Over the last several months I have been coaching my son for his college entrance exams, packing up the "family truckster" to visit colleges, and generally learning a lot about the top business schools across the United States.
If you have been through this process you can relate to my enthusiasm. Like so many other things in our society, the college experience has changed dramatically during the last thirty years. This experience is more than a four-year rite of passage. The process starts up to two years ahead of that, and I wouldn't be surprised if there is a tail that extends beyond the normal four-year education process.
In many ways, determining where you wish to study, what you plan to study, and where you hope to do that is much like writing a book. There are many important decisions to be made, preparation is extremely helpful, and the work is never done until you have the prize firmly in your grasp. My son Zak and I are both in the same place with our respective objectives.
Today I wrote about 4,000 words for my book, while also helping Zak move his college acceptance process forward. After a year visiting many schools in California, and still considering the University of Texas, the quality schools in the Big Ten are well represented on Zak's prioritized list. I find it interesting that Ohio State and Texas, two of his top choices, are schools with powerhouse football teams. Being a college football fan, this is totally alright by me!
Since this is Day Ten of my book writing project, I thought I would share something that we have been hearing from these typically big – Big Ten schools – that relates to marketing, and especially social media marketing. "We are a big university that feels small." What they mean is there are specialized programs that give students the best of both worlds – the advantages of being both big and small. Everyone knows they are big schools, but what if you are looking for a smaller school experience?
My observation is they are delivering on this promise. If you cannot find the major field of study you are looking for at Ohio State, the largest university in the United States, then it probably doesn't exist. Even then, they will help you create a major just for you. If you are interested in honors programs or international study, a narrower and more defined experience, no problem. That is part of the curriculum too.
The marketing lesson here is to acknowledge the obvious characteristics of your brand and capitalize on them, while also addressing the perceived disadvantages. Perception is a tough thing to change, but the power of social media allows all of us to do that in a short period of time. You can not only use social media to this effect, but you can take your traditional marketing methods and adapt them to be more personal, and more human, which are characteristics of the evolving and increasingly humanized Web.
My favorite example of this, and one that I have included in my book, is this personalized postcard that my daughter Ali received while she was engaged in this process a couple of years ago. (Note the license plate – click on it to enlarge it.) She is presently attending Indiana University and having a wonderful experience. It is indeed a big school, but she has integrated well with her community at the Kelley Business School where she has made many friends, and that gives her that small school feeling.
As an entrepreneur who works primarily with entrepreneurs, I believe this creates one heck of an opportunity for all of us. You can adapt to market influences, and you can quickly and effectively get your message out to that market. You just need to think big, or small, creative or practical, green, or however you need to think to capture everything your company has to offer that is not necessarily obvious, yet vitally important to your customers. In most cases, this means taking a very human look at your brand.
Take five – no take 10. New media marketing is on your side.
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