Institutional Branding in the New Technology Age

Dawn S. McWilliams Executive Director for Marketing & Communications Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester

July 11, 2007

The Importance of Branding

Establishing your identity with target audiences. Communicating your competitive advantage. “Sticking” in the minds of students. Standing out among amongst the competition. Help increase qualified application. Promote brand to increase awareness. A position/brand is different from the competition’s,

meaningful to the target audiences and consistent with the School’s curriculum and culture.

The Simon Graduate School of Business― Positioning

Where thinkers become leaders! People who have the intellectual firepower to

succeed. Small size, personalized approach to business

education. Providing preparation for a lifetime, using economics

based tools. Top-notch faculty and curriculum.

The Key Role of Technology

More than 1700 institutions in the U.S. offer graduate programs.

Most search for graduate schools is done online. 30% of prospective graduate students submit

applications online. CGS member and affiliated institutions received more

than 1.2 million applications for graduate study in the Fall of 2005.

Millions of pieces of collateral created every year and sent to prospects.

How will you stand out?

Effective Uses of Technology in Admissions

Blogs/Chats Online business simulation scholarship contests Personalized e-brochures Online marketing campaigns

Unique landing pages

Web sites Podcasts E-newsletters Web-mercials

The Key Role of Technology

Print materials made it easy. Technology faces new challenges.

Multiple types of materials Consistency/Integrity Recognition Management of the technology Over-saturation of the market Being true to your brand Not using technology just to use it

Case Study: Simon Graduate School of Business

Online business simulation scholarship contest Personalized e-brochures Blogs Web sites and unique landing pages Web-mercials Targeted e-newsletters

Online Business Simulation Scholarship Contest

An idea sparked by a “How to Improve the Simon School Class.”

Advisory board members put up the money for the scholarship and the implementation of the contest.

Hired an intern to create the marketing plan and manage (along with help).

Launched in 2005 with over 270 participants worldwide.

We are going into the third year of the competition.

Written up in the Wall Street Journal

Online Business Simulation Scholarship Competition― Key Takeaways

Even people who didn’t make it as a final scholarship awardee applied and enrolled.

Very successful for our brand. Simulation contest was an additional metric to make

sure we are attracting the right people. And not overlooking others who would be a good fit. Unique way to use technology to create awareness

for a smaller school.

Personalized E-brochures

Instantaneous brochure mailed directly to your email account.

Able to personalize it in a variety of ways. Second touch point is when they receive the

brochure the next week in the mail. Use for international and

domestic candidates. Delivers on our brand promise to be personalized and

quick. Small schools should be able to do this.

Simon’s Personalized E-brochure

Simon’s Personalized E-brochure

Blog-Purpose

Specific purpose and audience Simon has two:

Media focused Admissions focused

Blogs

Blog-Key Takeaways

Target your audience very carefully Make sure you post 2-3 times a week. Link and track back to the people that you want to

attract. It takes a while to see success. Start up costs are cheap, keeping it going takes time. Great for admissions prospects, media and alumni to

stay connected.

Blog Success

The Simon School media blog was nominated as “Best of the Web” by the Rochester Business Journal in March 2007.

Builds the Simon brand by promoting our leaders to the media in an effective way.

Web Site and Unique Landing Pages

Web Pages

Make your web site brand focused. Try not to be all things to all people. Create micro sites when navigation gets too much. Target your audiences, don’t give them too much. Advertise on sites that make sense. Try different venues then measure.

Unique Landing Pages

When possible, track online marketing efforts using unique landing pages.

Make the landing page interesting. Integrate the design with what your web site looks

and feels like. Create an engaging experience to entice the

prospect to interact. Collect data when possible. Track, track, track! Measure ROI.

Google Unique Landing Page

Web-mercials

Used for a variety of audiences. A flash show that is approx. 2 minutes in length. Talks about how Simon creates leaders. Gives details about our brand promise in a convincing

way. Multi-purpose for different audiences.

Simon’s Admissions Web-mercial

See video clip now

Written up in BizEdPlaying on a Screen Near You

In June of 2004 the Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester in New York received e-mails from their alma mater that invited them to view a “Web-mercial” about the school.

The smartly produced two-minute movie showed how the Simon School prepares its students for leadership positions through small classes, personal attention, and nationally ranked programs. The video offered a collage of portraits of some of the school’s most prominent graduates, including 146 CEOs, 105 CFOs, 41 COOs, 66 professors, and five deans.

The minimovie ended by offering alums a chance to click on an online “donate now” button. By the end of the funding cycle 30 days later, money had poured into the school as a response to the e-mail ad.

“As a professional school, we find that one of our biggest development challenges is that students aren’t here long enough to develop the same connection with the school they might if they were undergrads,” says Dawn McWilliams, executive director of marketing and communications.

“This is a wonderful way to show people what’s happening here and ask for money so we can continue these great programs and they can continue to have pride in the school.”

The company that produced the video was one McWilliams had worked with on other projects, so she was confident the staff knew the school and could produce the video in a relatively short timeframe. Because the video actually calculates numbers and names names, McWilliams was thorough about making sure it was accurate. “We physically ran our alumni database to search for job titles, and I counted them so I could defend the numbers if I had to,” she says. “The pictures we show are really those people, and we contacted them to get their permission.

We have so many more alumni with top titles now, so when we update the video, the numbers will go up.”

And the process of updating the video began almost as soon as the first one was e-mailed. Keeping most of the commercial the same and merely retooling the opening and closing segments, the school was able to create two new versions of the video. One was aimed at students who were considering applying to Rochester.

The tagline was “How can you be one of these leaders?” and the click-now button took them to the school’s admissions page. The other one was designed for corporate recruiters.

Revamping was important, says McWilliams, “because we didn’t want to waste the energy, money, time, and coolness of the original video.” A variation of the same message was also planned for the school’s 2005 Christmas card. She expects to edit and re-use the video at least one more time.

For a project like this to be successful for other schools, she says, it first must have a compelling message. The Simon School focused on its ability to turn out leaders. Second, she cautions, the video must be relatively brief.

Targeted E-Newsletters

Audience targeted vehicles for getting the message to prospects.

Use opt-in for the newsletters. Bring new and up-to-date content to the prospective

admits. Use as a reminder for deadlines and important

details. Be as segmented as possible!

Targeted E-Newsletters ― Key Takeaways

Know your prospects. Use spam meters to make sure your message is

getting through. Simon's brand promise is to bring the leading edge

research and curriculum to the prospective student using this vehicle.

Simon’s Targeted E-Newsletter for Prospects

Testing Your Technology Choices

What are some of the best ways to test your technology ideas? Interns Partner with innovative vendors.

Create a true marketing mix. Set realistic expectations. Do small tests. Track results. Don’t be afraid to change your investment. Measure ROI.

Technology makes this easy.

Thank you!

Questions & Answers Copies of these slides are available.