Our colleague, Christine Florence, had a rebuttal Op-Ed run recently in the Mail Tribune in which she defended Southern Oregon University's marketing efforts. She stated, "[t]he right fit between students and a campus is a key factor in whether they go to college, finish their first year and ultimately gain a degree. Marketing, from this perspective, is both information outreach and a service to the community."
She continued by outlining the declining public support of higher education in the state of Oregon (sound familiar in the other 49 states??) and tying the need for marketing to not just attracting students, but retaining them long-term.
Bravo to Christine for defending higher education and the marketing of higher education. As demographics shift and traditional communications methods sunset, audience-based marketing will increase as a necessity to meet enrollment and funding goals. I suggest everyone read her thoughts; I anticipate many of you will need to mount similar defenses as budgets tighten and dollars become more scarce.
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