Speakers: Teri Lucie Thompson, Purdue University and Elizabeth Scarborough, SimpsonScarborough
If you are reinventing, you need a poster child (one that is not controversial and one that is very easy to see transformation in). At Purdue, it was a broken pay telephone that was the first thing people saw at the visitors center – the first thing they saw on campus was broken technology. That lead to a $100,000 investment to renovate the visitors center.
The Journey
- Central vs. decentralized
- Funding mechanism
- Staff marketing competencies
- Logo proliferation
- Legacy, not strategy
- Measuring success
- Brand?
- Separate plans for news and marketing
- No customer research
These were the obstacles. Which ones do they need to engage?
The strength of the organization was in the news services – they were masterful at pumping out news releases. The MarComm group was functioning more as a print shop. “Creative brief” was non-existent. There were no folks really focused on marketing.
They developed a digital footprint – what’s being said about you, over what channels, and what’s the quality of mention?
They were getting considerably less traffic than their peers – sites were blocked that were crawlable. There were huge opportunities for search engine optimization.
Karlyn’s Note: Presenter said that they compared “Google Analytics” data, and another attendee said “since it was a public school, that’s public knowledge” – while its possible to compare the traffic on your site with others, you can’t get access to Google Analytics data unless someone gives it to you. You can use services like Alexa and Compete, but let’s be careful not to make Google Analytics a general term for ALL web traffic data. (a) It’s much more than just web traffic volume and (b) it’s a specific tool.
Though they were great at producing news, once it made its way to the web, it was taking journalists up to six clicks to find something.
They dumped thousands of articles into Wordle to see what message people would get from them. Huge disconnect between what they thought they stood for, and the news that was being written.
Organization Reorg: They switched over to a centralized marketing group and completely restructured the organization. They are six months in…still honeymoon time.
Overhauled website and navigation. Hates beauty shot of campus. Banner on their website rotates and it all relates to stuff that’s in the news.
When a press release didn’t work, they put a video on YouTube and it took off.
The Identity Initiative
People can identify with identity universally at an institution.
Your brand is the sum total of all associations made with your institution.
Your positioning is your researched, documented, agreed upon desired brand association.
Logos, visual identity, and/or tagline are simply reflections of your brand.
SMART brand strategy:
- Specific
- Meaningful
- Accurate
- Reinforced
- Tangible
Your brand shouldn’t just last for a few years….it should last until you’re dead. The campaign can change…new taglines and such…but the brand strategy should stay the same.
Guiding Questions for Purdue:
- What level of baseline awareness of Purdue exists among key constituents?
- How is Purdue perceived among key constituents?
- What are the perceived competitive strengths and weaknesses of the University?
- What misperceptions, if any, exist?
- What are opinions about Purdue (and other Big 10 and/or lang-grant institutions) shaped and influenced?
- What is Purdue’s most powerful and compelling differential advantage?
- What motivates key constituents, including alumni and donors, to seek a relationship with Purdue?
Project Scope
- Identity Assessment
- Qualitative Research: 20 Focus groups
- Qualitative Research: 40 In-depth interviews
- Quantitative Research
Karlyn’s Note: One of the best presentations of the conference!
- Live Blogging AMA Higher Ed: From Gandhi to Google
- Live Blogging AMA: Rebranding Tradition with Uncommon Results
- Live Blogging: Press Release 2.0 – News Releases in the Social Media Era
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About the author
Karlyn is loving life as as a staff writer for .eduGuru. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Boston University, a Master of Business Administration from Norwich University, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Psychology from Capella University.
To quote a friend of hers: "Karlyn is a super rad ninja marketing genius who will make your target demographic submit to your every whim through sheer willpower. Oh, and she's smarter than you." We're not sure about the smarter part, but "super rad ninja" is true enough.
Compulsory disclaimer: The views expressed in Karlyn's posts are hers and hers alone, and do not represent those of anyone she earns a paycheck from. Yes, it's true - the girl has a mind of her own.
This post was written by Karlyn Borysenko - who has written 56 posts on .eduGuru
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