The role of Student Affairs in constituent relationship management

1
The role of Student Affairs in constituent
relationship management

• University of Colorado at Denver

Facilitated by Tom Abrahamson Lipman Hearne,
Inc. December 10, 2003
2
What well talk about today

• Introductions and overview
• Pressing issues in student affairs
• Knowing our constituents and their needs
• Student affairs as crucial marketing agents
• A creative approach for generating revenues
• Discussion

3
Pearls of wisdom
4
Customer care
View all customers as beautiful flower gardens
that must be cultivated and watered
frequentlytheyre worth it
5
Change
Sometimes in the waves of change we find our
true direction.
6
Pearls of wisdom Take 2
7
Motivation
If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it
takes to motivate you, you probably have a very
easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon.
8
Indifference
It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile,
but it doesnt take any to just sit there with a
dumb look on your face.
9
Customer service
If we dont take care of the customer maybe
theyll stopping bugging us.
10
And now, one for your facilitator
Youre not being paid to believe in the power of
your dreams.
11
Pressing Student Affairs issues at CU-Denver and
other urban universities
12
Major S.A. issues at urban universities

• Balancing complex community needs and pressures
  on quality
• Serving the cultural and social diversity of
  students
• Devising and deploying services for multiple
  student types and skill levels (and serving many
  masters)
• Staying relevant to the needs of students and
  community (and articulating to the metropolitan
  region, state, and the nation)

13
University of Louisville

• Career development
• Technology
• Community integration
• Seamless coordination of services one-stop
  shopping, advising, retention
• Financial support
• Supporting minority student needs
• Serving honors students

14
New York University

• Serving diversity
• Student conduct
• Academic connection in residence halls
• Spirituality addressing students needs
• Serving unique needs by level graduate
  undergraduate

15
CU-Denvers hottest student affairs issues

• How to reach and retain the highly qualified
  student (special programs honors)
• Lack of residence halls limits recruiting
• Bridging gap between SA and AA (dont know
  capabilities of SA, arent looking for
  collaboration)
• Collaboration w/I Student Affairs (culprits
  decentralization, we create some of the runaround)

16
CU-Denvers hottest student affairs issues

• No name recognition overall and on campus
• Restrictions on who can communicates with
  students and when
• Technology presents barriers to customer service
• Always short staffed
• Campus doesnt know what we do, what others do

17
CU-Denvers hottest student affairs issues

• Lack of collaboration within SA time
• Three institutions complicate matters
• Blue sky professional development,
  communications sessions within department (e.g.,
  Scoop sessions), establish true understanding and
  practice of, effective communication of
  diversity, technology, equipment, shared staffing
  pool physical centralization of services

18
Knowing our constituents and their needs Three
conceptual approaches
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Concept 1 The constituent life cycle
20
The constituent life cycle concept

• A framework used to guide an organizations
  service to its constituents
• Initial engagement
• Relationship-building and maintenance
• Cycle indicates the on-going, multi-dimensional
  nature of this process
• A long-term approach that accounts for
  constituents needs across multiple generations

21
Think in terms of the constituents point of view

• They are NOT in neat little boxes that correspond
  to the Universitys org chart (prospect, student,
  alum, donor)
• They have specific needs and priorities at
  different points in the relationship
• They respond best to communications,
  opportunities, and services that match their life
  stage
• Every transition point is an opportunity for
  maturation or break-off with the institution!

22
The constituent life cycle and student affairs

• No other area of campus services has a greater
  impact on constituents life cycle development
  (or dissolution!)
• Other

23
Constituents Who are they?
24
Maturation of constituents
25
Who influences constituents transitions?
26
Concept 2 Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
27
CRM defined

• Customer relationship management is about
  finding, getting, and retaining customers
• In 2002, 42.8 billion was spent on CRM
  strategies (projected to increase 11.5 annually
  through 2007)
• Source Kellogg School of Management

28
CRM areas of emphasis

• Strategy
• Value maximization
• Marketing
• Services management
• Performance and evaluation
• Constituent information
• Infrastructure
• People

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Operationalizing CRM

• This is not a plug-and-play solution
• Must want to have a relationship -- an
  enterprise-wide commitment to students
• Treating your constituents like theyre more than
  an entry in a database
• Encompassing every touch point your institution
  has with your customers
• Integrating systems and culture
• Sources InfoWorld.com, Kellogg School of
  Management

30
Concept 3 Understanding constituents by
analyzing generational traits
31
Factors that define a Generation

• Family life
• Gender roles
• Important institutions
• Politics
• Religion
• Culture
• Lifestyle
• Views on the future

Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
32
Generation cohorts 1900 2003

• 1901-1924 G.I. (world conquerors)
• 1925-1942 Silent (kept heads down)
• 1943-1960 Boomer (rebellious youth)
• 1961-1981 Gen X (scrappy, pragmatic)
• 1982-2003 Millennial (youll see)

Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
33
Millennials Who are they?

• Born between 1982-2003
• Children of baby boomers and Gen Xers
• A wanted generation nurtured
• May total 100 million - exceeding the Boomer
  generation by 1/3
• First wave graduating college now

Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
34
The Millennial birth cohort

• Known as the boomlet or echo boom
• Many a result of increase in fertility drugs
  foreign adoption
• In smaller families
• Highest parental education levels
• 14 million are children of immigrants

Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
35
Millennial attitudes and behaviors represent a
sharp break from Generation X, and are running
exactly counter to trends launched by the
Boomers.--Howe Straus
A different breed
36
Recognize yourself ?
37
Key ethnic features of Millennials

• The least Caucasian of all generations
• 1999 36 of those lt18 were non-white or Latino
• 20 of Millennials have at least one immigrant
  parent
• 10 of Millennials have at least one non-citizen
  parent

Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
38
This is the first time in the history of the
human race that a generation of kids has
overtaken their parents in the use of new
technology.--Peter Eio, Lego Systems
Theyre technologically savvy
39
The Millennials consciousness

• A Southerner has always been President
• South African official apartheid has never
  existed in their lives
• Afghanistan has always been a front page story
• CDs have always been labeled for explicit content

Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
40
The Millennials world, continued

• Cyberspace and 24-hr. TV have always existed
• First generation to have the WWW for all high
  school years
• They have always used email
• Mick Jagger and the remaining Beatles are
  geriatrics

Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
41
The Millennials parents

• Health and safety of children are paramount
  public priority given to these issues (e.g.,
  internet filters)
• Inner values and rootedness cherished
• Believe in bottom-up social community, not
  top-down institutional authority

Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
42
Educational milieu of Millennials

• Schools under the microscope (NCLB)
  Government-imposed standards, school
  accountability, National Report Card
• Growing enrollment at private schools
• Character education in grade school good
  behavior, respect for others

43
Educational milieu of Millennials, continued

• More emphasis on core subjects, less on art,
  music, extracurriculars
• Increased discipline, e.g., zero tolerance
• College education expected

44
What do maturing Millennials value?

• Setting personal goals
• Honesty and integrity
• Community involvement (e.g., volunteer work)
• Achievement through education and hard work

Source Digital University Enews 12/00
(digitu.com)
45
How do they differ from GenX?

• No memories of innocent times (i.e., AIDS,
  crime, warfare were always there)
• Look to fix societal woes, not turn their backs
• Value teamwork, not autonomy or egoism

Source National Commission Against Drunk Driving
46
Top 2 concerns of teens
Source Institute for Social Research, University
of Michigan, 1999
47
Millennials and popular culture

• Music radical, rebellious music styles less
  popular positive themes preferred
• Movies depravity out well-adjusted characters
  and virtuous plots in
• TV Beavis and Butthead out Teletubbies,
  Pokemon, Dawsons Creek in

Source Millennials Rising, Howe Straus, 2000
48
Millennials and the Internet

• 94 of households on line by 2005
• Millennials screen for honest, reliable
  information
• Millennials seek connections (chat, message
  boards, personalization, interactivity)

Source Genovese, Coustenis Foster e-article,
June 2003
49
Seven traits of Millennials Institutional
implications
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The seven traits

• Special
• Sheltered
• Confident
• Team-oriented
• Conventional
• Pressured
• Achieving

51
Trait 1 Special Profile

• Parents lives revolve around them (soccer games)
• Have a sense that they are vital to the future,
  both individually and as a generation

52
Trait 1 Special Institution-wide implications

• Present college as more than academic training
  (e.g., career, life fulfillment, relationship,
  mission)
• Focus on high ideals, societal impact, campus
  community, integration with society
• Foster collaboration over solitary pursuits
• Keep in constant communication with parents post
  matriculation
• Co-purchasing Parents and students merit equal
  attention
• Buyers market mentality for most

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Trait 2 Sheltered Profile

• Coddled, nurtured
• Paradox Rebellious parents are now
  overprotecting their kids

54
Trait 2 Sheltered Institution-wide implications

• Return to in loco parentis?
• Fix/ make visible security
• Acknowledge challenges of campus location
  (e.g., urbandangerous)
• Know your safety statistics, make sure reporting
  doesnt put you at a disadvantage
• Present package of safety and security measures

55
Trait 3 ConfidentProfile

• They analyze problems, dont make snap decisions
• Facts of Science survey

56
Confident? Bayer/Gallop Facts of Science Survey
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Trait 3 ConfidentInstitution-wide implications

• Shift advertising appeals away from
  fear-mongering/damage control to
  responsibility-centered, role modeling (ex This
  is your brain on drugs vs. Dont smoke, your
  little brothers watching)
• OK to talk about long-term implications of
  college choice (but avoid platitudes)

58
Trait 4 Team-orientedProfile

• Learning in groups
• Reared on sports teams
• In constant contact with friends (cell phones,
  instant messaging)

59
Trait 4 Team-orientedInstitution-wide
implications

• Emphasize team work in communications, symbols
• Scholarship visits construct team exercises vs.
  individual competitions
• Engage prospects in collaborations with real
  students

60
Trait 4 Team-orientedInstitution-wide
implications, continued

• Create, expand collaborations on campus
  team-oriented academic and extra-curricular
  opportunities
• Show connections to institutions external work
  (internships, joint ventures, research grants and
  projects)

61
Trait 5 ConventionalProfile

• Respect authority
• Be part of something popular
• Want their brands to be famous
• More conscious of their behavior

62
Naked Mile participants U of M
63
Trait 5 ConventionalInstitution-wide
implications

• History, tradition, stability will resonate
• Emphasize structured social activities
• Present interdisciplinary pursuits as team, not
  individual
• Discomfort with essays/competitions that demand
  stand-out behavior
• Exemplify group work in admission/ scholarship
  process

64
Trait 6 PressuredProfile

• Honors, AP, gifted on the rise
• Tripling of homework
• Academics supplanting electives
• Tutoring, test preparations

65
Trait 6 PressuredProfile, continued

• Lengthening of school day and year
• Summer school not just for dummies anymore!
• Decline in social promotion

66
Trait 6 PressuredInstitution-wide implications

• College stability
• Downplay competition and grades
• Emphasize partnerships and support for academic
  and career needs
• Emphasize time-proven results of institution

67
Trait 6 PressuredInstitution-wide
implications, continued

• They get enough from everybody else dont need
  more from you
• Be careful not to overwhelm students for
  example

68
Trait 6 PressuredInstitution-wide
implications, continued

• Pay attention to passive methods mass
  customization, Web site
• Telemarketing vs. one-on-one selling
• Allay fears, reinforce value of college degree
  and advanced study
• Provide forum for students to describe their
  accomplishments and applaud them in return

69
Trait 7 AchievingProfile

• Best prepared in 30 years
• Highly motivated to be well-rounded
• Know theyre being watched and measured

70
Millennial student achievement
Source U.S. National Center for Education
Statistics, 1998
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Trait 7 AchievingInstitution-wide implications

• Stronger, deeper pool but more competition for
  the best
• Students less apt to choose lesser brand
• Most vulnerable less distinguished and less
  well-known schools

72
Trait 7 AchievingInstitution-wide
implications, continued

• Show that the institution is dynamic and
  achieving too
• Dont rest on laurels Were accountable for
  quality, we understand R.O.I.

73
Connecting with Millennials and their parents A
case study
74
Trinity University

• The challenge
• On a high plateau, ready for next great
  achievement
• Low national visibility, due in part to location
• No coherent brand system in place
• Lack of marketing culture on campus

75
Trinity University, continued

• The work
• Develop strategy for marketplace repositioning
• Create research-driven branding system
• Create all new publications, Web site, microsites
  based on student interests
• Develop and apply verbal and graphic identities

76
Trinity University themes

• The big idea Achieve
• Theme builders FOCUSED, Dedicated, Challenging,
  Distinguished, Resourceful. GLOBAL, Comfortable,
  ACCOMPLISHED, Engaged, COMPETITIVE, VIBRANT,
  Selective, Inviting

77
Viewbook
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Viewbook introductory copy

• Life is what you do with it and you already do a
  lot. You study hard and are interested in a
  variety of subjects. You play a sport, practice
  an art, or do volunteer work. Youre proud of
  your achievements and have things you want to
  achieve in the future.
• We invite you to build that future at Trinity
  University. Our flexible academic programs allow
  you to pursue almost any major or combination of
  majors, and Trinitys practical spin on the
  liberal arts ensures that the skills and
  knowledge you acquire will have endless
  professional applications. In addition, the
  Trinity tradition of civic engagement makes your
  success more meaningful by tying it to the larger
  community. Its a combination of resources that
  makes Trinity the ideal place for you to achieve.

79
Inside spread of Search Brochure
80
Pre-customized Web Microsite landing page
81
Web Microsite customized Response page
82
Trinity University

• The results
• Brand integrity achieved
• Communications built confidence, pride
• Quality ratified by students, faculty, staff and
  professional peers (e.g., CASE Gold Medal)
• 2003 class biggest, brightest ever
• Out of state freshmen up 3.5 last year, 20
  this year

83
Millennials A few more thoughts
84
Millennials on campus want

• High academic standards
• Student safety
• Wholesome community
• Social and political involvement

Source millennialsrising.com
85
Tone of communications

• Positive
• Respectful
• Respectable
• Motivational
• Goal-focused

Source www.generationsatwork.com
86
Marketing activities

• Must develop or reinforce a famous brand(or at
  least a differentiated one)
• Hybrid approach increases odds
• Must cut through the clutter (must be seen and
  heard -- e.g. TRPs)

87
Millennials clutter defined

• Teens hit by 3,000 ads per day (Adbusters)
• Teens spent 105 billion, and influenced their
  parents to spend 48 billion (Teen Research
  Unlimited, 2002)
• 65 of teens have their own TV (Kaiser Family
  Foundation)
• 83 of teens were online in 2001 (Teen Research
  Unlimited)

88
Parent communications

• Messages address (not by name) the seven
  Millennial attributes
• Conduct better virtual/in-person orientations for
  students and parents
• Develop Web sites for prospective and current
  student parents (e.g., post student pictures and
  updates)
• Introduce parents to their surrogates academic
  and career counselors, campus security officers

89
Sensitizing faculty and staff to key generational
differences

• Faculty and students may be at odds
  anti-authority vs. conformity
• Team-oriented loyalty-building approach will
  engender life-long alums and donors
• Other?

90
CAVEAT Use generalizations about Millennials
with caution

• Know your institution and its constituents
• Current, valid research critical
• Develop targeted communications accordingly

91
15 minute break
92
We are watched
93
Student Affairs as crucial marketing agents
94
What well talk about now

• Memes, branding, positioning defined
• R.O.I. models, measures, strategies
• Discussion

95
Some working definitions memes, branding,
positioning, R.O.I.
96
Memes are contagious ideas, all competing for a
share of our mind in a kind of Darwinian
selection. As memes evolve, they become better
and better at distracting and diverting us from
whatever we'd really like to be doing with our
lives. They are a kind of Drug of the Mind.
Confused? Blame it on memes. --Memecentral.com
Memes
97
Memes defined

• Similar to genes and other replicators, such as
  computer viruses or crystals
• Can be transmitted between any two individuals
  (not just parent-child)
• Some memes bird songs, techniques for hunting or
  using tools, religions, language, fashions,
  songs, scientific theories and concepts,
  conventions, traditions
• Resonates primally

98
Memes can also hurt you
Attitudes are contagious. Mine might kill you.
99
Branding and positioning
100
What is meant by an organizations brand?

• Whatever the constituent thinks of when he/she
  hears the organizations name
• A notion that hits at the heart
• Not just product, but culture

101
What is a brand? continued

• A product, service, or concept of an organization
  that is publicly distinguished from other
  products, services, or concepts offered by other
  organizations
• Unique names, terms, signs, symbols, actions

102
What is a brand? continued

• Exists in the mind of the marketplace
• Is based on elements you can control, and those
  you cant

103
Why people need brands

• They save time in decision-making
• They project the right message
• They provide an identity
• They instill confidence

104
Four fundamental questions for determining brand

• What is our purpose?
• How will we be known?
• What will differentiate us?
• What are our core values?

105
What is brand integrity?

• Exists when what the institution says to the
  world is in concert with its internal workings
• Aspiring to synergy between the inside and
  outside

106
Success factors in brand building

• Hone in on two or three key differentiating
  attributes
• Saying it doesnt make it so need to walk the
  walk!
• Pay close attention to all details symbols,
  metaphors, images

107
Challenges of brand building

• Internal Territorialism within an
  organization works against cohesive brand
  building
• Internal Fostering belief in the value of
  branding and marketing

108
Challenges of brand building, continued

• Internal Convincing the green visors that
  marketing investments do pay off
• External Winning over competitors brands

109
Push for a formal, precise definition of the
institutions brand

• Determine what constituents value about the
  institutionfrom all angles
• Distinguish between what we are vs. what we do
• Use objective external research

110
Push for a formal, precise definition, continued

• Analyze your competitors
• Focus on your unique mission
• Understand what is consistently valued across all
  constituent segments

111
Some friendly advice

• Your brand is not a color scheme or logo
• Your brand is not quality. That one is already
  taken. (Its not excellence either.)
• Be brutally realistic about your institutionits
  strengths, weaknesses and major characteristics
• The short version, please
• All contacts are marketing moments of truth

112
Positioning

• The confluence of three forces
• Institutional capability and vision
• Constituent perceptions
• Competitive mix
• Appropriate, distinct, memorable
• Its the economy, stupid.

113
Positioning messages

• Arising from one central vision, concept
• Shaped to meet specific objectives of
  communication
• Framed in language appropriate to audience

114
Differentiation is one of the most important
strategic and tactical activities in which
companies must constantly engage. It is not
discretionary. And everything can be
differentiatedThere is no reason for any company
to get stuck in the commodity path, forever
confined to competing on price alone.
Historically, companies that have taken and
stayed resolutely on the commodity pathhave
become extinct.--Ted Levitt Thinking About
Management
Differentiation
115
Why marketing is important and how we make the
case
116
Why do marketing?

• To generate new sales
• To avoid decay in market share
• To reinforce decisions about product
• Because it works

117
Creative ways to get funding

• Return on investment
• Public university enrollment intervention

118
Funding new initiatives
You can do anything you set your mind to when
you have vision, determination, and an endless
supply of expendable labor.
119
Marketing return on investment (R.O.I.)

• R.O.I. construct all marketing expenditures
  viewed as investments
• Measurable. Expressed in terms of dollars over a
  specified time period
• Additional value-added returns incurred beyond
  revenue

120
Enrollment-based R.O.I.

• Baseline enrollment estimated
• Opportunities for growth determined, scenarios
  developed
• Costs of targeted marketing strategies and
  overhead specified
• Additional enrollment at the margin new net
  tuition revenue

121
Enrollment R.O.I. financial model
122
A measured risk
Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you
could survive the odds beating you.
123
Every Student Counts A public university
R.O.I.-based enrollment campaign
124
The challenge

• Immediate Identify and enroll an additional
  1,900 students (900 FTE) in the 2003-04 academic
  year
• Campaign began April 2003 for Fall 03
• Long-term Multi-phased project to enhance
  reputation and increase enrollment, pride,
  fundraising.

125
Our response

• Developed an intervention plan and mobilized
  the campus to participate and own it. Named
  campaign Every Student Counts
• Created financial model to generate 6.4MM GTR on
  1.7MM investment (net tuition revenue of 5.3MM,
  ROI276)
• Identified 21 distinct enrollment/retention
  contributors (e.g., walks, false starts, about to
  AAs)
• Conducted a studied approach to branding and
  re-positioning, developed marketing plan

126
A sampling of the activities in ESC

• 10,268 phone calls completed
• 65,000 emails (prospects and alumni)
• 134,396 postcards and personalized letters
  created and mailed
• 156,005 fact sheets/brochures created and
  distributed
• 10,323,400 radio, print and internet impressions

127
Results Enrollment attributable to ESC

• 852 headcount (A03 only)
• 716 FTEs (A03 only, based on 15 credit hours)
• Average credit hours 12.6
• Financial impact both on credit hours (?12 hours)
  and headcount (subsidy)

128
Results Goals vs. actual (A03 only)

• FTE goal was 900 actual was 716
• Net revenue without state subsidy 4,054,984
  for the year (642K under the net revenue goal of
  4.7MM)
• Net revenue with state subsidy 5,301,316 and
  ESC tuition, will exceed the full year goal by
  over 600K (based on 20 attrition)

129
Some parting thoughts
130
When marketing doesnt work

• Always adding strategies, never deleting
  ineffective ones
• Lack of rigor in research, preparation of
  rationale
• Trying to say too much, do too much
• Sub-optimized investment, inattention to
  measuring results, science of marketing
• Not enough time for a campaign to gain traction
• Nobody at the institution willing to fall on a
  sword

131
Justifying marketing expenditures

• An investment doesnt cost money, makes money
• Prove it with rock-solid planning and constituent
  research
• Leadership needs to champion the need think
  like a CEO, not a CFO
• Prove-up with a successful pilot program

132
Discussion
133
In what ways does CU-Denver attend to the
Constituent Life Cycle?

134
How does CU-Denver define marketing today?

135
Define the current CU-Denver image.

136
What is the Universitys desired image?

137
How could CU-Denver obtain funding for new
initiatives?

138

• Building stronger institutions through
• marketing and communications