What's The Future "Look" of Your Web Site?

Folks, the ground is moving under our feet and the market, as usual, is speaking to us. Are we listening? Not really. Check out http://wonderwall.msn.com/ for a glimpse of the interactivity and creativity driving just one example. You've got hundreds of photos and films of research, sitting somewhere in a file .. Take the best ones, the most colorful, and slap 'em up. Let's energize this thing before some trustee gets the president all riled up about why aren't we using more video and photography online...

Who Really Knows Marketing in Academia?

With apologies to the marketing faculty; Admissions officers and Placement officers. They sit where the rubber meets the road. The markets are talking to us every day, but most of us aren't paying attention. Admissions and Placement officers hear the real deal from consumers: why a great student chose another school over yours, why the company only recruits from Top 10 or Top 20 B-schools. Yes, others in the university are in touch with customers, but folks in Alumni offices, Development offices, receive filtered information. They are dealing with "homers" who want the institution to succeed, not cold-hearted consumers planning what university "brand" will serve them well over a lifetime.

Media Outreach Models for Academia

1. Content Driven
   
2. Event/Initiative Driven
   
3. Crisis Driven
   

Best

Content Driven: Focus on the intellectual capital of the institution. Look for connections to the breaking news needs of journalists. Look for connections between faculty research and societal needs.

OK to Not so Hot

Event/Initiative Driven: What if you throw a party and nobody shows? Well, if you expect media for an academic conference, don't. If you expect media to cover a new program, don't. Media are interested in those events and initiatives that help them in their coverage of various beats and news stories of the day.

Always Necessary

Crisis-Driven: focus on forthcoming, credible conveyance of information in an emergency situation.

More on Hiring a Communications Manager

When I'm hiring, I focus on three key attributes:

1. Track record, experience in higher education or related field
   
2. Ability to put marketing into the academic context
   
3. Writing ability, experience on deadline
   

Higher Ed Experience

This can't be faked. If the candidate has had experience working directly with faculty, interviewing them, writing for internal use and pitching stories to the media, this is a plus. If the candidate has already worked with admissions officers, and placement officers, this is a huge plus.

Marketing in the Academic Context

Folks, we aren't the Coca-Cola Corporation. We don't have hundreds of millions in marketing money for specific products. In fact, one of the most unusual attributes of academic marketing is that, the harder it is for the customer to "buy" your product, the better for your brand. Hiring someone who knows this already can save a lot of misdirected activity.

Writing Ability, Deadline Experience

People who've been journalists, or at least trained as such, have a natural edge in this environment, because we are resource limited. People who a great talkers but expect someone else to put what they say down on paper usually come from an overstuffed communications shop or industry.

On Hiring a Communications Manager for an Academic Institution

1. Corporate marketing experience doesn't necessarily translate to academia.
Academia is different. Really. Corporate marketing types can find the transition baffling. I've been in the room when a marketer from a corporate background asked the leadership: "Why can't we just tell the faculty what they should be researching?" I've been in the room when a former corporate marketer asked: "What is the Chronicle of Higher Education?"

2. Journalism experience is highly valuable, but doesn't necessarily translate, either.
Journalists have incredibly powerful strengths: the ability to get the heart of an issue quickly, write with precision and passion, and stand up to authority figures. Journalists making the transition to academia have to learn, often through great frustration, that the world is changed. Most professors would, frankly, rather be listened to than listen to former journalists, er, spouting. I've seen this dynamic in action and it isn't pretty. In addition, former journalists are astonished at the slow pace of response in the organization; how many nuances there are to simple questions such as: "Are we raising tuition this year?"

3. Former PR professionals may or may not have what it takes to work in academic communications.

PR agencies are wonderful places, and they can do great work. But few agencies work specifically in academic PR. They pay the bills with specific industry clients such as high tech, banking and finance, mining and oil exploration, transportation, etc. Few PR folks have really worked with the broad intellectual capital that is the faculty, and developed an understanding of how to talk to faculty. Moreover, they are used to being supported by coordinated marketing campaigns, ad placements, events management, etc. Life in a university or college is very different: endless silos of marketing activity, budget constraints, lack of advertising support.

more soon...

Academic PR

A resource for universities, colleges, and higher education professionals worldwide.