Education Leaders: 3 Initiatives To Keep Up With The Demand Of The New Era

In the age of digital technology when more alternatives are becoming available to non-traditional students, one of the biggest challenges facing education strategists is to sustain their business models and reinforce value propositions. As a graduate student at Northwestern University with an interest in education and marketing strategies, I find myself regularly involved in conversations over the impacts of digital disruptions across industries and reflect on my educational experience. I recently found two insightful articles discussing the future of education and thought it would be useful to share with you the key take-aways to prepare better for any challenges that may come your way.

In his Huffington Post article “Welcome to the Campus of 2019,” Dr. Scott D. Miller of Virginia Wesleyan College discussed how technology influenced the way students perceive the world today, how this in turn emphasized the need for campus facilities to retool and for academic departments to restructure. His argument was that technology would redefine students’ role as curriculum drivers and knowledge regenerators. Therefore, the new academic model will require departments to collaborate, offer inter-disciplinary course offerings to add dynamic skill sets to the mix. He also proposed that the campus of the future will fully bloom as a center of marketing, where those institutions with clearly defined missions, markets and audience insights, communication strategies and operational efficiencies would come out on top.

Source: Carleton

While the above article envisioned the overall future education landscape, “Three trends that will influence learning and teaching” by Debbie Morrison examined specific themes with real life examples and key drivers statistics. Morrison strongly suggested that MOOCs facilitated a large variety of learning options that disrupted higher education and more institutions would be joining the movement to create more alternative learning pathways. She supported the “reinvention of teaching models and learning spaces” as the appropriate response to digital technology and culture, where the approach will shift from instructors-focused and passive to students-centered and active.

Reviewing these articles from the perspective of an aspiring marketing strategist, I have developed 3 action items you could consider now to make technologies work for you and sustain your institutions’ business models: 

1. Put students first - Design the educational experience around the needs of digital-age-students. Use technologies such as interactive video exercises to free up classroom time spent on lectures (instructors-focused) and instead focus on mentoring interaction and even peer-to-peer coaching (students-centered).

2. Personalize learning - Make use of big data (comprehensive dashboard) and small data (real-time interaction) to monitor performance and progress. While this allows students to be in control of their learning goals and pace, it helps ensure appropriate intervention to each student’s learning pattern.

3. Redefine achievement - The future of transcripts will likely be more similar to portfolios: projects involved, products built, people helped… Rethink achievements - give employers reasons to believe and your students reasons to be proud.

Changes are inevitable, and education leaders should be the ones well prepared enough to navigate the radically changing environment and support students to thrive in the digital age. The above 3 initiatives could be the core to a compass system that will help education leaders keep up with the dynamic development of demand for educational services.

Amy Dang is a digital technology enthusiast and lifelong learner. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications at Medill - Northwestern University. She will be graduating in December 2017 with specializations in Brand Strategy and Media Strategy. Amy has 4 years of professional experience in marketing and aspires to work on higher education development strategies.  You can get in touch with her on Twitter @a_myzing

3 ways the programmatic industry can become customer-centric

As the CEO of a programmatic technology company, you know that the industry is constantly changing and the decisions you make must address that change. As a student in the Northwestern Medill Integrated Marketing Communications program, former strategic planner and former consultant to a programmatic company, I have found two articles which provide helpful insights on how your programmatic company can become customer-centric and help your team rise to the top.

This Mediapost article explains how the programmatic industry struggles to be customer-centric because of the lack of understanding of the technology itself – a knowledge gap, from an internal agency & advertiser stand point. It brings to the table, concerns of how the industry will carry on selling something when it is not completely understood. Another article from MarketingTech also touches upon how the lack of knowledge of the technology might result into lack of confidence in technology and mistrust over transparency from a customer’s perspective. Thus, the root problem for the industry still lies in the fact that there is a huge knowledge gap that needs to be corrected if the industry wants to achieve sustainable growth.

Based on the problems identified, the industry needs to focus on being customer-centric in order to bridge the knowledge gap and help the customer build more confidence in the technology itself. Through my experience at Northwestern University and IMC, I recommend these three tips to become customer-centric and bridge the knowledge gap for customers:

• Training programs for customers- Training programs will be a great medium to connect with customers; they will ensure that the company can have open conversations with your customers about the challenges they face with the technology. It will not just help educate but will also help the product team understand problems from the customer's perspective.
• Customers are experts- The idea is also to make customers feel like they are experts in order to make them even more confident about their investments in programmatic buying.
• Avoid jargon- It is essential that the content and collateral that the programmatic company produces, makes the complexities of the engineering technology simple. The tonality of the content should be simple and easy to understand for the customers.

Thus, if a programmatic company wants sustainable growth, the first thing it needs to do is become customer-centric and reduce the knowledge that exists internally and externally. Companies which can successfully reduce the knowledge gap, will be the ones who succeed and will gain customer's trust. 

Isha Deodhar is an experienced data-driven marketing and strategy professional with over three years of industry experience in Consumer Products & B2B Technology Strategy. She has a Master's in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University as well as a Master's in Economics. You can follow her on @ishadeodhar on Twitter and Linkedin.

Senior Executives: Mobilize your employees to solve business problems

As a senior executive, you look for ways to harness the massive creativity and brainpower of your employees to solve business challenges, like product innovation, customer loyalty, or strategic growth. As a graduate student in Marketing Communications at Northwestern’s Medill School, I have found two articles that help us understand how to mobilize our employees.

Too often your messages to employees are weighed down by impersonal and technical language that leaves employees uninterested in, unmotivated by and confused about how their work improves products, profits, or customer satisfaction. In Corporate Executive Board’s Three ways to move stakeholders to action, Dorian Cundick shares ways to get your employees' immediate attention. Cundick recommends putting your employee's perspective at the center of the message by creating a sense of urgency and "channeling your inner newscaster" to develop attention-grabbing headlines for your message.

Once you've got your employees' attention, Weber Shandwick’s fascinating report on employee advocacy titled Employees Rising outlines how to spur your employees to act. Weber Shandwick segments your employee population by advocacy willingness and potential, sharing ways to motivate your employees to be fully engaged. They note that over half of your employees could be company advocates if you value their ideas, keep them well-informed, and listen and respond to them.

Based on my insights from these articles, I recommend you take these three actions immediately.   

1. Put the employee at the center - Employees spend the day thinking about their work, their families, and their challenges. In order to get their attention, word the message in terms of their needs and business perspective. Moreover, speak specifically on their role in developing the solution. For instance, if the business challenge is financial, replace your financial vernacular with terms that the employees use in their daily work, providing examples of how their work impacts the desired goal.

2. Create an experience - Employees want to feel something, so consider how employees feel about the business challenge. Address those emotions using personal pronouns to communicate that you understand their concerns and problems. And, not every message has to be framed seriously. Find a way to make it fun - poll employees, ask them thought-provoking questions, and if appropriate, make them laugh. If your message reaches an employee’s emotions, they will be more likely to talk about it with other employees thus furthering the creative solutions.


3. Be social - Your company’s internal and external social communities are full of creative solutions to business challenges. Use this existing database to source solutions and to encourage further dialog around a problem. Personally respond to employee ideas on these communities to signal that you value their ideas. As mentioned before, put the employee at the center and create an emotional experience. Your engagement will increase their likelihood to act for the benefit of the company. Not only will your social activity help solve the current business problem, your dialog on social channels can help address future challenges.

Senior executives, think like your employees to encourage creative solutions, and then cultivate these inputs on social channels to show that you value their thoughts. Once they see that their ideas are important to you, they will be ready to go solve the problem. 


 

Posted by Johanna Soyars
I am a communications manager for a Fortune 50 company. I have worked in small businesses and large corporations on change management, employee engagement, and external communications. My time with Sensors Unlimited, Goodrich and UTC has taught be that the fundamentals of people, communications and networks remain the same. I plan to continue on in marketing communications after graduation seeking fresh ways for businesses to gain customer and employee trust. Questions? Contact me through Twitter at @jgsoyars.

Recognition Doesn't Happen By Clicking your Ruby Slippers

Have you spent any time lately on building awareness of all the great work you do?  Hmmm...that’s what I thought.  Very few of the female entrepreneurs, smaller business owners and even executives that I work spend enough time marketing their personal brand.

ruby slippers

 While so many of us are good at working hard (my closest colleagues are some of the biggest martyrs I know), we often fall short when it comes to working smart—especially when it comes to promoting the great work that we do.  Professional recognition, from business awards to executive profiles to placements on corporate or community boards, is a great way to increase your personal visibility and brand awareness.

Tell Your Story

The most recognized leaders of our time all have one thing in common:  they passionately believe in their work.  They communicate it.  They tell and promote their story.  And, the next day, they get up and do it all over again.  Whether you are a corporate exec or entrepreneur, make sure you learn how to tell your story really well.  Practice it on family and friends to start.  Say it to the mirror in the morning.  Write about it.  Record it.  Once you fully believe in yourself and can share your story with others, the more likely they will help tell and share your story.  What’s your story? How do you differentiate yourself?  Here’s a simple, but fun video that shares ideas on how even your business card can help tell your story http://bit.ly/15bGzbE.

 

Ask For What You Want

Pam Jeffrey, president and CEO of the Jeffery Group and founder of the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Top 100 Most Powerful Women Awards believes women should ask for what they want.  Whether that means nominating yourself or asking a colleague to nominate you for an award, you need to proactively go after it.  On many occasions, you will be surprised on how many women are willing to help.  So if you want to be recognized, go for it.  Don’t be shy.

Teach & Mentor – Pay it Forward

Sometimes the best way to gain professional klout is to teach what you know to others.  Look for guest lecturing opportunities at local universities or speak at your professional association’s monthly luncheon.  Sometimes the best way to get recognition is to get away from your office, company and usual lunch buddies.  It’s often the people that you DON’T work with everyday that recognize your greatest talents.  And whatever you, don’t forget to help others along the way.   Proactively reward good work.  Be a role model for encouraging people’s natural talents. 

Here are some other great tips http://bit.ly/10pIvg4.    

Be Authentic

Lastly, be authentic in all you do.  The worst thing you can do is to try and be something that you are not.   You won’t be able to pull it off and others won’t believe it.  Make sure your story is unique to you and showcases your passion for what you do.  Then, get out there and promote it.  Go ahead, stop waiting for those magic ruby slippers (and the wand, of course) and go out and tell your story.  Celebrate you. 

Melissa Murphy is marketing and business planning consultant that works primarily with female entrepreneurs and small business owners.  Previous clients include Charlie the Tuna and Morris the Cat.  She is also a graduate student at Northwestern University. Follow her at @melissamurphyco.  

It Doesn’t Happen By Clicking Your Ruby Slippers

Have you spent any time lately on building awareness of all the great work you do?  (I can actually hear the crickets.) Hmmm...that’s what I thought.  

While so many of us are good at working hard (my closest colleagues are some of the biggest martyrs I know), we often fall short when it comes to working smart—especially when it comes to promoting our own brand.  Professional recognition, from business awards to executive profiles to placements on corporate or community boards, is a great way to increase your personal visibility and brand awareness.

ruby slippers

Tell Your Story

The most recognized leaders of our time all have one thing in common:  they passionately believe in their work.  They communicate it.  They tell and promote their story.  And, the next day, they get up and do it all over again.  Whether you are a corporate exec or entrepreneur, make sure you learn how to tell your story really well.  Practice it on family and friends to start.  Say it to the mirror in the morning.  Write about it.  Record it.  Once you fully believe in yourself and can share your story with others, the more likely they will help tell and share your story.  What’s your story? How do you differentiate yourself? 

Ask For What You Want

Pam Jeffrey, president and CEO of the Jeffery Group and founder of the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Top 100 Most Powerful Women Awards believes women should ask for what they want.  Whether that means nominating yourself or asking a colleague to nominate you for an award, you need to proactively go after it.  On many occasions, you will be surprised on how many women are willing to help.  So if you want to be recognized, go for it.  Don’t be shy.

Teach & Mentor – Pay it Forward

Sometimes the best way to gain professional klout is to teach what you know to others.  Look for guest lecturing opportunities at local universities or speak at your professional association’s monthly luncheon.  Sometimes the best way to get recognition is to get away from your office, company and usual lunch buddies.  It’s often the people that you DON’T work with everyday that recognize your greatest talents.  And whatever you, don’t forget to help others along the way.   Proactively reward good work.  Be a role model for encouraging people’s natural talents. 

Be Authentic

Lastly, be authentic in all you do.  The worst thing you can do is to try and be something that you are not.   You won’t be able to pull it off and others won’t believe it.  Make sure your story is unique to you and showcases your passion for what you do.  Then, get out there and promote it.  Go ahead, stop waiting for those magic ruby slippers (and the wand, of course) and go out and tell your story.  Celebrate you. 

Melissa Murphy is marketing and business planning consultant that works primarily with female entrepreneurs and small business owners.  Previous clients include Charlie the Tuna and Morris the Cat.  She is also a graduate student at Northwestern University. Follow her at @melissamurphyco.  

For more tips, see Ten ways for women to raise their professional profiles.