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Over the last few years, Indiana University has developed and implemented an integrated marketing and communications campaign to tell the story of how its research is making a meaningful impact on people’s lives -- advancing technology, fueling job growth, improving health care, protecting the environment, strengthening education and building better infrastructure for all citizens.
I recall a clarifying moment during the planning process for the campaign. With any project, we want to be crystal clear with our strategic positioning: as defined by former Apple executive Andy Cunningham, that’s our institution’s differentiated role and relevance within a specific landscape.
But if positioning is about competitive differentiation, then who in this case is our competition? For the purpose of this campaign, we weren’t trying to position Indiana University against other institutions to show how our research enterprise is better or different than theirs. No, in this case, competition is indifference. Why should our audiences care about the university?
Seeing the benefits to themselves, their family and their community is especially critical as public confidence in higher education has declined, according to multiple surveys. Many of our state’s residents, especially those who have no affiliation with Indiana University, are likely unaware of how this research -- and perhaps even the university at large -- really affects their daily lives. We wanted to influence their understanding of the university’s impact.
Other times, our competitors are indeed peer institutions. We are largely bound by market forces that dictate that we draw distinctions between ourselves and our competitors in order to attract students, talented faculty and staff, and philanthropic support, and we need to make a compelling case for why someone should choose our institution, rather than another.
In doing so, however, are we missing opportunities to tell the broader higher ed story -- one that is increasingly important to convey? Furthermore, by focusing solely on ourselves, are we, in effect, sidestepping our responsibility to advance a larger narrative about the importance and value of higher ed?
Regardless of demographics (and even among Americans who believe that higher education is heading in the wrong direction), people have a positive view of the college or university located near them. Similarly, even those who have negative sentiments about higher education as a whole usually have favorable opinions of their own higher education experiences.
Are we willing to collaborate to extend these positive associations of nearby residents and alumni to other schools in our state/region, or to our rivals on the field -- and thus make it local or personal for these audiences in order to tell a bigger story? We can identify broader connections of all sorts: similarities in mission, geography, history and even athletic affiliation. For example, I admire the Southeastern Conference’s strategic effort to communicate SEC universities’ collective value and their many contributions as state epicenters of teaching, research and service. Individual institutions can do this, too.
Last year at this time, the country’s 28 Jesuit colleges and universities leveraged the excitement surrounding Loyola University Chicago’s improbable Final Four run, partnering on a social media campaign to wish the Ramblers well and highlight their shared identity.
When I worked at an Indiana University regional campus located in a once manufacturing-dominant community, the mix of postsecondary institutions there tried to move away from always emphasizing their differences. We wanted to tell a more powerful story about our schools collectively being a leading community asset, positioning the community as a new kind of college town -- a contemporary “knowledge town.”
It’s imperative that we differentiate, yes. It’s also imperative that we advocate for our sector that transforms lives and society. We all share the responsibility.
Rob Zinkan is associate vice president, marketing, in a systemwide role at Indiana University. In his 16 years there, he has also served as vice chancellor for external affairs and assistant dean for advancement at two different IU campuses.
