Budgetary Constraints Top the List of Marketing Challenges Facing Higher Education
Financial constraints and budgetary problems are the top challenges facing higher education institutions. That’s the view of more than half of the respondents to a recently launched survey that queried communications, marketing and public relations professionals at the nation’s colleges and universities about their top challenges for 2009.
We and Slover Linett Strategies, our research partner, recently invited 150 thought leaders in higher-education communications, marketing and PR to participate in a survey to learn what they considered their major marketing challenges in 2009. Respondents included senior professionals who lead marketing, communications, advancement and other areas at institutions ranging from Williams and Smith Colleges to Princeton, Harvard, Fashion Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, and Stanford.
Not surprisingly, more than half of survey respondents cited financial constraints or budgetary problems as the top challenges facing their departments—and nearly every respondent included financial concerns among the top three challenges. Citing such obstacles as “unexpected budget constraints,” “insufficient funding levels,” and “budget cuts,” respondents described a lack of necessary resources to reach institutional goals in fund raising, printing, web development, and more.
As one respondent put it, “At a time when electronic media should be in a heavy stage of growth and evolution, progress will likely be hampered by shrinking budgets at our institutions.”
Respondents also predicted negative repercussions from economic factors beyond their own institutional budgets. One respondent, for example, commented, “Economic changes in the newsroom have led to a shrinking news hole for higher-ed stories.” Another said the number-one challenge was to “market value at a highly selective college in the face of the challenging economy.”
What’s in a brand?
Beyond financial considerations, a number of respondents identified issues in articulating a strong brand. One respondent said the top challenge was “Creating agreement on a message that is pointed and clear (versus ‘We are good at EVERYTHING!’),” while another said it was “having the organization, particularly high-level administrators, recognize the need for marketing.”
Along with the difficulty of crafting a brand identity is the challenge of conveying it. “[Our target audiences] are bombarded from all directions, how do we get through the information clutter?” wrote one respondent.
For a number of survey participants, internal organizational issues presented significant challenges. “We are still working in silos,” wrote one participant. “The marketer is in a position of having to make friends and cajole to get the job done.” Another cited the challenge of “creating greater collaboration among development, alumni relations, and PR at the staff level.”
Finally, a number of respondents pointed to marketplace changes as a significant challenge. Some cited demographic changes (such as “declines in our major demographic market”), while others talked about harnessing new technologies and adapting to new forms of communication, including social networking and online videos.
Next step: What are your challenges?
The survey is the first phase of a two-part initiative. For the next step, we plan to conduct a similar survey among a much broadergroup of marketing and PR professionals. We welcome your participation; please take the survey. It will take less than five minutes.
For more information about the survey results, please contact Katie Jennings [katie.jennings@mstoner.com] or call her at 802.388.2408.
My research in community college marketing confirms many of the sentiments noted in the “Budgetary Constraints Top the List of Marketing Challenges Facing Higher Education.”
The statement “having the organization, particularly high-level administrators, recognize the need for marketing,” and “We are still working in silos,” wrote one participant. “The marketer is in a position of having to make friends and cajole to get the job done” and “creating greater collaboration among development, alumni relations, and PR at the staff level,” ring particularly clear.
It is a waste of resources to invest in communication campaigns if there is not an organization to back up the rhetoric.
Posted on November 24, 2008 by Zachary M. Hall, Ed.D.
I am the co-founder of myUsearch.com, an online service that matches students to colleges, so I talk to colleges every day. I feel that colleges could address their budget crunches by: 1) integrating development, alumni relations, and PR (as Zachary mentioned), but also including admissions on the list. and 2) measuring the true cost of acquiring students. Many of the colleges I talk to do not include things like traveling to college fairs and admissions salaries in the cost of acquiring students. I think many colleges would re-adjust their strategies and use of high-cost tactics like blanket mailings and out-of-state college nights, etc. to recruit qualified students if they truly understood the cost of acquiring their students.
Posted on December 15, 2008 by Elizabeth Kudner