Often, marketers of continuing education organizations are asked to be Superheroes, to do more with less, especially when finances shrink. How do they meet the challenge?
A recent informal survey of the members of two organizations involved with adult and continuing education turned up a number of interesting methods and solutions used to address the difficult task of, as the saying goes, "pulling larger and larger rabbits out of smaller and smaller hats."
The survey, conducted by the Georgia Center's Department of Marketing Services through listservs, targeted members of the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA) and the Association of Collegiate Conference and Events Directors -- International (ACCED -- I; the association recently added "Collegiate" to its name). The participants were asked about the marketing efforts in their organizations -- "What's your one best idea for doing more with less?" The information was gathered through the listservs of the associations.
The research showed marketers are finding creative solutions to resource challenges in most areas of marketing, but such success can be double-edged -- expectations may be raised beyond that which can be sustained without additional resources. Marketers must balance doing more with less with a long-term strategy for obtaining adequate resources to maintain that level of quality and excellence without exhausting current resources.
Presented here are a few examples of what works for the continuing education marketers who responded (about 120 so far). Five categories of responses emerged -- Partnerships, The Internet, Conserving Resources, Publicity, and Creative Solutions.
What's working in your shop?
Responses
PARTNERSHIPS
Responses placed in the Partnerships category were grouped in three areas: partnering/sharing promotional costs, cross marketing, and partnerships. Sharing promotional costs by utilizing various media vehicles works well. Marketers are sharing advertising space with their universities and registration offices, academic departments, and alumni newsletters. One example was a Sunday morning television listing ad that shared space with the university's television station. Marketers are sharing catalog costs by selling ad space to auxiliaries, (e.g. bookstores, dining services) and negotiating trade-outs with other university units. Another way to stretch promotional dollars is to share distribution costs by inserting promotional pieces with invoices from local banks or utility companies. There are many ways to modify these ideas once units with similar audiences have been identified.
Cross marketing can strengthen your advertising and direct mail campaigns as it does for the New York University (NYU) School of Continuing Education. NYU develops clusters of content from all program areas. Programs are promoted as hot topics that make sense to their customers. For example, a technology cluster pulls from noncredit and credit programs and crosses divisional lines of the school. NYU has taken this "clustering" to a more sophisticated level and created industry centers in areas such as real estate, hospitality, and publishing where both credit and noncredit offerings of the school can provide personal pathways for the consumers.
Another example came from the University of New Orleans (UNO) Peter Kiewit Conference Center, which is part of the College of Continuing Studies. The conference center is one of three departments within the college. They realized how involved they had become without learning about other departmental areas. To address this, they started to emphasize the need for cross-selling and are developing cross-training opportunities to learn the basics of other departments and how to answer commonly asked questions in these other areas. Now, when someone is talking to a client or potential client, they can emphasize the services of the other departments. This allows current staff to be more effective.
Several marketers' best ideas had to do with developing partnerships with the local Chambers of Commerce. They are able to share mailing lists, benefit from newsletters, partner on training initiatives, attend networking events, and exhibit at business expos. Other partnering suggestions included both external and internal partners.
THE INTERNET
The Internet was often mentioned as a potential resource that is being used to maximize resource effectiveness. Ideas involved Web site development -- brochures, registration forms, use of e-mail for promotions (developing mailing lists, utilizing listservs for publicity activities and research). The respondents already had Web servers and pages in place; the "doing more with less" activities related to incremental costs only.
CONSERVING RESOURCES
There were many ideas on Conserving Resources. One idea emphasized the importance of investing in people through training and mentoring. Another marketer outlined how to develop "just-in-time" brochures with a copier, producing two-color brochures on quality recycled paper. Another marketer suggested using free listing sources such as newspaper and cable television calenders of events and directory listings.
There are numerous ways to conserve, extend, and develop resources. One way to conserve resources is to develop an understanding of what the marketing concept is among internal clients. Continuing education marketing departments may be seen more as brochure factories, rather than as departments capable of research, planning, and consulting for all aspects of a program -- content, pricing, how to best deliver a program, publicity, promotion, and so on. Internal promotions, such as workshops and open houses, can help inform internal customers about a full range of capabilities. It is important that others within your organization understand that the marketing department's involvement should begin early in the process of program development.
PUBLICITY
In categorizing the responses for this survey, the term "publicity" was used to mean distribution of information about programs, events, or activities -- "getting the word out."
Publicity efforts have always been important in doing more with less because they can dramatically leverage your marketing dollars. Ideas ranged from developing publicity in alumni, faculty, and university administration newsletters to partnering with other colleges and their communications units. Some marketers are finding publicity opportunities via the Internet to be effective, by posting on appropriate/relevant listservs.
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
The fifth category of doing more with less, Creative Solutions, included ideas with imaginative twists. One fun idea reported by a respondent involved a jingle-writing contest on a local radio station. By entering and winning the contest, the department realized nine inquires, and from that, had three registrations. Other ideas included sidewalk chalk writing on campus by students and the packaging of cookies with promotional materials for distributions to parents waiting in lines to drop off their children on campus at the beginning of each semester.
One marketer discussed a creative idea in which a "Little Rascals" campaign promoted random acts of kindness. People were encouraged to commit random acts of kindness and become a "Rascal." The "Little Rascals" became their mascot, and they mailed vintage postcards with the "Rascals," t-shirts, look-a-like contests, etc. The target market included many nontraditional students who grew up with the "Little Rascals." The campaign involved students, faculty, and staff and resulted in several reports by the local media.
Summary
A thread that pulls many of these ideas together is the creative process itself. These marketers applied the process of creative problem-solving to current challenges. They knew the marketing issues intimately and thought through alternatives, allowing time for the full development of the ideas and plans. A common market segment or audience often brought disparate elements and concepts together.
Send In An Idea
"What's your one best idea for doing more with less?"
If you'd like to contribute an idea to this ongoing, informal, study and add to a growing "archive" of ideas, contact the Georgia Center Department of Marketing Services at the address below. Findings will be shared periodically through various Georgia Center publications.
Please send your ideas and suggestions, or requests for more information, to: Mike Healy, Research and Planning, Department of Marketing Services, Georgia Center for Continuing Education, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-3603, 706-542-6793, FAX: 706-542-6720.
A complete list of the ideas is available upon request. UCEA polled its members about marketing ideas in 1995, producing the compilation 1001 Best Marketing Ideas for Continuing Education (steal these ideas please!). Copies of that report are available; contact Susan Goewey Carey, UCEA director of publications, at 202-659-3130 for more information.
Web administrator: webmaster@gactr.uga.edu All contents copyright © 1998 University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education. All rights reserved. Last revised: August 4, 1998 URL: http://www.gactr.uga.edu/GCQ/gcqspr98/marketing.html