Case Briefs and Resources
Case Briefs from Your Peers to Help You Take the Next Step
Using
GRE Test Lists to Search, Find and Contact Prospective Students:
George Mason University
The GRE Search Service is a direct marketing recruitment
tool and has been used to enhance and complement our other traditional recruitment
tools. We use these GRE lists because they are a relatively inexpensive
way to "hit" many students at once. The Search Service can be used to target a specific
audience, mail search output promptly, personalize and customize mailings, send
the right message, make application materials, respond promptly to inquiries from
prospective students, and continue to communicate with prospective students who
have been accepted.
We find that this service is effective,
even though there is a slight cost to using it.
There is an annual participation fee of $200 for using the GRE Search Service;
users also pay per name for results that are generated. The first set of output
is 29 cents per name, additional sets of output are 13 cents per name. There is
also a charge of 6 cents per name when rosters are ordered, plus the cost of shipping.
Action Items
-
Register and use the GRE Search Service.
-
Start by visiting the GRE Search
Service at https://gresearch.ets.org/gress/. From here, you can register a new account
or log into an existing one. If you are registering a new account, click on the
“Not Registered?” link from the login screen. You will need to read and accept the
terms and conditions in order to create a new account and perform online volume
projections. You will then be prompted to provide some basic information, such as
your name, your GRE institution code, e-mail address, and mailing address. It will
take one to three business days to approve your account and to send your user name
and password via e-mail.
-
Once registered, in order to participate
in the search service, you will first fill out the request report by selecting various
search criteria based on the needs of what you are looking to search for, called
“Volume Projections.” These can include: personal information (state of residence,
gender), geographic information (postal code, world region), educational background
(current level, undergraduate major), education objective, etc. You are also able
to search students not only by their GRE scores, but by
GRE scores in combination with self-reported undergraduate grade point average.
As you enter search criteria, you can find out along
the way how many students your search will yield and adjust your search criteria
accordingly. If you need assistance with this, visit the GRE Search Service handbook.
Click here to view article.
-
GRE allows you to select how you
want your results delivered. Electronic results are typically ready within 2 hours
after you place your order. GRE will deliver your lists electronically either in
a comma-delimited or no delimited file. You can then use these lists to send out
emails/letters/etc to potential students.
In addition to the electronic lists, you can request mailing labels should you want
to send out hard-copy mailings. GRE also offers a printed off roster to keep a paper
trail of prospective students.
-
We have not been able to directly
correlated the use of GRE lists with outcomes or admissions’ applications because
it is one of several tools we use and we cannot isolate the success of each initiative. Nonetheless, we find the GRE list to
be of value and continue to use the service to supplement our other recruitment
efforts.
-
For more information, consult the GRE Search
Service home page (http://gresearch.ets.org/). The FAQ list (http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/GRE_SS_FAQs.pdf)
may be able to answer many questions that you have.
Leslie Levin
Assistant Dean of Graduate Admissions and Marketing
School of Public
Policy, George Mason University
(703) 993-8099
Branding in an Academic
Setting: A Case Study on Harvard Kennedy School
For many people in
the academic and nonprofit arenas, the word “branding” means little more than a
corporate buzz word that describes the process of duping consumers into buying their
products. So why does the John F. Kennedy School of Government – which is
affiliated with one of the most recognized brands in the world – care about branding?
Because an organization’s brand is one of its most valuable assets, and that’s true
whether the organization is a for-profit company, a nonprofit organization or a
school. And effective management of that important asset is critical to building
and maintaining an organization’s reputation.
Simply put, your brand
is more than a logo or tagline. It’s the promise of your mission. It’s the collection
of perceptions people hold about your organization. And it is how they think and
feel about the work you do and how you do it.
A strong brand can
help:
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Attract high quality students, faculty and staff;
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Educate and attract prospective donors and volunteers;
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Build greater loyalty among alumni, donors and affiliates; and
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Help differentiate you.
While the
Kennedy School
is fortunate to have a strong brand among government and public administration arenas
both domestically and internationally, we knew we could do more to build upon our
brand and reach a wider audience. Those who have been involved with the school understand
fully what an exceptional and transformative place it is. For those who have
not, who we are and what we offer is less clear.
Part of the reason
for this lack of clarity was that the
Kennedy School
was communicating a multitude of different messages – both verbally and visually.
This all-over-the-map approach muddied our message and hindered our ability to effectively
demonstrate the school’s collective strengths and unique value.
We sought to improve
on these efforts through the Strategic Communications Initiative, which aimed
to solidify the school’s positioning, strengthen its brand and more effectively
tell the
Kennedy School
story.
What we did
-
Communications audit
-
Industry audit &
analysis
-
In-depth interviews
with faculty, staff, students and alumni
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Stakeholder focus groups
with faculty, staff, students and alumni
-
Strategic planning
sessions with
Kennedy School
leadership
What we learned
The John F. Kennedy
School of Government at
Harvard University
has tremendous name recognition in key parts of the world, but we were not building
on that foundation as effectively as we could. An audit of the school’s communications
and marketing efforts, found the following:
-
Under-leveraged affiliation
with Harvard
-
Inconsistent message,
image and experience
o
More than 20 different
logos
o
Multiple mission statements,
positioning statements and taglines
o
Far flung collection
of brochures, publications and websites that did not reflect a common institution
-
Lack of a clearly articulated
value proposition that described the unique benefits we offer and answered the questions:
Why the Kennedy School? Why now?
-
Built-in limitations
of our name
o
The
Kennedy
School
is one of the few schools at
Harvard University
that does not have “Harvard” in its name
o
“Government” is an
important part of what we do, but it does not give the full picture
o
The result? We have
to work even harder to convey who we are and what we do.
o
Lack of marketplace
understanding and appreciation of our degrees
o
Need for a more-effective
co-branding platform for the school’s research centers, programs and Executive Education.
Shaping the campaign
Armed with this additional
insight into the current state of our brand, we developed a branding campaign that:
-
Leverages our relationship
with Harvard more effectively
-
Taps into President
Kennedy’s legacy and his iconic call to serve
-
Embraces additional
forms of public service, notably nonprofit activities
-
Creates a more consistent
visual identity and helped simplify and enhance the school’s logo
-
Allows for successful
integration of our research center “sub-brands”
-
Serves as a call to
action
Key takeaways:
-
Branding should never
be done as an exercise, but rather as a means to an end – to achieve your organization’s
objectives.
-
An organization’s brand
consists of three parts: message, image and experience. You can position yourself
anyway you want, but if people experience your organization differently, it’s not
likely to stick.
-
Think about what makes
your organization truly unique? Can’t think of anything that sets you apart
from the rest? Try thinking about it in the context of a new category.
-
Should you decide to
go through a branding exercise, don’t assume at the outset that you know exactly
what your brand conveys. Focus groups and other market research efforts can help
you identify the negative attributes you need to overcome as well as how and when
your organization is at its best.
-
Perception as well
as reality must be addressed. It may not be true, but if a segment of your population
perceives something about your brand, then you have to work to overcome it.
-
Whatever you do, be
authentic. The most effective branding efforts are those that tap into and capitalize
on what’s best or unique about your organization.
-
All branding is “inside-out.”
Fifty-percent of success in branding is not what you do on the outside; it’s what
you do on the inside. From the dean, faculty and staff to students, alumni and volunteers,
everyone owns the brand and serves as your brand ambassadors.
-
Afraid to use the “B”
word in your organization? Then don’t, or simply ease into it. In most academic
settings, branding is still considered to be nothing more than light-weight puffery.
Rather than argue with faculty over its merits, give your project a more benign
name and channel your energy instead into the project itself.
Melodie Jackson
Associate Dean for
Communications & Public Affairs
John F. Kennedy School
of Government
Harvard University
617-495-9378
melodie_jackson@harvard.edu
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/
Podcast Series: University
of Michigan
Background
The Graduate Career Services unit
at the Gerald R. Ford School, University of Michigan views the dissemination of
relevant and timely information to current and prospective students as a core function. For school year 2007-2008, Graduate
Career Services in collaboration with the Communications and Outreach unit developed
and implemented a podcast series featuring interviews with Ford School alumni, employers
recruiting Ford School students, and Ford School staff.
The objectives of the interviews included:
provide snapshots of the spectrum of careers possible with a Ford School
MPP, outline the on-the-job value of the skills gained through the curriculum, create
a sense of connection between past, present, and future students of the Ford School,
and utilize a tool that allows users access to information regardless of hour and
location.
Process and Implementation
The planning and execution of this
podcast series required an intersection of creative and technical abilities. Graduate Career Services functions as
the “talent” or creative arm, while Communications and Outreach provides the technical
capability. In all honesty the creative
arm requires far less skill than the knowledge and abilities necessary to make the
“talent” appear talented, and actually produce a quality output.
Assistant Director of Graduate
Career Services, Tom Phillips, acts as the host and inspiration for the title of
the series – “Tom Talk.” His role is
to identify guests, develop questions aimed at eliciting information important to
the intended audience, and conduct the podcast interviews.
One interview a month is posted to the Ford School website.
A challenge faced in this initiative is the availability of guests.
The series relies on alumni and employers to be physically present at the
Ford School and this limits the variety of sectors and policy areas that have been
covered.
We record the episodes using
Garage Band on a Mac laptop. It is possible to record directly through the microphone
on a computer, but we purchased and use lapel microphones and a portable mixer to
give the episodes a cleaner and more professional sound. Our webmaster has audio
recording and editing experience, but we also plan to use student help on the technical
side and expect to be able to find qualified students fairly easily given the growing
popularity of podcasting and the ubiquity of the required software. We export the
audio files from Garage Band as MP3s and upload them to the school's website and
RSS feed so that users can either listen to the episodes from a web page or subscribe
to have new episodes automatically download to their iTunes. The University of Michigan
recently established a presence on iTunesU and Tom Talk was one of the podcast series
available at launch.
Results
We have yet to conduct comprehensive
analyses on how many people are listening to Tom Talk, however, we do have some
data that reflects that people are tuning in.
During “Spring Preview,” the Ford School’s recruiting event for admitted
students, about 15% of students who completed a Graduate Career Services survey
indicated that they had listened to and were familiar with the podcast series. Additionally, during the initial week
of the University of Michigan launch on iTunes U, Tom Talk was consistently ranked
in the Top 10 of podcasts listened to.
“The popularity of "Tom Talk" is spreading as it was recently featured in a
Teach for America newsletter as a helpful resource to find out more about
careers in public policy and further learn the Ford School and our program here.”
Action Items
-
Select
an alumni to record what he/she learned from his/her MPA/MPP education and how it
is relevant to his/her career.
Bright Ideas
-
Connect
with your school’s technology department for help or advice.
Tom Phillips, NCC
Assistant Director, Graduate Career Services
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
735 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tdphill@umich.edu
(734)615-6454
Increase Student Enrollment with Customer Service: University of Colorado-Denver
As there are no university wide personnel dedicated to
the recruitment of graduate students, no technology available to departments in
terms of automated recruitment software and only limited marketing support, all
recruitment efforts are based within the School, primarily through a full time staff
member who divides her time among recruitment, alumni affairs and marketing responsibilities.
Although working with limited resources (like most in higher ed), the School has
been successful in turning around declining enrollment. Enrollment has increased
in each of the last five semesters and SPA posted the highest percentage increase
in new students of any school at UCD last fall (6.3%) by combining a high standard
of “customer service” with electronic communication and community outreach.
Personalized Service
Give the prospect an experience that exceeds their expectations
-
Initial response within 48 hours
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Personalized response while utilizing available technology
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Don’t try to be everything to everyone/be honest about programs’
strengths and
weaknesses
-
Many “touches” in many different formats
Example: Students receive an initial phone call or
email based on the way they contacted the School.
This is followed up by receipt of an information packet containing a research
publication, viewbook, application and scholarship information (packet sent within
48 hours of inquiry). One week later
they receive a follow up letter reiterating our “selling points” and inviting them
for a visit. After that they will receive
periodic emails inviting them to events at the school, giving them information on
current faculty research and grants and providing them with information on the School
and jobs in public affairs.
Campus Visit
Give the prospect the feeling of being a student
-
Spending the time
-
Faculty Access
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Lunch
-
Student and/or class interaction
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Sell your location (see example page from viewbook)
Ask Yourself:
What appeals
to people involved in public affairs and what is important to students (this will
depend on the specific demographic features of your student body):
outdoor amenities/recreation, climate, number of nonprofits in area, size
of federal workforce, % of alumni who stay in the area, statistics on the downtown/cultural
amenities, proximity to the capitol/policy positions, childcare, etc.
Example: If I have
an out of state prospect coming in, I will give them a tour of our building as well
as the campus, take them to lunch, set up time beforehand for them to visit with
a faculty member and/or visit a class, show them our downtown and possibly take
them about 10 miles west of Denver so they can get a sense for the proximity of
the Rocky Mountains (and some killer views!).
My hope is to give them a sense of what it is like to live in Denver as well
as what it is like to be a student of SPA.
Community Involvement
Making yourself known in the community pays back dividends
in positive word of mouth, referrals and opportunities to market the school.
-
Attend association meetings that match the work of the School
and support professional development events and conferences
Young Nonprofit Professionals
Network
State Nonprofit Association
State Managers Association
Municipal League
-
Collaborate and co-sponsor events
Examples: Bell Policy
Center – panel on current CO fiscal policy; Colorado Nonprofit Association – splitting
the cost of bringing in national speakers; University of Colorado Denver – partnering
with student life and anthropology on public policy/social issues.
-
Be of service (internships/capstone research projects)
-
Invite the community to School events free of charge
-
Be IN the community
Examples:
Holding and advertising events in public
venues….social issues film festival at local bar frequented by patrons that match
the School’s demographics, career panel at local bar/restaurant increases exposure
in our “backyard.”
Using Alumni
Explanation: Each year we ask “super star” graduates
if they will stay connected to the school via our Ambassadors program.
Ambassadors agree to be contacted up to five times per calendar year by prospective
or current students who are similar to the Ambassador in terms of career aspirations,
demographic information (distance student, single parent, etc.).
This allows prospective students to get the “real” story on the School while
allowing us to have some measure of “quality control.”
-
Utilizing alumni panelists on employment panels
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PhD students (mentoring for future PhDs and talking to prospective
students)
-
Informational Interviews
-
Appreciation/professional development events for alums keep
them engaged and help maintain current contact info
Utilizing Alumni Statistics
An alumni survey is given every other year to answer the
questions below.
We use our database of both physical addresses and emails to get in touch with
our graduated students.
Where they go
How much they make
Sector
Job Satisfaction
Lists of Job Titles
Advertising
-
Emphasis on total campaign approach rather than individual
ads
-
Targeted ads based on past prospects (each prospective student
is entered into a spreadsheet. At the
end of each year we tally the prospects by zip code, allowing us to more effectively
target our marketing dollars to areas with higher interest in our programs)
-
Limited budget means a fine line between frequency and variety
of sources
-
Partnering with on-campus entities for more “bang for the
buck” – International Admissions, CU Online, Marketing Communications,
Student Affairs, other
academic units
Example: Sharing cost and coordination efforts of
multi-day photo shoot with the university-wide campus communications department. This allowed us to have SPA students
in all the photos and use the material for SPA specific marketing purposes but the
campus got pictures they could use for general marketing and allowed us to utilize
the discount of full days with the photographer.
Annie MacLachlan
Director, Marketing, Community
Outreach & Alumni Affairs
School of Public Affairs
University of Colorado
Denver
annie.maclachlan@cudenver.edu
303-315-2896
New York University Case Brief
YOUTUBE AND PUBLIC SERVICE
http://www.youtube.com/user/NYUWagner
BACKGROUND
When the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of
Public Service at
New York University
was founded 70 years ago there was no inkling of its future impact in the world.
Begun with a NYC focus, it has taken its collective achievements to the national
and international spectrum.
Wagner defines itself as a place that is reframing
public service education and embracing YouTube is just another way that we grab
every cutting edge opportunity we can. Physically located in the historic
Puck
Building
at the intersection of SoHo and Greenwich Village in
New York City, we are renowned for our research and our role as a convener and educator. Our
faculty is committed to tackling issues such as education, healthcare, housing,
economic development, transportation, infrastructures and related issues – with
expertise in economics, finance, sociology, political science, law, planning, medicine,
and policy analysis.
PROCESS FOR CREATING OUR VIDEOS
In the summer of 2007, we wanted to expose the
eworld to our great faculty research – so we invited them to be videotaped discussing
their current foci of research. We
initially posted them on our home site www.wagner.nyu.edu,
to reach prospective and current students, alumni, scholars, important influencers,
and others interested in public service issues.
PRODUCTION
The faculty fielded questions on camera from
a member of the school’s communications staff, explaining their motivations, methodologies,
and findings. Research areas ranged from dying cities (Professor Beth Weitzman)
to the lobbying industry (Professor Rogan Kersh) to microfinance (Professor Jonathan
Morduch).
In the first stage [2007], we had a staff member
conduct the 45 minute interviews of 10 professors. We did the video taping in-house
in one of our conference rooms. We hired a consultant to do the taping for a very
reasonable rate, but if you don’t have in-house capabilities, you can possibly find
students or low-cost consultants who would do you a favor. This might even include
editing and uploading the video. In fact, did you know that you can also use your
Mac to film and edit?
We had our videos edited by our consultant, and
then as the project evolved, interview subjects were broadened to show the school’s
range of public service involvement.
In addition to faculty, we included a Reynolds Program speaker (Fazle Hasan Abed,
BRAC founder and chairman), students discussing their Capstone projects, and public
events, like the one sponsored by the
NYU Wagner Rudin Center
for Transportation Policy & Management.
INNOVATING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
In the winter of 2008, we thought it would be
helpful to raise the profile of the videos among like-minded nonprofit organizations,
and took the innovative step of posting them on You Tube. In this virtual realm,
we are able to have more interaction with the school’s community at large, drawing
viewer comments in response, and are pleased to be sitting among “related” web sites
that focus as well on public policy issues.
We have subscribed to other YouTube sites such
as the World Bank, C-SPAN, University Channel, Asia Society, and the 92nd
Street Y, and have begun to receive subscribers to our site.
CUSTOMIZING YOUTUBE
In addition to the videos posted to YouTube, we customized
the design of our site by adding our logotype and messaging to the top of the page
as well as an interactive navigation bar which links directly to key landing pages
on wagner.nyu.edu. We have created playlists to direct viewers to particular types
of videos, and we plan to refine these lists as the site expands.
SPECIAL NONPROFIT
CHANNEL OFFERING FOR SCHOOLS
YouTube offers a "nonprofit" channel for U.S.-based
nonprofit with IRS 501(c)(3) tax status, this channel provides enhanced branding
and promotion, increased uploading capacity, and options to facilitate fundraising.
In 2008, NASPAA requested and was approved as
a nonprofit Enhanced Channel. This type of layout is much better in terms of both
design and look and also usability. Check out NASPAA’s You Tube page here:
http://www.youtube.com/MPAMPP.
You should see if your full University already
has a YouTube Enhanced channel. If not you should suggest to your communications
staff that would be a good idea to investigate and perhaps request this status for
your University as well. This type of YouTube channel offers more control,
more space to hold videos and better functionality. There is no cost.
To request nonprofit enhanced channel status
contact: Obadiah Greenberg at obie@google.com.
Useful links related to production of YouTube
site include:
YouTube Handbook
http://www.youtube.com/t/yt_handbook_home
YouTube Nonprofit Tip Sheet
http://www.youtube.com/t/ngo_tips
Lawrence Mirsky,
Robyn L. Stein
w: 212-992-9861
robyn.stein@nyu.edu
Sr. Director
of External Affairs
NYU Wagner Graduate School
of Public
Service