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If you have ever seen the tango being performed, you have witnessed the ebb and flow of tension and release, and the perfect balance of power and acquiescence. (By Anouchka Unel (Own work) [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons) As with all so-called “lead and follow” dances, the lead must be willing to push and steer; the follow must yield in service of the dance. Client engagements are a lot like this type of dance. Typically, a client reaches out to an outside firm to help them to choreograph their efforts when they cannot seem to find the steps. Perhaps they are stepping on each other’s toes internally, or need a new partner to lead them through unfamiliar moves. Whatever the reason, it is important that when the music starts, the participants in the dance understand whether they are to lead or follow. Without such understanding, steps will be missed, cues will go unnoticed, and the rhythm will be lost. When a … Continue reading
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While your faculty and students may have taken the summer off from their college assignments, you know that the work of higher education brand building never ends. Today, and every day, your college brand continues to do its daily work — on your website, social sites and across the continuum of digital and human conversation. As new and returning students unpack in residence halls and faculty reclaim their offices, it’s a good time of the year to ask: What can we do to renew our college brand for the 2014-2015 academic year? We offer five steps forward: 1. Begin investing in first impressions. That could mean redesigning an initial search mailing aimed at rising high school juniors, or rethinking training for new and returning student tour guides. First brand impressions hold great potential — but can also be overlooked. Given the number of campus visits that students (and parents) make, it’s worth preparing your student guides. Can they really translate … Continue reading
In my experience, if you want to put your higher education brand to a quick and dirty reality check — what engineers call “stress and failure” analysis — there are two places to look. First, review any and all content that’s scored high enough to be placed in the feature area of your home page over the past six to 12 months. Does it consistently provide visitors compelling, living proof of what makes your particular approach to higher education distinct and worthy? Does it invite prospects to easily project themselves into the experience — a.k.a. does it advance the hero’s story, instead of simply spouting an institutional claim? Finally, does it overachieve as content — by delighting, stirring or otherwise inspiring our prospective hero? A second “stress and failure point” involves the campus tour — where well-intended student guides and admissions counselors often receive little or no training in how to translate a brand line or position into tangible examples … Continue reading
Colleges, and those charged with articulating why institutions matter, seldom lack for words… yet rarely learn to speak their school’s one true voice. Why so? In my experience, it has to do with how comfortable any of us can be in that stage before sudden insight arrives — in sitting with “not knowing.” I like what Richard Saul Wurman wrote in his introduction to Information Architects. You’re supposed to look smart in our society. You are supposed to gain expertise and sell it as the means of moving ahead in your career. That is where the rewards are supposed to come from. Of course, when you sell your expertise, by definition, you’re selling from a limited repertoire. However, when you sell your ignorance, when you sell your desire to learn about something, when you sell your desire to create paths to knowledge, when you sell your curiosity — you sell from a bucket with an infinitely deep bottom. My bucket … Continue reading
Bringing about change is tough stuff. Chip and Dan Heath, in their recent book titled “How to Change Things When Change is Hard” talk about Bright Spots, or things that are working. They wisely posit that instead of focusing on things that are broken, it’s better to talk about bright spots that are not only working but also worth replicating. In reading this, I was reminded of strategies for restoration of rain forests; well-intentioned reformers tried to repair rain forest damage on a large scale, but failed, until a group had the brilliant insight. They noticed that parts of the rain forest were naturally regrowing despite any efforts; so they decided to nurture the naturally regrowing parts and provided them room to expand. Slowly but surely the patches began to expand and reconnect with each other – creating larger and larger patches of restored rainforests. Peter Drucker, one of my heroes, famously said “Effective people build on strengths – their … Continue reading
Posted in: change management
Anyone involved with higher education branding and marketing has used such shorthand as “four-year liberal arts college” or “four-year degree.” Likewise, most colleges and financial aid sources will talk about a bachelor’s degree as a four-year effort. But the best national data tells a different story. Reports from the American Council on Higher Education and the national Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study tell us that the average time to a bachelor’s degree is six years. Time published a story earlier this year says that according to the Department of Education, fewer than 40% of students who enter college each year graduate within four years, while almost 60% of students graduate in six years. At public schools, less than a third of students graduate on time. Judith Scott-Clayton, an assistant professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, does a thorough job of explaining the mix of politics, economics, misinformation and parenting that collide in the simple question of “can I graduate in … Continue reading
The closer my son gets to college age (t-minus three years) the more I ask myself: “Does the work I do listening for and giving voice to higher education brands actually help prospects and parents make sound choices?” In an essay published last week in the Chronicle of Higher Education, James M. Lang, associate professor of English and director of the college honors program at Assumption College, an Elliance client, brings the question home. Lang recounts how seven or eight campus tours left both he and his daughter wanting more. In particular, Lang craved “dialogue — from tour guides, admissions representatives, or promotional literature — about what most people see as the main functions of college: teaching and learning.” Lang offers a “modest proposal” — work with student guides to translate moments of classroom engagement and transformation (value) into succinct stories worth telling on a campus tour. As someone charged with soliciting such “aha” teaching and learning moments from faculty … Continue reading
…isn’t taking data from research reports and discovery sessions to come up with creative ideas for a campaign or a tagline. Honestly, that stuff is quite easy. The hardest part is letting go – of forgetting all the old notions, perceptions and sometimes predictable ways a client has communicated in the past; and replace it with a language, a tone, and a lens for the future. A single brand lens that all can shared by all – from prospective students and their parents to the college community to alums and future donors. But this isn’t easy to do. When we allow ourselves to forget old models, we create spaces for new ones to rise. Old vestiges are replaced with new tones, and a new language is created – a new focal point that raises the perception floor for a client, and helps them forever see themselves in a new light. I’m not speaking of tactics here, I’m talking about implanting … Continue reading
Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology—where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death, and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail! Anyone who remembers watching the Super Bowl 29 years ago this week may recognize that speech from the now iconic “1984” TV spot that introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer. Apple officially aired the original commercial just once, during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII, about the time that Los Angeles Raiders running back Marcus Allen broke the hearts of every Washington Redskins fan with a 74-yard-long touchdown run. Apple and its agency, Chiat/Day, created … Continue reading