Larry D. Lauer

The field of journalism desperately needs a new lease on life in 2011. Otherwise, the public’s right to know the facts about what actually is going on in govenment and elsewhere in society is clearly at stake.

Besides higher education, I have been associated with public service broadcasting all of my professional life. Early on I was a program director and produced and hosted programs, and later became an active volunteer. I have a hands-on awareness of what motivates the nonprofit media sector, and its incredible potential to serve.

With the coming of cable, however, many people thought that public broadcasting was not likely to survive. After all, there were too many channels with too many choices, and all seemed commercially supportable. Besides, people were getting tired of the endless pledge-breaks and on-air fundraising now too common in nonprofit broadcasting, or so it seemed. 

But to me, the critical feature of “non profit” always was its focus on the cause rather than on a commercial profit for the organization itself. I never did have a problem with presenting a few tasteful commercial messages. 

But who would have predicted what is now happening to the commercial news business? Cable news is polarized and opinion-dominated, newspapers are losing subscribers and commercial viability, and traditional news network audiences are shrinking more and more every year. The biggest causualty of all in this drama is local news converage.

Interestingly enough, the Schieffer School of Journalism at TCU has had for many years a “community journalism” program which focused on small town newspapers. Who would have thought that what seemed totally “small town” then might actually be pointing the way to the future of the entire field?  This fact is that today the Schieffer School’s innovative community jounalism program has become multi-media platform in approach and is already ahead of the curve technologically.

It seems to me that the future of most fair-minded journalism just might be with the establishment of a multi-media platform-based “new” type organization. Such an organization would be a combined commercial/nonprofit operation with a variety of funding sources that are primarily focused on “the cause.” This organization would give ample promotion to commercial products and businesses, as well as to foundations and individuals. But rather than commercial profit, it would be driven mostly by the “cause orientation” more characteristic of the nonprofit sector.

Many today point to NPR as the best, most fair, news operation in contemporary journalism. Is it possible that with a slightly more flexible approach to commercial product and corporate underwriter recognition, support for high quality traditional journalism can be broadened and increased?

I believe multi-source funding like this could restore balanced news coverage on both the national and local levels.  Something like this is needed to assure the future of a high quality free press, as well as to revitalize the journalism profession overall. 

It is critically important that the best and brightest fair-minded thinkers in the nation continue to be attracted to this profession. It is the only way we can protect the public’s right to know in this time of overwhelming turmoil and global change. I suggest that a new kind of creatively financed nonprofit  organization just might be a viable solution.

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This week I visited a former consulting client. I was asked to return to the institution to review and comment on the progress. We had restructured some of the operational units, put in place several planning groups to better integrate marketing and communication, and recommened new and traditional media initiatives.

Upon return I found that the new structure was working fairly well, but several of the reporting units are having their ups and downs. I also found that the use of an institution-wide taskforce to integrate marketing planning and implementation had gradually become only an email exchange.  But, on the positive side, a more coordinated and pervasive use of new and traditional media has been a grand success, and is still on the upswing.

I was also struck by the surprising discovery that one major unit, that several years ago was eager to cooperate with an overall integrated marketing  program, had completely gone off on its own. And in doing so, it alienated most everyone else in the organization. Not surprising was that all this happened with a change in leadership.

Sitting here reflecting on my visit has reminded me of the cyclical nature of most everything we do. Indeed, with a change in personnel, things sometimes really do suddenly take a nose dive. But I am also reminded that many times everything improves.

I am also recalling now how often over the years I have talked about these  institutional and personnel cycles in my seminars and classes. It’s a fact that entire institutions find themselves “on a roll,” only to peak and plateau at some point. For most institutions, this is a historical certainty. The question then becomes: Can current leadership re-energize itself, or will institutional and marketing progress have to wait for new leadership? Either way, another cycle starts all over again.

In many cases a new marketing campaign will generate a strong sense of forward movement, only to peak over time. Almost always you can track a campaign from initial audience awareness, to receiving the message, to acting on the message, to the feeling that the ad is getting old.  While it’s true that we get tired of our messages long before our audiences do, here too we are always working in up and down cycles.

What’s interesting is that while these cycles are so natural, we still seem to plan as if the roll we are on, or expect to get ourselves on, will last forever. My visit this week to a former client reminded me that we all need to step back, realize that cycles are natural and inevitable, and then take that reality into account in our strategic planning.

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A well crafted special event is an ideal marketing and communication tool. Theses days, however, I am aware of how many events are no more than very expensive missed opportunities.

I continue to be invited to galas and parties where the theme is in no way tied to the institution’s brand, and the remarks are unrelated to its mission, vision or values.  The purpose seems to be more being cute and different than advancing the organization in an exciting setting that supports the organization’s plans for the days ahead. I find myself walking around these events saying to myself, “What are these people thinking?”

Invitation lists should always focus on opinion leaders in key target markets. The invitation process should be seen as a direct and interactive communication opportunity. An impressive invitation will always establish a receptive message climate.  Therefore, the theme of the event should always be shaped to reinforce the institution’s brand identity. A “save the date” notice sent earlier, and/or a follow-up invitation reminder, will also provide additional direct communication opportunities.  When designed effectively invitations will achieve marketing objectives even with many who do not attend.

A special event can deliver an ideal captive audience. Brand message points should always be worked into the decor and theme. You can literally surround your audience with branding reinforcement, and this can be creatively achieved without seeming oppressive. Welcoming and concluding remarks should feature a few brief brand reinforcement points and a call for some kind of action…even if its only a request to help tell the institution’s story.

An evaluation of the event will not only gather important feedback, but it is also another opportunity to repeat your vision and add a few more message points. In addition, a “thank  you for coming” note, or a “we are sorry you could not join us” communication, is an opportunity to continue ongoing supportive relationships.

My conclusion: Purely social events or cocktail parties are a waste of time and resources. On the other hand, a social or other gathering of your most important opinion leaders, where every opportunity is taken to creatively reinforce institutional vision and brand, is potentially one of the most effective marketing and communication tools you have in your toolbox.

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A consultant firm recently contacted me asking what I thought about marketing plan models. The timing was interesting since I had just posted a blog essay on the place of marketing planning in overall strategic planning.

Since I am in the consultant role from time to time myself, I realize that the client’s expectation is often that a marketing plan will be developed. My experience, however, has been that I never actually implement a marketing plan the same way twice. A “model plan,” I believe, is for textbooks only, and for teaching marketing 101.

You can never stop marketing and communication activities one day and start under a new plan the next day.  When you try to do that the plan will inevitably wind up “on the shelf.”  My impression is that consultants with model plans actually fail to realize that after they leave town, everything goes back to the way it was before they arrived.

My practice has been to talk first about a “blueprint” for a way forward, or about “special initiatives” plans. You must start with what and who is already there. It’s the people, not the plan, that will make change work. And change comes when the momentum of managed collaborative processes begin to alter how people are thinking about what they do, and how they will do it.

The best starting point is a professional development seminar that shows what an overall integrated marketing plan might look like. This seminar should also introduce the concept of how using collaborative processes can transform organizations, getting everyone on the same page developing new objectives and practices over time.

With these processes, early successes can also be produced by using “action teams” to launch special initiatives over and above daily marketing and communication activities. Then, with a measure of personal and group satisfaction established, it will be possible to phase in more permanent changes.

Integrated processes also will bring everyone involved to a better understanding of how marketing and communication planning should work in tandum with academic or program planning, facilities planning, and fund raising planning. This is critically important to long term institutional success, and was the topic of my last post!

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Events this week had me thinking once again about strategic planning.

I attended a meeting to review the progress being made by a strategic planning committee and was reminded of how many different kinds of plans are undertaken in a university, and how often they are undertaken at different times and in the wrong order.

Universities do strategic academic plans, master facilities plans, fund raising campaign plans, communication plans, and marketing plans!  And they are often done in an order where decisions are made about fund raising goals before anyone knows what the academic program plan will look like. Or campus facilities and buildings are being designed for the future before academic needs and goals are known.  Then the institution is in a situation where plans already in place must be reconciled with plans that are bound to change them!

I also was reminded that I have been associated with many nonprofits that have had very similar planning experiences.  They too would consider facilities and building needs, fund raising objectives, program development,  communication initiatives, and marketing targets, each in isolation from the other, and all along assume it will just work out in the end.

If we did all this right, an analysis of the market (industry and career trends, etc.) would come first, followed by an assessment of overall institutional strengths, as these will have to be reconciled above all else. Differentiating the organization is critical to establishing its competitive advantage.

Then a program strategic plan should inform the facilities needs plan, and both together should inform the fund raising plan. Elements of marketing and communication planning should be involved throughout the entire process so that a brand identity grounded in core strengths and values can be clarified, and target markets appropriately identified and researched.

None of this is rocket science, and yet it is rarely done. The meeting I attended this week ended with an acknowledgment of all this, and a firm vow to next time get it right!  Music to my ears, indeed.

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