Moments of Truth (MOT) in Selecting a College

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I just finished reading  ZMOT – Winning the Zero Moment of Truth, the slim book from Google on the latest trends in marketing. I decided to apply the framework to selecting a college.

Back in the day, the purchasing process was a 3-step mental model:

  • Stimulus
  • First Moment of Truth (Shelf)
  • Second Moment of Truth (Experience)

Back then, for example, you watched a commercial on television (stimulus), went to the store to see the product that was advertised (shelf), purchased the product, took it home, and started to use it (experience).

Today, there is a 4-step mental model:

  • Stimulus
  • Zero Moment of Truth (Online)
  • First Moment of Truth (Shelf)
  • Second Moment of Truth (Experience)

Today, for example, you see a commercial on television (stimulus), grab your tablet or smart phone to do some online research (online), go to the store to see the product that was advertised (shelf), purchase the product, take it home, start to use it (experience), and go online to comment about the product.

So how does this work for selecting a college. The appendix in ZMOT has a list of activities for each Moment of Truth (MOT). I tweaked the list, i.e., added some examples and deleted some things that, from my perspective, did not apply to the college selection process.

Stimulus received by the prospective student (or their parents)…

  • Noticed advertising about the college while browsing online
  • The brand they grew up with, e.g., in Indiana that would either be Purdue University or Indiana University
  • Looked at/read magazine advertisements
  • Saw an ad on an outdoor billboard
  • Read magazine articles/reviews/information
  • Saw an ad in a newspaper/newspaper insert
  • Read newspaper articles/reviews/information about the college
  • Attended a sporting event at the college
  • Received mail at home from the college (e.g., catalogue, brochure)
  • Heard the college discussed on the radio
  • Saw advertisements on television

Most of the above will not reach the 17 or 18 year old prospective students, e.g., they are not reading newspapers. However, much of it will reach their parents who are concerned about the future of their sons and daughters.

ZMOT (Zero Moment of Truth) the prospective student…

  • Talked with friends/family about the college
  • Searched online, used a search engine to visit the college’s web site
  • Comparison shopped online
  • Sought information from the college’s web site
  • Read product reviews or endorsements online, e.g., Top 25 Sites for Real College Reviews by Students
  • Read comments following an article/opinion piece online
  • Became a friend/follower/”liked” a college’s Facebook page
  • Watched videos about the college online
  • Read/visited a blog that discussed the college
  • Searched the web for information with their mobile phone
  • Talked to an admission counselor online
  • Saw college mentioned on a social networking website like Facebook
  • Received a referral from a friend online
  • Searched for a scholarship with a mobile phone
  • Looked for scholarship information on the college’s website
  • Participated in a chat or discussion online about the college
  • Read/visited a forum/message board about the college
  • Talked to an admission counselor via email
  • Commented on a forum/message board about the college

More and more prospective students are checking everything out online before they come to campus for a visit or apply. Frankly, this has been going on for quite some time and probably will only increase.

FMOT (First Moment of Truth) the prospective student…

  • spoke with an admission counselor at a college fair
  • spoke with an admission counselor on the phone
  • went on a campus tour, saw facilities, and met with professors
  • read brochure/pamphlet about the college while on the campus tour
  • told family/friends that they have applied to the college/university
  • received an acceptance letter from a college
  • received a financial aid award letter from a college

The financial aid award letter is so important that it could be its own moment of truth.

SMOT (Second Moment of Truths) the student…

  • started classes at the college/university
  • wrote a review about the college/university on a website, e.g., collegeprowler.com
  • wrote about experiences on their Facebook page
  • posted Tweets about his/her experiences at the college
  • wrote about their experiences at the college on a blog

It is easy to see how student reviews and comments about their college experiences (SMOT) can easily influence prospective students who are doing background research online about a college (ZMOT).

What will be the outcome as the real life reviews from students are mixed with the carefully crafted messages found on many college’s web sites? The good news for those who do marketing communications is that most reviews by consumers are generally positive. According to research conducted by Bazaarvoice, in the United States 80% of all reviews online are four to five stars.

Tactics Win Marketplace Battles | Strategy Wins the War

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The word “strategy” is used a lot in business and marketing. It seems that there is a strategy for everything, for example, advertising strategy, business strategy, personnel strategy, media strategy, social media strategy, and web site strategy, just to name a few. Frankly, the word is overused. I like Brook’s assessment: for many people strategy just means that someone has thought about some aspect of business or marketing more deeply and for a longer period of time than most other people. Well, that’s fine, but that is not what strategy is about.

Strategy is a military term. So, like Brooks, that is where I went for a definition. It was the 19th century Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz who wrote: “Tactics is the art of using troops in battle; strategy is the art of using battles to win the war.” Let’s fast forward to 1989, and quote the United States Marine Corps Warfighting manual:”…strategy deals with winning wars and tactics with winning battles and engagements….”

Following that line of reasoning, for the person directing the marketing communications effort, “the art of using troops” would be the art of using everything from advertising to a web site to win promotional battles in the marketplace. Advertising, direct mail, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and a web site are tactics. You deploy them and other tactics to win battles.

And not only do you need a promotional, i.e., marketing communications, strategy, you need strategies for product, price, and place. Strategies for the 4Ps of marketing need to support each other. You can’t have a great promotional strategy and poor product strategy, for example.

Strategy is winning the RIGHT battles and winning a series of them. You have to pick your battles carefully. Otherwise, you will waste precious resources fighting and winning insignificant battles in the marketplace. And, more importantly, ultimately you will lose the war.

Get a Branding Conversation Started with this Simple Exercise

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Here is a simple, inexpensive, and powerful way to find out what people think about your organization. Send at least 30 people you know an email and ask them to write down the first five words that come to mind when they hear or see the name of your organization. Yes, that’s right: they choose the words to describe your organization. You want their “top of mind” responses. Like it or not, this is your organization’s “brand.” It should take them no more than two minutes to read your email, type in their responses, and send a reply. I was amazed at how quickly people responded.

Next, take their responses and type them into a column of a spreadsheet.  You may have to clean up a few of the responses, e.g., combine words that have essentially the same meaning. Aside from that, don’t delete anything. Sort the words into alphabetical order. In a second column copy all the words that appear three or more times.

Next, copy all the words in the first column and open Wordle to create a “word cloud.”  Paste your list of words into the word cloud creator and press “Go.” Words that appear more frequently are given greater prominence, i.e., they are bigger. Make two word clouds. The first word cloud shows all the words that were mentioned. Take a screen shot of this word cloud and save it to your computer. The second word cloud shows words that were mentioned three or more times. Take another screen shot and save it.

You now have a powerful visual representation of your brand. You might want to share the results with those that participated in the exercise. You definitely want to share the word clouds with co-workers and others that are interested in the organization’s brand. Maybe they will be pleasantly surprised. Maybe they will be motivated to try to change the organization’s brand for the better.

 

Savvy Marketing Communications Professionals Respect the 4Ps of Marketing

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The 4Ps of marketing, the marketing mix concept, has been around since at least 1960. Wow. That is a long time. A marketing professor at Michigan State University, E. Jerome McCarthy, popularized the concept.

Despite its age, the 4Ps of marketing are still a useful way to talk about an organization’s overall marketing strategy, i.e, the Pricing strategy, Product strategy, Place (distribution) strategy, and Promotion strategy. The framework is easily understood and allows marketers to talk about each strategy separately. That is a good thing.

Many people equate marketing with Promotion because Promotion is so visible. Promotion is everything that conveys a message. Promotion is marketing communications. Promotion includes advertising, celebrity endorsements, direct mail, personal selling, cold calls, e-mails, text messages, tweets, blogs, brochures, pay-per-click ads, blimps with digital signboards, sandwich boards, bi-planes pulling banners through the sky, etc. Well, you get the idea. All of those tactics and a whole lot more can be used to promote the product. The Promotional mix is combining selected tactics together into some sort of campaign.

Several years ago, I saw an illustration comparing the marketing mix to an iceberg. Promotion is that part of the iceberg that people see above the water. It’s impressive. It captures everyone’s attention. But what about that part of the iceberg that is below the water’s surface. Typically 90% of the volume of an iceberg is below the surface. In other words, the message volume of Price, Product, and Place, which are beneath the surface, are huge.

The SMART Goal Marketing Communications process focuses on Promotion. It is a seven step process beginning with a SMART goal. The fourth step deals with crafting a powerful message targeted at decision makers. Savvy marketing communications professionals knows that Price, Product, and Place also are conveying powerful messages to decision makers and shouldn’t be ignored.

Progress on a SMART Goal Marketing Communications Web Application – Update #1

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It’s true: “Inch by inch is (relatively) easy. Yard by yard is hard.” I am slowly implementing my plan to develop a SMART Goal Marketing Communications web application. I want to do a lot of the development myself. Here are a few things I’ve learned so far.

Right now, my primary focus is on learning all that I can about Django, a web framework for Python. I have inched my way through the online Django tutorial and now I am inching my way through the online edition of The Django Book. I work on the book’s exercises early in the morning.

Often, each new exercise produces a few minutes of anxiety and frustration. However, successfully completing the exercise brings a sense of accomplishment and elation, as in “It works. I can’t believe it. Wowza! I did that!”

Thankfully, the online edition of the book offers those reading it the opportunity to post comments in the margin for others to read. It has helped to read the comments! A noobie like me needs all the help he can get. I have no prior programming experience so carefully reading the Django documentation and using the Internet to search for additional insights from Django developers, has helped me tremendously.

My progress log of programming lessons learned has come in handy, too. I end each morning session by reviewing what I learned in that session and posting it in Evernote. The next morning, before tackling the next exercise I review what I learned the previous morning. I do this because there is just too much to remember from day to day about Linux, PostgreSQL, Python, and Django. Since starting the progress log, I have had fewer “I’ve slept since then” moments.

There are lots of Python/Django resources on the Internet. They are super! However, a word of caution. The interesting tutorial with that cool application that was created in 2006 probably worked just fine back then. However, Linux, Python, and Django have evolved since 2006. So, don’t be surprised if you find yourself scratching your head wondering what to do next when you run the application and get a cryptic error message. Fortunately, the official Python and Django tutorials are kept up-to-date and can help you figure out what needs to be changed to get the application to work.

Well, soon it will be morning and time to inch forward again. Gosh, I wish I could make a great leap forward! I need a breakthrough in brain computer interface technology by tomorrow morning.

Building a SMART Goal Marketing Communications Team

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I need to say it again. A SMART goal marketing communications plan should be a team effort. Here are a few reasons why. If the plan is yours alone, then it is likely to run into problems because others who are key to the success of the effort aren’t actively involved. You can’t possibly know everything and you will undoubtedly overlook something. You can’t do everything that needs to be done to implement the plan to achieve a SMART goal; you need a team to help you.

Here are three ways to build the relationships of trust for a team to function well together.

Get to Know Each Other

Getting to know everyone on the team as a person really does help. If you know the person you are less likely to think of them as an abstraction. You are less likely to ignore them in a meeting or attribute diabolical intentions to them because they are part of the “other side” or in “another department.” So go ahead and ask those on the team about their family, pets, or vacation plans.

Active Listening

A good way to build a team is for everyone to actively listen to what those on the team have to say. Most people are NOT very good listeners.  They are doing other things while someone is talking: evaluating what is being said, asking questions, providing advice, and interpreting. As a result, they only hear a part of what was said. According to an article that I found on the MindTools web site, there are five key elements to active listening:

  1. Pay attention
  2. Show that you are listening
  3. Provide feedback
  4. Defer judgment
  5. Respond appropriately

Strengths Assessment
Another good team building techniques is strengths assessment. Wouldn’t it be great to know the strengths of everyone on the team? What can you count on others to do for the team beyond the technical skills that they have. I am thinking about qualities like curiosity and interest in the world; judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness; leadership; or industry, diligence, and perseverance. If those on your team are willing to take the VIA Survey of Character Strengths and do a little sharing, then your team can use the results to build a really strong team.

Getting to know each other, active listening, and strengths assessment are powerful ways to build a team. Here is another one.  I bet your team would enjoy doing a ropes course together.

“Getting to Yes” Will Help You Achieve Your SMART Goals

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So, you need a marketing communications plan. And you are intent on creating one.  That super. Here is the simple template that I have been using for a couple of years to make operational plans for marketing communications.

My first blog post on this subject and all subsequent blog posts underscored the importance of working with a team. Don’t be a loner. You need the additional perspectives that only team members can provide. And, you will need others to execute the plan. Make those people part of your team.

Unfortunately, when you work with other people there is going to be disagreements. It is inevitable. You will disagree about the SMART goal and just about everything else. More than likely someone will put a flag in the ground and will be ready to vigorously defend their position. You can force them to comply, but that has repercussions. You also are going to be dealing with people who have more position power than you. They may want you to develop a plan around their favorite marketing communications tactic and there is only a weak connection between the tactic and the SMART goal. What to do? Try negotiating.

The book “Getting to Yes” can help you negotiate. And, it can get everyone working together without someone giving in. The book, first published in 1981, is a classic on the art of negotiating. The core of the book, called ” The Method,” provides helpful advice on how to:

  1. separate the people from the issue being discussed;
  2. focus on interests and not positions;
  3. work with others to create options that will satisfy the parties involved; and
  4. insist on using objective criteria.

My favorite subsections of “The Method” are the importance of acknowledging perceptions that others have, how to identify interests, suggestions for running a brainstorming session to generate new options, and developing objective criteria. Grab this inexpensive classic at your favorite bargain bookstore, read it, and keep it handy when working with others to develop a marketing communications plan.

Python Used to Create a SMART Goal Marketing Communications Planning Tool

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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland begins with Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Since November 2010, I have been “falling down” my own “rabbit hole” by learning the basics of computer programming. The specific “rabbit hole” is called Python, “an interpreted, general-purpose high-level computer programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability.” (I only have a fuzzy idea of what that means.)

I selected Python because it is free, easy to install, powerful, and reputed to be easy to learn. That’s it. And, if it is good enough for Google, then it is good enough for me. So far, it has been a great experience. My mantra along the way has been “Build the product!”

I have taken everything in The Seven Steps of SMART Goal Marketing Communications and turned it into what looks like a MS-DOS era program that prompts the user, e.g., me, to answer a series of questions to help build a powerful marketing communication plan for a project. Then it prints the resulting plan to a text file that can be easily edited with my favorite word processor. Now, I have an easy to use template to create marketing communications plans for all of the discrete activities that need to be promoted at the university where I work. Each action plan begins with a SMART goal.

To get this far, I have worked my way through parts of seven different Python tutorials and watched dozens of YouTube videos. All of these great resources are free on the Internet. To everyone who made them possible: Thank you!

It has been interesting learning the basics of the Python language, writing codes, watching my program frequently crash before my eyes, fixing bugs, and celebrating when a few lines of code worked. There were lots of late nights and early mornings. Now, the entire 1,195 lines of sgmc08.py runs without crashing!

My SMART Goal was to have this phase of the project done by May 31. I am pleased to say that I am a month ahead of schedule and ready to take on the next challenge, which is turning the program into an easy to use web application.

My next adventure in Wonderland will be with Django, “a high-level Python framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.” I have no idea what that means, but I am sure that Django will help me build the web application I envision. It is going to be interesting. I bet I run into the White Rabbit again real soon.

Going Beyond “Getting the Word Out.”

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I have noticed that a lot of people like to talk about getting attention or generating awareness. You know “getting the word out” and “get me some PR.” Lots of people have had successful careers just doing that and nothing more. And, that’s okay.

Lately however, I have been thinking a lot about going beyond getting the word out. Getting someone’s attention is good, but getting them to do something is even better. Much better.

You remember AIDA from your Marketing 101 class you took years ago, don’t you? Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Until recently, I didn’t realize that AIDA was over 100 years old. Whew! It can be traced back to 1898 to the American advertising and sales pioneer, E. St. Elmo Lewis! AIDA is an old idea and a venerable idea, too.

Here is how AIDA is supposed to work. First, you have got to get someone’s attention. Then you get them interested. Then, you need to cultivate a desire for your product, service, or academic program by explaining features and benefits. Finally, you encourage action, i.e., doing something. For example, maybe they will recommend your college to a prospective student,  enroll at your college, sign up for an online program, use their smartphone to text a $10 contribution to your college, buy a speciality license plate sporting the name of your university, or e-mail their state representative to support financial aid for low-income college students.

I like AIDA. It is what I am really trying to do in marketing communications. I am using what I have dubbed SMART Goal Marketing Communications (SGMC) to get the job done. SGMC  focuses my efforts and my team’s efforts so that we can go beyond  ”getting the word out.”

The Devil is in the Details of Marketing Communications Plan!

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I am exploring Python, a computer programming language. (It is challenging!) Recently, I came across this description in “How to Think Like a Computer Scientist” by Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey, and Chris Meyers.

Poetry
Words are used for their sounds as well as their meanings, and the whole poem together creates an effect or emotional response. Ambiguity is not only common but often deliberate.

Prose
The literal meaning of words is important, and the structure contributes more meaning. Prose is more amenable to analysis than poetry but still often ambiguous.

Programs
The meaning of a computer program is unambiguous and literal, and can be understood entirely by analysis of the tokens and structure.

A lot of marketing communications is poetry and prose. We are bombarded. The poetry and prose sounds wonderful, but we are skeptical. We are often thinking “Where is the beef?” and “Show me the money!” And, the expression “the devil is in the details!” often comes to mind. (Interestingly, marketers often get caught up in the poetry and prose they use to reach others.)

SMART Goal Marketing Communications is all about the “unambiguous and literal” achievement of a measurable goal. It is less about poetry and prose and more programs.  It is about achieving a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely goal. In computer programming, if a bracket or comma is missing in the code, then the program crashes. It won’t work. Similarly, having a SMART goal is an important part of developing a marketing communications program that won’t crash — that will work and get the results you desire.