Embracing the CEO Mindset in Higher Ed Leadership
CCU President Eric Hogue shares his CEO mindset and bold strategies for navigating the complexities of higher ed leadership of sustainability, fundraising, and mission-driven leadership.
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Tonight our family invested in another viewing of Back to the Future, the classic 80’s tale of the Delorean time machine and our hero, Marty McFly. Marty is transported to 1955 and has to see that his parents fall in love to assure his future existence.
To be honest, I have been looking for a reason to blog about this movie. It was the movie of my youth. One that influenced me and has remained one of my favorites. I have also found that when I “geek out” on the 80’s, I tend to get a tremendous amount of traction on my blog posts (see my MacGyver post).
My kids and I thought it would make a great post to illustrate some of the best practices of inbound marketing for education. My oldest boys have started to really get excited about sharing their opinions about what is important to them as they start to shop for colleges and are in full agreement that inbound is the future of marketing.
With that, we collaborated on this post and decided to use our favorite quotes to set out best practices and strategies for inbound marketing for education.
Doc Brown had his vision for the Flux Capacitor after slipping from the toilet and hitting his head on the sink in 1955. That vision developed into his greatest invention: time travel.
While moving your marketing from an outbound focus to an inbound focus, there are several things we can take away from this quote:
Takeaway: Develop your inbound marketing materials with style and quality. Doing so will best reflect your brand and create authenticity and engagement opportunities.
Those words were uttered by Emmett Brown at 1:15 a.m. at the Twin Pines Mall while engaging in the Temporal Displacement experiment. He had done his homework, reviewed the metrics, and understood his potential for return.
Is your current marketing strategy and plan as measured? With outbound marketing, schools often rely on the “spray and pray” mentality: send out the brochures, the emails, and pray that the prospects will start trickling down the funnel. Inbound marketing can change that.
Takeaway: Use the inherent metrics available in digital and inbound marketing to confidently modify and see sustainable results with your marketing programs.
Powering time travel takes a tremendous about of power and energy. For Marty and Doc it came down to either plutonium or lightening. Regardless the method, it is a lot of power required to fuel the Delorean.
Your inbound marketing program will require just as much power. Your fuel comes from content.
Takeaway: Develop a content strategy to fuel your overall inbound marketing program. Successful inbound marketing takes power and fuel…and the only fuel that works is consistent, high-quality, relevant content. Contact us to schedule a content training for your team.
Huey Lewis, in his cameo appearance, uttered these words concerning his hit “The Power of Love” as Marty and the Pinheads performed during the Battle of the Bands audition. He made a great point about using social media in your inbound marketing plan: avoid being to darn loud.
Social media amplification is a critical part of your inbound strategy. You have to engage users to your social media channels and provide links to the website, landing pages, and other conversion opportunities. Your institution starts to get “too darn loud” when you promote only yourself.
Takeaway: Be helpful in your inbound marketing.
After George McFly was encouraged by Darth Vader, an extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan, to ask Lorraine to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, he consulted with Marty, gathered up his confidence and boldly asked her out. While his wooing wasn’t as smooth as it should have been, he understood the importance of persuasion.
There is a good chance your school is the destiny of your prospective students as well. Just as George used the power of persuasion, your inbound marketing for education has to provide compelling offers to woo your audience.
Takeaway: Understand that your marketing is the opportunity to woo your prospective students and parents with the unique benefits of your school and brand.
In the final scene, Marty gets carried away while playing “Johnny B Goode” and throws in elements of 80’s rock-and-roll. The 1955 crowd stares in unbelief as he utters these words.
Remember that in your inbound marketing, you, too, have to walk a tightrope of appealing to multiple generations. What the donors and administration might not be ready for inbound marketing, the “kids are gonna love it.”
Takeaway: Be relevant for your particular audience, recognizing you have multiple audiences.
Marty and Jennifer were anticipating things being the same in the future when they inquired about not having enough road to get up to 88 mph. While we weren’t anticipating flying cars by October of 2015, things have changed. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not points out numerous predictions from Back to the Future that have come true.
For our purposes surrounding your inbound marketing, the main point is to understand and get comfortable with the consistent change in digital marketing. Embrace that change and put it to work for your marketing efforts.
Takeaway: Embrace change and build your processes to allow for continual improvement.
Throughout the movie, Marty repeated gave this advise to the younger George McFly in 1955. Upon his return to the revised 1985 with George as the confident father, Marty is on the receiving end of the same advice.
Remember that you if you set your goals, measure your results, and have the willingness to constantly modify and improve your programs, you can accomplish your inbound marketing goals as well. It will be different than what you may have done before, but with a sound strategy and solid tools, you, too, can accomplish anything.
Takeaway: There is no time like the present to start realizing how inbound marketing for education can impact your success this year.
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Featured image via wikipedia
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