MARKETING HIGHER EDUCATION A periodic electronic Newsletter to help you market your school, community college, college, or university. Vol. XI, no. 11, November, 1997 -------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS Tommy Trojan: My Favorite Web Site by Robert (Bob) S. Topor Multimedia & Tourism Team Up for Impact: Notre Dame's Web Site by Professor Liz Pollard Honesty in Higher Education Marketing by Robert (Bob) S. Topor -------------------------------------------------- Tommy Trojan: My favorite Web site by Robert (Bob) S. Topor I am often asked, as a professional marketing higher education consultant, what my favorite website is for marketing higher education. I answer it is "Tommy Trojan!" As you may know Tommy is the University of Southern California's mascot. USC does a masterful job of marketing through their web site. They allow a viewer to get a live shot of the Tommy Trojan statue outside the USC Administration Building. This is a favorite gathering spot for students and is often populated with typical Southern Cal students; sitting, studying, chatting, walking, biking. Students are most often dressed casually: shorts, t-shirts, etc. Just below this live photo is copy for USC's weather for the day... temperature, wind conditions, etc. This is a masterful idea as potential students from around the world log on this site and compare weather to local conditions. A prospective student in show-swept Alberta, Canada or frigid Vermont must be tempted! What makes this web site work as a promotional tool is USC's understanding of entertainment marketing. The site first and foremost entertains the customer. It is not a site that bores the viewer with numbing "product" shots and continuous messages on why their school is so great. It provides the customer an enjoyable reminder of what they like - other students and higher education - and the product branding messages (USC) take a distant, but nonetheless persistent, second place through Tommy's presence. Check it out for yourself... just direct your browser over to: http://www.usc.edu/dept/TommyCam/. From there a link takes you to a description of Tommy Trojan, his creation and history.... smart marketing use of tradition, stories and history building marketing results. Lots of other links take you to places on campus. So you can see why I, a professional marketing consultant, have strong feelings for Tommy Trojan! A friend of mine from church, Mike Webb, and I have been experimenting with some exciting marketing ideas for higher education. Using his new digital equipment we went to Stanford University to do some photography. Using a new computer stitching application from "Real Space", which allows one to electronically "stitch" still images into sweeping full color panoramas (up to 360 degrees), we photographed some sample images from the University and put them up on Mike's web site for viewing. If you want to see our results go to: http://www.firstchapter.com/pan_gallery.html and check it out. We are planning to offer this service to higher education clients who want to provide visual tours of their campuses on their web sites. If you are interested, contact Mike at: mike@firstchapter.com, or myself. Bob Topor * Topor Consulting Group International Higher Education Marketing Evangelist Web site: http://www.marketinged.com E-mail: topor@marketinged.com ********** NOTICE: As a subscriber to this electronic newsletter, you have permission to reproduce and use this article on your campus. All others please note ©1997, Topor Consulting Group International. Comments about, or requests to reprint should be directed to Bob Topor at topor@marketinged.com. ********** -------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL OFFER For Marketing Higher Education newsletter subscribers ONLY. Download the updated second edition of Bob's "classic" book, Marketing Higher Education - A Practical Guide, directly from his Web site at http://www.marketinged.com Special Deal: As a subscriber to this newsletter you have permission to make copies and distribute on your campus... a great aid for marketing committees! Make as many copies as you like (limited to your campus). You can get this book from the Home page on Bob's web site. It costs $40 (U.S.) It is easy to download to your computer, then you can reproduce it in your print shop or make photocopies. The first edition of this book has been one of CASE's best selling publications and has been used around the world. If you have questions call Bob at (650) 962-1105. -------------------------------------------------- Multimedia & Tourism Team Up for Impact: Notre Dame's Web Site by Professor Liz Pollard Reading Bob's article on Tommy Trojan and the use of a live camera to enhance the Web site of the University of Southern California reminded me that there are many other live cameras in use at Web sites, and almost all of them fascinate the viewer. I began to do some exploring to see if any of the others were at institutions of higher education and how they were used. Detective Work - Since I work as a Sysop in the Students Network of forums on CompuServe, I was already aware that the Web site for this group (http://www.stufo.com) includes an ingenious index to live cameras on the Web, so I started there. I found several such cameras at academic Web sites, and I made an impressive discovery! One of the sites that appeared at that index is that of the University of Notre Dame, (http://www.nd.edu) and the use of multimedia there is rather exciting! Multimedia at Academic Sites - It has been my experience that multimedia is still in its infancy on academic Web sites, often an add-on with little integration. Its presence is of use only to selected visitors who have the hardware and software to take advantage of it, and yet it appears intrusively at every possible point ("Click Here to hear the President's Welcome message" -- or "to take a tour of the campus" -- or "to hear our famous marching band", -- etc.). This is the first time I've seen it used skillfully to enhance a major marketing thrust. Notre Dame, a Developing Work - Notre Dame's site is relatively new, and it's still very much under development. As the institution is a large one, they are still pulling together a wide range of disparate elements and making decisions on how to present their best face to the world. However, someone in their marketing department must have done some clever thinking when it came to the use of audio and video at the site. Spotlighting Familiar Themes - What are the first two things most people think of when the name Notre Dame is mentioned? Come on now, be honest, they are religion and football, right? Academics come somewhere rather far behind, although we are all aware of Notre Dame's academic reputation. Since that's the case, there are thousands of tourists flocking to the campus every year, both sports fans and those interested in the religious life on campus. The beautiful basilica and the stadium are the focus of these visits, and the landmarks most people remember. We saw in the last issue a fascinating article by Marc Whitt on the impact of tourism in higher education marketing, (The Impact of Tourism on Higher Education Marketing, October, 1997, Vol. 11, no. 10) and that led to the next step in my thinking! Since it seems logical that tourism in the real world might have a significant impact on the marketing of Notre Dame, why not extend that into the virtual world as well? That's exactly what some very creative minds are apparently doing at the Notre Dame Web site! The exposure available to the campus through tourists offers an excellent chance to attract people to other aspects of the institution, and they're making good use of that principle on the Web! Notre Dame Basilica - The best developed sections of this site so far are those surrounding the two famous landmarks, the Notre Dame basilica and the stadium. Both have been supplied with live cameras on the Web, and the results are both beautiful and intriguing! The basilica camera (http://lisa.ee.nd.edu/DomeCam) presents a glorious photo of the dome, with display of time and date. The picture changes every five minutes in the daytime and every 30 minutes at night, creating a lovely show of lights and shadows! This excitement is further enhanced with an audio clip of the Alma Mater and a video as well! Elsewhere, under the Basilica section (http://www.nd.edu/~basilica/), a virtual tour is also presented, with vivid photos of art works and stained glass windows! In the Basilica tour, one can also listen to audio clips from recorded music by the many choirs of Notre Dame. Notre Dame Stadium - The live camera at the stadium page (http://www.nd.edu/~jeremy/stadium) does much the same for that landmark, with the added interest of photos taken throughout the construction of the facility. Here, there is also weather information below the picture, and an archive of earlier photos to choose from, from every angle. All these media choices and others, such as the virtual tour of campus, are grouped together under the heading "ND Tourist" on the main menu, and most also appear under "Sights and Sounds of Notre Dame" on the Welcome page of the site. They are accessible, in addition, at other appropriate, carefully selected points throughout the site. They never intrude on the visitor's time, but are quietly available if sought. Effect on Visitors to the Site - Of the many sorts of visitors drawn to explore Notre Dame's Web site, every one of them is likely to be attracted to these audio and video features. How much more effective is it to show them a dazzling display centering on the best known aspects of Notre Dame, then draw them in for further information, than to present a series of "under construction" pages and blind links? They are likely to forgive the bland catalog text, the menu items with no links, the pages with dull gray backgrounds, and other obvious unfinished aspects at the site, once they explore the pure entertainment, in visual and audio splendor, that is open to them! While the whole site is still a work in progress, these magnificent displays present an unforgettable view of the institution! Prospective students and their parents are likely to be interested in more than academic offerings and scholarships. They will want to know more about campus life, and they, like you, will be familiar with the reputation of the school in religion and sports. The same is true of potential donors, not to mention alums revisiting the Alma Mater. The effect left by this skillful use of multimedia, centered on the most outstanding features of Notre Dame's history and reputation, is bound to have a favorable impact! - Liz Pollard Smoke Signals Enterprises lpollard@smokesig.com On the Web: http://www.smokesig.com ********** NOTICE: As a subscriber to this electronic newsletter, you have permission to reproduce and use this article on your campus. All others please note ©1997, Topor Consulting Group International. Comments about, or requests to reprint should be directed to Bob Topor at topor@marketinged.com. -------------------------------------------------- Honesty in Higher Education Marketing by Robert (Bob) S. Topor CHECK YOUR COMMUNICATIONS FOR HONESTY A while ago, I read about two students at Pace University who successfully sued the university based on the quality of teaching they received (or DID NOT receive). NEW DEMANDS This, to me, is yet another indication of attitudes and perceptions of higher education by the public. Especially true of older students (these students were in their 30s), who are not willing to overlook shortcomings, this older market segment is putting new service demands on higher education, many of which did not exist in the recent past. "Such lawsuits once routinely flunked, mostly because courts thought schooling was better left to teachers than to judges." In this case, the judge said the course amounted to "educational malpractice." In my higher education experience, covering over 40 years, I am finding, for the first time, professors being directly attacked for "educational malpractice." This may be used to encourage the abolishment of tenure as we have known it. As a result of these direct faculty attacks, this is the "teachable moment" (as we said at Cornell). For the first time I am finding faculty anxious to consider marketing, service management, image analysis, and other related marketing and service ideas. The idea of "customers" is now more readily accepted. In my experience faculty have traditionally been main detractors of marketing in higher education (as have been administrators who have feared faculty reactions to their marketing suggestions). This idea of perceived lack of VALUE (and quality) is one you need to heed. It comes up in all you use to market your school. This includes, of course, web sites. You need to be careful about projecting false images, making promises and suggestions you can not substantiate. To test this, surf your own web site with a critical eye for accuracy and marketing intent. It is wise to do this BEFORE one of your students decides your school is being dishonest. It is much too easy to get carried away with the zeal we all have about the "grandeur" of our schools. So I feel this is the time to consider launching that marketing plan you have not been able to consider and to evaluate its honesty. You may find little resistance. You may find total acceptance! The results may be many-fold. Think about it. I am. -Bob Topor ********** Bob Topor * Topor Consulting Group International Higher Education Marketing Evangelist Web site: http://www.marketinged.com E-mail: topor@marketinged.com ********** NOTICE: As a subscriber to this electronic newsletter, you have permission to reproduce and use this article on your campus. All others please note ©1997, Topor Consulting Group International. Comments about, or requests to reprint should be directed to Bob Topor at topor@marketinged.com. ********** -------------------------------------------------- NEW! "The Complete Guide to Focus Group Marketing Research in Higher Education" book is now available for downloading to your computer... Bob Topor's 55-page practical guidebook for running focus groups is now available for downloading. As subscriber to this electronic newsletter you have permission to purchase this book and make unlimited copies for use on your campus (copyright free). Regular cost is $32 in printed copy. You can purchase it for only $25. It is a great guide for how to do focus groups and has been Bob's best selling book ever! Don't miss this special offer! It's easy to order (secured credit card) and download... just log on to Bob's web site at http://www.marketinged.com and find it on his home page. Questions? Call Bob at (650) 962-1105 or e-mail him at topor@marketinged.com -------------------------------------------------- Original posting: 11/27/97 Marketing Higher Education Newsletter is published by Topor Consulting Group International (http://www.marketinged.com). Newsletter posted by WEBB Internet Marketing & Consulting (http://www.firstchapter.com). copyright 1997 Topor Consulting Group International