Major Concepts and Plan Development Developing an ...€¦ · Major Concepts and Plan Development...

Major Concepts and Plan Development

Developing an Integrated Marketing Communication Plan

presented by

Dr. Robert A. Sevier Senior Vice President, Strategy

Stamats, Inc. Cedar Rapids, IA 52406 (800) 553-8878

2 | Developing an Integrated Marketing Communication Plan | © STAMATS 2014

Research, Planning, and Consulting

■ brand clarification and development

■ image and perception studies

■ recruiting and marketing assessments, plans, and counsel

■ tuition pricing elasticity and brand value studies

Strategic Creative

■ institutional, admission and advancement websites

■ mobile and social media solutions

■ recruiting and advancement campaigns and publications

■ virtual and experiential tours

■ full media advertising campaigns

About Stamats

Stamats is recognized and respected as the

nation’s higher education integrated marketing

thought leader. Our comprehensive array of

innovative services has set the standard for

pairing insightful, research-based strategic

counsel with compelling creative solutions.

We promise our clients the highest level of

professional service and attention to detail in

the industry because, in the end, we know our

success is measured entirely by theirs.

http://api.ning.com/files/wAuKUBWpJbv5aZaDPzDutfJD5txlzYSkLSKfXhu8h73d5a5xtKdbDnoV*gle52d3LX3CPpfwsxIPJn8bFzchm1u5Vl8AlSq0/135069926.jpeg


Integrated Marketing


“The performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user” (1960)

“The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods, ideas, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals” (1985)

“An organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” (2004)

Evolving Definition of Marketing (AMA)

We talk, you listen We make, you take

- Old IBM motto


IMC is a subset of integrated marketing

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

IMC is an institution-wide effort to communicate your core values in ways that target audiences notice, understand, and respond to

– IMC includes brand marketing, direct marketing, and internal communication


Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)


Brand Marketing

A brand is not a look

Rather, a brand is a compelling promise a college, university, or school makes to its most important audiences to meet a need or fulfill an expectation

Perry Forster: “A brand is a promise expressed as a benefit that your target audiences value”

Al Ries and Laura Ries remind us that the purpose of marketing is to build a brand in the mind of a prospect

Truly successful brands are perceived by the target audience as the best, or even only, solution to a particular need

Brands give permission


Direct Marketing (DM)

Designed to generate a response

Sometimes called direct response marketing

Primary direct marketers:

Admissions – want to visit, apply, attend?

Advancement – want to give?

Historic DM channels:

Telephone

Postal mail

New(er) channels:

Email

Social media

IM

Blogging (and all its permutations)


Internal Communication

Most organizations overlook the strategic importance of internal communication

Engaged employees as a channel

Keeps internal audiences informed about

The day-to-day

Progress toward achieving your vision

When internal audiences are engaged, they are more likely to become advocates


Integrated Marketing (vs. IMC)


Customer Experience Management

What is it that we sell, anyway?

Your experience and your brand are closely tied

The sum of all the experiences that a student has on campus (and off campus) and the opportunities they have when they leave

“80% of organizations believe they deliver a superior customer experience,

but only 8% of their customers agree” – Bain & Company


Remember the Eight Percent?

Unlike most organizations, which reflexively turn to product or service design to improve customer satisfaction, experience leaders pursue three imperatives simultaneously:

They design the right experiences for the right people (customers)

They deliver on these experiences by focusing the entire organization with an emphasis on cross-functional collaboration

They develop their capabilities to please customers again and again—by such means as improving the product experience, training people in how to create and deliver new customer experiences, and establishing direct accountability for the customer experience


Who Pleases Customers?


Experience Marketing Defined

The identification and management, to a specific end, of the key touch points that define an experience that a customer has with a product or service

Have you diagramed key student and donor experiences?


Manage the Academic Experience • Internships – co-op • Graduate school placement • Job placement (starting salary implied) • Honors • Variety of classes within the program

(can customize program) • Library (coffee bar, study space,

connectivity) • Registration • Transfer friendly (both to and from) • Travel abroad

• Classroom experience (lab, theater, etc.) • Advising • Availability of classes • Student-to-faculty ratio • Faculty-to-major ratio • Technology (wireless) • Quality of other students (cohort groups) • Facilities – smart classrooms • Faculty commitment to teaching • Faculty mentorship • Opportunity to work with faculty on research


IM, IMC, or Just Promotion


A Bit More About Brand Marketing


Core Beliefs About Brands

Strong brands demand: 1) Current and comprehensive market research; 2) Respect for your school’s heritage; and 3) A clear and shared vision

A brand strategy will more likely involve the clarification of your institution’s current core values rather than the creation of new core values

The goal of a brand strategy is to establish and hold a position of perceived and real value in the minds of your most important internal and external audiences and thereby return measurable value to the institution

The brand strategy should engage, equip, and energize the campus community

An effective brand communication strategy demands message discipline and channel creativity


Options for Reputation Building

Academic quality – high selectivity: Do you attract the best students in the country?

Academic quality – faculty research: The quality, amount, and type of faculty research is a significant indicator of brand equity

Big-time sports: Athletics are the front door. Win big or lose big, but don’t do six and six

Image-building: Institutions that work hard to build a strong local, regional, and even national image will build brand equity

Co-branding (alliance marketing): Marrying your brand with another, perhaps more prestigious brand, or a brand of particular interest to a target audience, is often used to jump-start a brand (U.S. News & World Report; NYT, Battelle, Boeing)

Endowment: $500 million in the bank might be a brand unto itself


Building a Brand That Matters

Clarify and confirm the stated and unstated institutional core values that will drive your overall brand strategy

Settle on, or commit to, a single brand positioning strategy

Convey involves both communicating the brand and living out the brand.


What Problems Do the Following Brands Solve?

Volvo

Mont Blanc

Coca-Cola

FedEx

Yale

Tulane?

Harvey Mudd College

What problem do you solve? Drive Safely


Sample Brands

MIT: Premier technological university in the world Yeshiva: Comprehensive Jewish institution of higher education in the

U.S. Appalachian State: Serve the people and communities of Appalachia Biola: The nation’s only comprehensive, urban, evangelical university

*Positions held or desired (and likely to be achieved); positions valued by both internal and external audiences


Brand Sweet Spot

Focus on the Sweet Spot


Brand Architecture

A systematic way of viewing and organizing your institutional (super) and sub-brands, attributes, and graphic identity so as to achieve greater clarity, synergy, and leverage

̶ House of brands or a branded house

A clear brand architecture is especially critical as brand contexts become more complex with multiple sub-brands and product offerings

College I

College II

Law School

Institutional Super

Brand

Medical

School

Athletics

Adult Ed

Program


Architecture – continued

House of brands

Branded house


Ohio University Brand Identity

http://www.ohio.edu/brand/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=1735272


Verbal and visual vocabulary

Institutional Brand Promise (super-brand)

Brand Rationale

Graphic Identity

Tagline

Elevator Speech

Creative Boards

Brand Attributes

Sub- Brands

Single Word

Brand Attribute

Matrix

Proof Points

The Brand Platform


Brand portfolio: An assemblage of your key brand elements into a cogent, integrated whole. The creation and use of a brand portfolio ensures brand continuity and promotes brand synergy

Brand promise: A pledge you make to your most important audiences to do a certain thing and/or act in a certain way. It is who you are and what you want to be known for. Also known as a positioning statement or USP

Brand rationale: A written explanation as to the logic behind your brand promise and why you believe your constituents will value it A brand rationale is not an explanation of how the brand

promise was created • Often includes supporting evidence, stories

Brand Platform - continued



Sub-brands: Separate, complementary brands that are developed when the larger institutional brand is too broad to differentiate the benefits or unique attributes of a particular department or school

For example, sub-brands are created when a college or university wants to clearly associate an entity—such as a law school or football program—with the larger institution

Brand attributes: A series of words or phrases—implied in your brand promise—that you want to position in the minds of your most important target audiences

Over time, as a result of your brand communication plan, you want your most important audiences to repeat these attributes back to you, and to others. Words you want to “own”

• Also known as benefit segments and vivid descriptors



Brand attribute matrix: A set of institutional brand attributes that have been translated for such sub-brands as law schools or athletics

Single word you want to own

Tagline: The brand promise expressed in “shorthand”



Elevator speech: A memorized statement that summarizes, in a meaningful way, the essence of your brand and your institution. This “speech” is given, usually verbally, when someone says, “tell me about your school”

Graphic identity: The visual, graphic portrayal of your institutional brand promise and attributes

Not to be confused with a brand identity which often has psychological and relational (associative) overtones

Creative boards: An initial creative idea that visually and verbally captures the flavor (essence) of the brand promise


The Four Ps

# 1: Product

What is your product?

How does your product compare/compete with similar products from other colleges or universities?

Is your product in demand? How do you know?

Will students and donors overcome real and imagined barriers to exchange their values (time and money) for your product?

Q What kinds of educational institutions tend to be more willing to customize their products? Why?


Academic Program Marketability Assessment

Fine-tune your academic offerings to increase share and tuition revenue. Identify which programs to build/expand

Quality indicators:

Graduation rates by major

Student satisfaction within major

Job placement by major

Graduate school placement by major

Percentage of students employed in their major or in graduate school within six months of graduation

Demand indicators

Prospective student interest in major

Enrollment by major

Estimate of unused capacity by major

Job and employment trends

Percentage of top five competitors that offer this major


Develop a Business Approach to New Majors

Four major decision areas Strategic

Marketplace

Economic and resource

Promotion


Three More Resources for You

White Paper: Managing Your Academic Portfolio

Link: http://www.stamats.com/Portals/0/whitepapers/Managing_Academic_Portfolio.pdf

Business Plan for New Majors

Send me an email [email protected]

Academic Strategist

http://resources.stamats.com/resources/academic-strategist

http://www.stamats.com/Portals/0/whitepapers/Managing_Academic_Portfolio.pdfhttp://www.stamats.com/Portals/0/whitepapers/Managing_Academic_Portfolio.pdfhttp://www.stamats.com/Portals/0/whitepapers/Managing_Academic_Portfolio.pdfmailto:[email protected]://resources.stamats.com/resources/academic-strategisthttp://resources.stamats.com/resources/academic-strategisthttp://resources.stamats.com/resources/academic-strategisthttp://resources.stamats.com/resources/academic-strategisthttp://resources.stamats.com/resources/academic-strategist


# 2: Price

How much do you charge for your product?

Do all customers pay the same price?

How does this price compare with that of competing colleges or universities?

What are the dollar and non-dollar costs of your product?

Q What are the dangers of positioning yourself on the $ variable?

The Four Ps - continued



A big part of the cost equation is the relationship between cost and perceived benefits

What is your value proposition?

Costs Benefits


What Are Some Signs of Price Sensitivity?


# 3: Place (distribution)

Where are your programs offered?

Are people willing to take classes in those places and at those times?

Impact of asynchronous learning

Brick and click

What alternative delivery modes are available?



# 4: Promotion

To what media are your audiences most likely to respond?

How do your promotional strategies compare with those used by your competition?

Remember the media mix?



But there’s really quite a bit more lurking below the surface

Promotion

Product

Price

Place

Most people only “see” promotion

Iceberg Theory of Marketing


Why Are We So Preoccupied With Promotion?

Few senior decision makers understand the difference between integrated marketing and promotion

Decision makers, faculty in particular, almost automatically assume that the problem cannot be related to product

“We are a …”

“We just need to get the word out!”

The Fifth and Sixth Ps: policy and politics

For the most part, product, price, and place issues are strategic and require the input of stakeholders

Promotion is usually tactical and of less interest to stakeholders


The Four Cs (represents a major paradigm shift)

Customer (or consumer)

Not the product, but the customer; you can no longer simply sell what you want to produce, you must sell what customers want to buy

Within constraints of mission

Cost

The dollar and non-dollar costs the customer is willing to “pay” to meet a need or want

Convenience

Not place, but issues of “easiness” and access

Communication

Not merely promotion, but active listening and message customization


Chief Attributes of the Four Cs

More customer influence

Caveat emptor to cave emptorum

Recognizes that the exchange relationship is dynamic and increasingly dependent upon knowing the customer

Aggressive listening . . . and remembering


Critical Terms

Marketing mix: Controllable variables that the college or university uses to achieve strategic goals

Called the Four Ps and/or Four Cs:

Product/Customer (Consumer) Strategic

Price/Cost Strategic

Place (or Distribution)/Convenience Strategic

Promotion/Communication Tactical


Are All Four Ps Created Equally?


If a differentiated curriculum is

your most important marketing

asset (and it is)


Then Your CAO is Your CMO


We Are Hard Wired to Notice the Different


How are you different from your competitors in ways that target audiences value?

Differentiate along the four Ps

Terms - continued


Expecteds

high in relevance, low in differentiation

Neutrals

low in relevance, low in differentiation

Drivers

high in relevance, high in differentiation

Fool’s gold

high in differentiation, low in relevance

Source: McKinseyQuarterly.com

Seeking Points of Differentiation


Distinctive or Compelling?


Media mix: Mass and personal channels of communication and promotion

Many components of the media mix such as advertising, public relations, publications, and direct mail are often called “marketing” by the uninitiated

Terms - continued


Constituent relations:

• Public

• High school

• Alumni

Media work:

• Homeowners

• Features

• Wild art

Interactive media:

• Web (social media, blogs, et al.)

• Email

• CD-ROM

Direct marketing (response marketing):

• Telephone

• Postal mail

• Email

Publications including variable digital printing/print on demand

Sponsorships, publicity, event marketing

Internal communication Collaborations, alliance marketing (co-branding)

Word-of-mouth (buzz marketing)

Facilities and environmentals:

• Buildings and grounds

• Signage and perimeter marking

Traditional media (advertising):

• Magazine and newspaper

• TV/cable

• Radio

• Outdoor/out of home

Engaged employees as media

• Training

• Donor

• Community

• Business

Media Mix (enriched)


It’s Only Communication If They Respond!


Image: A set of attitudes or beliefs that a person or audience holds about a college or university

An image is how you are perceived, not necessarily how you are

Because perceptions guide behavior, it is very important that you know how you are perceived by the audiences you value most

Institutions have multiple images

Images change over time

Moments of truth

Bricks and mortar

Terms - continued


– Accuracy: Honest and provable – 95% who you are and 5% who you want to be

– Clarity: Is your message understandable/memorable?

– Consistency: Is everyone singing off the same song sheet?

– Continuity: Over time

Transmitting a Strong Image

Image Formula = (Accuracy + Clarity + Consistency) x Continuity

Terms - continued


When people hear your name, what do they think about? What are your vivid descriptors?

Positioning: The act of placing an institution in the mind of a prospective student or donor

Position statement – where you are now (based on research)

Positioning statement – where you want to be

Competitive positioning: Developing and communicating powerful and meaningful differences between your offerings and those of your competition

Q

Terms - continued


AB College

CD College

Univ of XY

Client

XY College

State Univ

City College

EF College

Strong academic challenge

Cost to attend Quality of campus facilities

Expertise, knowledge of faculty

Commitment to liberal arts

Quality of faculty as teachers and mentors

Quality of academic facilities

Variety of extra-curricular clubs, activities, events

Availability of an honors program

Small class size

Town where located

Strong reputation and name recognition

Core Attributes

AB College

Extracurricular

Location

Quality of academic facilities

Reputation and recognition

Honors program

Client

Academic challenge

Faculty skill

Academic facilities

Honors program

Reputation, recognition



Firm commitment to the Four Cs (or Four Ps)

Horizontal integration

Brand marketing

Direct marketing

CEM

Internal communication

Vertical integration

Strategic

Organizational including internal communication

Message

Active listening and remembering

Database dependent gather and act on data

Ongoing evaluation and modification


Strategic Integration

Flows directly from mission, vision, and core values

Based on a realistic situation analysis

Requires cross-functional integration


Is Everyone on the Senior Team Rowing Together


Many marketing problems are actually political problems in disguise


Organizational Integration

Db Manager

Public Relations Publications Advertising Web

Marketing Student Recruiting Student Services

Alumni Fund-raising

Advancement

Vice President for Market Relations Academic Vice President Vice President for Finance

President


When You Can’t Change the Organization

Adopt an ad hoc, team-based approach

The integrated marketing team (IMT)

Teams vs. committees or taskforces

Organization


Centralized or Decentralized

Lately, a question we are routinely asked is whether marketing functions should be centralized or decentralized

In most cases, the answer is both

Coordinated under one plan, with the larger institutions in mind:

– The brand function (awareness) is centralized

– The direct marketing function (generating response) is decentralized in functional units

Recruiting

Fundraising

Special events


Message Integration

Involves coordinating all messages so they share a common look, sound, and feel across different media and audience segments

Sometimes termed integrated marketing communication (IMC)

Extension of the old “family look”



Promotion

Product

Price

Place

Strategic Integration O

rgan

izat

ion

al

Inte

grat

ion

Message Integration


A Market-Oriented Institution …

Embraces a comprehensive definition of marketing

Recognizes marketplace dynamics

You do compete, you are compared:

Students

Donated dollars

Public and media attention

Is driven by transforming vision

Nanus and Albrecht


Burt Nanus defines vision as “a realistic, credible, attractive future for your organization.” There is no more powerful engine driving an organization toward excellence and long-range success than an attractive, worthwhile, and achievable vision of the future that is widely shared. Karl Albrecht uses a metaphor, “the northbound train,” to describe how important vision is to an organization. Albrecht says that the image of a northbound train conveys an unwavering commitment to a particular Direction. The idea of a moving train also conveys a strong sense of momentum, of unstoppable, implacable movement in an unambiguous direction.

The Importance of Vision


Audience centric and not institutional centric

Uses new definitions of quality and success

Less emphasis on edifices and finances and more emphasis on student outcomes

Embraces a culture of “Now!”

A sense of entrepreneurship

Risk taking is encouraged

An attitude of immediacy

Understand the too-high cost of perfect decisions and plans

Consensus is not a goal

Focus on fixing problems and not affixing blame

Individual and group accountability

A commitment to followership

Market-oriented Institution - continued


Stresses data-based decision making

A willingness to collect, analyze, and act on objective information

Features variability of product, price, place, and promotion based on customer needs and expectations

Establishes return on investment (ROI) criteria a priori

Database is a state of mind

Market-oriented institution - continued


Developing an Integrated Marketing Plan

1. Lay the foundation

2. Undertake a situation analysis

3. Define target audiences

4. Settle vivid descriptors

5. Refine your target geography

6. Establish marketing goals

7. Write marketing action plans

8. Assemble and debug the plan

9. Execute and evaluate


Integrated Marketing Plan Outline

Mission statement

Vision statement

Planning assumptions

Situation analysis (prioritized) SWOT OT

Prioritized target audiences

Vivid descriptors

(Brand attributes)

Target geographies

Prioritized marketing goals

IM Four Ps

IMC Brand Direct Internal

Marketing action plans (MAPs) Short-term Long-term

Budgets

Timelines/GANTT charts


The Final Written Plan

While your final plan can take a variety of shapes and forms, this general outline will work in most instances – Mission 1 page – Vision ½ page

– Planning assumptions 1 page

– Situation analysis (prioritized) 3 pages

– Prioritized target audiences ½ page

– Vivid descriptors ½ page

– Target geographies ½ page

– Prioritized marketing/communication goals 1 page

– Action plans for year one 15–20 pages

– Budget 1–2 pages

– Timeline 1–2 pages


More Than Dollars…Will

Many college and university administrators believe that the biggest requirement for a successful brand marketing strategy is cash

While you will spend dollars, there is another currency that is even more important than dollars: institutional will

For a brand marketing strategy to be successful, you must have the institutional will to conduct the research and respond strategically

A critical element of brand marketing, therefore, is the decision to focus outward rather than inward, the decision to first understand and then respond to customers

One final word about dollars: You will spend dollars to create and maintain a brand

More than new dollars, you will spend coordinated dollars, dollars already being spent; now coordinated—and maximized—under one overarching brand marketing strategy


The champion: The spark or true believer (the visionary)

The sponsor: Runs interference for the champion

The large steering committee or task force: The politically appointed planning team; largely ineffectual as a true planning body

Transition to advisory group status

The planning team: The champion and the team who actually do the heavy lifting

̶ Involved with both developing and implementing the brand

People and Groups


The President as Sponsor

The president is the chief marketing officer. The signals he/she sends—to senior staff, middle managers, and faculty—will telegraph whether marketing is a legitimate institutional commitment

As such, the president must:

Have a vision for how marketing can help the institution. Without this personal vision there will never be personal commitment

Commit his or her power and prestige to the marketing efforts Commit institutional time, talent, and treasure Make tough decisions in a timely fashion Provide authority to the chief marketing officer, department, and/or team Convey that marketing is an institution-wide commitment and responsibility Clear away organizational and policy roadblocks Insist on shared goals and resources among senior administrators/staffs Go toe-to-toe with recalcitrant administrators Demand departmental and even individual accountability Be the champion’s sponsor


Campus Involvement

Key issues:

If your plan involves the public declaration of previously settled core values, then there is less need for campus engagement

If your plan involves the clarification of core values, then there will be a greater need for campus engagement


Key Steps in Engaging the Campus

Help the campus community understand the process

Clarify their role in the process

Build their confidence in the process (solid defendable research)

Give the campus community access to the process

Clarify the role of campus members in executing the plan

Aggressively communicate outcomes


1. What is your product? 2. Who are your customers? 3. How do your customers define value?

Peter Drucker’s Three Questions


Step One: Lay the Foundation

Clarify your purpose ̶ Ask the big questions

̶ Finalize the marketing mandate

Designate a champion

Assemble and build the marketing team


The Big Questions

• Why an integrated marketing plan and why now (to what need/opportunity are you responding)?

• Is the need/opportunity widely recognized on campus?

• How are you defining marketing? IM, IMC, brand marketing, promo?

• Are major players defining marketing the same way?

• Who are your customers? How do your customers define value?

• Who are your real competitors for students, donated dollars, and public attention?

• Will this plan dovetail with other plans or supplant them?

• How will you fund your plan?

• How will you determine whether your plan was successful (how evaluated)?


IM, IMC, or Just Promotion?


Finalize the Marketing Mandate

At this point you must completely understand the president’s marketing mandate (what he or she hopes to see the plan accomplish)

If you do not have a clear understanding of the president’s mandate, it will be very difficult to keep the planning process on track

It is against this mandate that your president will examine: Target audiences

Vivid descriptors

Target geography

Marketing goals

Individual action plans

Budget


To succeed, your marketing efforts must have a champion who is:

Knowledgeable Trusted/Respected

Powerful Passionate about marketing

It is almost always a mistake to have the marketing effort driven from “below”

Foundation - continued

Designate a champion


Assemble and build the marketing team

While the exact composition of the marketing team will change depending on the marketing mandate, most marketing teams include someone (or someones) from the following areas:

Public relations

Recruiting and admissions

Academics/faculty

Student services

Advancement and alumni

Institutional research

Athletics

Finance office

Don’t forget a secretary/coordinator/document handler Will also need to learn the planning software



Remember…

The job of individual team members is to investigate and represent the interests of their stakeholders and constituents

They need to conduct:

Conversations and interviews

Review of secondary data

Document review

Quantitative research

Focus groups


Two Tensions Keep the Team Size Manageable

Spread Ownership

The Key: Keep the actual planning team small and:

̶ Have it periodically report to larger campus-wide advisory team

̶ Have the smaller planning team serve as liaison to larger campus community



Remember:

While everyone may not be on the marketing team, the interests of everyone in the campus community must be presented by someone on

the marketing team


No Perhaps Possibly Yes

Typical Response to Marketing Proposals


Questions That Must Be Answered

If you can’t get the following questions answered, proceed cautiously

What is the president’s mandate?

Clear, definite, articulated, shared, and reasonable?

Who is the champion?

How long will the plan run?

Minimum of three years

What is the budget?

Sustainable over plan’s life


Step Two: Undertake a Situation Analysis

A situation analysis (SA) is a systematic evaluation of your institution and its environment from a marketing perspective

Most SAs use one of two models:

SWOT

Strengths: Internal qualities upon which you can capitalize

Weaknesses: Inherent flaws, something to be overcome

Opportunities: Things in your environment of which you can take advantage

Threats: Dangers in your marketplace that could cause you problems

PO

Major problems (internal and external) facing the institution Major opportunities (internal and external) facing the institution

Your president’s mandate should provide the basic direction of the SA


Situation analysis - continued

External/Environmental Analysis (do this one first!) – Linkages and exchange relationships with important publics

– Opportunities for sponsorships and collaborations

– How the institution is perceived by external publics

– Local, regional, national, and even international demographic, economic, and employment trends

– Met and unmet needs

– Institutions with which you compete for:

Students Donated dollars Media attention

– Others?


Situation analysis - continued

Internal/Institutional Analysis – Appropriateness of mission and vision

– Quality of leadership

– Campus climate

– Existing planning documents

– Market research

– Recruiting and fundraising programs

– How the institution is perceived by internal audiences

– Product, price, place, and promotion (or customer, cost, convenience, and communication) strategies

– Facilities and physical plant

– Communication strategies

– Others?


Time Out for Research

Your initial situation analysis may reveal that you need to take a time-out to do some research

Do you know enough about the audiences suggested by your president’s mandate?

Perceptions

VALs

Interests

Media habits

Opportunities to serve

Research must be

Legitimate

Timely

Date needed to establish baseline


Possible Research Studies

Recruiting and retention

General prospects Noninquirers Nonapplicants Nonmatriculants Influencers (parents, guidance

counselors, club advisors) Current students Withdrawing

Fundraising

Alumni Current donors Former donors

General

Faculty and staff Movers and shakers Media Church leaders Legislators Business leaders Community residents Peer institutions

Environmental

Demographic Economic Job trends Competitive analysis


Research Cycle

Studies done annually

Studies done every two years

Studies done every three years


Options for input:

Administrative Staff Faculty Student Alumni

Important issues:

Confidentiality Anonymity

Input options:

Surveys Focus groups and forums Ads in student newspaper Personal interviews Bulletin boards and Internet

Goal: As much input/ownership as possible

Managing the Situation Analysis


What do you feel are your greatest strengths or assets?

Which of your qualities do you think prospective students and donors value most?

̶ Students?

̶ Donors?

What are the most significant recruiting and/or marketing opportunities and challenges facing you?

̶ Opportunities?

̶ Challenges?

If you had the responsibility, and a reasonable budget, what marketing/recruiting strategies would you immediately initiate?

If you could change one aspect of your institution, what would it be?

Possible SWOT/PO Questions


Sample PO

Liberal arts college in Kentucky

Problems

Changing demography

Perception of college as a commodity

The demands of information technology

The dual commitment to quality and accessibility

Opportunities

Changing demography

The liberal arts and sciences experience

The XXYYZZ “experience”

Our national reputation


Circle of Concern

Circle of Influence

Source: Covey

Things you really can’t do anything about

Things you can change

As You Develop Your Situation Analysis, Keep in Mind …


Strategies for Prioritizing

Your SA will likely generate extensive and even cumbersome lists of SWOT/PO

These lists must be prioritized so they become more manageable

Use a form of balloting (also called “star” method or normative group technique) The list is created

Each member of the team is given a specific number of “stars”

Team members can then use their stars to “vote” on the items of most value or interest

Because items on the list are now weighted you have, in effect, prioritized the list


Pay-off Matrix

As you struggle with reviewing the range of possible strategic issues, it is easy to get lost in the minutiae

Juran’s the “vital few and the trivial many”

Focus on those things that will help you

directly address your president’s mandate


The Parking Garage

List items you don’t want to forget but are not relevant to the plan

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________


Worksheet: Situation Analysis

What are the major (prioritized) marketing problems this plan should address?

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________


Worksheet: Situation Analysis – 2

What are the major (prioritized) marketing opportunities this plan should address?

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________


Decision Point – Situation Analysis

It is very important that your final situation analysis is prioritized

It must reflect the president’s marketing mandate

Before proceeding, the president must sign off on the situation analysis


Step Three: Define Target Audiences

Target audiences

– A target audience is the person or group whose behavior or attitude you want to change or whom you wish to influence or inform

Define target audiences by:

– Age

– Geography

– Household income

– Ethnicity

– VALs

– Others?


Possible Audiences (remember, focus)

Students Donors Others

Current students

• Undergraduate

• Of color

• Talented/gifted

• Graduate

• Continuing ed

• International

• Distance ed

Alumni Faculty

Prospective students Current donors Staff

Nonmatriculants Former donors Administrators

Withdrawing students Prospective donors Parents

Foundations High school influencers

Business leaders

Board members

Community members

Church and religious leaders

Government leaders/officials


Worksheet: Target Audiences

Who are your top-five audiences for year one of the plan?

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Who will you add in year two:

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Year three?

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________


Decision Point – Target Audiences

Limit yourself to a handful of target audiences in year one; add others in subsequent years

Audiences must “mesh” with president’s mandate

Before proceeding, the president must sign off on the target audiences


Step Four: Settle Vivid Descriptors

When target audiences, students, donors, parents, and legislators hear your name, what do you want them to think?

What are your points of pride?

What position do you want to hold?

Also known as benefit segments and brand attributes

You must have mindshare before you will ever have market share


Descriptors - continued

A private college

A caring, supportive campus culture

High-quality faculty, facilities, programs, and graduates

A valuable economic, cultural, and intellectual asset to the region

A public in Utah

Small classes

Undergraduate focus

Leadership in and partnership with the community

Access to faculty

Curriculum focused on real-world issues


Vivid descriptors must emanate from your mission and vision

Because they represent core values, they are long-term and enduring

Your vivid descriptors will become the

central themes for taglines, advertising, publications, media

relations, and other media

Descriptors - continued


Keep them simple; avoid lengthy dialogue May need to translate for key customers and stakeholders:

How do different target audiences define “academic quality?” Remember, not all target audiences will be interested in all descriptors

(remember, segment the message mix) Illustrate your descriptors in ways that your audiences find meaningful

Guiding the Discussion on Vivid Descriptors


Worksheet: Vivid Descriptors/Brand Attributes

What are your top four or five brand attributes?

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________


Just as you limited the number of target audiences, you must limit the number of vivid descriptors to four or five

Keep them simple (or else they won’t be vivid)

Vivid descriptors must be consistent with the president’s mandate

The president must sign off on the vivid descriptors

Decision Point – Vivid Descriptors


Step Five: Refine Your Target Geography

Primary and secondary markets

Think “small” (or in other words, focus)

Analyze support structures

Feeder high schools

Alumni clubs

Population centers

Airline hubs

Athletic conferences

Analyze data

Competitors

Image “fall-off”

Consider geospatial mapping


Worksheet: Target Geographies

What are your top four or five target geographies?

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________


Think “just big enough”

Watch out for institutional ego

Geography should represent key overlaps

The president must sign off on the target geography

Decision Point – Target Geography


Budgeting

The budget will be directly affected by the scope of the mandate

Remember:

Don’t begin something you can’t sustain

Anticipate that your marketing efforts will heat up the marketplace

It is more about coordinating existing dollars than new dollars


Factors That Impact Your Marketing Budget

Will require more marketing $

No strategic direction

Large, political marketing committee

Weak champion

No integration

No baseline data

Can’t make a decision

Highly competitive marketplace

Expensive media market

More target audiences

Contested position

Less valued position

Complex position

Will require less marketing $

Active alumni

Strong or well-known athletic program

Narrow focus and reasonable goals

Timely decision making

Smaller target geography

Fewer target audiences

Smaller target geography

Open position

More valued position

Simple position


Apportioning Marketing Dollars

70-20-10


Worksheet: Budgeting

Which budget allocation option did you choose?

Total budget: $______________________

How apportioned:

Category/Model/Approach Percent of Budget

$ Amount


Step Six: Establish Marketing Goals

Marketing goals A goal is the thing you want to accomplish (often called “objectives”)

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) goals are designed to: Create awareness (brand)

Generate a response (direct) Sample IMC goal: Within two years, increase the percentage of high

school students within a 50-mile radius of Williamsburg who can identify one or more of our brand attributes from seven percent to 17 percent

Integrated marketing goals address the Four Ps Sample IM goal: Increase the first-year-to-second-year retention

rate from 66% to 75% over a three-year period


Good Goals Are Smart


Goals - continued

Goals, audiences, and action plans

Goal: Within two years, increase the percentage of high school students within a 50-

mile radius of Williamsburg who can identify one or more of our brand attributes from seven percent to 17 percent

Target audience: Prospective students that fit our profile

Action plans (sometimes called strategies or tactics):

Determine which high schools have students that fit your profile

Identify your graduates that work in those high schools

Develop talking points for graduates and recruiters (compare and contrast)

Place quarterly full-page ads in regional high school papers

Conduct quarterly mailing to alumni parents within target geography

“Match” college faculty with high school faculty

Send student “stars” back to their high schools


General Marketing Goal Topics

Depending on your mandate, marketing goals are generally drawn from one or

more of the following strategic areas:

Finance

Marketing Brand, direct, internal

Recruiting

Student services Retention Customer service

Facilities

Technology

Programs (academic mix issues) Quality Array

Fundraising

Human resources


Sample Goals – You Be the Judge

Of the following six goals, which are strategic goals (what) and which are tactical actions (how)? What else is missing from these goals?

1. Increase awareness and communication to residents and students in the district

2. Plan and execute a minimum of four events to increase awareness of the programs and services the college offers

3. Develop a prospective student database

4. Work with Institutional Research to utilize research tools to measure marketing effectiveness

5. Develop and implement a comprehensive marketing plan for the high school component of the Online to College program

6. Improve and expand the district web presence


One Year, Two Years, Three Years or More

Year One Year Two Year Three

Marketing Goals 1. Brand

2. Recruiting UG

1. Brand

2. Recruiting UG

3. Annual fund

1. Brand

2. Recruiting UG

3. Annual fund

4. Recruiting grad

Target Audiences 1. Prospective UG students

2. High school influencers

3. Prospective donors

4. Parents

5. Business leaders

1. Prospective UG students



4. Parents

5. Business leaders

6. Former donors

7. Regional media

1. Prospective UG students



4. Parents

5. Business leaders

6. Former donors

7. Regional media

8. Community residents


You are much more likely to be judged for the things you failed to do than for the things you accomplished.

Under-promise and over-deliver

If at all possible, delay politically sensitive goals until the second year of the plan. This will allow you to build on the

credibility you established during the plan’s first year of operation.

Goals – continued


Worksheet: Marketing Goals

What are your top four or five marketing goals? (Remember to tie to SA and make them SMART.)

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________


Decision Point – Marketing Goals

Are your goals:

– Important?

– Believable?

– Achievable?

– Consistent with your president’s mandate?

The president must sign off on the marketing goals


Step Seven: Write Marketing Action Plans

Marketing action plan (MAP)

A marketing action plan outlines the activities that are designed to accomplish or help accomplish a goal

Who does what, when

How they fit together

The goal is the thing you want done

The target audience is the people at whom the goal is directed

The marketing action plan is how you accomplish the goal


Dissecting a Marketing Action Plan

Description of Marketing Action Plan

Create a media database of all print and broadcast media writers/reporters within a 100-mile radius of the institution

Which goal does this MAP

support?

Within two years, increase the percentage of high school students within a 50-mile radius of Williamsburg who can identify one or more of our vivid descriptors

Target audiences Regional editors and writers

MAP (step-by-step)

• Buy directories (1/15)

• Select database software (1/30)

• Input data (3/15)

Begin date 1/15

End date 3/15

Budget $1,600

MAP assigned to Bob S.


Sample GANTT Chart


Guidelines - continued

Go for a fair amount of detail for year one

Provide detail for year two before the budget cycle

Remember:

Each action plan must support one or more goals

Complex or deeply rooted problems or opportunities may require multiple action plans over time

While writing action plans, keep in mind how they will be evaluated

Remember to sequence action plans

Schedule short-term wins early in the plan


1. Goal to be supported: ______________________________________

2. Description of action plan: __________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

3. Target audiences

1. Audience A: ______________________________

2. Audience B: ______________________________

3. Audience C: ______________________________

4. Begin date: ____________ End date: ____________

5. Budget: _____________

Request for new dollars Reallocated from my budget

Reallocated from other budget

6. Assigned to: _____________________

7. How/when evaluate: ________________________

Action Plan Template


Guidelines for Writing Action Plans

Don’t worry about wordsmithing

Keep the overall budget in mind

Depending on the president’s mandate, develop activities that include the whole campus:

President’s office/senior staff

Academics

Recruiting

Advancement

Facilities/IT

HR

Finance

Marketing

Student development

Apportion activities and dollars per president’s mandate


By target audience

By brand marketing vs. direct marketing

– Don’t forget internal

By the Four Ps (or Four Cs)

– Product – Customer

– Price – Cost

– Place – Convenience

– Promotion – Communication

Organizing Your Action Plans


Action Plan Exercise

As a group, let’s complete action plans for the following goals:

Goal: Increase the annual fund contribution rate from 23% to 40% over a five-year period

Action:

Action:

Action:

Goal: Increase the number of adult students from 180 to 240 over a three-year period

Action:

Action:

Action:


Worksheet: Action Plans

On the following pages, please write five action plan ideas around one of your marketing goals

It is likely that your plan will need more, but this is a start

Go in depth on one action plan


Action Plan Ideas

Goal to be supported: _________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Action plan idea 1: _________________________________________

Action plan idea 2: _________________________________________

Action plan idea 3: _________________________________________

Action plan idea 4: _________________________________________

Action plan idea 5: _________________________________________


Action Plan Detail:

1. Goal to be supported: ________________________________________________

2. Description of action plan: _____________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

3. Target audiences:

________________________________________

________________________________________

4. Begin date: ____________

5. Budget: _____________

Request for new dollars Reallocated from my budget

Reallocated from other budget

6. How/when to evaluate: ________________________


Step Eight: Assemble and Debug the Plan

Does the plan focus on the president’s mandate?

Are you spending priority time and money on priority goals?

Does the plan shake hands with existing plans?

- Strategic - Advancement

- Recruiting - Marketing

Is there a clear delineation of who is doing what?

Does it have a strong internal communication component?

Does it meet the overall budget goal?

Is there a solid, workable timeline?


Step Nine: Execute and Evaluate (and Learn)

Just do it

Monitor budgets and timelines

If an important goal is stalled, be willing to reallocate resources

Time Money

What can we quit doing?

How do you evaluate the plan’s effectiveness? How do you know when to update your plan? Q


• Evaluate and learn

– Provide data for mid-course corrections

– Determine the effectiveness of completed strategies

Demonstrate effectiveness Adjust plans for next year Gain credibility

• To evaluate and learn

– Brand: Repeat research studies to measure progress against the baseline

– Direct: Measure response

• Marketing progresses according to the quality of its measurement tools

Execute and evaluate – continued


Are You Measuring Output Or Outcomes?


Audience Communication Matrix Audience Attribute Matrix

Target Audiences Target Geographies

Brand Attributes Defined

Media Preferences

Influencers

Audience 1 1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Audience 2 1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Audience 3 1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Audience 4 1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

Audience 5 1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.


Change the Emphasis

In the old days (last year) 10% of the creative dollar was spent on the idea and 90% on the placement

Now, the emphasis is on the idea and if the idea is good enough, the placement is free


Who Is Responsible?

Marketing begins with strategic vision on how marketing can help

Usually this is from the president

The president must

Establish a clear institutional direction

Enact enabling policy and remove organizational roadblocks

Allocate realistic resources

Link programs to budgets

Provide authority

Assign responsibility

The president can demand results

Commitment is spelled $


You must have something to market

Marketing requires a top-down buy-in

The champion must be credible

Marketing is a natural extension of strategic planning and must share common definitions

Marketing is founded on research

Marketing can be political

Hard-Won Marketing Axioms

When you market a flawed institution, more people find out about it more quickly


Marketing Axioms - continued

Marketing costs you will spend money

Marketing takes time

Don’t try to solve every problem at once

Give it time – the effect is cumulative

Respect for marketing must be earned

Marketing is more than writing a plan


Planning Postmortem

A postmortem recognizes that planning is an ongoing process

The postmortem is designed to help you evaluate the planning process you just completed so that your next planning cycle will be more effective and efficient

Talk to the team

Talk to the folks your team represents


Final Question

Based on this presentation, and your experiences at your institution, what ducks do you need to get in a row before you can begin the planning process?

1. 2. 3.


Available from strategypublishing.com

Books by Bob Sevier

Date post:	13-Feb-2021
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	1 times
Download:	0 times

Major Concepts and Plan Development Developing an ...€¦ · Major Concepts and Plan Development...

Documents