The Hatchet Falls on Marketing ... Is it slow death for the institution?

Budget cuts are certainly hitting every sector, some more than others. Education is feeling the pressure, especially state funded institutions. I had my first conversation with a client that said something to the effect of " ... the budget cuts hit and our marketing department at the college was eliminated."

Short term fix with long-term implications. We are no longer in a time where marketing is a luxury item. It is a strategic function. In this digital and more competitive era for education, what might the rationale be for such a move?

• Is it that marketers in place are not proving their value? If not, then they were either the wrong people or not doing the job. Marketers need to be pushing out the metrics ... communicating success or lack of it (which in turn helps identify solutions). CRM solutions can also automate this if the marketing person says "I don't have the time to do this."
• Are marketers not leading and evangelizing the science of marketing in the non-marketing environment of academia? Most colleges and universities I've visited do not see marketing as a science. Therefore, marketers cannot just throw their pretty pictures out there and say this is marketing ... folks, that's advertising. They need to educate others on the strategic and tactical process of marketing, as well as the science and financial side of it. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but return on investment says a whole lot more.

A drastic move of eliminating marketing may cost this institution so much more in the long run.

• They may pay more in outsourcing costs.
• They may leave the strategy and branding decisions to outside parties (which is sometimes better ... ask me about it sometime).
• They may fall into the creative and tactical trap of "getting things out there" as opposed to having strategic marketing leadership guide the way.
• The cost of a cutting two or three low paid marketers may be followed by lower revenues if the marketing doesn't get out there or the message or strategy isn't correct.

To me, it seems like this short-term decision could send this institution spiraling in the wrong direction. I saw it 10-15 years ago at a college when I was adjunct teaching at in Vermont ... Trinity College. I remember sitting in a faculty meeting and listening to them argue against distance education. As an adjunct, my comments fell on deaf ears. Ultimately, the decision to control short-term costs impacted potential long-term revenues and market expansion. The college closed a few years later.

State colleges and universities should not be cutting these types of costs. The premier brands will suffer while the state and community colleges should benefit. Cost/value leaders should be investing now ... not cutting, especially their marketing.