In this six-part article series, higher education consultant Michael
Clifford thoroughly interviews marketing guru Mike McHugh on everything college
presidents and leaders should know about getting their brand visible, both
online and offline.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: How many people every day work in your company to help generate inquiries and branding opportunities for colleges and universities?
Mike McHugh: Our higher education market research firm has approximately 550 people within our company that are working on something for our clients every single day, whether it’s producing a print ad that’s going to go in a newspaper or a magazine, making phone calls to prospective students, developing digital assets… any number of different activities, and that’s spread across three different continents. Even domestically, we’re in ten different states. We’ve become kind of a virtual higher education market research firm in many ways.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: Tell me about the importance of advertising and marketing a program versus a school brand.
Mike McHugh: Program versus school brands is a really interesting conversation. What universities will typically gravitate toward is branding of the university and the institution. The reality is consumers are typically looking for programs.
So again, if you go to search engine query data, which I think is really the best place to go in order to understand the mindset of a prospective student, the bulk of queries and searches on Google, Bing–different engines–is for individual programs, where consumers know what they want to study but they don’t know where they want to study it. That’s the most important place to be. You want to optimize keywords for your programs of study. You also want to do that much more so for the program area as opposed to the degree level.
One of the mistakes a lot of institutions make is they try to go after bachelor’s degrees or associate’s degrees. The degree level at that point in time is less important to the consumer than what they’re going to study. It’s not so important to them how long their studies are–they actually don’t want to think about how long they will be in school at that point in time. So when you’re marketing and branding your institution you really want to think about that.
The reality is that over time though you have to have an institutional brand that you’re known for. How do you differentiate across your institution, let alone each program individually? Because that’s where you can create efficiency: that’s where your scale opportunity comes from. It’s really the balance of both of them.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: If I’m a president, I put you in front of my board and you have ten minutes to talk to them about their brand and marketing, what would you say?
Mike McHugh: I’m going to communicate what it is that our higher education market research firm wants to be known for, who it is that we view as our primary competitors for students, who our ideal student is and how we’re helping that student to make the decision about choosing our institution.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: How often should a university at the board level stop and review their marketing plan?
Mike McHugh: At a board level I think that there should be a deep dive on an annual basis with a review probably every six months. Again, my belief is that the board level responsibility is to hammer home and make sure that everyone at the institution understands that marketing has to cover the entire institution. This is how is the university is perceived for new students, for existing students and for employers in the community… it’s every stakeholder of that university that’s important, and I think the board should understand that and understand how the university is reaching out to you and messaging to each of those constituencies.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: How important are ongoing relationships?
Mike McHugh: Usually, we just contact alumni about making a donation: “Would you donate $500 a year. Alumni are ultimately the ambassadors of the university, so we really want to ideally engage them in that process. It’s not just about money… our higher education market research firm also wants their time, their talent, their referrals, their connections for our clients.
I think one of the companies that have really revolutionized marketing in many ways is Amazon, for a number of different reasons. One of the big reasons why people go to Amazon and use it as a site to make purchases is the review process. Having an engaged alumni network that is not just helping to support the foundation, but also giving positive referrals, being engaged with new students and connecting with people is absolutely critical.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: I’ve heard you talk about the importance of career development and career placement, and I know you’ve just created a new company along those lines.
Give us some highlights about how important it is for an academic institution to help a student find their purpose and their career.
Mike McHugh: I believe it’s very critical. As the cost of tuition goes up–and it’s almost getting kind of ad nauseum with the amount of information about that–the focus on the value of education and the outcome becomes more critical all the time. The idea of education is a means to an end as opposed to an end in and of itself, and so placement is absolutely critical for the long-term viability of an institution. If your graduates aren’t getting jobs so that they can repay loans, be successful and accomplish their goals, you’re not going to have an effective and engaged alumni in order to help recruit new students.
So I think career preparation is absolutely critical. I think that the curriculum also has to be designed with that in mind. You have to make sure that your curriculum matches the skills that employers are looking for, and I think there are some universities that are doing a good job, as well as some that aren’t doing a good job. Certainly, the rate of change in the private sector makes it very difficult for an institution to keep up, but in order to be successful you have to be there.
Contact Significant Systems
To learn more about our higher education management consulting firm Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.
Remember, our goal is simple:
• Provide Broader Access
• Lower Tuition and Fees
• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates
• Facilitate Education with a Purpose
Looking forward to our possible conversation!
Dr. Michael K. Clifford
Chairman
760.801.5021(My personal cell)
mkc@mclifford.com
http://www.significantsystems.org
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: How many people every day work in your company to help generate inquiries and branding opportunities for colleges and universities?
Mike McHugh: Our higher education market research firm has approximately 550 people within our company that are working on something for our clients every single day, whether it’s producing a print ad that’s going to go in a newspaper or a magazine, making phone calls to prospective students, developing digital assets… any number of different activities, and that’s spread across three different continents. Even domestically, we’re in ten different states. We’ve become kind of a virtual higher education market research firm in many ways.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: Tell me about the importance of advertising and marketing a program versus a school brand.
Mike McHugh: Program versus school brands is a really interesting conversation. What universities will typically gravitate toward is branding of the university and the institution. The reality is consumers are typically looking for programs.
So again, if you go to search engine query data, which I think is really the best place to go in order to understand the mindset of a prospective student, the bulk of queries and searches on Google, Bing–different engines–is for individual programs, where consumers know what they want to study but they don’t know where they want to study it. That’s the most important place to be. You want to optimize keywords for your programs of study. You also want to do that much more so for the program area as opposed to the degree level.
One of the mistakes a lot of institutions make is they try to go after bachelor’s degrees or associate’s degrees. The degree level at that point in time is less important to the consumer than what they’re going to study. It’s not so important to them how long their studies are–they actually don’t want to think about how long they will be in school at that point in time. So when you’re marketing and branding your institution you really want to think about that.
The reality is that over time though you have to have an institutional brand that you’re known for. How do you differentiate across your institution, let alone each program individually? Because that’s where you can create efficiency: that’s where your scale opportunity comes from. It’s really the balance of both of them.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: If I’m a president, I put you in front of my board and you have ten minutes to talk to them about their brand and marketing, what would you say?
Mike McHugh: I’m going to communicate what it is that our higher education market research firm wants to be known for, who it is that we view as our primary competitors for students, who our ideal student is and how we’re helping that student to make the decision about choosing our institution.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: How often should a university at the board level stop and review their marketing plan?
Mike McHugh: At a board level I think that there should be a deep dive on an annual basis with a review probably every six months. Again, my belief is that the board level responsibility is to hammer home and make sure that everyone at the institution understands that marketing has to cover the entire institution. This is how is the university is perceived for new students, for existing students and for employers in the community… it’s every stakeholder of that university that’s important, and I think the board should understand that and understand how the university is reaching out to you and messaging to each of those constituencies.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: How important are ongoing relationships?
Mike McHugh: Usually, we just contact alumni about making a donation: “Would you donate $500 a year. Alumni are ultimately the ambassadors of the university, so we really want to ideally engage them in that process. It’s not just about money… our higher education market research firm also wants their time, their talent, their referrals, their connections for our clients.
I think one of the companies that have really revolutionized marketing in many ways is Amazon, for a number of different reasons. One of the big reasons why people go to Amazon and use it as a site to make purchases is the review process. Having an engaged alumni network that is not just helping to support the foundation, but also giving positive referrals, being engaged with new students and connecting with people is absolutely critical.
Higher Education Consultant, Michael Clifford: I’ve heard you talk about the importance of career development and career placement, and I know you’ve just created a new company along those lines.
Give us some highlights about how important it is for an academic institution to help a student find their purpose and their career.
Mike McHugh: I believe it’s very critical. As the cost of tuition goes up–and it’s almost getting kind of ad nauseum with the amount of information about that–the focus on the value of education and the outcome becomes more critical all the time. The idea of education is a means to an end as opposed to an end in and of itself, and so placement is absolutely critical for the long-term viability of an institution. If your graduates aren’t getting jobs so that they can repay loans, be successful and accomplish their goals, you’re not going to have an effective and engaged alumni in order to help recruit new students.
So I think career preparation is absolutely critical. I think that the curriculum also has to be designed with that in mind. You have to make sure that your curriculum matches the skills that employers are looking for, and I think there are some universities that are doing a good job, as well as some that aren’t doing a good job. Certainly, the rate of change in the private sector makes it very difficult for an institution to keep up, but in order to be successful you have to be there.
Contact Significant Systems
To learn more about our higher education management consulting firm Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.
Remember, our goal is simple:
• Provide Broader Access
• Lower Tuition and Fees
• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates
• Facilitate Education with a Purpose
Looking forward to our possible conversation!
Dr. Michael K. Clifford
Chairman
760.801.5021(My personal cell)
mkc@mclifford.com
http://www.significantsystems.org
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