The document discusses several key components of higher education marketing and communications including public relations, enrollment marketing, crisis communications, and alumni communications. It also covers concepts like branding in higher education, being mission-driven versus market-driven, and various frameworks for marketing such as Robin Hood marketing rules and the 22 immutable laws of marketing. Additionally, it discusses considerations around online education, return on investment measurements, and approaches to crisis communications planning.

2. Components and Considerations of
Marketing & Communications in Higher
Education
Typically, higher education marketing & communications offices
can be made up of the following components or areas:
0 Public Relations/Community Relations
0 Enrollment Marketing
0 Crisis Communications
0 Publications
0 Alumni Communications
0 Development Communications

3. Selling the Intangible
0 Higher education is an intangible commodity.
0 We face challenges of selling an experience vs. selling
a product.
0 Students are subjective and they define success.
0 Students are both the consumer and the product of
higher education.
0 While higher education is an intangible commodity,
customers still seek tangible clues to help them assess
the value and quality of the service (Hayes, 2009, p.
25).

4. Branding in Higher Education
In higher education, brand refers to the perceived quality
and reputation of a college or university.
“Think of a college or university brand as being synonymous
with the institution’s personality – congruent with its
mission, defined by its values” (Black, 2008, p. 2).
When developing a brand, a college or university should ask
itself the following questions:
0 Who do we serve and what are their needs?
0 What elements of what we currently do define who we are?
0 Where/what do we aspire to be?
0 Who is the competition?
0 What are our current challenges or limitations?

5. Market Driven vs. Mission Driven
Institutions
0 Mission Driven: An Institution that is fully focused on
“the curriculum and academic program of the
institution” (Anctil, 2008, p. 1).
0 Market Driven: An Institution that is market driven
responds to the wants/needs of its consumers. It
operates with an outside-in orientation that “develops
and maintains all the marketing activities necessary
to read the marketplace and to create service that
answer what the market asks for and anticipates
emerging markets and their needs” (Hayes, 2009).

6. Katya Andresen’s Robin Hood Marketing Arrow Model
“Marketing good causes with a corporate mind-set delivers results”
(Andresen, 2006, p. 6).
Audience
Environment
Message
• Marketplace
• Competitors
• Partners
• Benefit Exchange
• Honing the
Message
• Delivering the
Message
Action
(Andresen, 2006, p. 10)

7. 10 Robin Hood Marketing Rules
0 Robin Hood Rule 1 – Go beyond the big-picture
mission and focus on getting people to take specific
action.
0 Robin Hood Rule 2 – The most important values are
those of our audiences, not our own. The closer we
align ourselves with our audience’s values, the higher
our chances of motivating them to take action.
0 Robin Hood Rule 3 – Recognize and react to the forces
at work in the marketplace. We must identify the
forces influencing our audiences’ actions and harness
those that work in our favor.

8. 10 Robin Hood Marketing Rules, Continued
0 Robin Hood Rule 4 – Stake a strong competitive
position in the minds of the audience. We want to
make our competitive advantage as clear to our
audiences as if we’d adorned it in gold thread.
0 Robin Hood Rule 5 – Build partnerships around
mutual benefits or you won’t be partnering at all.
Partnerships should yield clear wins for each partner
and, most important, the partners should share a
customer base or have complementary bases.
0 Robin Hood Rule 6 – Case first, cause second. The
reward, and not our own mission, most effectively
makes the case to our audience to take action.
(Andresen, 2006, p. 87-132)

9. 10 Robin Hood Marketing Rules, Continued
0 Robin Hood Rule 7 – Messages should establish a
Connection, promise a Reward, inspire Action, and
stick in Memory. CRAM is the key to getting our
distracted audience attracted to our cause above all
others.
0 Robin Hood Rule 8 – To get to audiences, go to where
they are.
0 Robin Hood Rule 9 – Approach the media as a target
market, not as a mouthpiece for the message.
0 Robin Hood Rule 10 – Good marketing campaigns
focus on spurring one audience to a single action.
(Andresen, 2006, p. 165, 186, 218).

10. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
The Law of Leadership
The Law of the Category
The Law of the Mind
The Law of Perception
The Law of Focus
The Law of Exclusivity
The Law of the Ladder
The Law of Duality
The Law of the Opposite
The Law of Division
The Law of Perspective
(Ries & Trout, 2003)

11. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing,
Continued
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
The Law of Line Extension
The Law of Sacrifice
The Law of Attributes
The Law of Candor
The Law of Singularity
The Law of Unpredictability
The Law of Success
The Law of Failure
The Law of Hype
The Law of Acceleration
The Law of Resources
(Ries & Trout, 2003)

12. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
1 – The Law of Leadership – It’s much easier to get into
the mind first than to try to convince someone you have a
better product than the one that did get there first.
2 – The Law of the Category – If you didn’t get into the
prospect’s mind first, don’t give up hope. Find a new
category you can be first in. Forget the brand. Think
categories.
3 – The Law of the Mind – It’s better to be first in the mind
than to be first in the marketplace. If marketing is a battle
of perception, not product, then the mind takes precedence
over the marketplace.
(Ries & Trout, 1993, p. 1-14)

13. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
4 – The Law of Perception – Marketing is not a battle of
products, it’s a battle of perceptions. All that exists in the
world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the
customer or prospect.
5 – The Law of Focus – The most powerful concept in
marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind. An
[organization] can become incredibly successful if it can find
a way to own a word in the mind of the prospect.
6 – The Law of Exclusivity – Two companies cannot own
the same word in the prospect’s mind.
(Ries & Trout, 1993, p. 15 – 39)

14. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
7 – The Law of the Ladder – The strategy to use depends
on which rung you occupy on the ladder. There’s a
hierarchy in the mind that prospects use in marketing
decisions.
8 – The Law of Duality – In the long run, every market
becomes a two-horse race. Early on, a new category is a
ladder of many rungs. Gradually, the ladder becomes a
two-rung affair.
9 – The Law of the Opposite – If you’re shooting for
second place, your strategy is determined by the leader.
In strength there is weakness. Wherever the leader is
strong, there is an opportunity for a would-be No. 2 to
turn the tables.
(Ries & Trout, 2003, p. 38 -51)

15. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
10 – The Law of Division – Over time, a category will
divide and become two or more categories. The way for the
leader to maintain its dominance is to address each
emerging category with a different brand name.
11 – The Law of Perspective – Marketing effects take place
over an extended period of time. The long-term effects are
often the exact opposite of the short-term effects.
12 – The Law of Line Extension – There’s an irresistible
pressure to extend the equity of the brand. Line extension
is a process that takes place continuously, with almost no
conscious effort on the part of the [organization].
(Ries & Trout, 2003, p. 56-69)

16. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
13 – The Law of Sacrifice – You have to give up
something in order to get something. There are three
things to sacrifice: product line, target market, and
constant change. The generalist is weak.
14 – The Law of Attributes – For every attribute, there is
an opposite, effective attribute. It’s much better to search
for an opposite attribute that will allow you to play off
against the leader. The key word is opposite – similar won’t
do.
15 – The Law of Candor – When you admit a negative, the
prospect will give you a positive. Candor is very
disarming. Every negative statement you make about
yourself is instantly accepted as truth.
(Ries & Trout, 2003, p. 76 – 89)

17. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
16 – The Law of Singularity – In each situation, only one
move will produce substantial results. History teaches
that the only thing that works in marketing is the single,
bold stroke.
17 – The Law of Unpredictability – Unless you write
your competitors’ plans, you can’t predict the future.
Marketing plans based on what will happen in the future
are usually wrong. Failure to forecast competitive reaction
is a major reason for marketing failures.
18 – The Law of Success – Success often leads to
arrogance, and arrogance to failure. When people become
successful, they tend to become less objective. A trend is
like the tide – you don’t fight it.
(Ries & Trout, 2003, p. 92 – 107).

18. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
19 – The Law of Failure – Failure is to be expected and
accepted. Too many organizations try to fix things rather
than drop things. Admitting a mistake and not doing
anything about it is bad for your career. A better strategy
is to recognize failure early and cut your losses.
20 – The Law of Hype – The situation is often the
opposite of the way it appears in the press. When things
are going well, a company doesn’t need the hype. When
you need the hype, it usually means you’re in trouble.
21 – The Law of Acceleration – Successful programs are
not built on fads, they’re built on trends. One way to
maintain a long-term demand for your product is to never
totally satisfy the demand.
(Ries & Trout, 2003, p. 110 – 123).

19. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
22 – The Law of Resources – Without adequate
funding an idea won’t get off the ground. You’ll get
further with a mediocre idea and a million dollars than
with a great idea along. Ideas without money are
worthless.
(Ries & Trout, 2003, p. 124-129)

20. Jones’ 7 Actions that Encourage a Rewarding & Mutually
Beneficial Partnership
1.
Serve Alumni – Institutions should offer a portfolio of alumni services,
including connecting or reconnecting them with other alumni, keeping them
informed about and in touch with former faculty and advisers, and offering
continuing and other education opportunities.
2.
Allow alumni to serve the institution – Alumni frequently say, “We only hear
from you when you want money.” The annual fund will always be there, but
alumni can do plenty of other things for their institutions, such as recruit and
mentor students, identify internship or job opportunities, advise academic
programs and administrative offices, advocate before governmental bodies,
and open doors to fund-raising opportunities.
3.
Ask and measure – It’s far better to know what alumni really want than to fall
back on the “Field of Dreams” strategy we historically have employed: Build it
and hope they’ll come. Market research can help determine the programs in
which institutions should invest. User surveys and focus groups help us plan
and follow up on major programs and communications efforts.
(Jones, 2006)

21. Jones’ 7 Actions that Encourage a Rewarding & Mutually
Beneficial Partnership
4.
Allow participation in governance – Give alumni a chance to shape the
future of their institution. If they are a minority on the governing board, they
might feel marginalized. Also, ensure strong links (such as shared members
and formal communications channels) between the alumni and governing
boards to solicit input and provide a symbolic statement about the importance
of alumni.
5.
Open channels for two-way communication – Our goal should be a dialogue,
not a monologue. By sharing administrative e-mail contacts or publishing
letters to the editor in the alumni magazine, we are encouraging a healthy giveand-take that grateful alumni are likely to meet with meaningful and useful
responses.
(Jones, 2006)

22. Jones’ 7 Actions that Encourage a Rewarding & Mutually
Beneficial Partnership
6.
Be candid – If alumni sense we don’t trust them with bad news, will they trust
us enough to believe our good news? Jerold Pearson, director of market
research at the Stanford Alumni Association, recently surveyed Stanford
magazine readers on this topic. Ninety-one percent of respondents said “the
willingness to include articles that might touch on things that could be
considered unflattering to the university demonstrates integrity and honesty,
which in turn strengthens [our] connection with the university.” Just 3 percent
said “the willingness to include such articles is counterproductive and
undermines [our] connection with the university.”
7.
Ensure commitment from the top – Alumni engagement does indeed start at
the top, and institutions whose trustees fail to heed that lesson might be
consigned to languish at the bottom.
(Jones, 2006)

23. Future Considerations
0 Online Education – It has been expanding at an unprecedented
rate. Development professionals seeking to understand what
motivates alumni of Internet-based distance education programs
frequently bemoan the lack of reliable tools for cracking the code.
(Pulley, 2008)
0 Return on Investment – Anecdotal feedback, quantative
benchmarking, focus groups, and annual giving dollars are all
measurements for alumni engagement . . . Alumni professionals
vying for limited budget dollars much prove the value of their
programs to campus leaders.
(Meyers, 2006)

24. Hice’s Approach to Crisis Communications
“If a crisis hits your institution, news and video reports, as well as
photography could end up on the Web within minutes. And with social
networking Web sites, things can spread even more easily via electronic
word of mouth.
Whether you like it or not, this is the age of invasive and pervasive
transparency – and nobody can hide. In the networked world in which we
live, planning is critical” (Hice, 2007).
0 Assess and prioritize risks; don’t wait for a crisis to begin.
0 Honestly examine operations and processes.
0 Evaluate and catalogue assets – people, facilities, and equipment.
0 Keep it simple – bigger is not necessarily better.
(Hice, 2007)

25. Crisis Communications: What is at Stake?
According to “Risk Management Basics,” an online resource
produced by the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, at-risk
institutionl assets generally fall into the following categories:
0 People – students, faculty, staff, board members, volunteers,
clients, donors, and the general public;
0 Property – buildings, facilities, equipment, materials, copyrights,
and trademarks;
0 Income – sales, tuition, fees, grants, and gifts; and
0 Goodwill – reputation, stature in the community, and the ability
to raise funds and appeal to prospective students, faculty, staff,
and volunteers.

26. References
Anctil, E.. (2008). Selling Higher Education: Marketing and Advertising America’s Colleges and Universities. ASHE
higher Education Report, Volume 34, Number 2. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Andresen, K. (2006). Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hardy, R. (2009, June 15). Marketing Higher Education Brand Communities. Retrieved August
4, 2013, from buildingmarketingstrategies.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/marketing-highereducation-brand-communities/
Hice, Joseph. (March, 2007). “Hiding in Plain Sight.” CASE Currents.
Jones, Mark. (January, 2006). “It’s the Alumni, Stupid.” CASE Currents.
Kirp, D. (2003). Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher
Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Meyers, Harriet. (January, 2006). “Come Together.” CASE Currents.
Pulley, John. (September, 2008). “Natural Attraction.” CASE Currents.