FIR on Higher Education

There is an art to communicating research in a compelling a way. There is also a process to strategically disseminating research to achieve institutional goals. On episode 43, Kirk Englehardt from Georgia Institute of Technology discusses this dynamic.

Kirk has developed and led the execution of the university’s first-ever integrated strategic marketing and communications plan supporting a $730 Million research enterprise. It involves coordinating the activities of 6 colleges, 29 schools, 10 research institutes, the GT Research Corporation and the GT Enterprise Innovation Institute.

Kirk shares his experience growing the Georgia Tech Research Institute from a team of one employee and no resources to a high-performance team of 11 communications professionals with an annual budget of nearly $1.4 million. He offers best practice for communicators and academics on the following:

– The importance of communicating research

– Linking research communications to big picture institutional goals and formulating a strategy

– Developing an editorial strategy

– Communicating research in a visually compelling way

– Creating a print magazine

– Leveraging Research Gate

About Kirk Englehardt

Kirk Englehardt is Director of Research Communication and Marketing for the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is responsible for establishing and executing the strategic communications and marketing plan supporting the school’s $700M research enterprise. His past lives include serving as Director of Communication for the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), Public Information Officer for the Georgia Department of Education, Director of Community Relations for Broward County (FL) Public Schools, Media Relations Specialist for the Broward County (FL) Sheriff’s Office and a Reporter for WIOD Newsradio 610 in Miami.

He blogs about research communications best practice at http://www.scilogs.com and you can connect with him on Twitter @kirkenglehardt.

The post Higher Education #43: The Art of Communicating Research appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Whether you like it or not, different higher education rankings have a huge impact on where students attend school. It is always fascinating to see different schools shout from the rooftops when then they receive favorable ratings, and then duck and go into silence mode when the ranking results are a bit unpleasant.

Della Bradshaw, Business Education Editor at the Financial Times, has been managing the FT’s rankings since 1998. She has seen it all in terms of rankings, and so I sat down to interview her about the rankings process on FIR on Higher Education episode 42. Among the topics we discuss:

About Della Bradshaw

Della Bradshaw is the FT’s Business Education Editor and is responsible for all our business education coverage online, in the newspaper and in our magazines. She established the business education section in 1995 and devised and launched the first FT business school rankings in 1999. Before this, she was the Technology Lead Writer for the FT. She has previously lived and taught in Italy, Turkey and Japan.

The post #42: De-mystifying Rankings – Interview with Financial Times Business Education Editor Della Bradshaw appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Anybody that has gone through a brand review process knows that getting stakeholders aligned on key messaging is no easy task. It is certainly a challenge to put together a message map (like this one from the University of Missouri Extension) and then to cascade it throughout an institution.

On episode 41, we explore these topics with Deborah Maue, VP of Strategic Marketing and Communications at Columbia College in Chicago and co-author of the 2015 Higher Ed Branding survey. In the interview, Deb discusses how to use research to align on messaging, the role workshops can plan in teaching colleagues to communicate the key messaging in an authentic way and the value of a messaging map, among other topics.

If you are thinking about how to approach a branding exercise within your group or institution, then you certainly won’t want to miss this episode.

At the conclusion of the interview, I discuss my new free Media Training for Academics mini-course which I will be delivering via Periscope. 

About Deborah Maue

As VP of Strategic Marketing and Communications at Columbia College, Deborah Maue provides innovative leadership and strategic vision to the College’s marketing, branding and communications divisions. She has a significant role in the implementation of the College’s Strategic Action Plan and oversees staff across marketing, publications, creative, web and digital, and the news office. Prior to assuming her role with Columbia College earlier this year, she was with mStoner, the higher education marketing firm.

Maue has more than 20 years of experience in consumer packaged goods and higher education marketing, including quantitative and qualitative market research, brand development, marketing strategy and marketing communications. Prior to her position at mStoner, Maue led the higher education group at TRU, the global leader in teen and young adult insights, and spent seven years as the associate vice president for marketing strategy at DePaul University, where she led DePaul’s strategic branding and marketing efforts.

Maue received her Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Juniata College and an MBA in marketing and finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

The post #41: How to Identify and Cascade Your Key Brand Messaging appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

It is important to understand how our respective brands are perceived in the marketplace and then to potentially adapt accordingly. This will often times require doing a strategic brand review.

Xavier University Professor Tom Hayes is able to shed light on how to best do this. An expert on the marketing of higher education, Hayes was the lead author of a 2015 study entitled The State of Higher Education Branding, a survey of marketing professionals in leading brand strategy projects on their campuses. On episode 40 of FIR on Higher Education, Professor Hayes shares details about the survey findings and offer his own best practice advice on how to think through strategic brand reviews. Among the topics we discuss are:

– The best time to move forward with a brand strategy review and the duration it should take.

– How to get buy-in throughout the institution.

– Best practice advice on conducting research as part of a brand strategy review.

– Making sense of the data collected and building consensus on changes to implement.

– Ensuring branding is cascaded throughout an institution.

In our reports section, I share findings from a separate study on how Chief Marketing Officers are thinking about the future.

The analysis from these two studies and the tips from Professor Hayes will certainly provide inspiration and best practice on how to think through branding at your institution.

About Tom Hayes

Tom Hayes is Chair and Professor of Marketing at Xavier University where he has taught for the last 38 years. He has also previously served as Chair of the Department for 13 years and as the Director of Institutional Advancement. He is presently Vice-president and Partner of Simpson-Scarborough, a full service marketing consulting agency for institutions of higher education. He was the founder of the American Marketing Association’s Symposium on the Marketing of Higher Education and is editor of The Journal of Marketing for Higher Education. He had a book entitled Marketing Professional Services, co-authored with Philip Kotler, published in January 2001. He is a nationally recognized expert in services marketing, the marketing of higher education, and the development of ideas for new products and services, and consults in these areas on a national and international basis.

The post FIR on Higher Education #40: The State of Higher Education Branding appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Say you are an academic and you’ve recently published a new book. How can use social media to position – and ultimately sell – the book? Ditto for an admissions or marketing team looking to increase the number of students who apply for a particular program at their institution.

Greg Hyer, a social sales trainer, addresses these questions on episode 39 of FIR on Higher Education. Among the topics we discuss are:

About Greg Hyer

The post FIR on Higher Education 39: Social Selling in a Higher Education Context appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

In episode 37, we looked at how mobile live streaming apps can be leveraged from an institutional point of view. For episode 38, we look at mobile live streaming apps from the perspective of the classroom and how professors can leverage these tools.

Joining me are three individuals who have used mobile live streaming apps in their respective classrooms: Karen Freberg from the University of Louisville, Jimmy Sanderson from Clemson and Chris Yandle from the Georgia Tech athletics department and also an adjunct professor at Kennesaw State University.

Among the topics we discuss related to mobile live streaming apps are:

About Jimmy Sanderson

Jimmy Sanderson is the Director of Marketing, Communications, & Faculty Relations with Clemson Online. He maintains an active research agenda on social media and sports and is the author of It’s a Whole New Ballgame: How Social Media is Changing Sports and Developing Successful Social Media Plans in Sport Organizations with Chris Yandle. He also consults with companies and athletic organizations on social media. You can find him on Twitter @jimmy_sanderson

About Karen Freberg

Karen Freberg is an assistant professor in strategic communications at the University of Louisville as well as an adjunct instructor for the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Graduate Online Program at West Virginia University. She is actively involved in researching in public relations, reputation management, social media and crisis communications. Along with her research, Karen tries to inspire and brainstorm creative applications for this research not only to the scholarly community, but also for businesses and agencies in public relations. She is passionate about educating, mentoring, and teaching the future professionals in the field of public relations, strategic communications, social media and crisis communications.

About Chris Yandle

Chris Yandle was named Assistant AD for Communications & Public Relations at Georgia Tech on July 23, 2014. He serves as the Yellow Jackets’ football contact and oversees the day-to-day operations of the Communications & PR office.

Prior to joining the Georgia Tech staff, Yandle spent two years at the University of Miami – his first year as Director of Communications and his second year as Assistant AD for Communications. During his time at Miami, he implemented a social media strategy across all platforms and a communications standards guide for the department. He also oversaw social media education for Hurricanes student-athletes, coaches and staff.

He co-wrote a college textbook with Clemson professor Jimmy Sanderson titled Developing Successful Social Media Plans in Sport Organizations. The book was released in May 2015. He is also an adjunct instructor in public relations at Kennesaw State. He has also taught at Baylor University (Fall 2011) and West Virginia University (online, Summer 2015).

Related Links

Five Ways for Professors to Use Periscope In and Out of the Classroom (Karen Freberg Blog)

Five Ways Brands Can Use Periscope and Meerkat (Entrepreneur Magazine)

The post Higher Education #38 – Mobile Live Streaming Apps in the Classroom appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

There are tremendous opportunities to tell the story of your school through mobile living streaming apps. You can potentially provide the public with opportunities to catch a glimpse into the life of leadership; show prospective students tours of facilities; and take the viewers inside the classroom. Mobile live streaming apps also present new challenges, particularly around the topics of privacy and cyberbullying.

On episode 37 of FIR on Higher Education, University of Michigan Director of Social Media Nikki Sunstrum will talk about how she is thinking through these opportunities and challenges. Specifically, we’ll cover:

– Takeaways from the University of Michigan’s use of mobile live streaming apps to date

– The differences between Meerkat and Periscope

– Thinking through a live streaming strategy

– Potential opportunities

– Privacy and cyberbullying matters

In my reports section, I discuss an article written by two academics on the disruption within higher education and why marketers / communicators need to work on having a clearly defined value proposition.

About Nikki Sunstrum

Nikki Sunstrum is the Director of Social Media at the University of Michigan. She oversees strategies for all social media accounts used by all departments and schools of the university. Focused on taking the “shiny” out of social, Nikki is an advocate of goal related application and collaboration. She can be found on Twitter @nikkisunstrum.

The post 37: Live Streaming Apps and Higher Education appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Perhaps you are looking to launch a new content marketing strategy at your school. Or maybe you want to re-evaluate your current content strategy. Where do you begin? How do you create the type of content that will educate and inform targeted audiences and support overall business / institutional objectives?

Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, answers such questions on episode #36 of FIR on Higher Education. Among the topics we discuss:

Whether you have a content strategy in place or are thinking about creating one in the future, you will not want to miss out on hearing Joe’s insights.

In our reports section, I discuss how university presidents’ compensation can potentially be a communications matter and impact the perception of an institution.

About Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi is founder of Content Marketing Institute, the leading education and training organization for content marketing, which includes the largest in-person content marketing event in the world, Content Marketing World.  Joe is the winner of the 2014 John Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Content Council.   Joe’s third book, Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less was named one of “Five Must Read Business Books of 2013” by Fortune Magazine. You can find Joe on Twitter @JoePulizzi. If you ever see Joe in person, he’ll be wearing orange.

The post #36: Joe Pulizzi on Content Marketing Best Practice appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Gardiner Morse, Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review

“Anybody that thinks print is dead –  that’s not necessarily true.”

These are the words Harvard Business Review senior editor Gardiner Morse used on the latest episode of the FIR on Higher Education podcast while describing the growth at HBR. Gardiner highlighted HBR’s 58% increase in newsstand sales since 2010 and the increase in paid subscriptions.

Gardiner has been with HBR since 2001. He shares insights on the changes that have taken place at HBR over the years and offers analysis on where the publication could be headed in the future.

In addition to sharing the business landscape of HBR, Gardiner also offers practical advice on how academics and PR professionals can work with the publication, including:

He also talks about the process of crafting content for the HBR voice. In summary, he said: “We are looking for an authoritative expert voice that is conversational. Something I say to authors is to imagine you are at a dinner party explaining your idea to a business executive sitting in the next chair. You are not going to recite the abstract from the journal article. You are also not going to wing it. You are going to strike that balance between scholarly and conversational.”

Have a listen to the entire episode for more insights.

On our reports segments, I highlight other best practice pitching advice from editors, while contributor Harry Hawk reviews different elements of Blackboard.

About Gardiner Morse

The post #35: Sr Editor Gardiner Morse on Working with HBR appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

How can you secure speaking opportunities? What goes into a good presentation? If you are an academic / thought leader and recently wrote a book, how do you convert those 200 pages into a one-hour keynote?

Special guest Gini Dietrich delves into these questions on episode 34 of FIR on Higher Education. Along with being the mastermind of the popular PR blog called Spin Sucks and an author of two books, Gini is also a regular speaker.

Among what you will learn:

This is an episode that you won’t want to miss and will want to revert back to when your different public speaking opportunities arise!

In our reports section, I highlight points made in a Harvard Business Review article by Ted Talks curator Chris Anderson on how to give a killer presentation, while technology correspondent Harry Hawk reviews the blogging feature that is part of Blackboard.

About Gini Dietrich

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