Print… web… audio/video? When budgets are tight, make sure the medium fits the message
by Guest Contributor | September 27th, 2006Contributed 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:
- Produce a DVD with a strong emotional impact targeted at the student;
- 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
- 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.
