rebranding universities

21
® B E Y O N D T H E O R Y The University/College as Business (stealing market share for survival) Tom Dougherty Founder/CEO of Stealing Share

Upload: stealing-share

Post on 05-Dec-2014

231 views

Category:

Education


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Most colleges and universities don't think of themselves as businesses. But they are, just like Apple, McDonalds or Coca-Cola are. They must steal market share from other universities (competition) by being so emotionally important to prospective students (and prospective facility and emerging alumni) that they feel incomplete without it. This presentation teaches college and university presidents how to think like a business and, most importantly, how to brand themselves so their institutions are preferred.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

The University/College as Business (stealing market share for survival)

Tom Dougherty Founder/CEO of Stealing Share

Page 2: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

State of the business – Opportunities to change

• You need to grow your business (paid enrollment) to the greatest extent possible.

• You need prospects who currently do not give your school a second thought, to reconsider or prefer you.

• You need to create a foundation of preference that goes beyond the the things you currently market.

Page 3: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

You see these changes everyday

So does the student. !So does the competition. ! !!

Page 4: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

But the small tactical messaging changes everyone in the category pretends to make are usually about as groundbreaking as dotting the “i” or crossing the “t”.

Your message has to be different and better

Page 5: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

The only way to win is to REALLY understand what the prospect wants.

Page 6: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

Everyone strategizes. But they end up talking to the converted and seem to justify the status quo.

!Focus Groups? Your own prospects?Your current students? On-line studies? Email surveys?

!What have you really learned?

There is real danger

Page 7: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

Start with projectable research. It is very different from the normal approach upon which everyone seems to rely. !How you do it (methodology) is just as important as why you conduct it.

Page 8: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

College/University Table Stakes

Happy Students Active Social Life Cost Effective Future Jobs Great Education Technology Remote Classes Happy Grads Caring Faculty Diversity Local Color Campus Life !

Page 9: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

What we

believe

What we need/want

What we do/use

MarketingBrand

Page 10: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

Highest Emotional Intensity

What is the ground in which your University brand competing? !To steal market share you must seek the highest ground, applying ideas that evoke the greatest emotional intensities. !There are two kinds of emotional intensity. Positive and Negative. Positive emotional intensities are benefits. Negative emotional intensities are about what’s lacking.

Highest Emotional Intensity

Lesser Emotional Intensity

Higher Ground Negative

Positive

Page 11: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

Check with your MBA program. Ask what happens to any business model with supply outpaces demand?

Page 12: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

Supply Demand

Page 13: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

If you were a business

• Understand the precepts of the target

• Understand the competition

• Position yourself as different and better

• Grab the highest emotional intensity

• Dispassionately conduct an audit of the category

You would think about your brand

Page 14: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

Where did the idea of BRAND originate?

Page 15: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

This brand is not about you or just the University or College itself. It is a measure of student’s (prospect) self-description and serves to help them define who it is that they believe they are. As such, it is PERSUASIVE and creates preference beyond simple generic category choices across the university. The best of these brands represent the aspirations and highest emotional intensity of the prospects they wish to influence.

What do you need to do differently?

Page 16: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

!

In order to maximize influence on University prospects — and make them your students, we need to learn three things:

Influencing Prospective Student Behavior

1. What promises (triggers) that might be made by your brand that would most encourage decision makers to remember, prefer, and connect to the brand? If any “triggers” do in fact exist, which do prospects rank as the most powerful?

2. When the prospective student (or parent of that student) thinks about what is most important in their lives, what is it that they believe to be most important (student self-description)?

3. What do they aspire to become? What do they fear they are at risk of losing?

Page 17: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

Great Educatio

n

?Purpose

Process

Large Public

Small Private

Large Public

?

Small Private

Page 18: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

About The Student

Purpose

Process

Large Public

Small Private

Abou

t The

Sch

ool

Page 19: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

!!Colleges and Universities should not change anything they say or do unless that message is intended to change behavior and be more persuasive. !

Page 20: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

As a business

• Understand the precepts of the target

• Understand the competition

• Position yourself as different and better

• Grab the highest emotional intensity

• Dispassionately conduct an audit of the category

Fix your brand

Page 21: Rebranding universities

®B E Y O N D T H E O R Y

www.stealingshare.com !

Stealing Share, Inc Suite 816, 301 S Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401 • 336.389.9315 733 3rd Avenue, 15th Floor • New York, NY 10017 • 866-725-1080