"INSTITUTIONAL IMAGE — How to Define, Improve, Market It."

EDUCATIONAL CATALIST PUBLICATIONS

Potential Age of Marketing Apathy . . .
We are about to enter a period of time where admissions will increase. This is due to demographic changes in numbers of college age students entering the higher education market place. This is dangerous. I call it the "Potential Age of Marketing Apathy!" I know, from personal experience, that when things are going along well in admissions, Board, faculty and administrators turn their collective attention to other critical matters.

The numbers of students will increase as we get closer to the peak year 2010. For example, here in California, we expect over 700,000 more students than normal. This is the largest number of students that any state, any time, any place has faced. An equivalent increase may occur in your state. Children of Baby Boomers have already been surging through K-12. I suggest you check your local numbers by talking to your K-12 school Board. I suspect they will verify what I am talking about.

So what does this mean for you? Besides potential problems, I suggest this would be the BEST TIME to advance marketing efforts on your campus. This would be the time to launch new admissions, fund raising, alumni, outreach ideas. I have found the best times to launch programs is times of apparent abundance.

A simple test to determine if your school is a potential candidate for the Age of Marketing Apathy is this:

1. Ask you admissions director how she/he feels about the future for admit numbers. Watch the applicant pool numbers. Growing numbers indicate possible apathy.

2. Talk with faculty. Ask them if the faculty senate has discussed the growing number of students in classes (class size).

3. Watch internal memos for clues about growing student populations.

4. Watch budgets. Are there pressures to reduce admissions funding for recruiting? Is your school "backing off?"

5. Is there talk about scaling down your viewbooks, search pieces?

6. Has any one mentioned that you are mailing out too many admissions pieces? Are there pressures on your mailing budgets?

7. Have you noticed increased concern about housing (if you are on a residential campus) Parking (if you are not residential)?

If you have answered yes to these questions, you may be entering an Age of Marketing Apathy!

What can you do about it?
The most important thing to do is to recognize it and be prepared for how you will go about responding. Many schools will re-allocate budgets. Make sure marketing and communications do not get short changed in the process.

Strategically I have always found that "abundance" is the time to take advantage of opportunities to launch new efforts and plan for the future when "manna stops dropping from heaven." Plan ahead.

Some schools will be forced to "rob Peter to pay Paul." They will be forced to use limited funds to shore up programs and facilities. Lots of academic leaders have put maintenance on a back burner for decades. New found funds will be necessary to make repairs, to make up for deferred past actions.

This is potentially dangerous for you and your budget.

Take heed. Pay attention to changing circumstances. Be prepared with strategies to respond in the most effective marketing ways. If you want to discuss this with me, drop me an e-mail or call.

The quality of higher education has traditionally been measured by a student's ability to meet standards of success after graduation. This success has often been determined by jobs she or he has taken or by the satisfaction of requirements for advanced study. The ultimate judges of success have been the employer, advanced study administrator and the student himself. Reliability of performance has been a key factor. The student or employee are expected to perform reliably.

Historical . . .
How do we view quality in higher education? We have operated from a base of traditional systems and processes of evaluation. These perfunctory approaches pay little regard to the emotions, feelings and expectations that are important to the judges of quality. The evaluative process has its own level of "tolerances." The accurate assessment of these expectations impact marketing. No longer can we expect automatic results. Management of expectations is key to ultimate success.

The Future . . .
I feel the "test" for the future of higher education will focus on this issue of quality. As the economy tightens (and it is inevitable) the perception of the quality by your graduates will become paramount to your marketing efforts. Watch and see!

The problem of quality is exacerbated by the fact that "outsiders" play a critical role in determining eventual success. The potential employer, the advanced studies administrator and the parent play a role in the ultimate evaluation. These perceptions of quality add dimensions which cannot be overlooked by the astute administrator, faculty leader, marketer.

What are you to do?
Reliance on traditional forms of evaluation is problematic. This is especially true as technological advancements impact the perception of ultimate quality. As technology changes more and more rapidly, impact on the student is obvious. It is important to recognize that perceptions of quality are as important as the "product" of education itself! This is a fact many marketers, faculty and administrators may be loathe to recognize.

What can you do to ensure that quality is appropriate? How can you make sure the end result meets expectations on the part of the consumer as well as the provider?

I suggest you consider market research of key "targets" to evaluate the perceptions of quality. By using results from this research you can "feed" the academic system to encourage change. I know how difficult this can be in your environment.... one of the most difficult in the nonprofit world. But to overlook this critical aspect of quality evaluation may ultimately lead to a poor result which will feed back to affect admissions...the critical cycle of academic progression.

"Dumbing" down . . .
There has been criticism of quality of educational results at all levels of education. Criticism focuses on compromising ("dumbing down") students. Problems have been overlooked. This has resulted in some graduates (at all levels of education) of inferior quality. The problems are exacerbated as these students move up through our educational systems, eventually joining us in society. I predict we shall see lots of attention to this compromising of quality problem.

Some suggestions . . .
1. Determine whom the target audiences are...those who are important in determining the quality of your graduates. Consider the student herself, potential employers, family, friends, parents, classmates, faculty, fellow alumni, administrators, media, etc.

2. Develop a system (methodology) to evaluate perceptions of quality.

3. Convey information back to those internal staff (faculty, administrators) who can influence the end result (graduating student).

Many who read this will think, "Bob, this is very idealistic. That is out of my realm of responsibility. (Fill in the blank) is responsible for that. Why should *I* worry about it?"

The answer is simple. If you don't worry about this, who will? You, as a professional marketer, have the ability to influence outcomes. Use that power to change the direction of your academy. Take risks.

SIDEBAR to this story:

I was once asked by a Korean firm (striving to help Korean academies achieve top quality) why some American academies (Harvard, Yale, Stanford) are so recognized for quality. "How did they achieve this position?" was the question.

I pondered this for a long time and decided that it was because of a number of reasons:

1. Most institutions recognized for quality had some things in common. They began with a history grounded in a quality idea. Relentless self-examination and a passion for quality hires (faculty, administrators) and quality admits (students) led to eventual quality.

2. Quality faculty, students and administrations led to quality alumni! Quality alumns with diplomas went out into society and made impacts.... great impacts! The success flowed back to the academy bolstering further success.

3. Quality begets quality. One leads to the other. Once quality is planted, it is self-propagating. It establishes a momentum of its own. Voila! Quality!

...you're confused about where to start, how to organize, what to include, organizational communications strategies and other complexities involved?

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