Standing Out, Not Alone: Context for Differentiation
This year’s graduate school conference has a theme of differentiation. As we focus on this theme, we will be looking at its definition, its role in our marketing and recruitment, and sharing what it looks like through executions at various institutions. To start you thinking now about the topic, I wanted to share a refresher look at the topic with you.
Additionally, over the past couple of weeks I have been fortunate to spend time with graduate school folks at two different conferences. In my conversations over these two events, I was reminded of the fact that differentiation is understood in context—in respect to competition and audience.
Let me take just a moment to talk about the word differentiation from a few disciplines found on campuses today.
- Math—differentiation is the process of finding how a function changes as input changes.
- Biology–differentiation is the process by which a less specialized cell becomes more specialized.
- Sociology—differentiation is part of system theory and is a way of dealing with complexity of environment by creating sub-systems.
- Marketing—differentiation is the process of distinguishing a product or offering from your competitors to make it attractive to a target market.
While the various uses of the term differentiation are interesting, and we can see commonalities as it is applied across disciplines, I want to focus in on its use as we use it in the marketing of your institution and its programs. Specifically, let’s focus on two key aspects of the marketing explanation of differentiation: 1) distinguishing from your competitors, and 2) target market.
So who are your competitors? Are they just the similar local schools? Are they non-profit schools and/or for-profit schools? Is the completion regional, or perhaps national? Is it just schools or the decision to not pursue further education? Understanding your competition is important because it helps you articulate your differences or the differences you can create for the student. Doing the research through overlap reports, non-matriculant studies, and even current student surveys helps you identify from the market’s perspective your true competitor set.
Understanding this competitor set on an on-going basis is equally important. In a recent conversation I was asking an institution to give me their top five competitors. Their return question to me was “this year, or typically?” Many institutions are finding a new competitor set based more strongly on cost than ever before. Be aware that environmental changes, especially economic ones, can greatly affect your competitor set.
After you determine your competitor set, then it is helpful to do a competitive scan to understand the brand promise, brand attributes, and key messages of these institutions. Once you have this foundational information, then you can begin to determine how you are different, what distinguishes your institution and programs, and what is distinctive about you.
As you begin this process of determining differences, it is critical to turn to the second aspect—target markets. Just as you need to understand the environment in which you compete, it is critical to understand your audience or target market to know the needs, wants, and expectations against which you will be viewed and judged. We often you the term “student centric” or “audience centric,” which is to say that we are looking at things from their perspective, not ours. In a recent conversation, I heard a comment from a director of enrollment who shared, “We are great at telling prospective students what we think they need to know, but not so good at listening to what they want to hear.”
Research is again the most useful tool to determine these needs, wants, and expectations. Looking at external research available such as Adult StudentsTALK™ and then layering on research specific to your known or desired target markets helps you focus on what is important and of value to a given audience.
When you understand your true competitor set and what is important to your target audience, now you are set to determine and articulate what differentiates you.
This work is critical to understanding your strengths in context of your audience and competitors. With this information, you can now begin to articulate differences and distinctions in a meaningful, compelling way that will resonate with your chosen audience(s) and drive action. Thoughtful planning and research helps protect you from a term you may have heard—“random acts of marketing.”
How have you identified and determined your competitors and audiences? I’d love to hear from you about how you have moved from “random acts of marketing” to informed and thoughtful marketing messages for specific audiences against specific competitors.
Interested in our Graduate School Marketing Conference? Check out www.stamats.com/simgrad2010
Photo by pshutterbug
