The Integration of Marketing and Strategic Planning
Over the years a great deal of discussion has occurred regarding the role of integration, from a marketing perspective, in colleges and universities. First, there was integrated communications, a comprehensive, coordinated effort to get the right messages to the right audiences with the right effect. This, however, is a subset of what has gotten more attention lately, integrated marketing. This is the process of coordinating the entire strategic marketing efforts across an institution involving the full spectrum of what is known as the “7 P’s” (product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, processes and participants). I am convinced that we, as marketers, should take one more step and consider the integration of marketing and strategic planning.
A strong strategic plan serves as a communication device that identifies: where does the institution want to go; how is it going to get there; and why will the institution be better once it attains its goals. Marketing is a resource that is essential in accomplishing and communicating all of these objectives. Furthermore, consider the following similarities between marketing and the characteristics of an effective strategic plan.
Strategic Planning is:
1) Inclusive. A plan is developed with the input and assistance of constituents internal and external to the university. This not only provides insight and information that may have been missed but also assists in achieving buy-in when implementing the plan. Marketing plans and efforts require the same assistance and buy-in to be successful.
2) Information based. A strategic plan cannot be developed without a thorough understanding of the internal and external environment in which it operates. Institutional research provides some of this data while marketing research provides the external perspective.
3) Supported by the president. No plan will succeed without the complete buy-in and involvement of the president. Without his or her stamp of approval, the plan will not be taken seriously. The same is true of marketing efforts.
4) Continuous and adaptive. A good plan adapts to changes over time. One plan picks up where the last one left off and addresses environmental changes. Marketing efforts are similarly adaptive.
5) Focused. A successful plan rarely attempts to accomplish more than five objectives. Plans are resource driven and too many objectives require spreading typically limited resources too thinly to be effective. An effective brand platform never attempts to create the impression that a school is all things to all people. Good brands are distinctive and relevant to the intended audiences.
6) Aspirational yet rooted in reality. No plan or marketing program is a “magic bullet” capable of moving an institution beyond what the internal and external realities will allow.
7) Communicated at every opportunity in words and actions. This helps assure continuous buy-in and unity of efforts to accomplish the goals of the plan or the marketing program.
Both strategic planning and marketing are tools designed to further the long-term success of the university. In an age of integration, brought about by increasingly better management skills and the desire (and sometimes necessity) to be more efficient with one’s resources, integrating these processes seems to make a great deal of sense.