I was reading an interesting piece in Conversation Marketing today titled "If your competitor jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you?" It's about not resorting to shady tactics just because your competitor is. Now, I'm not saying that college resort to shady tactics for the sake of marketing :::cough:::fudgingadmissionsnumbers:::cough::: but the article brings up a good general point about marketing - just because another school is doing something doesn't mean it's the right strategy for your institution.
At my last job, their mantra seemed to be "well, let's see what everyone else is doing and then do that". It absolutely drove me crazy!!!! Just because another school is implementing a strategy that may or may not work for their audience does not mean you should follow suit as if it was the magic bullet of marketing. I would say that 90% of the marketing strategies I've come up with in the past four years have been completely organic. Many of them (particularly involving email marketing) have actually been almost by accident. For example, you're in the midst of building an email newsletter and start asking yourself why it can't be more segmented and customized to the specific needs of the audience. Before you know it, you have email campaigns with not one or two, but 25-30 different parts! It's not based on something someone else did - it's based on what you think will work for your SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. And that should always be the yard stick you go by. Never be afraid to experiment with new ideas and always have a focus on what the end user needs, wants and experiences with your final product.
One more point: The same goes for speakers at conferences or bloggers - just because they say it doesn't make it so (or it may be so in some instances but not necessarily for your institution). People who speak at conferences or blog are not gods. They are just people, many of whom are struggling along with the same issues you face every day. They don't have all the answers and if they say they do, they are lying. Now, that's not to say their ideas are worthless but please just take everything you hear with a grain of salt and don't be discouraged if you apply their ideas to your institution and it doesn't work. There is no magic bullet.
Key Takeaways:
1) Build your strategy based on the specific needs of your audience, rather that what other institutions are doing.
2) Speaking at a conference or writing a blog post does not make someone buddha.
At my last job, their mantra seemed to be "well, let's see what everyone else is doing and then do that". It absolutely drove me crazy!!!! Just because another school is implementing a strategy that may or may not work for their audience does not mean you should follow suit as if it was the magic bullet of marketing. I would say that 90% of the marketing strategies I've come up with in the past four years have been completely organic. Many of them (particularly involving email marketing) have actually been almost by accident. For example, you're in the midst of building an email newsletter and start asking yourself why it can't be more segmented and customized to the specific needs of the audience. Before you know it, you have email campaigns with not one or two, but 25-30 different parts! It's not based on something someone else did - it's based on what you think will work for your SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. And that should always be the yard stick you go by. Never be afraid to experiment with new ideas and always have a focus on what the end user needs, wants and experiences with your final product.
One more point: The same goes for speakers at conferences or bloggers - just because they say it doesn't make it so (or it may be so in some instances but not necessarily for your institution). People who speak at conferences or blog are not gods. They are just people, many of whom are struggling along with the same issues you face every day. They don't have all the answers and if they say they do, they are lying. Now, that's not to say their ideas are worthless but please just take everything you hear with a grain of salt and don't be discouraged if you apply their ideas to your institution and it doesn't work. There is no magic bullet.
Key Takeaways:
1) Build your strategy based on the specific needs of your audience, rather that what other institutions are doing.
2) Speaking at a conference or writing a blog post does not make someone buddha.
6 comments:
Amen. You're definitely a thought leader in the email marketing realm of higher ed, and it shows through the examples you share.
Like you've mentioned before, my favorite is when someone gets up and says something like "the best day to send an email is Tuesday" or "You definitely need a Myspace page for your school". Then that person gets back from the conference and I'm now being told to send all emails on Tuesday and start looking at that Facespace site.
Good stuff.
hahaha thanks Brad :-)
I think conferences are a mixed bag. Sometimes, you can walk away with great ideas. More often though, I find its an opportunity for people to get hammered and be away from the office for a few days ;-)
Brad, I think you bring up good points. There is no simple answer for any of these solutions. It's all trial and error and what works best for you. It's also constantly changing. I mean if Tuesday was the best day and everyone started doing it then it would start to be less effective because people would be flooded with emails on Tuesday.
As far as getting lit at a conference... well some of my best ideas have come over drinks and discussion, of course so have some of my worst decisions. Lol.
Didn't say there was anything wrong with getting lit at conferences....I plan to bring it at Stamats and drink all you boys under the table ;-)
It’s obvious you’ve never been to a conference at Mount Olympus. :)
I think absorbing everything at a conference (alcohol, too), letting it marinate, and then seeing how it could work (or not work) at your U on the flight home is what makes conferences worthwhile. Also, from the tech/Web side, non-high ed conferences usually provide the best marinades – flavors high ed has yet to sample.
I 1000% agree with you that non-higher ed web conferences are the way to go :-D
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