Contributed by: Ross Lenhart
Senior Vice President, Stein Communications

When I approach October, it’s mental and habit — it’s the coming of the NACAC Annual Meeting, and I smile. I smile because this event means so much to me, for it was at my first NACAC national meeting that I started my professional life. It was 1966, exactly forty years ago in Washington, DC, at that famous convention hotel the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue. As a brand new upstart admissions counselor, I was privileged to have rubbed elbows with and listened to such giants in my field as Bill Wilson from Amherst, Jack Hoy from Wesleyan, Ferne Horne from Mount Lebanon High School, and Jim Cavalier from Sewickley Academy. I was also blessed that my own boss and mentor, Jack Scott, Director of Admissions at Marietta College, chose to take me along. I have been attending ever since, first in college admissions for ten years and then as an exhibitor for another thirty. Why do I smile? At each meeting, the people get younger, and thus the ideas seem to get fresher. That’s why I am looking forward to my fortieth meeting in Pittsburgh next month. NACAC has provided me with both professional growth over this long career, and also a darn good time — and, folks, there is nothing wrong with that.

As someone who visited high schools in my first ten years of professional life, I used to comment that the best way to get to know an urban area or a city is through traveling to its schools. I traveled extensively early on throughout New England and the Middle Atlantic states and later throughout the Southeast. NACAC, through its national meetings gave me the opportunity to visit other places. After my first meeting in Washington, the next was in Minneapolis. In the Twin Cities I found a whole new world. I looked forward to returning again and again in 1982 and 1996. If you go to NACAC continually, you find yourself crisscrossing the United States, east coast, west coast, with an occasional visit to the south. From Minneapolis we went to New York where I can remember seeing a smiling Johnny Carson passing through the lobby. We then went to Chicago. Chicago was memorable because of the times. The 1968 Democratic Convention was fresh in our minds, and an association dealing with access to higher education was not immune from protest from the outside. I can remember watching Colonel Day, the burley but very gentlemanly Director of Admission at West Point, physically removing a profane outside participant from the lectern. The Chicago of 1994 was so different. Jogging near the lake in the art museum area in the breeze and sunshine was so calm and pure pleasure.

San Antonio in 1972 is so memorable, because I had no concept of the Riverwalk before I went — what a great convention in a great city. It was highlighted by Russ Gossage, Director of Admissions at Trinity University, hosting the whole convention to a barbecue in his backyard. San Antonio in 1983 was no surprise — we knew what to expect, but San Antonio in 2001 was held in the wake of 9-11, which was on all of our minds. I had just moved to Atlanta in 1975 when that city hosted the convention and I felt that my new hometown did a marvelous job. Each meeting for me has its own set of personal memories. It was in New York in 1989 where Stein’s Rob Glass and I did our famous Siskel and Ebert-like presentation of college recruitment publications in front of a packed house at 8:30 in the morning. My oldest son, Scott, who later became the subject of a NACAC Journal article, “Travels With Scott,” joined me to see The Phantom of the Opera — a father-son event that I have always remembered fondly. San Francisco is San Francisco. I have been blessed twice in 1971 and 1997. I always attempted to see something in areas in NACAC cities that I normally don’t travel to. During the first San Francisco convention, a group of us rented a car and traveled down by Monterey to see Stanford. It was a wonderful drive. Now it is rather humorous, but in the San Francisco meeting of 1997, our exhibit and display box was shipped from Atlanta with the wrong display — it contained a display from another division of the company. We had fun with a table, some samples, a white tablecloth, and loads of competitor onlookers with grins.

Seattle was a good one to see the beauty of the northwest and eat loads of salmon. I took the MTA in Boston to go to the Kennedy Library. Boston makes me think of baseball. During all NACAC national conventions, we fans are always either caught up in the World Series or the Divisional Playoffs. Oftentimes this situation has been tough for a Braves season ticket holder like me, but, then again, it has always been tough to be a Braves fan at World Series time. I saw the Cardinals in St. Louis. As a southerner, Louisville did me proud. Salt Lake City gave me the opportunity to examine my ancestry. In Tampa I lost weight by walking from the hotel to the convention center in the humidity. Orlando was pure Disney and fun. Long Beach was living on the Queen Mary. We were all impressed by the cleanliness and friendliness of Indianapolis. Los Angeles was Los Angeles. To this day, having started my career in Ohio, I am a loyal
OACAC-er — Cincinnati was a great meeting.

Still the magical meeting continues to be Washington 1966. It was the start of a wonderful life and fine professional journey. I owe the folks at NACAC a vote of thanks for crisscrossing me over the country for the last forty years, and for the hard work of all the local-arrangement volunteers who have made all of my Octobers worthwhile. But worthwhile is what NACAC is all about. I always remember it is only about a kid’s choice of a college — a serious life-changing decision in the middle of an impressionable youthful time. And here is a professional association filled with wonderful people who have an awesome duty to protect, value, and ensure that the process is kept within the best interest of that young person. NACAC professionals and all the nationwide volunteers who make these national meetings what they are have my gratitude. They have made my Octobers. Pittsburgh was great in 1993 and will be again in 2006. Damn right, it’s my fortieth!

Contributed by: Meg Gwaltney
Web Content Manager, Stein Communications

In the last issue of The Scoop, we talked about podcasting in higher education in terms of how it is being used as a recruitment tool. Admission offices across the country are hosting some amazing podcasts, with respect to content as well as design and production quality. In my opinion, the most effect podcasts, by far, are those created by current students, for prospective students.

Continuing our series of articles on podcasting in higher education, this article focuses on podcasting for academic courses, programs, and departments.

Podcasts for Course Lectures
Probably the first example that comes to mind when you think of academics and podcasting is course lectures. Remember the media buzz in 2004 when Duke University handed out iPods to every freshman student on campus? Their ongoing Duke Digital Initiative to improve technology-enhanced learning (including podcasting quite a few course lectures) has been and continues to be extraordinary, despite the challenges mentioned in their DDI End of Year Report (PDF).

Additionally, iTunes U made a big splash when Apple partnered with higher ed institutions such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Duke’s Fuqua School of Business to provide them with their own school-branded version of iTunes. With iTunes U, course lectures and other campus recordings became even easier to deliver to students, faculty, and the community in both restricted- and open-access portals. What’s even better, it’s free — for the institution and the user.

While podcast lectures should not replace the experience of classroom learning and interaction, they have proved beneficial to students and faculty, particularly in the areas of music, performing arts, languages, and other disciplines with audible components.

Promotional Academic Podcasts
In addition to podcasting course lectures, some colleges are also using podcasts to promote specific majors or departments to prospective students, as well as to share research findings with the community.

For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hosts a compilation of podcasts under the umbrella of AMPS: Academic Media Production Services. Users may subscribe to the podcasts for free from MIT’s web site or directly from within the iTunes Music Store. AMPS includes a small, but well-produced collection of video podcasts, all related to a research venture, an academic course, a performing arts event, or other on-campus events. Personally, my favorite is “2.007 Retrospective.” It documents in a fun, engaging way the thirty-year history of MIT’s famous undergraduate robot contest. Prospective students would do well to view the AMPS vodcasts to get a better feel for the types of projects they will work on as students.

Another great case in point: Asbury College’s broadcast journalism podcasts of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. The group of 29 students, three alumni, and one faculty member posted blog entries and podcasts on their web site. If this project isn’t an excellent opportunity to get real-world experience, I don’t know what is.

In the coming years, it seems like a given that an increasing number of colleges will begin to podcast more of their course lectures, whether it is through iTunes U or another method; I hope the same will prove true for the promotional academic podcasts. They have great value in providing an intimate, in-depth look into an institution’s academic programs in ways that even a campus visit may not provide. With a myriad of voices — students, faculty, alumni, and special event speakers — contributing to these productions, they have the potential to be an excellent marketing tool.

In our next issue of the Scoop, we’ll continue our podcasting discussion with a focus on alumni relations. To share your college’s experiences, thoughts, and concerns about podcasting in education, please email me at mgwaltney@steincommunications.com.

Contributed by: Sam Jackson
High School Senior, Phillips Exeter Academy

No matter how well-endowed a school may be, another finite resource will always be in short supply: time. The energies and attention of an admissions office must be focused for best success. Dynamic web marketing can be very effective. If you are considering using new web technologies to connect with prospective students, there are some things you should know; if you already do, there is still more to learn, for I have never seen an implementation that couldn’t benefit from audience feedback. Read carefully, because I speak for your audience.

The web is not a magical vehicle for marketing. With proper savvy, the internet can be coaxed into performing as a successful higher education marketing tool, but even the most polished of marketing attempts can fall flat if it loses touch with its target market — and what age group is more fickle than teenagers? The modern web offers untold opportunity for creative and effective marketing techniques to be utilized, but with these new tactics can come new abuse. I will cover some of the difficulties that arise when an institution seeks to exploit blogs, podcasts, YouTube, and the rest of Web 2.0 — and what can be done to avoid them. (This piece focuses specifically on blogs.)

There is one key principle which, if followed, almost guarantees a successful message: “Respect the consumer.” I have observed a few deadly sins of higher education marketing, but a lack of respect for us, the consumers of so much endless marketing tripe, is the worst and most frequently perpetrated! It’s important to remember that we millennials are not stupid, however ridiculous that name might be; we can see through the trimmings of traditional marketing copy and we resent pandering.

Disrespect manifests itself first and foremost through a lack of authenticity. Authenticity is more important for good, effective PR than anything else. The perception that a finely polished brand image is a reasonable trade-off for authenticity is a false one, so far as people my age are concerned. In the post office at school, it takes only one quick glance into the recycling bin to see what people think of the campy mail storms attempting to drown out one another in the battle for our mindshare. If you think you’re safe from the knee-jerk garbage reaction on the basis of your brand’s intrinsic value, think again: I have seen expensive materials from the most prestigious universities in the US meet their end without ever leaving their shrink-wrap. Though I read everything I get, most people are not as generous with their attentions. What applies to direct mail applies just the same to new media — it’s even easier to click the back button than it is to try to throw a paper airplane brochure across the room.

Back to the web: blogs are the most prevalent new form of exotic web marketing. There are three kinds of blogs that can work to promote an institution: Sponsored student blogs, admission office blogs, and unofficial student blogs. The last a school has no particular control over, but they exist as nearly unconquerable competition for any homegrown sponsored effort, as they can nimbly tread waters a school-sanctioned blog could not — especially the salacious details incoming students really want to hear about. Schools can promote their blog programs by pushing visitors there; let the content do the rest.

A request for authentic information is not a request for students to tarnish their school’s name. I have exchanged heated emails with sponsored student bloggers who angrily accuse me of demanding they slur their university in the name of authenticity. Not so: it is a demand for respect, not slander. Anything less can and does create a negative backlash. To illustrate: drinking certainly occurs on college campuses, but I don’t ask for photos of drunken escapades any more than I beg for candid shots of late-night cram sessions. Neither one of those scenes presents a credible, balanced image of a school. What is true for photographs applies to all blog content in context: there is a middle ground between descriptions of room decorating adventures and Frat Party weekly. Even the appearance of impropriety (i.e., marketing) can sour public opinion. Better to promote honesty and authenticity — two concepts which, when treated carefully, can actually coexist with donors, parents, presidents, and most importantly prospectives.

When a school deploys a sponsored student blogging program, its primary goal should be to connect with prospective students. Painfully often, this goal is never met, and the blog dies nothing but a flat perspective of student life mired in tour guide style censorship. Blogs convey two kinds of information: first, readers value the insight that casual details about daily life afford. One blogger I spoke with told me that no one would care if she complained about the terrible rush to get season tickets for hockey. However, a close reader would see that enthusiasm and passion for the team shows that the school is a close community. Then there is the easier-to-access big picture campus topic: a vignette about recent student political protests on campus tells me a lot more about campus activism than any vague, sanitized answer from a tour guide.

Student bloggers should be encouraged to write about issues that are important to them; people write best about what they know best, and students know their school. They’re less familiar with the thing that only exists on glossies sent to new students and alumni. Let the students sell the school.

My preferred sort of official blog are those maintained by one or more admissions counselors for a particular school. I think these are great from an institutional perspective because the counselors can do the same thing they always do (answer questions online) while developing a knowledge base of old questions, answers, and content which can be accessed anytime, anywhere, by anyone. Most of all, these blogs go a long way towards pulling back the curtain on what is a very mysterious world to most; not everyone has time to read The Gatekeepers. The power of friendliness is not to be underestimated.

The desires of prospective students will, for a long time yet, fail to intersect with those of schools and admissions officers, but I hope that some insight into the mind of your applicants has been gleaned from my words. It’s a long way down from the window of the ivory tower, but that doesn’t justify the disconnect from the masses clambering below. Throw down your hair and reach out a hand: the web can help.

_____
Sam Jackson is a high school senior boarding at Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spends his free time trying to appropriate funding to make liquid nitrogen ice cream for his Science Club. When it’s too cold for ice cream, Sam passes the time debating (on and off the team), fighting the dress code, and missing his golden retriever, Cozmo. He also publishes a blog, the Sam Jackson College Experience, chronicling his journey in the college recruitment process: www.samjackson.org/college/

Contributed by: J.D. Fite
Account Manager, Stein Communications

Independent secondary schools and small colleges have always had the challenge of getting results while working with small marketing budgets. In the last decade this challenge has been compounded by the evolution of the Internet as a major marketing and communication tool. Not only have the number of media choices increased, but this increase has also fractured the market, thus making it difficult to reach your target audience effectively. For small schools, it is difficult to know how best to allocate your resources.

The concept of integrated marketing has provided a partial fix by introducing the idea of using a variety of media in concert to convey a message with maximum impact. Still the question remains, “What media to use when and to what end?” The answer lies in understanding the strengths of each medium.

The Death of Print?
At the height of the internet boom, many thought the web signaled the death of print. Printing companies scrambled to communicate the value and relevance of print in an increasingly electronic world. The longer the two media have coexisted, the stronger the realization that there are things print can do that the web cannot and vice versa.

Defining Characteristics — Print, Web, Audio/Video
As stated earlier, the effective use of the variety of media available lies in recognizing and utilizing the strengths of each and developing a marketing and communications strategy that uses them in concert with each other for maximum effect.

The Strength of Print — Engaging the Intellect
Print engages our intellect. Words, pictures, and symbols provoke us to think. The linear format is structured well for the logical presentation of evidence. Consequently, print is the best medium in which to present a persuasive argument. That is, print is an excellent format in which to argue your case why your school is the one a prospect should attend, or make a donation to, or provide some other form of support. Unlike the web or audio/video, print is also a tactile medium. Creative bindery options, use of color, different paper stocks and finishes, et cetera provide ways in which to present an appeal in a thought provoking way.

The internet has affected the way in which print is used these days. While viewbooks are still the most popular means by which prospective students and parents evaluate a school, their content has been pared down to the essentials. Text is sparse, images are large and powerful, and design provocative to communicate as succinctly as possible a school’s unique identity and value. Informational content has shifted to the web, and most print media direct prospects to visit a school’s web site for more information. A school’s web site has come to serve as the receptacle for the most up-to-date information, and printed material is purposely devoid of anything that might date it in order to give it a longer shelf life.

The Strength of the Web — Cultivating Relationships
The web provides a meeting place for interaction. While the web serves as a storehouse for information and provides the convenience of quickly updating facts and figures, its defining characteristic and what makes it unique from print is the ability to facilitate interaction between a prospect and the school.

The Strength of Audio/Video — Reaching the Emotions
Audio/Video (film) reaches us at an emotional level. Despite the increasing sophistication of the media savvy millennial generation, film affects the unconscious. Images, sounds, and music evoke memories, shared experiences, common feelings — all the things that make us human. A well-crafted video has the potential to be your most provocative appeal.

Unfortunately, many schools make the mistake of having talking heads recite facts, figures, and selling points about the school. Specifically, they try to transfer the intellectual appeal, used to greatest effect in print, to film. They miss the power of the medium, and consequently, miss an opportunity to harness its emotional impact.

Video should show more than it tells. A good test to see if your video does this is to watch it with the sound off. Does it still engage you? Does it still tell a story? Do you still walk away from it with a strong impression of the school? If it still has an emotional impact, then you have used video to its fullest effect. Watch City Lights, one of Charlie Chaplin’s last silent films, and you’ll understand what I mean.

An Integrated Approach — An Example
St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School (SAS), a boarding school positioned beautifully on the Cumberland Plateau, approached Stein to help boost its boarding school applications and yield. The school had a number of unique challenges. One, the ideal St. Andrew’s-Sewanee student is “off the grid” (i.e. — counter cultural, not easily located or identified). Secondly, anecdotal information suggested it was a toss up between parent and child as to who ultimately made the decision on which school to attend.

Admission Director Jim Tucker explains, “If we can get them on campus, the school sells itself.” Consequently, Stein’s task was clear. Marketing efforts should focus on locating prospective students and motivating them to visit the campus.

Integrating Emotional and Intellectual Appeals to Forge a Relationship
While still in the implementation phase, Stein’s strategy is straightforward:

1. Produce a DVD with a strong emotional impact targeted at the student;
2. Follow up with a viewbook that appeals to parents’ intellectual concerns and also engages prospective students in a strong argument why SAS is the school for them; and
3. Provide a call to action in both the video and in print that utilizes the web as an initial meeting place to facilitate a visit.

A net of additional print media (advertisements, posters and a road piece) will also be cast to catch those prospects not contacted by targeted mailings and other direct appeals.

While Stein has provided more complex integrated marketing initiatives, the St. Andrew’s-Sewanee campaign relies on the same principles using a total media mix to reach the consumer in a coordinated way with no one medium dominating. But most importantly, the strategy plays to the strengths of each media — the emotional power of film, the intellectual persuasiveness of print and the relation building power of the web.

Conclusion — The Best Bang for Your Buck
When allocating marketing resources review your communication goals and distribute resources in such a way that the net effect of the various media (print, video and web) is greater than the individual parts. An important way to ensure this is to play to the strengths of each media. Don’t fill a viewbook or a capital campaign brochure with facts and figures that can easily be accessed (and maintained!) on the web. Print is your opportunity to construct a clear and convincing argument to attend or financially support your institution — include only those facts and figures that support your argument.

Take advantage of the web’s interactive capabilities to cultivate a relationship with prospects. Utilize those online tools that harness the interactive nature of the web to forge connections and help an institution maintain relationships with prospective students and increase yield. Similar opportunities should be explored to strengthen relationships with alumni/ae and other donors.

Lastly, if video is an important element of your marketing strategy, don’t waste its emotional power by parading VIPs in front of the camera droning on about the merits of your institution. In a video, never tell your audience how great your school is, show them. A video should be a well orchestrated symphony of images and sound that leads to an emotional crescendo and a desire on the part of the audience to learn more about your institution.

Coordinating media in such a way that each plays its part to the best of its ability — print engaging the intellect, the web forging relationships and video exciting the emotions — will not only stretch your marketing dollar further, but will present the greatest sum impact of your message to your audience. A well choreographed mix of media operates like surround sound in an audio system enveloping your prospect in your message and reaching them at levels of which they may not even be aware.

Stein’s CommunityYou web product is designed to help increase yield among your admitted students and increase retention of your newly enrolled students by providing them with their own online community created specifically for your institution. CommunityYou can be overseen and managed by your admissions staff. It also provides you with an additional forum to communicate important announcements to this critical audience. To learn more about CommunityYou, please contact Jenny Brower at 404.494.4393 or jbrower@steincommunications.com.

NACAC is around the corner!
If you’ll be attending the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) conference next week, we’d be delighted for you to drop by and visit with us at booth 521. We’ll be showcasing some exciting new campaigns, as well as our web products CommunityYou and PersonalizationPlus. You can also enter our drawing to win a digital camera!