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Archive for the ‘Planning’ Category

Lesson 18 Advancement Moves Front and Center

Posted in International, Lessons Learned, Planning on July 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Higher education is an industry experiencing a “sea change.”  With governments all over the world changing roles; and competition for students, money and reputation going global; advancement professionals are becoming central to the future of their institutions everywhere.

And CASE is leading the way with it’s annual international Summit for Advancement Leaders. It’s aim is not to cover the usual “how-to” topics, but rather to focus on the big issues changing our industry, and their implications for the future of advancement.  This year the Summit in New York City more than met my expectations.

The opening session set a high bar. CASE president, John Lippincott, skillfully led a panel of cutting edge presidents through a discussion framed around the standard SWOT analysis topics of strengths, weaknesses, opportunites and threats. Presidents Lawrence Bacow (Tufts), Alice Gast (Lehigh) and Richard McCormick (Rutgers) set the tone for the rest of the conference with their imaginative and perceptive analysis of the road ahead.

In spite of the economy, attendance was up this year, and 40 presidents joined their senior advancement people for this adventure in ideas.  This certainly helped to set the desired high level leadership tone for the entire two-days.  You certainly will not want to miss the Summit next July in Chicago!

I led a session on my new book, Learning to Love the Politics: How to Develop Support for Advancement, with Mike Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke.  I was encouraged by a large attendance and the feedback that institutional politics is a really big issue everywhere. We sold all of the books we had at the signing event, and so I am certain to be writing more on this topics in the months ahead. 

Advancement is indeed front and center in more and more institutions all around the world.  The good news is that there will be strong opportunities in all of the advancement professions for years to come. The big challenge, however, is that we will have to be far more sophisticated than ever before in order to be successful.

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Lesson 16 Your Primary Product?

Posted in Branding, Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning on July 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

Over the years I have come to believe that an organization’s brand is often its primary product. Executives think that what they need most is more program promotion but the real issue is to first clarify and intensify their brand appeal. 

In the case of universities, it’s true that most prospective students and parents are very interested in the quality of acadmic programs, and they are especially so if they know the student’s primary areas of interest. But I still suggest that much of their final choice will be based on the emotional satisfaction and pride they experience in associating with the institution’s overall identity.

I even found this brand power focus to be true when working with community organizations. For example, I was the chairman of the board of a community theatre a few years ago in a town with a number of other theaters. Here I became accutely aware that season ticket sales were often based on being associated with a particular theater. In many cases this was even more so than the desire to attend specific plays.  It was clear to me that each theater in this town had a unique brand identity defined in part by the decor of its physical home, the types of people who regularly attended, the style of favored productions, the nature of social opportunities, and even the personality of the managing director. Selling this theater was a matter of clarifying its overall brand appeal.

The examples are endless.  I am struck by the degree to which many people pick their professional association mostly based on brand identity.  Even though we are tempted to focus first on specific program benefits, I submit that the pride of associating with these particular people and with this particular organization is often the most compelling factor. Consciously or subconsciously I am asking: Is this the organization where I can complete my professional identity and achieve leadership recognition in my field?  So before selling memberships I will first want to focus on clarifying and fine-tuning the brand.

Usually organizations approach me primarily to help them promote their programs, services, and events.  But I now quickly turn the conversation to considering why someone would want to be associated with this organization in the first place, and what is the exact nature of the emotional satsisfaction they will feel?  In short, I tell them we first need to clarify your brand.

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Lesson 15 The Problem with PR

Posted in Leadership, Lessons Learned, Planning on July 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Every week someone asks me why the Schieffer School of Journalism changed the name of  its’ program in advertising and public relations to strategic communication.  If you put this question to my academic colleagues you no doubt will get different answers.

But I always have been amazed at how we continually fail to convince the public to see our profession as we do.  This is especially true when we use the term “PR,” or so I think.  I have found that people inevitably want to see PR practitioners as the servants who will send out your press release, print your brochure, plan your party, and “spin” positive stories. 

And even though we are the very professionals that claim to be able to define and communicate institutional brand identites, we have been a total failure at successfully branding our own profession. 

As a consequence, I quickly found early in my career that when I used PR in my title most CEO’s would see me as they defined the term, not as Idid. I wanted to be seen as the professional communicator who understood all the tools in the communication tool box. My role was to view the world as a collection of market or audience segments, and to know the right combination of tools for each segment, and for each situation.

So when my colleagues would get into arguments about what was more powerful, advertising or public relations, and would even treat them as separate disciplines, I was certain we were again shooting ourselves in the foot!

But I learned through trial and error that when I stopped using PR and used the term strategic communication to describe my profession, things changed. Senior managers could accept me as the one professional on the team who could help them plan comprehensive communication programs, solve real problems, deal effectively with issues, and handle crises.

Later in my career I would also find that using both strategic communication and “marketing” to describe what what I do would work even better. 

True, using the word “marketing”  is also problematic at first. But unlike my experience with PR, in today’s highly competitive world,  executives are eventually able to see that both strategic communication and marketing are sophisticated, comprehensive, executive-level functions.

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Lesson 10 Don’t Always Call it “Marketing”

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Leadership, Lessons Learned, Planning on May 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Recently, I participated in an executive retreat where everyone immediately began raising questions and making comments about how the organization was perceived in the world. 

Comments ranged from identifying top reputation-defining programs to assessing the social trends most likely to impact the future. Participants even referenced the many communication challenges they will be facing in order to meet their goals.

But no one ever seemed to realize that what they were talking about was marketing 101. Everyone clearly accepted that dealing with these issues was their job, and yet no one ever turned to the marketing executive to ask what she would do.  

Reflecting on all this I thought: “The best way I could bring a big chill over this room would be to mention the “M” word right here and now! So I never did.

Rather, I noted to myself that sometimes you don’t even mention that word.  You let people talk about “their passion,” and then over time you help them see that what they were really talking about all along is called “strategic marketing!”

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Lesson 9 Beware of Benchmarking!

Posted in Branding, Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning on May 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

Many university and nonprofit executives begin strategic planning by first listing the other similar institutions they admire– often referred to as “aspirant” institutions. They also list their direct competitors. Then they carefully study all the operations from top to bottom.

They study structures, staffing, salaries, HR practices, policies, marketing programs, budgets, all numerical success indicators, and more.

But this kind of benchmarking can be dangerous and misleading.  It can mislead because it can steer you directly into copying “best practices” and  blindly becoming just like the organizations on your aspirant and competitor lists.  When that happens your institution will always be number two and never have a truly distinct market position. 

Your study of other organizations should therefore be focused firmly on finding out how you can distinguish your institution from the others. You must find specific ways to behave differently. You should be searching for that very special market niche that allows you to be both different and better in some unique and compelling way.

Insead business school professors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne wrote a book called Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant.   It is a brilliant description of how your organization with enough determination can find and reinforce that special difference that will allow you not to meet the competition head-on,  but rather to find the “blue ocean” and sail right past all your competitors on your way to an uncontested  number one!

Being the best in the world is simply a matter of finding your difference, being damn good at developing and polishing it, and then mobilizing  everyone inside and out to help tell the story!

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Lesson 7 Big Future for Institutional Advancement

Posted in International, Leadership, Lessons Learned, Planning on May 7, 2010| 3 Comments »

Last weekend I was invited to attend a meeting at Duke University. It was an especially enriching opportunity to meet some truly exciting scholars and academics who reminded me rather dramatically what my work in advancement is all about. In this time of extreme political polarization there are indeed some truly smart people around us who really do know how to make the world a better place.

Those attending met Dan Ariely, Professor of Behavioral Economics, who not only made behavioral research exciting, but made it relevant to everyday human problem-solving.  We met Michael Merson, Director of the Duke Global Health Institute, who demonstrated how creative interdisciplinary projects can mobilize virtually all academic disciplines to focus on solving major global problems. Cathy Davidson, Professor of English and Interdisplinary Studies, explained how the new media world is bringing left and right brain together to change how a whole generation is thinking about everything.  And we met many more people at Duke who are just as exciting and relevant to today’s pressing issues.

With the roles of governments changing and big budget cuts a reality the work of supporting these scholars, and the many like them everywhere, is becoming more and more essential every year. 

Indeed, this kind of interdisciplinary global education is actually public diplomacy of the first order, and the mobilization of our best talent to address our biggest problems will be critical to saving the planet.

When politicians insist on always going to the extemes of ideology which plunge us into constant conflict, the global challenge of educational and nonprofit institutions will be to bring people together to find real solutions.

I certainly came away from Duke last weekend more energized than ever about my work.

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Lesson 5 What makes communication strategic?

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning on April 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This week I met with the students that will go with me and my colleagues to London in June. Each year as I prepare to teach “International and Intercultural Communication” I am reminded that the principles of strategic communication are the same no matter where I am.

Organizations and individuals, be they domestic or international, require the same kind of analytical thinking. It is true that market segment analysis, cultural norms, and preferred media tools vary from group to group and country to country, but strategic thinking processes remain the same.

Just as I do back home, I begin the class in London by discussing the importance of source credibility. That is the starting point in strategic communication for any organization or individual, at home or abroad.

Next, I describe the power of a differentiated brand identity for individuals and organizations everywhere. Then, we discuss how the meanings of words really reside inside each person, no matter where that person lives or works.

For example, when I use a word like “democacy” the receiver hears only a strange sound. The meaning of that sound is actually added  by the listener based on past experiences and beliefs.  And what makes it even more complicated is that when my message is retold only about 50% of it gets through, and the listener chooses which 50%.  Plus, the listener adds his or her own creative twist in the transfer. And just as in domestic situations, differing beliefs and values are to blame for many of the world’s misunderstandings.

This tendency for communication to break down makes it all the more important to have constant feedback and opportunities to respond. And it also underscores the importance of knowing what media each market segement prefers and how to use all the “tools” that will best cut through noise and clutter.

Connecting with each target market requires knowing their needs and trends. In fact, connecting by demonstrating a deep knowledge of  “the way we do things,” and “what we believe”  just may be the most critical factor of all in making communication successful anywhere in the world.

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Lesson 4 Credibility of the “the source”

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning, Public Affairs on April 16, 2010| 3 Comments »

I had the honor this week to moderate a panel on “Public Diplomacy in an Age of New Media” for The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars.  More than 300 students from all over the country attended, and the panel was the best Washington has to offer:

Juan Zarate, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Combating Terrorism; Jared Cohen, member of Secretary of State Clinton’s Policy Planning Staff; David Nassar, Executive Director of the Alliance for Youth Movements; and Helle Dale, Senior Fellow for Pubilc Diplomacy at the Heritage Foundation.

The basic question was how to make America better understood around the world at a time when governments have little credibility as trustworthy communicators.

The challenge for our government is how best to communicate “the fundamental idea of America” and to counter extremist rhetoric when terrorists find it possible to steal the news media agenda even when they fail.  Indeed, the “underwear bomber” at Chistmas failed in his misson but still made headlines that frightened travelers all over the world!

The panel members who were or are now in government argued that empowering third parties outside of government to use new and social media is the best approach. Facebook, Twitter, and cell phones enable groups and indviduals to communicate basic values and ideas interactively.  Thus messages can flow in and out of places like Iran and North Korea, and they have more credibility when the source is not the government.

This fundamental truth about the credibility of “the messenger” has led some of us to yearn again for an organization like the US Information Agency. The USIA, which was eliminated by the Clinton administration, was an agency of government that communicated the “idea of America” around the world, pretty much people to people.  It was independent of the State Department, which was and is still seen as the communicator of the foreign policy of the administration in power. 

“Diplomacy” can be defined as “government to government” communication, and “public diplomacy” can be defined as either government to people OR people to people communication. 

I believe the best way for the US to communicate with maximum credibility around the world is to reinstate a USIA-like organization as the organizer of a more neutral people to people initiative. There are a number of compelling ideas floating around Washington that are public private partnerships, or even private foundations. 

One thing for sure: The credibiity of the source, be it an individual or an organization, either reinforces or totally cancels out the message.

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Lesson 3 Nonprofits and Associations

Posted in Lessons Learned, Planning on April 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

In recent years I have focused my attention mostly on academic institutions. So I am often asked if the lessons I learned will apply to nonprofits and other organizations.

Simply put, integrated marketing is “a way of thinking”  and it certainly will apply to any organization. But it always must be adapted.

In fact, before I focused on colleges and universities I was thinking mostly about other nonprofits.  My first book, Communication Power (1997), is really a strategic communication manuel for nonprofit executives. 

A student of mine is working now with a homeless shelter on the branding of a “social enterprise” project.  The project is a home cleaning service, and the marketing challenge is to demonstrate that these homeless workers will do a professioal job cleaning your home. She is using integrated processes to help the staff clarify a credible brand identity.

In past years I was the volunteer president of both a community theater and a human services agency. Both responded well to a more integrated marketing approach clarifying their competitive differentiation. In the case of the human service agency the challenge was also to clarify sub-brand identities for its many separate services.

As co-chair of the board and marketing chair of the Fort Worth Convention and Visitor’s Bureau we used interactive integrated processes by involving a cross section of the city’s leadership to clarify the city’s brand, Cowboys and Culture.

As chair of the membershp committee of the board of a major higher education association we applied market segementation analysis to set membership objectives and strategies.

Integrated marketing turns mission, vision and values into a differentiated brand identity. This both enhances an organization’s visibility and competitive advantage. It uses group process to get as many people as possible “on the same page,” “telling the same story, “generating a captivating buzz.” Group process is also used to identify market segments, needs and trends, and the best media platforms to converge on specific markets and build relationships.

Each organizaton is different, to be sure. Some have divisions or programs that should be treated as sub-brands, while others have a single cause.  Differing management cultures must be taken into account when designing processes and timeframes.  And some have more roadblocks to change than others.

At present, besides serving my university I am working with a think tank, a higher education association, a citizen-to-citizen internatonal nonprofit, and am also involved in a network of professionals considering new strategies for American public diplomacy. 

Make no mistake, integrated marketing combined with dynamic leadership can transform most any kind of organization.

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Lessons Learned 2 Giving them what they want?

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Internal Politics, Lessons Learned, Planning on April 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

      Following my first posting there was a comment about faculty members objecting to marketing because they don’t think higher education should be subject to giving students what they want.  I have encountered this objection many times over on campuses, and also with some nonprofits. So I respond here as my second lesson learned.

   When I am called to help address issues related to integrating marketing on a campus the situation often is that a number of academics are raising serious concerns. And I must say as a lifelong academic myself I can empathize with faculty members who are skeptical about basing education content on what students think they need.  Indeed, an experienced faculty member will know better than students what they will need to know to be successful. So its very important to understand that  just giving students what they want is not what educational marketing all about.

      Marketing research indeed asks both students and parents about their perceived needs and expectations.  And what we learn tells us how to make a connection with them.  But that’s it.  The process that follows is much more sophisticated.  Integrated marketing communiation properly carried out exposes students to choices they never knew they would have.  And when they finally arrive on campus the faculty will open a whole new world of ideas and possibilities they never knew existed.

     Public speakers have been told for years that they need to begin a speech by demonstrating that they know what the audience wants and needs. Then the challenge is to craft the balance of the speech so as to lead the audience into new insights and awarenesses. Even the car salesman asks what you expect in a car. He then shows you one that meets those needs but also shows you features you never knew existed.

    Marketing research and analysis then merely provides the point of departure. The faculty must take it from there. This same situation applies to many other organizations. We begin finding out the needs of people and then take them into whole new worlds.

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