I recently gave a presentation to admissions counselors at the joint SACAC/PCACAC Conference in Arlington, VA. The presentation focused on the importance of beginning with the basics of marketing and building on that foundation.

When new sushi chefs begin to learn their craft, they spend months, or even years, solely cooking rice. The rationale: if one can’t properly cook the rice, then the rest of the sushi will not taste very good. The rice seems like such a simple element, but it dictates whether the sushi tastes great or terrible. Sushi chefs who are able to make rice correctly are revered for mastering the skill.

So, how does sushi preparation relate to higher education marketing?

Often, we get a great idea and implement it. Or, we are in such a frenzy that we forget to cover all of our bases. We have time and resource limitations as well as many competing tasks. However, if we learn and practice the basics, our criteria will be solid when it is time to evaluate and reassess our efforts.

There are many aspects of marketing that can be considered “basic.” Here are a few key tenets:

▪Start with your end Goal

▪Gather the relevant information

▪Segment your marketing efforts

▪Utilize the web as a hub method so that you can track your efforts

▪Measure and assess the effectiveness of your efforts

▪Do something with it

Clearly, there are many items that can be added to this list. However, it is really a basic list of components that can make or break your efforts.

Watch out for part two of this blog post next week.