Convergence: Marketers as Masters of the Mix

Photo: “Love the Mixtape,” via www.flickr.com/photos/smmphotos/3345246852/

Charlie Melichar Marts&Lundy |@melicharlie

Andrew Careaga Missouri S&T | @andrewcareaga

#AMAHigherEd Nov. 11, 2014 Austin, Texas

How to move from this…

… to this

1. Get Rhythm 2. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood 3. I’ll Be There

• Every great song needs a powerful backbeat

• What’s the plan, the vision – where is your institution headed and who is leading the way?

Get Rhythm

There is planning going on

• An increasing number of CMOs in higher ed are on the senior management team.

• When this isn’t the case, it’s about influence – Advancement Model – Enrollment Model – Relations Model

Are you at the table?

Where the CMO adds value

Institution Speak

What People

Care About

• Are you involved in your college or university’s strategic planning process? Can you be?

• The earlier you are involved, the better.

Get into the mix

• Strategic plans don’t begin by thinking about audience, market or constituent.

• They’re all about “me” and, often, “me too.”

• You are an advocate for…

What you bring

Authenticity

Audacity

Achievability

• Before you’re asked to “market” the plan, push people to think of how the plan will play in the market

• What’s relevant? • What’s different? • What’s notable?

• Can we deliver?

Cutting through the clutter

1. Changes/Yesterday (medley) 2. The Way You Do the Things You Do 3. Leader of the Pack

Ch-ch-ch-changes

‘Turn and face the strange’

David Bowie, “Changes”

Smartphones killed the [_____] star

Image via q-ontech.blogspot.com/2010/12/apps-and-value-of-converged-device.html

News release production, yesterday…

… and now

Centralized ‘marketing’ then… Pu

blic

Rel

atio

ns

•Media relations •Crisis

communications •Alumni magazine

writing, editing

Pub

lica

tions

•Alumni magazine •Student

recruitment publications

•Photo services

… and now

Brand management

Digital/ online

Visual identity

Strategic communications

Public relations

Video production Photography

Marketing & market research

Third-party partners

Social media

‘What is it that you do here?’

Responsibility Primary Plays a role

Advertising 93% 7%

Media relations/PR 86% 11%

Photography 86% 13%

Media training 77% 12%

Crisis communications 75% 18%

Videography 68% 30%

Market research 67% 28%

What higher ed marketing orgs do

Source: SimpsonScarborough/The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Higher Ed Marketing Comes of Age,” November 2014

Responsibility Primary Plays a role

Issues management 47% 40%

Major campus events 20% 75%

Government relations 14% 46%

Open houses 13% 48%

On-campus recruitment events 11% 76%

Commencement 11% 76%

Sports information 10% 40%

What higher ed marketing orgs do

Source: SimpsonScarborough/The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Higher Ed Marketing Comes of Age,” November 2014

Org charts?

New skills for a new era

A converged marketing team: • Strategic • Opportunistic • Data-driven • Tech-savvy • Storytellers • Collaborative • Specialists and generalists • Client-focused • Customer-focused • Silo-busters

‘But, seriously: What is it that you would say that you do here?’

When you’re the boss…

The leader as …strategist

The leader as … analyst

The leader as … champion

The leader as … motivator in chief

The leader as … futurist

The leader as … trusted advisor

The leader as … negotiator

The leader as … silo-buster

1. Double Vision 2. Say You, Say Me 3. Come Together

Silos Create Tunnel Vision

Upside of a Silo • Focus is good – we need

partners who are experts, and passionate advocates for their programs.

• We also need partners who are willing to be good partners.

We speak with them

And them

And them

And them

And sometimes them

One message, one voice

• Our internal structures may be segmented, but we can’t afford that kind of disarray.

• We have to view things from a higher level, and have broader perspective.

Perspective

The Marketer’s Role

• In a central role, you are at the point where messages converge.

• Given time, and granted influence, you can create a truly integrated mix.

• And you should demand it.

Not The Marketer’s (primary) Role

• Gatekeeper

• Traffic Manager

• Bean Counter

Not The Marketer’s (primary) Role

• Gatekeeper

• Traffic Manager

• Bean Counter

• Because

It’s All ______________ College

Whether we are talking with prospective students, parents, alumni, reporters or our local community…

We need to focus on what we

stand for in the world,

and how that impacts our publics.

1. This Is the Modern World 2. Shake It Up 3. Who Let the Doge Out?

Source: Gini Dietrich, Spin Sucks (p. 38) and “PR Is More Than Media Relations” (spinsucks.com/communication/pr-media-relations/)

The modern media mix

The rules have changed

In converged media, one size (one approach, one message) does not fit all

Making the most of your media mix

• Determine your objective

• Define your audience

• Budget planning • Strategy-based

creative • Measure results • Modify as needed

Graphic: Bob Brock, Educational Marketing Group, “College Advertising Growth Spurt,” Dec. 19, 2013 (http://emgonline.com/blog/2013/12/college-advertising-growth-spurt/) List adapted from Jason Simon and Rachel Reuben, “Advertising and Media Buying Strategies,” CASE Annual Conference on Marketing and Branding, April 2014

Making the most of your media mix

• Leverage your earned, owned and shared media

Marketing is more than advertising

PR is more than mainstream audiences

You are what you publish Authenticity, not spin Participation, not

propaganda ‘The Internet has made

public relations public again’

From The New Rules of Marketing & PR, David Meerman Scott

The rules have changed

Think like a media organization ‘From a brand point of view, what this means is rather than piggybacking on this really powerful brand with a huge built-in audience [i.e., television], we need to look for opportunities to engage by creating our own content. Thinking like a media company, not like an advertiser.’ David L. Rogers, author of The Network Is Your Customer

And this is today’s media

Source: John Herrman, “Cash and Anxiety on the Weird New Internet,” The Awl, Oct. 8, 2014 (www.theawl.com/2014/10/cash-and-anxiety-on-the-weird-new-internet)

Memejacking

meme (meem) 1. ‘An idea,

behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.’

2. A unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices.

Source: Wikipedia (naturally)

www.mst.edu/aprilfools/

‘The Missouri University of Science and Technology just won April Fool’s Day.’ Wired Tumblr (wired.tumblr.com) April 1, 2014

1. The Long and Winding Road 2. The End

All Together Now

‘If it’s got a backbeat, you can’t lose it’

Take the lead, but …

Join together with the band

A little help from our friends

Stop making sense

We Are Scientists

In the immortal words of Lynyrd Skynyrd…

Turn it up! (This one goes to 11)

Thanks! Andrew Careaga Missouri University of Science and Technology acareaga@mst.edu @andrewcareaga Charlie Melichar Marts&Lundy melichar@martsandlundy.com @melicharlie

Andrew Careaga Missouri University of Science and Technology acareaga@mst.edu @andrewcareaga Charlie Melichar Marts&Lundy melichar@martsandlundy.com @melicharlie