Declining by Degrees

In this issue

• ON STRATEGY: DECLINING BY DEGREES
• DELUGE IN MARKETING MESSAGES
• WEB STRATEGY: BLURRING THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION

8TH ANNUAL STAMATS STRATEGIC INTEGRATED MARKETING CONFERENCE ON JULY 25-28 FEATURES JACK TROUT AND ARTHUR LEVINE

Join us for our annual Strategic Integrated Marketing Conference where you will increase your knowledge and learn how some of your peers have been successful. Plus you will have the added bonus of two great keynote presenters, Jack Trout and Arthur Levine!

Please go here for more details.

UPCOMING ONLINE SEMINAR—ESSENTIAL TRAINING FOR THE NEW RECRUITER

Please make plans to join us for our next online seminar: Essential Training for the New Recruiter. It will be held August 11, 2005 from 1:30-3:00 PM CDT.

Please go here for more details.

ON STRATEGY: DECLINING BY DEGREES

No doubt you have already heard or read something about Declining by Degrees, the recently released PBS special and book on the state of higher education today. Twenty-two years ago we found ourselves confronted with The Nation at Risk, a look at K-12 in America. Declining by Degrees is, in contrast, a harsh, some might say unflattering look at higher education in America.

Released earlier this Spring, but now gathering critical mass, this book/DVD will, no doubt, be on the summer reading list of many college and university administrators, and one hopes, faculty. It is likely, considering Congress' on-again off-again interest in higher education, to be on the reading list of your senators, representatives, and legislative staffers as well.

The three quotes, one drawn from the forward of the book, give you a sense of the book's focus, even tone:

• "The book before you is, to my knowledge, the first to confront the question head-on. All those boys and girls...do parents—does anybody—have any idea what happens to them in college?" - From the foreword by Tom Wolfe
• "The decline of our once-proud colleges and universities—well documented in this book—is the bitter fruit of our ever-more ineffective K-12 education. This book makes it clear that our nation is still at risk." - E. D. Hirsch, Jr.
  Author of Cultural Literacy and The Schools We Need
• "Anyone who cares deeply about American higher education will read this book and feel enlightened and enraged, delighted and despondent, encouraged and in despair. A ‘must read' for those interested in both good news and bad, from higher education's influential insiders and jaded outsiders." - Lee S. Shulman President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Written as a bit of an anthology, chapters and their authors include:

• The Media: Degrees of Coverage by Gene I. Maeroff
• Ready or Not? Where the Public Stands on Higher Education Reform by Deborah Wadsworth
• College Admissions: A Substitute for Quality? by James Fallows
• Caveat Lector: Unexamined Assumptions about Quality in Higher Education by Jay Mathews
• Liberal Education: Slip-Sliding Away? by Carol G. Schneider
• Six Challenges to the American University by Vartan Gregorian
• Beyond Markets and Individuals: A Focus on Educational Goals by
  Howard Gardner
• This Little Student Went to Market by David L. Kirp
• How Undergraduate Education Became College Lite—and a Personal Apology by Murray Sperber
• America's Modern Peculiar Institution by Frank Deford
  Worlds Apart: Disconnects Between Students and Their Colleges by Arthur Levine
• Leaving the Newcomers Behind by Roberto Suro and Richard Fry
• Talking the Talk: Rhetoric and Reality for Students of Color by Heather D. Wathington
• It is Only a Port of Call: Reflections on the State of Higher Education by Julie Johnson Kidd
• The Curriculum and College Life: Confronting Unfulfilled Promises by Leon Botstein

OTHER RESOURCES

There are a couple of Web sites to check out for additional information about the book/DVD and its potential impact. We recommend:

• Official Web site: decliningbydegrees.org/
  • Pay special attention to the link, "Who else is talking about higher education?"
  • Note, too, the blog, "Join the discussion"
• Carnegie Foundation: http://carnegiefoundation.org/
  • Check out the main article and blog
• University Business: universitybusiness.com
  • Very nice interview with Richard Hersh, former president of Trinity College (Conn.) and co-editor of the book

AMERICANS RESPOND TO DELUGE OF MARKETING MESSAGES

Micky Khan, senior editor of DMNews Online (June 16, 2005) quoting research recently completed by Forrester Research, noted that the volume of marketing messages is overwhelming U.S. consumers:

• 60 percent have signed up for the do-not-call registry
• 33 percent have installed Web pop-up blockers
• 9 percent have signed on to some kind of do-not-e-mail list … and 40 percent may want to

But permission-based e-mail marketing is not annoying consumers, if stability of click-through rates over the past two years is any indication. Forrester Research consulting analyst Shar VanBoskirk made that point June 9 at her company's Finance Forum 2005 in New York.

"E-mail marketing best practices can counter the effects of e-mail overuse to build stronger relationships," she said.

WEB STRATEGY: BLURRING THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION
By Eric Hodgson, Client Consultant

The Web, by its nature, is an on-demand medium. Although you can control the navigation and content on your Web site, you cannot control how visitors use the site. So, how do you know if your Web site is doing its job? The following are several ideas that will allow you to receive better feedback on your Web site and build better relationships.

• Push action. With more and more institutions moving to key activities online, taking constituents directly to these actions will move the site visitor through the process quicker, whether it be applying online or making a donation. As you put together publications and advertising, include a direct link to the action on the Web, rather than the home page. Don't force all activity on the Web, but provide options. Outline these actions per audience in a checklist format to keep it simple for the visitor.
  
• Finish the story. Historically, publications have served as an emotional medium, with the Web site serving as an informational warehouse. The key messages in your publications and advertising must be followed through on the Web site. Student profiles, significant events, and personal successes can be used in publications as a teaser, with much, much more on the Web. With a growing broadband population and more software options, use video to tell these stories.
  
• Keep them coming back. Many institutions are moving to "personalizing" options for target audiences, allowing visitors to control layout and some content. While this is a way to track activity, it may not be enough to drive a repeat visit. Implement features such as blogs and event calendars to give a reason for visitors to come back. Use postcard and e-mail reminders to drive visitors back to the Web site.

Keep in mind that without an understanding of your communications flow, the Web site will miss the mark. Know your audiences, use their preferred communications forms, and test as much as possible. If you would like to discuss your communication strategies or any points in this article, please give Eric Hodgson a call (800.553.8878 ext. 5131) or drop him an e-mail (eric.hodgson@stamats.com).

STAMATS ONLINE SEMINARS

Thursday, August 11, from 1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. CDT

Essential Training for the New Recruiter
Presented by Kenton Pauls, Director of Enrollment Services, University of South Dakota and (Tentative) Chuck Reed, Vice President for Client Services, Stamats, Inc.

The recruiting season has begun. Are your newly hired recruiters ready? This session will explore the basic, and not-so-basic, skills that an effective recruiter needs to master to be successful. We will cover everything from phone and e-mail skills to setting up the high school visit. The session will also address prospect management, working with student athletes, and essentials of the home visit. Special attention will be given to time management.

For more information about the online conference, please contact Brandy Huseman at (800) 553-8878 or brandy.huseman@stamats.com. You can also check out the Stamats Web site at www.stamats.com.

Cost: $249

STAMATS' ANNUAL STRATEGIC INTEGRATED MARKETING CONFERENCE JULY 25-28 IN CHICAGO

This summer Stamats will host an outstanding conference that focuses entirely on integrated marketing for colleges and universities. Some of the more than 20 sessions include:

• Developing an Integrated Marketing Plan
• Integrated Aspects of Fundraising
• How to Build a "Sticky" Web Site: Integrate, Innovate, and Interact
• TeensTALK™
• Building a Brand That Matters

In addition, we will have two special keynote presentations:

• Jack Trout, president of Trout & Partners, has authored more than 10 books on brand marketing
• Arthur Levine, president and Professor of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University

It promises to be an exceptional event. Please make your reservations early.

Jack Trout

Instrumental in developing the vital approach to marketing known as "positioning," he is responsible for some of the freshest ideas to be introduced into marketing thinking in the last several decades.

Jack Trout is president of Trout & Partners, one of the most prestigious marketing firms with headquarters in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, and offices in 13 countries. Trout manages and supervises a global network of experts that apply his concepts and develop his methodology around the world. The firm has done work for AT&T, IBM, Burger King, Merrill Lynch, Xerox, Merck, Lotus, Ericsson, Tetra Pak, Repsol, Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Southwest Airlines, and other Fortune 500 companies.

Trout started his business career in the advertising department of General Electric. From there he went on to become a divisional advertising manager at Uniroyal. Then he joined Al Ries in the advertising agency and marketing strategy firm where they worked together for over 26 years.

His latest book, Trout on Strategy, is Trout's best advice on the subject of good and bad strategy. If you don't have the right strategy, you're toast.

Arthur Levine

Arthur Levine is President and Professor of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He received his bachelor's degree from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo. Prior to Teachers College, he served as Chair of the Higher Education program and Chair of the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Mr. Levine is the author of dozens of articles and reviews. His most recent book is When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today's College Student (with Jeanette S. Cureton.) An advocate of improving teacher quality and enhancing the use of technology in higher education, Mr. Levine's numerous opinion editorials appear in such publications as The New York Times; The Los Angeles Times; The Wall Street Journal; The Chronicle of Higher Education.

He has served as consultant to more than 250 colleges and universities, and currently sits on the Boards of Blackboard, Inc., and the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU). Mr. Levine was also President of Bradford College (1982-1989) and named 1999-2001 Carnegie Fellow, formerly Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Foundation and Carnegie Council for Policy Studies in Higher Education (1975-1982).

Other presenters include: Dr. Robert A. Sevier, Senior Vice President; Eric Sickler, Principal Consultant; Chuck Reed, VP of Client Services; Kari Kovar, Senior Client Consultant; Scott Lomas, Principal Consultant; Eric Hodgson, Client Consultant; Karen Hildebrand, Direct Marketing Manager; Sabra Fiala, Direct Marketing Executive; Ann Oleson, Senior Client Consultant

Cost:
$449 - Tuesday, July 26, through Thursday, July 28 - general conference
(an additional $149 - Monday, July 25 - optional preconference session)

Plus, every attendee will receive a copy of Jack Trout's latest book, Trout on Strategy!

Register today at www.stamats.com/events/seminars!