Stamats QuickTakes
Insights into Research, Strategic Planning, and Integrated Marketing for Colleges and Universities by Dr. Robert A. Sevier, Senior Vice President at Stamats (quicktakes@stamats.com)
Vol. 6, no. 17: Integrated Financial Model™
In this issue.
BACK-TO-BACK CONFERENCES IN NOVEMBER
Strategy and Finance: Helping Colleges Thrive in Tough Times
Stamats' 3rd Annual President's Institute on Integrated & Brand Marketing
WELCOME ABOARD
Stamats is pleased to welcome David Horrigan to our growing staff of consultants. He comes to us from the University of Connecticut where he is completing his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership. In addition to significant college teaching and administrative experience (Boston College, Emerson College, Endicott College, Fairfield University, and Pace University), David has integrated and brand marketing experience from TMP Worldwide and Young & Rubicam. He joins Eric Sickler, Marilyn Osweiler, and Amanda May in the Cambridge Office.
If you would like to contact David directly, he can be reached at david.horrigan@stamats.com or 617-349-3795.
ON STRATEGY: INTEGRATED FINANCIAL MODEL™
Stamats is pleased to announce the creation of a powerful new budgeting and planning tool to help colleges and universities better manage their finances. The Integrated Financial Model™ tool is designed to help institutions align projected resources with their vision, strategic plan, and major initiatives.
The model blends key financial variables into an intuitive, user-friendly, and linked series of spreadsheets that will help colleges and universities create and explore financial "what if" scenarios so they can anticipate the impact of changes in enrollment, tuition revenue, contributions from endowment, annual fund contributions, and other variables.
For example, this model will help colleges and universities:
This model will help institutions
develop multi-year cash flow projections based on data and facts, not anecdotes
and opinions and will also enable institutions to interpret data to answer pressing
questions such as how their budgeting plans will affect its student/faculty
ratio, tuition discounting, and tuition dependency on gifts and endowments.
If you are interested in reviewing a PowerPoint demonstration of the model,
please send me an e-mail (bob.sevier@stamats.com).
Like many of you, we are looking forward to the upcoming AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. The following people from Stamats will be attending:
If you would like to talk to one of us about your integrated marketing needs while we are in Miami, please drop us an e-mail.
COMMUNICATING
WITH INTERNAL AUDIENCES ABOUT BRAND MARKETING
Barbara O'Malley, Principal Consultant
When developing integrated or brand marketing plans, a critical element is internal buy-in. After all, these are the audiences that deliver on your brand promise. So, if you want your internal audiences to live up to your brand promise, they must be involved in and made aware of the steps you go through when creating the brand promise. In other words, your effective external rollout may well depend on how well you market your efforts internally.
Effective internal communication calls for using a variety of communication tools including face-to-face, e-mail, and print. Here are a few suggestions:
Who |
Audience |
Channel |
What
type of message |
| President | Administration, faculty, and staff | Face-to-face: Annual "state of the campus" address; focused discussion; retreat; dinner; periodic online chat for students | Initial announcements of major initiatives |
| Faculty/Deans | Periodic updates on major initiatives | ||
| Major donors | Reminders of vision, mission, and strategic planning elements | ||
| Community | Thank you | ||
| I'm here. I'm accessible. I'm listening. | |||
| Project Champion | Administration, faculty, and staff | PowerPoint presentations; focused discussions; brown bag luncheons | Project detail and updates/key messages (active communication) |
| Faculty/Deans | E-mail updates linking to Web site with detail | Project detail and update/key messages | |
| Students | Student newspaper | Project update as it relates to students | |
| Alumni | Alumni newsletter | Project update as it relates to alumni | |
| Marketing | Administration, faculty, and staff | Student profile brochure | Who is the class that just started? What are the outcomes of the graduating class from last year? |
| Administration, faculty, staff, and donors | Faculty profile brochure | Who's done what over the past year? Include professional presentations, publications, research, and a look at how they are involving students in research |
Keep in mind that the same level of skill and acumen that you use when communicating with external audiences should be deployed with internal audiences. In Leading Change, John Kotter offers these seven suggestions as key elements for effective internal communication:
1. Simplicity: Lose the jargon. Be clear about what terms mean.
2. Metaphor, analogy, and example: A picture is worth a thousand words. Share an example.
3. Multiple forums: Big and small meetings; e-mail; print. Use a variety of communication channels.
4. Repetition: Ideas sink in only after the consistent messages have been heard multiple times. Be consistent with communication and key messages.
5. Leadership by example: Behavior will override other forms of communication. Make sure leaders are "walking the talk."
6. Explanation of inconsistencies: Unaddressed inconsistencies undermine credibility. If you are dealing with ambiguity, let people know this. They will understand if you are clear with them.
7. Give-and-take: Two-way communication is always more powerful than one-way communication. Listen.
Ideas for involving the campus community
Here are three ideas I have successfully used to involve the campus community:
Good ideas for involving the campus community are endless. As institutional marketers, we are usually just too busy to think about it. If you have any ideas that worked especially well for you, please drop me a line (barbara.omalley@stamats.com). I'd enjoy a conversation.
MARKETING DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMS
The October 2001 issue of Association Forum of Chicagoland outlined eight lessons for marketing distance learning (virtual) programs. In bullet form, the lessons are:
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LUCKY WINNERS OF OUR NACAC BOOTH!
Thank you for joining us this year in Long Beach. We'll see you next year in Milwaukee!
BOOK
ON BRAND MARKETING
Interested in taking a look at Bob Sevier's book on brand marketing or a companion book on innovative marketing strategies? If so, take a look at www.strategypublishing.com.
NEW CLIENTS
Job listings available online at Higher Educations Careers.
If you have a short position description (100 words or less) you would like posted, please forward it on to brandy.huseman@stamats.com. There is no charge for this service.
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ABOUT STAMATS
Every year, more than 100 colleges and universities nationwide rely upon Stamats marketing and communications programs to help them keep their promises. Stamats services include research, consulting, publications, interactive media, search solutions, and advertising.
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