I have found that marketing is by its very nature suspect. This is particularly true when applied to higher education where often faculty, deans and administrators feel it taints the purity of institutions. For example, I think of times when I proposed marketing research to indicate a marketing path or when I suggested we test a communications piece before we launch it or an ad or viewbook before we printed it. Many times I stood before audiences and felt the resistance, verbal and physical. Somehow I managed to keep my cool and survive. But it was not easy.

Then, maybe I would go out on a consulting assignment and feel the difference, when I was introduced as the "expert." At home I was a novice, On the road I was an expert. How strange. But how common.

It's not about me... It's about YOU!

My reason for writing this is to validate what YOU do about marketing your institution. It's all about YOU, I no longer have to establish my credentials. I have earned them and, although I still care a great deal about marketing higher education, my purpose is to encourage YOU to follow in my footsteps. My wish is to provide you with the necessary experiences to succeed. If you succeed, I feel I have succeeded. It's that simple. It's like passing the torch in the World Olympics. I hand it off to you. The torch is hot. It has lots of power. But it also can burn you and those around you. So be careful in how you handle it. Carry it firmly and with earned confidence.

Marketing is power. I believe, through effective and careful marketing you can achieve much to advance an institution of higher education on many fronts. But like the prophet mentioned earlier in this article, you may not be recognized on your home turf.

How do you become an "expert?"

There are many ways to do this. You can do much through self-study. You don't have to have an MBA from a prestigious institution. I don't. Essentially I am self taught. Truth be known, I have never taken a formal marketing course in my life. True, I spent enough study to earn (probably) many MBAs and few Ph.D.s too, but I am almost entirely self-taught. I have read hundreds, maybe thousands, of books about marketing. I have written seventeen books on marketing higher education. It became an obsession for me in my earlier professional days. For me, it came out of frustration... experiencing personally and in real time how poorly higher educational institutions performed. I discovered, much by accidental reading, a better way. It was marketing. I started to think about how it could apply to my field (higher education) and to write about it and teach it. Before long, I became one of the international experts. But that did not make me the expert at the institution where I worked, with the exception of when I was at Cornell. At Cornell they recognized that I carried important methodologies and ideas with me and they let me practice them there. Ironically it was in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Cooperative Extension! The point is that you too can become the expert on your home turf. It will take lots of effort and study and, if you do have an MBA so much the better. You are ahead of the game. You have an advantage.

I have a tag alongside my computer and it is here as I write this. It is a reminder to myself. On this tag is one word... humility. It serves as a reminder that although I an expert, I owe a lot to many people who have helped me along the way. Many opportunities were presented to me throughout my life. Lots of people helped me along the way. Their names are too many to mention. Some go back to my grade school days. Some teachers helped me get scholarships to college. Lots of professors helped me. My Dad and Mom helped me. My immigrant grandparents helped me. Many authors helped me by providing ideas which I developed on my own. The point is you can do this too. You are bright enough, I hope, to take the marketing torch and carry it on. Become the prophet at your institution. But don't be surprised if you find out what Jesus found: "He was greatly surprised because the people did not have faith.

© Robert Topor, Topor Consulting Group International, 2003

Quick Quiz:

This quiz is intended to get you thinking about forms of marketing research you have available to you: Does your institution rely on research to better understand your primary and secondary target markets? Is that information based on contemporary research methodologies? Have you seen evidence of decisions based on seat-of-the-pants kind of thinking? How effective have seat-of-the-pants actions been? Do you respect the people who rely on seat-of-the-pants actions? How long do you think you have to work in this field to be able to make effective seat-of-the-pants decisions? How many years? Can you identify individuals at your academy who use effectual seat-of-the-pants methods? Send your response back to Bob Topor at topor@marketinged.com. All responses are confidential. Your anonymity is respected. ©2003 Topor Consulting

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