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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
Posted in: Christian College Marketing, Higher Education Branding
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Our beloved Pittsburgh Penguins may be the most brand-savvy and well-run organization in sports, with exemplary practices from free pizza for the huddled masses waiting in the student rush line, to season tickets hand-delivered by team stars each summer. The Penguins have continually surpassed expectation for everything from how they welcome new-arriving players (photos on arena walls before they’ve cleared customs), to how they salute former Penguins who return as enemy combatants (sincere video tributes). So, what might one of the most sophisticated and talented franchises in the National Hockey League have to teach us about higher education branding? After a series of late-season trades designed to fill any missing pieces on an already talent-rich roster, the Penguins find themselves trailing two games to none in the Eastern Conference Final. What possibly could have gone wrong? Viewed as a branding challenge, the issue seems clear. For years, the Penguins have deployed two of the league’s most gifted — albeit distinctly … Continue reading
Increasingly, colleges are finding themselves in tough situations: budgets are shrinking, competitors are multiplying and academic offerings are expanding. So what should a college do? One game plan to outsmart competitors without outspending them is to elevate the brand by creating a distinctive integrated campaign. Babson, Ithaca College and American University have done just that. All three came up with unifying brand campaigns, which have raised the tide for the entire institution. Babson College Babson, after being known for years as “The Entrepreneurship School” and doing nothing about it, finally decided to embrace its destiny and created a campaign around owning the concept of “Entrepreneurship”. They have engaged in a integrated marketing campaign around the concept of “Define Entrepreneurship”. It is lifting the entire brand. Ithaca College Ithaca College, realizing that battles could not be won on a tiny budget, bet their farm on a campaign called “Ready”, and never looked back. American University American University, located in the town … 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
One of the tensions we hold at Elliance has to do with the pros and cons of specialization. While most of our work focuses on higher education marketing — where we have deep experience — we also meet a wider set of client challenges in manufacturing, banking, non profits and other worlds far from campus. Google’s search engine bot and people generally, favor simplicity. Elliance gets it — we know why many higher education marketing firms keep a singular focus. We also know first-hand the many ways that our higher education clients benefit from our broader exposure and reach. In the end, we find that higher education branding and marketing clients have plenty in common with clients in other verticals when it comes to solving the essential marketing challenge: turning awareness into inquiry, inquiry into conversation and conversion, and conversion into engagement, community and lasting brand loyalty. That premise led us recently to ask a bigger question: “What does it … Continue reading
Posted in: Branding, Higher Ed Marketing, Higher Education Branding, RISD, Umpqua
After a three-month test period with select members, Pinterest announced Monday that it will begin rolling out a new site design to the rest of its 48 million+ users. The design changes are relatively subtle. In the newsfeed, amount of space bordering pins has been reduced to allow for larger images and a cleaner layout. Profile pages have likewise been condensed to show more pins in less space. Easier to get around – the navigation is more intuitive Pins are bigger and they’ve added more information related to pins, so it’s easier to find things you’re interested in. One of my biggest pet peeves was losing my place while browsing on the mobile app. Now, when you scroll through pins and click on something that interests you, the back button lands you right back where you were no matter how far you’ve gone. Why should Pinterest be a part of your digital marketing plan & SEO efforts? Pinterest is becoming … Continue reading
Posted in: Higher Education Branding
…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
While higher education marketing professionals traditionally equate the “new year” with the turning of an academic calendar, starting in September, the approach of 2013 gives us good reason to offer 5 New Year’s Higher Education Marketing Resolutions. 1. Reach Across the Aisle. Colleges increasingly recognize the value and wisdom of working in collaboration with peer schools that share a geographic base or demographic/psychographic profile. Confident schools recognize the concept of “right-fit” and realize that by raising the overall pool of inquiry and interest, all schools benefit. While formal organizations link colleges in every manner possible — by denomination, geography, prestige — it’s often ad-hoc collaborations that produce real innovation and spark. In a smaller state like West Virginia, for example, a handful of liberal arts colleges might benefit from raising the overall profile of private education in an area not well known nationally for its residential, four-year college options. 2. Cultivate Keyword Literacy While higher education marketing professionals have largely … Continue reading
When St. Thomas University and the University of Mt. Union meet in this coming Saturday’s Division III NCAA football championship — the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl — we don’t expect higher education marketing and enrollment teams from either school to be expecting too much of a so-called “Flutie Effect.” The “Flutie Effect” refers to the phenomenon of one dramatic televised sports moment, team personality or championship victory spiking prospective student interest in a given college or university. While Saturday’s game will attract a sell-out crowd (7,992 capacity) and reach a national audience on ESPNU, Division III schools carry few illusions. Even the most successful Division III sports programs (Mt. Union seeking an 11th National Championship in football) admit that a wider set of variables and motivations drive enrollment. Last year, we worked closely with St. Norbert College, which has made eight Frozen Four appearances since 2003, winning the national championship in 2008, 2011 and 2012. While such success remains a … Continue reading