I spent 19 years in higher education marketing, including nine as a CMO. Here are seven things I wish every Christian college president understood.
1. The obstacle is the way.
Marketing is about overcoming the obstacles that prevent students from buying what you’re selling.
Those obstacles usually fall within the four Ps: product, price, place, or promotion. Your programs may not appeal, your price may not make sense, or students may not understand why you’re different.
Find the obstacle. Then address it.
2. Marketing is more than advertising.
Advertising, publications, and websites fall under promotion. That is just one P.
Integrated marketing means your CMO has a voice in all four Ps, even when they don’t oversee them.
The CMO should have one foot inside the university and one in the market, serving as the institution’s conscience about what students actually want and value.
3. It’s about outcomes, not activity.
The goal isn’t a clever campaign, an impressive media mix, or more clicks. The goal is more of the right students and more net revenue.
Measure marketing by what it accomplishes, not how busy the department looks.
4. Awards mean nothing.
I’ve won them. They feel good. But they’re largely vanity projects that consume time and money better spent growing the university.
The real reward is earning the respect of colleagues who see marketing helping the institution succeed.
5. Your brand is your most important asset.
Your brand is what people think about when they think about you. It includes their perceptions, associations, and expectations.
Strengthen it. Protect it. Give people a compelling reason to think differently about you. Otherwise, it can rust away into something generic and meaningless.
6. Your website is the university.
When people aren’t on campus, and sometimes even when they are, your website IS the university.
What it says becomes truth in the minds of prospective students. How it works shapes their experience of your institution.
Treat it as seriously as your physical plant. In many cases, it matters more.
7. A product aligned with the market is the best marketing of all.
Great marketing cannot permanently rescue a product nobody wants.
But when a program meets a real need in a distinctive way, at a workable price, you don’t have to push nearly as hard. People want it.
Before asking how to promote what you already offer, ask whether it gives the students you’ve chosen to serve a compelling reason to choose you.
At TG Three, we help Christian colleges answer that last question and turn the answer into enrollment and revenue growth.
If your marketing is generating activity but not results, let’s talk.