MARKETING HIGHER EDUCATION A periodic electronic Newsletter to help you market your school, community college, college, or university. Vol. XII, no. 2, February, 1998 -------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS The Topor-Pollard Test for Evaluating Your Mission Statement by Robert "Bob" S. Topor & Professor Elizabeth "Liz" Pollard The Challenge of Marketing Music Education, by Eugene Cantera, Director of Marketing & Public Relations, Dallas School of Music, Inc. -------------------------------------------------- The Topor-Pollard Test for Evaluating Your Mission Statement. by Robert "Bob" S. Topor and Professor Liz Pollard, Co-Publishers of This Newsletter We believe that mission statements are absolutely critical to an organization. A mission statement is the "touchstone" by which all offerings are judged. Mission statements differentiate your work from the work of others. We feel they are the justification for your existence. Through the years we have searched for a way to test a mission statement. How can you tell if your mission statement is good? Is there a good way to do this? We feel we have come up with a solid way to evaluate a mission statement. We have tested this idea at our seminars. We find it works. We offer it here now to you for your use. We warn you that this test is deceptively simple. Please do not discount it for its simplicity. It is also very powerful. It reveals much about your institution. Follow these directions carefully. If you have any questions about the process call or e-mail us. We will be happy to assist you. However, we have found that most people find this an easy test to perform and interpret. The testing process - 1. Get a copy of your existing mission statement. Read it aloud. 2. Think of a competitive institution or organization (this can be used for profit motivated organizations) that is very unlike yours. Think of this organization's products, target audiences, marketing objectives, and all else that makes it DIFFERENT from yours. Don't be concerned if it seems ridiculously different. That is good. 3. Returning to your existing mission statement, change any identification of your institution's organization to the DIFFERENT institution you have chosen. Make minor "adjustment" as necessary (location, for example). Read it aloud. 4. The congruity represented by the "new" version, if it sounds OK to you, the POORER your mission statement. Why do we say that? If the "new" version sounds OK that means that your original mission statement was not good. It did little to differentiate your school or organization. It did not POSITION you well in the competitive marketplace. If your original mission statement consisted of a bunch of abstract superlatives (we call "the commitment to excellence BS") it will become abundantly clear to you. So remember, the better the revised version sounds the poorer your original! If, on the other hand, the revised version sound totally stupid and incongruous, the better your original. You may find that it will require a series of revisions to come to the ideal mission statement, one that is in concert with your values and philosophies. Also, mission statements are like tomatoes, They do not store well. Every day your mission may be making subtle changes. Mission statements must change with the times. Test your statement frequently. Professor Liz Pollard: As Bob notes, differentiation is crucial to marketing any product or service, and institutions of higher education are no different in that respect. Vague mission statements, written to cover every possibility, but not specific to your institution's vision, goals, and objectives, do nothing to show potential students and donors what you have to offer that is different! Let's try another experiment. If you were choosing a college for your child, what would you look for? Would you pick an institution that sounded like all the others? Chances are good you would not, you would look for one that sounded different, or special in some way! Most schools offer a good selection of programs, quality teaching, a good reputation for placing students in careers, and other similar qualities. What DIFFERENCES would make you look twice at a school? Shouldn't they be fundamental enough to show up somehow in its mission and vision statements, and its philosophy of education? Now look at the mission statements of several comparable institutions in size and programs, perhaps some in the same region as yours. Try the same experiment with them that you just completed above. Do they still sound all right, or is there something distinctive about them that makes the name of your institution a poor fit? If so, what is it? Is there something you can say about your institution that equally DISTINGUISHES it from others? The effect of a good mission statement may be seen in every aspect of an institution's performance. Its philosophy, its vision, its goals and objectives, its teaching quality, its support of students in job searches, the quality of graduates, and every other detail fits. The institution is only as unique as its mission, its purpose! EDITOR'S NOTE: We shall see in another article in this newsletter issue how the reformulation of a mission statement was carried through in one institution. See if you can determine what the crucial difference was in this one! Then try to do something similar with your own institution, and the results will show! ********** Bob Topor * Topor Consulting Group International Higher Education Marketing Evangelist Web site: http://www.marketinged.com E-mail: topor@marketinged.com AND Professor Liz Pollard * Smoke Signals Enterprises Web site: http://www.smokesig.com Email: lpollard@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. ********** -------------------------------------------------- The Challenge of Marketing Music Education by Eugene Cantera Introduction - The phone call was like many others I frequently get. This one, last year, was from guy named Eugene Cantera. He said he was from the Dallas School of Music and was working on a revised mission statement. He asked me for help. Of course, I am quick to help anyone in marketing...especially higher education. During the ensuing conversation I discovered that this guy (Eugene), a musician and music teacher, was quite an astute and savvy marketing person. He had wonderful ideas about marketing music. Liz and I asked Eugene to put some of his thoughts in writing for you, our reader. The following article contains some powerful marketing concepts. Whether you have a school of music or not, Liz and I think you can learn a lot from Eugene's philosophy and approaches to education. We include samples of his marketing outreach efforts. -Bob Topor & Liz Pollard NOTE: Some illustrations have been provided from the Dallas School of Music brochure. These are presented on a separate page. To see the Mission Statement, Philosophy of Education, and the Offerings of the school as presented in its marketing materials, please click HERE! As Director of Marketing and Public Relations at The Dallas School of Music, Inc., my challenge is to convince a public that our product is more than "music lessons." My task is made easier only by the fact that my colleagues believe passionately in the power of music and education and are tireless champions of the cause. We began by defining our product and what separates The Dallas School of Music from other traditional music institutions. First and foremost, what we sell is not music, it is education. Music is our tool and education is our goal. A music lesson can be gotten almost anywhere, from the back room of a music store, to the kitchen of a retired teacher, but neither of those situations are conducive to a music education. We made a conscious decision in our promotional material to downplay references to music, as silly as that sounds! We chose instead to include words like community, relationships, self esteem, individuals and family. Most importantly, these words are not just a marketing tack, they are truly what we believe music is all about. We all know that one of the greatest things about music is the people you meet through it! Next, we re-named many of the terms that are usually associated with our profession. We replaced lesson with session and teacher with educator. Even more specific terms were changed; private lessons became individual instruction and teaching time became educational hours. We worked hard at promoting ourselves as a firm, as being in the business of music education. Taking a page from IBM corporate history, we all wear suits and ties, ladies wear pants suits or dresses. We are battling stereotypes in music that go back hundreds of years and we are not afforded the luxury of the 90's casual days..yet. Mission Statements and Philosophy We developed internal and external mission statements as any successful business would. Internally, the goal is to "elevate the status of music educators in society." We battle the stigma of musicians as being artsy, temperamental, disheveled and somewhat lazy. Furthermore, society in general thinks of a career in music as not being part of reality. I can't tell you how many times members of my own family have said, "but when are you going to get a real job?" or "when will you join the real world?". The romantic vision of the poor musician, alone, composing and practicing or the old teacher in a cluttered studio are practically grained into the psyche of western culture. Our external mission statement puts into perspective what our business is really all about; relationships. We want to "cultivate relationships in our community through music education." To this we add that "the families we serve are much more important and precious than the music we teach." I feel that this our real challenge, that what we teach is secondary to who and how we teach. It amazes me how many so called educators put product first and people second, it just doesn't make sense. We have also developed an educational philosophy which states "the primary objective of education regardless of student age or subject, is to successfully instill in an individual an unending belief in one's self. Belief in one's self is essential in accomplishing whatever goals an individual desires." Again, no musical references whatsoever. Success and Failure During 1997 the school became a private institution with the implementation of an application process, which in a way, is very much a continuation of our marketing plan. We decided to go on the offensive and encourage our clients to share their thoughts about music education. Our application includes questions such as "Why are you pursuing a music education?", "What non-musical benefits, if any, do you hope to obtain through a music education?" and "What criteria will you use to measure the success of a music education?". We have done more to help our own cause with this process than with any other policy we've developed. We are imposing thought on our community and they can't seem to get enough. We have just completed our fifth year of operation, a milestone for any business. In this time we have gathered a staff of eight "power" educators who are in tune with the culture of DSM. Change happens slowly, however and we quickly learned that what might keep us from being successful is finding qualified people who would willingly buck the trend, choosing to be part of a small, experimental "firm" rather than the supposed security of the public school system (anyone seen Mr. Holland's Opus? If that's not a wake up call for us to change ourselves, I don't know what is!). We continue to "market" ourselves to applicants as an alternative to the norm and university job centers around the country are beginning to take notice of the packages we have to offer our faculty. There are currently over four hundred families enjoying our programs each week. Our staff enjoy the benefits of a corporate styled work environment with medical benefits, retirement pension plans and profit sharing. We all have private offices with state of the art equipment, access to the internet for education and research capabilities and best of all, a terrific work space conducive to the field we love, with colleagues we can learn from and trust. ********** Eugene Cantera Director of Marketing & Public Relations Dallas School of Music, Inc. Email: eugedsm@yahoo.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. -------------------------------------------------- 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: 2/27/98 Marketing Higher Education Newsletter is published by Topor Consulting Group International (http://www.marketinged.com). 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