IU Marketing Leaders Conference

1. IU Marketing Leaders Conference Improving Marketing Effectiveness and Efficiency at Indiana UniversityDan SmithDean and Professor of MarketingKelley School of Business

2. Agenda • First principles: What is marketing and why does it matter? • How to build the overall IU brand yet recognize unique competitive environments of individual academic units? • Improving marketing effectiveness and efficiency at Indiana University: A few concrete actions

3. What is marketing? • A “constituency-focused” approach to running an organization • Goal: Maximize the mutual lifetime value of relationships with key constituencies • Based on: • Understanding the important problems/needs facing key constituency groups 2. Developing programs/initiatives that address those needs better than competing options 3. Communicating your points of value-added benefits in a credible way

4. Why does it matter? • Forces us to examine the ways in which we are truly differentiated (or not) in terms of how we add value to constituencies we serve. • Principle #1 in marketing efficiency and effectiveness: Do you really have something compelling AND unique to offer to key constituency groups??? • Every academic unit/program should have compelling value propositions aligned with each audience they serve.

5. Why does it matter? • Value propositions are at the foundation of marketing effectiveness and efficiency. • Basic format: “For people who [describe the target constituency group and the need/problem you address], [your service] provides [state the benefits that are truly unique compared to competitors].”

6. Why does it matter? • Value propositions are “internal” statements that should guide how you communicate to a desired audience. • Example: The Kelley Direct MBA “For bright professionals who want to improve their lives by advancing their careers yet are not inclined to attend a traditional part-time MBA program, Kelley Direct provides the quality and prestige of a world renown MBA using the most flexible in-residence/online format in the marketplace today.”

7. Differences in marketing in the private and university sectors • Indiana University: • Prospective students • Parents of prospective students • Current students • Parents of current students • State legislature • Alumni and prospective donors • Prospective faculty • Current faculty and staff • Organizations that hire our students (and those that do not) • Research funding organizations etc.

8. Differences in marketing in the private and university sectors • Larger number of constituencies leads to larger number of people who are engaged in “marketing” … even though we do not call it “marketing” … even though we may not have many “marketing-related” job titles. • Examples: • President McRobbie, Chancellors, Deans, Program Chairs, Center Directors, etc. • All of our government outreach team • Student recruiting functions (IU, Campus-specific, unit) • Alumni relations (IU, Campus-specific, academic unit) • Development operations • Etc.

9. How to create a coherent IU brand and yet recognize the unique needs and competitive challenges of individual academic units? • Analogy: • IBM “Building a smarter planet” • Every division and product line within IBM has value propositions that fit with and reinforce the larger concept yet address their respective unique competitive environments • Indiana University? • We have established differentiated missions • Now ... move toward value propositions for campuses and units within each campus

10. How to create a coherent IU brand and yet recognize the unique needs and competitive challenges of individual academic units? Indiana University Value Proposition • Campus value proposition: Why IU-B is special v. peers • Campus-level constituency • value propositions: Why parents should select IU-B over • peer institutions • Why alumni should support IU-B over • other not-for-profits • Unit-level value proposition Why the Kelley School is special v. peers • Unit-specific constituency Why parents with kids interested in • value propositions business should select Kelley over • other undergraduate options

11. How to create a coherent IU brand and yet recognize the unique needs and competitive challenges of individual academic units? • Where/how to begin? • Top down • Bottom up

12. Summary of Recommendations Shared with Trustees

13. First principles • Objectives: • Effectiveness: Did a given marketing initiative achieve the desired objective(s)? • Related: Are objectives somehow linked to financial outcomes? • Efficiency: How do we achieve the greatest impact per dollar invested? Or … How can we achieve a desired target level of impact for the least investment? • Note: Goal is not always to “reduce” spending … but rather to allocate it in ways that have the greatest impact • Example: Kelley Direct circa 2005 Improve impression of IU among leaders of peer schools Improve reputation-based media rankings Reduction in student recruiting/acquisition cost

14. 1. Branding IU • Objectives: • Succinctly communicate points of meaningful uniqueness • Provide general guidance for individual units • Long-term improvement of marketing efficiency • Actions: • Bottom-up approach • Develop/refine value propositions for individual academic units using professional guidance • Identify common threads/themes that shape overarching IU positioning

15. 2. Unit-level marketing plans with clear objectives and accountability for assessing impact • Objectives: • Leverage “accountability” aspects of RCM • Encourage thought before action • Recognition of opportunity cost • Address marketing professionalism issues raised by Accenture • Actions: • Central feature of annual budget meeting • Develop “format” for presenting marketing objectives and results • Must demonstrate actions to bring about material productivity gains • Training session for key staff on how to develop marketing plans and assess performance

16. 3. Forum for sharing effective practices • Objectives: • Vicarious “learning by doing” • Create a true “learning organization” • Reduce/remove repetition of ineffective practices • Actions: • Create format for recording marketing initiatives • Compile examples – not limited to “success stories” as we also need to know what has not worked well in the past • Organize by objectives • Illustrate how performance was measured • Explicitly highlight general principles of success or lack thereof • House on searchable intranet site

17. 4. Reduce printed materials for non revenue-generating support units + increased centralization of their marketing activities • Objectives: • Reduce/eliminate materials that simply “talk to ourselves” • Migrate “fact reporting” to web • Migrate “update/event” notices to electronic media • Action steps • Training session(s) on how to develop marketing plans • Budget presentations should include plan for dramatic reduction in use of printed materials • Budget meetings include plan for migrating most (if not all) marketing activities to centralized service

18. 5. Centralization of “predictable” strategic marketing activities for revenue-producing units • Objectives: • Capture efficiency gains of thoughtful centralization • Improve effectiveness of planned marketing actions • Not lose flexibility of decentralization of appropriate initiatives • Action steps • Units create inventory of marketing initiatives • Identify those that are “predictable” and can be planned in advance … these are handled by central service • Office of Creative Services (OCS) develops “account manager” model • OCS evaluated on customer service and cost efficiency

19. Questions and Discussion ….