Reflections from the B-52s

It's been a week since the B-52's played in Boston and believe me, I needed it. Let me reflect on marketing musings of that weekend.

• Customer service. I left my coat in a taxi from the airport to my hotel. Didn't realize it until the next morning. The cabbie left messages at three hotels where he dropped off folks that might claim it. I called the number and he was there in 20-minutes to deliver it. Result to the cabbie: He got 20 bucks and took me to my next appointment. Relevance to education: Customer service is important to everyone, but it can be differentiated (Call me or send me a note and we can talk about it).
  
• Nostalgia. I remember the B-52s from twenty years ago. There's a trend, especially with the music industry, to go back to one's formative times. Relevance to education: Marketing is strategic. Once the strategy is mapped out, marketing toward the target market's key benefit or emotion has greater impact than feature-based marketing.
  
• Target marketing, niches, technology and word-of-mouth. That's a lot to cover in a paragraph. After what turned out to be a great concert (they sounded as good as they did twenty years ago), we got the munchies. My friend Steve decided to drive to Chinatown. On the drive from the New House of Blues near Fenway, I fired up the Blackberry and found Shabu Zen, a Japanese hot pot restaurant with great reviews online. We headed in that direction. Upon reaching there, we saw simple signage. I asked a few folks coming out, "How's the food in there?" After receiving a positive response, we walked in and found the place packed (although we were probably the oldest people in the joint) slurping on soup and dipping raw meat into steaming broth. Relevance to education: Choose your market and own it. Don't fall into the university trap of marketing to the "universe" despite the fact that it is in your name "University of XYZ." As Shabu Zen proved, it can be successful by owning the niche, using technology and having happy customers that tell others.

As I wrap up this posting (with Rock Lobster playing on my Blackberry for inspiration), I had an epiphany ... not only did Shabu Zen do it, but so did the B-52's. They mastered their niche and have longstanding repeat customers. As college and university marketers, I don't need to say more ... you get it. So instead, I leave you with the thought of being bold but being strategic (and holistic) about your marketing ... otherwise, you'll be living in your own Private Idaho.

Don't Always Listen to C-Level Execs ... or Your Deans?

I am not telling you to defy your dean and getting yourself fired. I am telling you to challenge and inform leadership. E-marketer just released a report issued by Heidrick and Struggles stating that the biggest marketing challenge of C-level (for those of you that do not know what C-level, it is "chief") executives is new customer acquisition. While I don't necessarily disagree, I do find it a bit surprising. There are many studies over the past few months which these same C-level executives state that they won't be increasing marketing budgets. So where do these know-it-alls think that new customers are coming from? Do they realize that the competition is also most likely ramping up their efforts? It's a zero-sum game unless the marketers or C-level execs come up with something different ... and hopefully it's strategic and not trickery.

My guess is that they are a bit disconnected to reality and look at things from the mountaintop ... possibly in similar to fashion to what deans might see. Without further disrespect to deans, marketers need to help deans and others within the organization that they need to take care of their own houses first ... their own customers and that if they want new customers, then it's about converting prospects higher.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, higher education is extremely inefficient in prospect management and conversion. Address this first before you chase a new marketing avenue. The ROI will be higher. While I often recommend to my colleagues in academia to listen to business and industry, this time I am not. Convert higher from within before you chase the moving car.

Hey marketers ... break your own internal systems to find the holes in conversion. Shop yourself or have others do so. Do it credibly and cautiously, but do it somehow. You're probably chasing more possibly customers away than what a crazy new business effort might do. Did I tell you about the academic dean that got advice from a person sitting next to him on the airplane? No? Well, he came back with a great new business marketing idea and derailed the marketing department for six months. Marketer -- stand up for yourself, but do so in an informed point of view ... just don't get yourself fired.