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FROM CROWDSOURCED TO CAUSE MARKETINGThe Evolution of a Brand Campaign

Gene Begin / @gbegin / #UBTechSenior Director of Integrated Marketing / Babson College

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HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE NEED FOR ADVOCACY MARKETING

HIGHER EDUCATION CONSTITUENCY MAP

Consider Evaluate BuyGood Luck? Alumni

HIGHER EDUCATION MARKETING’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CONSUMER DECISION JOURNEY

ApplyEngage

 

EnrollRegister

 

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TODAY’S HIGHERED CONSTITUENCY JOURNEY

THE LOYALTY LOOP

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THE IMPORTANCE OF ADVOCACY MARKETING

https://gaggleamp.com/blog/employee-advocacy-infographic 

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TODAY’S HIGHERED CONSTITUENCY JOURNEY

Secondary Audiences: Prospects (students, employees) and external influencers at the top of the awareness funnel (recruiters, parents, media, thought leaders)

Target Audience: Advocates (alumni, faculty, staff, current students)

MEET BABSON COLLEGE

Small, private business college 14 miles west of Boston #1 in entrepreneurship for 22 and 18 consecutive years Approximately 2000 undergraduate and 1300 graduate students, representing more than 74 countries

Undergraduate program (top 25 in business) Graduate program - MBA and MS degrees (top 50 in business) Executive education program (top 10 U.S. and top 20 in the world for custom programs) Babson Global, which works with corporate, university, government, and foundation partners to advance

entrepreneurship education and Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® worldwide

BABSON COLLEGE

HOW DO YOU DEFINE ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

MISSION: REDEFINITIONThe Brand Campaign

In doing so: • Augment pride and engage our community in advocacy.

• Expand Babson’s application base, in turn expanding and enhancing our student and alumni base.

• Generate more corporate relationships.

• Create greater attention with academic institutions, foundations and grants organizations, and the policy community.

Increase brand awareness, engagement, and adoption for Babson, the educator for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®.

Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®

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WHAT IS CROWDSOURCING?

A process that involves outsourcing tasks to a distributed group of people…an undefined public rather than a specific body, such as paid employees.*

Benefits• Connection to your audience• Collaboration and competition • Simultaneous market research and testing• Lower cost

* Wikipedia

DEFINE.BABSON.EDU

Our crowdsourced engagement hub

• Context video• Definition submission• Data capture (name,

email, country, zip, occupation)

• Interactive search elements

• Liking• Sharing

LEVERAGING THE CONVERGENCE OF MARKETING MEDIA

OWNED MEDIA = website(s), multimedia, newsletters, SEO, social media accounts, campus environment

EARNED MEDIA = PR, word of mouth, social sharing

PAID MEDIA = traditional advertising, display advertising, paid search, event sponsorship, content advertising

SOCIAL SHARING

SOCIAL SHARING

2750+definitions

DEFINE.BABSON.EDU (V2)

• 1-step form with 7 fields, including definition -- 1.4% video submissions• 2-step form with video/definition on step 1, remaining 6 fields on step 2 --12.2% video submissions• 45% completion rate of entire form

EXTENDED TO OTHER INSTITUTIONAL GOALS

REIMAGINE THAT CONTENT!

Co

t

nen

t

STORYTELLINGExtend the brand campaign via content marketing

<INSERT COLLEGE> NOW

<INSERT COLLEGE> TODAY

INSPIRATION FROM OTHER INDUSTRIES

FOCUS ON THE FARMER

“Even the most technical subject has to have a human story behind it. We’ve been able to convince the management

that the content shouldn’t be about John Deere equipment.”David Jones

Publication ManagerJohn Deere

NOT THE EQUIPMENT

IT’S THE CAUSE NOT THE COLLEGE

In doing so: • Augment pride and engage

our community.• Expand Babson’s application

base, in turn expanding and enhancing our student and alumni base.

• Generate more corporaterelationships.

• Create greater attention with academic institutions, foundations and grants organizations, and the policy community.

Increase brand awareness, engagement, and adoption for Babson, the educator for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®.

BRAND CAMPAIGN GOAL & OBJECTIVES

Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®

To shine a spotlight on entrepreneurial leaders, brands, and ideas that are making an impact in organizations

of all types and sizes and society-at-large.

Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®

INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGY = CONTENT STRATEGY

Content strategy must be hardwired to your institutional strategy

ENTREPRENEURSHIPOFALLKINDS.COMEAK.ORG

There is a story behind every entrepreneur

LAUNCH AND LEARN

STORYTELLING ON CAMPUS

Any college is a busy place…

• Lloyd Blankfein: Goldman Sachs Chairman & CEO on campus for Babson Investment Banking Conference

• Gail Simmons: Top Chef judge and Food & Wine editor is an entrepreneur in residence, providing ongoing mentoring and guest appearances

• Faculty consistently publish bestselling books like Worthless, Impossible, and Stupid

…with a specific point of view: ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Goal for EAK Tell stories that are filtered through a broadly defined entrepreneurship lens

Big Names on Campus

Faculty Thought

Leadership

Annual Institutional

Events

Alumni News and

Stories

Timely Community, National, & World News

Contributions from Guest

Writers

BEYOND THE BRAND

• Diversity of sources from other universities (i.e. MIT, Harvard, etc.), startups and industry

• For every Babson quote, balance with external example• Extends social sharing well beyond Babson community

Source by the NumbersBabson Alumni:15Babson Faculty/Staff: 29Babson Friend/Guest: 22External Influencer/Expert Quotes: 26Guest Authors: 3

BUILDING A STORY PIPELINE

• Mine the events calendar for campus speakers• Collaborate with campus centers and organizations• List the platform on PR databases to receive pitches and ideas• Maintain an ongoing, shared list• Hire freelancers

YEAR TWO

• 50+ Articles– Insights from Google Analytics and past

performance help direct new stories

• Advertising (BizEd, Content sponsorships, etc.)

• Built Subscriber Database Define Campaign outreach, faculty/staff, current /

prospective students, alumni, interviewees

• Quarterly EAK Newsletter• Celebrating Entrepreneurship of All

Kinds – Boston event – Partnerships with local sponsors (Chamber of

Commerce, Citizens Banks)– Bring the concept of EAK to life

RESULTS MUST MEET OBJECTIVES

MOST POPULAR STORIES

5. Accounting for Entrepreneurship Inside

4. Swimming with the Sharks

3. How an Alpine Adventure Inspired a Business

2. Investing in Women: A Conversation with Tory Burch 

1. Helping Teen Mothers Step Out of Poverty

IMPACT ON COLLEGE GOALS

• 1,489 new user sessions driven to WWW– 4.1 pages per visit (38% higher than average)– 6:08 time on site (94% higher than average)

• Goal Conversions– 7 Graduate – 3 Executive Education– 2 Undergraduate

EVOLUTION OF BRAND MESSAGING

BRAND CAMPAIGN EVOLUTIONFY12

WRITE IT

FY13

SHOW IT

FY14

LIVE IT

FY15 & FY16

ACT IT

THE ENTREPRENEURS:A TRUE BABSON STORY

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ACTION.BABSON.EDU

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EARNED MEDIA

LESSONS LEARNED FROM AN EVOLVING BRAND MESSAGE

SHOW, DON’T TELL

Is there a catchphrase or tagline in your boilerplate or mission statement that needs less tell and more show?

Use it as your hook for cause marketing

POSITION DIFFERENTLY

WORD OF MOUTH IS YOURMOST POWERFUL BRAND MESSAGE

• Social media = word of mouth reinvented

• Community Passion• Use Your Advocates

• Presidential / Senior Leadership Buy-in

• Use Your Network and Their Networks• Share with 10 people, they’ll share with 10 people, who will share with 10 people, etc.

THANK YOU!

WWW.SLIDESHARE.NET/GBEGIN

GENE BEGIN / @GBEGINSENIOR DIRECTOR OF INTEGRATED MARKETING / BABSON COLLEGE