IU Marketing Leaders Conference Improving Marketing Effectiveness and Efficiency at Indiana University Dan Smith Dean and Professor of Marketing Kelley

IU Marketing Leaders Conference

Improving Marketing Effectiveness and Efficiency at Indiana University

Dan SmithDean and Professor of Marketing

Kelley School of Business



Agenda

• First principles: What is marketing and why does it matter?

• How to build the overall IU brand yet recognize unique competitive environments of individual academic units?

• Improving marketing effectiveness and efficiency at Indiana University: A few concrete actions


What is marketing?• A “constituency-focused” approach to running an organization

– Goal: Maximize the mutual lifetime value of relationships with key constituencies

• Based on:

1. Understanding the important problems/needs facing key constituency groups

2. Developing programs/initiatives that address those needs better than competing options

3. Communicating your points of value-added benefits in a credible way


Why does it matter?

• Forces us to examine the ways in which we are truly differentiated (or not) in terms of how we add value to constituencies we serve.

• Principle #1 in marketing efficiency and effectiveness: Do you really have something compelling AND unique to offer to key constituency groups???

• Every academic unit/program should have compelling value propositions aligned with each audience they serve.


Why does it matter?

• Value propositions are at the foundation of marketing effectiveness and efficiency.

• Basic format:

“For people who [describe the target constituency group and the need/problem you address], [your service] provides [state the benefits that are truly unique compared to competitors].”


Why does it matter?• Value propositions are “internal” statements that

should guide how you communicate to a desired audience.

• Example: The Kelley Direct MBA

“For bright professionals who want to improve their lives by advancing their careers yet are not inclined to attend a traditional part-time MBA program, Kelley Direct provides the quality and prestige of a world renown MBA using the most flexible in-residence/online format in the marketplace today.”


Differences in marketing in the private and university sectors• Indiana University:

– Prospective students– Parents of prospective students– Current students– Parents of current students– State legislature– Alumni and prospective donors– Prospective faculty– Current faculty and staff– Organizations that hire our students (and those that do not)– Research funding organizations etc.


Differences in marketing in the private and university sectors• Larger number of constituencies leads to larger number of people who

are engaged in “marketing” … even though we do not call it “marketing” … even though we may not have many “marketing-related” job titles.

• Examples:– President McRobbie, Chancellors, Deans, Program Chairs, Center

Directors, etc.– All of our government outreach team– Student recruiting functions (IU, Campus-specific, unit)– Alumni relations (IU, Campus-specific, academic unit)– Development operations– Etc.


How to create a coherent IU brand and yet recognize the unique needs and competitive challenges of individual academic units?• Analogy:

– IBM “Building a smarter planet”

– Every division and product line within IBM has value propositions that fit with and reinforce the larger concept yet address their respective unique competitive environments

• Indiana University?

– We have established differentiated missions

– Now ... move toward value propositions for campuses and units within each campus


How to create a coherent IU brand and yet recognize the unique needs and competitive challenges of individual academic units?

Indiana University Value Proposition

• Campus value proposition: Why IU-B is special v. peers

• Campus-level constituency value propositions: Why parents should select IU-B over

peer institutions

Why alumni should support IU-B overother not-for-profits

• Unit-level value proposition Why the Kelley School is special v. peers

• Unit-specific constituency Why parents with kids interested in value propositions business should select Kelley over

other undergraduate options


How to create a coherent IU brand and yet recognize the unique needs and competitive challenges of individual academic units?

• Where/how to begin?

- Top down

- Bottom up

Summary of Recommendations

Shared with Trustees


First principles• Objectives:

– Effectiveness: Did a given marketing initiative achieve the desired objective(s)?• Related: Are objectives somehow linked to financial outcomes?

– Efficiency: How do we achieve the greatest impact per dollar invested? Or … How can we achieve a desired target level of impact for the least investment?

• Note: Goal is not always to “reduce” spending … but rather to allocate it in ways that have the greatest impact

• Example: Kelley Direct circa 2005

Improve impression ofIU among leaders of

peer schools

Improve reputation-basedmedia rankings

Reduction in studentrecruiting/acquisition cost


1. Branding IU• Objectives:

– Succinctly communicate points of meaningful uniqueness– Provide general guidance for individual units

– Long-term improvement of marketing efficiency

• Actions:– Bottom-up approach– Develop/refine value propositions for individual academic

units using professional guidance

– Identify common threads/themes that shape overarching IU positioning


2. Unit-level marketing plans with clear objectives and accountability for assessing impact• Objectives:

– Leverage “accountability” aspects of RCM– Encourage thought before action– Recognition of opportunity cost– Address marketing professionalism issues raised by Accenture

• Actions:– Central feature of annual budget meeting

– Develop “format” for presenting marketing objectives and results• Must demonstrate actions to bring about material productivity gains

– Training session for key staff on how to develop marketing plans and assess performance


3. Forum for sharing effective practices• Objectives:

– Vicarious “learning by doing” – Create a true “learning organization”– Reduce/remove repetition of ineffective practices

• Actions:– Create format for recording marketing initiatives– Compile examples – not limited to “success stories” as we also need to know what

has not worked well in the past– Organize by objectives– Illustrate how performance was measured– Explicitly highlight general principles of success or lack thereof– House on searchable intranet site


4. Reduce printed materials for non revenue-generating support units + increased centralization of their marketing activities• Objectives:

– Reduce/eliminate materials that simply “talk to ourselves”– Migrate “fact reporting” to web– Migrate “update/event” notices to electronic media

• Action steps– Training session(s) on how to develop marketing plans– Budget presentations should include plan for dramatic reduction in use of

printed materials– Budget meetings include plan for migrating most (if not all) marketing

activities to centralized service


5. Centralization of “predictable” strategic marketing activities for revenue-producing units

• Objectives: – Capture efficiency gains of thoughtful centralization

– Improve effectiveness of planned marketing actions

– Not lose flexibility of decentralization of appropriate initiatives

• Action steps– Units create inventory of marketing initiatives

– Identify those that are “predictable” and can be planned in advance … these are handled by central service

– Office of Creative Services (OCS) develops “account manager” model

– OCS evaluated on customer service and cost efficiency


Questions and Discussion ….

Documents

IU Marketing Leaders Conference Improving Marketing Effectiveness and Efficiency at Indiana University Dan Smith Dean and Professor of Marketing Kelley