Prospective Undergraduate Students Parents of rising high-school seniors who are on the school’s inquiry database 20 in-depth phone interviews -- Internal Audiences Faculty members, staff members, and currently enrolled students 4 in-person focus groups: two groups with faculty/staff and two groups with students Online Survey Alumni All alumni with email address on file 2 online focus groups Online Survey External Influencers Higher education peers, high school guidance counselors, and area employers 30 in-depth phone interviews (10 peers/10 guidance counselors/10 employers) -- Research is the Foundation
of brand awareness does American University currently possess? • What associations (positive and negative) exist among American University’s target audiences and key stakeholders? • What branding opportunities exist for American University? • What assets and capacity does American possess that significantly differentiate the University from its competitors? • What motivates students to inquire/apply to AU? • What leads inquiries to explore other institutions more seriously than AU? • What is the best way to communicate with each audience? RESEARCH & PLANNING • Brand assessment, competitor analysis • In-depth interviews with prospective graduate students, government officials, business leaders, higher education leaders, guidance counselors, and community leaders • Survey research with traditional prospects, parents of current students, faculty, staff, current students, and alumni • Development of University-wide brand strategy
• Identify positive and negative associations with AU • Explore personality of AU, impact of messages, and appeal of attributes • Test reactions to positioning strategies developed based on discovery, qualitative, and assessment BELOW THE RADAR • Educate the campus community on principles of integrated marketing and branding • Build partnerships and trust among internal audiences of the marketing effort • Establish support and buy-in for marketing • Prep the campus for the most significant marketing program in the history of the University Case Study: American University
1. Strengthen academic and research reputation 2. Enhance quality and diversity of undergraduate enrollment 3. Increase graduate enrollment 4. Increase involvement, support, and advocacy among alumni 5. Grow partnerships with pinnacle organizations 6. Diversify and broaden revenue streams Priority Audiences Traditional Students Grad Students Alumni Higher Education Peers Guidance Counselors/ Community Leaders Internal Audiences University Positioning American University educates active citizens, engaging students with leading experts and world leaders, to discover the knowledge and context needed to create change and have an impact on the most pressing issues facing our world Tone and Personality The AU brand is politically active, ambitious, worldly, socially aware, compassionate, energetic, collegial, and broad-minded Important Triggers • Location in Washington, DC as powerful laboratory for applying learning • Connections to pinnacle organizations in government, business, and nonprofit worlds • Politically and socially active campus • Beautiful, suburban-looking campus located within the nation’s capital city • Strong appreciation for culture and diversity
traffic overall; double the traffic on the admissions vertical over the previous year • 175% increase in social media engagement • 10 percent increase in UG applications (record year) • Record low freshman admit rate - 41% • Media - Front page Washington Post feature: "Wonk if You Love AU" AU’s undergraduate enrollment has to stay the same by DC statutory regulation. But, the admit rate dropped dramatically, racial and geographic diversity increased and the University enrolled more students for whom AU was their first choice.
at the Admissions Welcome Center • 17% increase in UG prospects • 60% increase in attendance at admissions events • 50% increase in Early Decision applicants • 10% increase in percentage of freshman for whom AU was first choice, compared to year before launch of brand strategy • 55% increase in alumni engagement (attendance at events and giving over previous year) • Ranking: Among USNWR national universities, rank improved 5 places (82 to 77 in one year)
of baseline awareness of Purdue exists among key constituents? • How is Purdue perceived among key constituents? • What are the perceived competitive strengths and weaknesses of the University? • What misperceptions, if any, exist about the University? • How are opinions about Purdue (and other Big 10 and/or land-grant institutions) shaped and influenced? • What is Purdue’s most powerful and compelling differential advantage? • What motivates key constituents, including alumni and donors, to seek a relationship with Purdue? • What is a promising brand positioning strategy for Purdue? RESEARCH & PLANNING • In-depth interviews with parents of prospective students, business leaders, community leaders, and higher education leaders • Survey research with traditional prospects, grad prospects, faculty, staff, current students, and alumni • Development of University-wide brand strategy
FASTER. SMALLER. SMARTER. SO I BUILD BRIDGES BETWEEN WHAT’S KNOWN AND WHAT’S NOT. I TINKER. I TOIL. I WRITE POETICALLY IN AN ABUNDANCE OF LANGUAGES (INCLUDING CODE). I HACK. I DISSECT. I HAVE AN INSATIABLE DESIRE TO UN-COMPLICATE THE COMPLICATED. I AM EASILY INSPIRED. I BELIEVE THAT JUST BECAUSE IT HASN’T BEEN THOUGHT OF DOESN’T MEAN IT WON’T BE. POTENTIAL IS MY THRILL RIDE. IMAGINATION IS MY MOST-USED TOOL. I AM A MAKER. AND I AM WHAT MOVES THE WORLD FORWARD. I AM A MAKER. WE ARE PURDUE. MAKERS, ALL. Purdue University: Positioning
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