Surprises for the New CEO

In this issue

• ON STRATEGY: SURPRISES FOR THE NEW CEO
• DEGREE COMPLETION: CASH COW OR FOOLS' GOLD?
• BLOGS DECONSTRUCTED
• GOOD BYE TO AN OLD FRIEND
• A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA FOR DONORS AND FRIENDS

ON STRATEGY: SURPRISES FOR THE NEW CEO

In the October 2004 Harvard Business Review, Michael Porter and his colleagues discuss the relationship between leaders and their organization in a fascinating article, "Seven Surprises for New CEOs."

Says Porter, "It is frustrating for new CEOs to realize that while they have responsibility for an organization's success, they have almost no control over the factors that will contribute to that success. This reality, for many CEOs, is the first of many surprises." Porter goes on to list some other surprises, including:

• You can't run the organization. As odd as it sounds, you can't do the job you were hired to do for two reasons. First, external demands will pull you away. And second, even simple organizations are too complex for the old -style, heroic leader that did everything. Instead, your success will depend on how well you recruit, develop, and lead your management team. Rather than leading the organization, you must lead the team that leads the organization
• Giving orders is very costly. Talented subordinates resent being given direct orders. In addition, they resent decisions made from "on high" that curtail their interests. CEOs must realize that their position does not automatically confer the right to lead, nor does it guarantee the organization's loyalty. To get things done, the CEO must look for ways to include senior managers in all decisions and to promote agreement about decision-making criteria. Says Porter, "The most powerful CEOs expand the power of those around them."
• It's hard to know what is really going on. While CEOs are flooded with information, most of that information is not reliable. Almost all information is filtered. And more information is seldom the answer. The key is to develop a short list of unimpeachable, major metrics that define organizational success
• The CEO is always sending a message. While most CEOs know that their actions will be noticed, most fail to realize how relentlessly and ruthlessly they are observed. The careless comment, the habitual lateness or leaving early—even the coffee cup left on the table after the meeting—all send a signal. CEOs must remember that the microphone is always on
• You are not the boss. Though you may be CEO, you are not working solo; you still report to the board. Effective CEOs must always attend to the relationship they have with their board. Even if that relationship is not contentious, it will still take more time than you think
• Pleasing shareholders is not the goal. Of course, you don't have shareholders, but you do have alumni and donors. While they are critically important to your organization's success, pleasing them must not be paramount in your list of concerns. In fact, spending too much time trying to keep donors and alumni happy may, in fact, undermine your competitive long-term position. Worrying that alumni may resist your desire to develop a more robust "click" orientation could delay your entry into that important market
• You are still only human. The attention and (sometimes) adoration that come with the job may make introspection necessary for growth and maturity even more difficult than it already is for most people. Hard-charging CEOs often discover that it can be ego-bruising to admit that you cannot do the job by yourself and that you have serious gaps in your preparedness. Not only must you not lose your ability to be introspective, you must have an open ear to subtle signals from your staff that you still have things to learn

DEGREE COMPLETION: CASH COW OR FOOLS' GOLD?
By Scott Lomas, Principal Consultant

Degree completion programs, once seen as an excellent opportunity to increase revenue and expand awareness, have experienced new challenges in recent years, primarily due to increased competition and the subsequent increase in marketing and student service costs required to be effective.

Today, institutions are forced to market smarter, both in terms of product and promotion. Certainly the demand exists, as some 21% of Americans have "some college but no degree" (Chronicle Almanac 2004), which is equal roughly to the combined percentage of those who have an associate or bachelor's degree (6.3% and 15.5%, respectively).

However, there is no shortage of supply, and the marketplace is crowded and noisy. Google provides 447,000 returns for "degree completion" in the subject. It appears to be a commodity market, driven by cost and convenience. The rise of the University of Phoenix and similar institutions that promote and deliver previously unprecedented levels of convenience has changed the competitive landscape.

But what are returning students really looking for? Is it strictly convenience, or does it start with programs? Is convenience defined by geography or delivery method or times of classes? How can an institution promote its most valued characteristics and focus on a particular target audience?

Phoenix leads with program delivery on its home page, asking prospective students to choose from online, on-campus, or blended programs in order to go to the next level.

At one clearinghouse Web site, www.educationforadults.com, those seeking to complete an undergraduate degree must first choose from 11 areas of study and select a subject. Then, they are asked to choose between a geographic region or online programs. Interestingly, when institutions and programs are listed, they are accompanied by a series of icons that indicate convenience features offered by colleges, which include:

• Night and/or weekend classes
• Credit for prior learning
• Programs for adults
• Childcare offered

It seems with so many options for returning students, colleges no longer enjoy captive audiences for their programs and mass media is simply too expensive for all but a few major players. But some schools are tapping into the most obvious source: their former students.

Brigham Young University has launched a Bachelor of General Studies program "intended primarily for former BYU students who have been away from the university for two or more years and are no longer able to return" (www.byu.edu). According to Ben McKinnon, program assistant, there are some 100,000 such students. Importantly, those who have completed 30 credits on campus can complete the rest of their degree entirely online.

Butte College, a public two-year in Oroville, California, recently polled its former students and found some 50% intend to return for more classes but are not currently enrolled. According to Patrick Blythe, executive director, "We were impressed by the numbers." Butte is launching a marketing campaign to first find the former students and then tailor offerings first to those who are nearest to completing their associate degree. The investment may be substantial, but they are confident the returns will more than justify the expense.

So, how do you tailor programs and target promotional activities to tap into this market? How do you decide which services are most important to your target audience? How do you differentiate your programs in noisy media markets? Here are three steps to get you started:

• First, get the commitment on your campus to make the necessary investment in marketing and services in order to be competitive
• Second, do the market research necessary to ensure your programs and promotions are aligned with market demand and sensitive to competitive pressures
• Third, focus on a particular segment to whom you have something distinctive to offer. Then, launch promotional strategies and tactics that are specific to your audience. Rather than simply launching an under funded mass media campaign, consider how direct marketing can help you tap into captive markets

If you would like to discuss how your college can attract more returning students, or tap into other market segments, send me a note at scott.lomas@stamats.com.

BLOGS DECONSTRUCTED
By Karen Hildebrand, Direct Marketing Manager

As 2004 concluded, I noticed several of the e-newsletters I receive were touting blogs as the "killer app of 2004" or the "No.1 tech trend of 2005." Yet a January 2005 report from Pew Internet stated that 62 percent of Internet users still don't know what a blog is. If you find yourself among the 62 percent, this article is for you.

The term blog is simply a contraction for Web log, or an online journal that is updated on a regular basis (usually daily) by one person. The content is generally a continuing stream of personal commentary written in an informal, conversational style—typos included. The commentary can be accented with relevant links, pictures, video, and current news. And while they may sound like nothing more than glorified e-diaries, blogs have become an increasingly valuable and highly effective marketing communications tool.

How so? I think the self-proclaimed computer geek who authors Nathan's Daily Grind says it best: Blogging is not just about marketing and getting your message across, it creates a community of people who are passionate (one way or the other) about your product. It allows customers to feel like that have an, "inside source" with your organization that they know and are familiar with even though they've never actually met them, e-mailed, or spoken on the phone.

So how can you use blogs? Many colleges and universities, such as Furman University, Simmons College, and the University of Waterloo, use student blogs to inform prospective students and their parents of first-year students' experiences at that particular school. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania publishes an admissions blog for its M.B.A. applicants that addresses application deadlines, includes encouraging notes to those not admitted to please try again, and provides links to other relevant blogs and M.B.A. programs.

In addition, your marketing team can publish newsletters, event calendars, and relevant RSS feeds about the school and community. Current students might visit faculty blogs for assignments, suggested reading lists, or to continue a class discussion. Alumni can stay connected to each other and the school while learning about campus improvements, new programs, retiring faculty and staff, and the status of annual giving programs.

And since blogs allow readers to post comments for the publisher as well as other readers, they provide an additional opportunity for open dialogue that doesn't occur in more mainstream forms of communication—including e-mail.

The challenge of maintaining a blog is ensuring you have an engaging author who will keep the content relevant and interesting so visitors continue to return. Also, blogs are similar to viral marketing in that you can budget and plan for it, but it's very difficult to predict the overall impact.

If you're still feeling a bit overwhelmed with blogs or aren't sure if you completely "get it" yet, do what I did: create your own. There are several blog services, at no charge to you, available such as MSN Spaces, Blogger, and Tripod. It's quite easy and it truly helped me get a much clearer picture of blogs (n.) and blogging (v.). And once you get started you, just might find yourself inspired to use this "killer app" to increase your institution's killer apps.

GOOD BYE TO AN OLD FRIEND

Those of us who are interested in demographic trends lost an old friend when American Demographics ceased publication at the close of 2004. With the advent of the net, and a decline in advertising and subscriptions, the magazine had struggled for years. It will be missed.

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA FOR DONORS AND FRIENDS

If you are looking for a little something extra for your donors and friends, you might want to take a look at using The New Yorker's Cartoon Bank. The Cartoon Bank has a database of more than 85,000 cartoons—virtually every cartoon ever published in The New Yorker since 1925. Colleges and universities can now create one-of-a-kind books featuring 80 or more specially selected cartoons. For more information, contact Andy Pillsbury at (914) 478-5527.

COMPREHENSIVE INTEGRATED MARKETING WORKBOOK

An Integrated Marketing Workbook for Colleges and Universities, authored by Dr. Robert A. Sevier, is now available from Strategy Publishing.

Written for college presidents, administrators, and faculty who are interested in how integrated can help them more effectively build an image, recruit students, and raise dollars, the book begins by exploring such questions as:

• How do I know if integrated marketing is right for our institution?
• What is the relationship between integrated marketing, integrated marketing communications, brand marketing, and strategic planning?
• How can I build internal support for integrated marketing on my campus?
• How long will it take to develop a plan and how much will it cost?

It outlines a step-by-step integrated marketing planning process that will move a planning team from initial goal creation through the major components of a marketing plan including audience identification, the definition of target geographies, the creation of vivid descriptors, and the completion of integrated marketing action plans.

Designed as a workbook—each chapter concludes with a series of discussion points and questions that will reinforce key themes and clarify decisions—the book contains the most comprehensive integrated marketing checklist ever published. In addition, budgeting is treated in-depth.

The book is available from Strategy Publishing at www.strategypublishing.com.