Some positively negative marketing

Maybe this is a bit negative for a first blogging topic but as soon as I saw this blog post on HubSpot about negative marketing it got me thinking about how this would translate to the work I do in the Higher Education sector.

I'll take each idea in turn and see how far we get.

1) Create Negative, or Exclusionary Personas

Sure there are people in our database receiving our emails who absolutely will not apply to study at this university and that's fine. They might be members of staff who want to be kept informed of the communications that prospective students receive, they might be teachers who have signed up to find out more. Since most of the prospects on our database have a shelf-life (i.e. once the year of entry they are interested in has passed whether they went on to study with us or not) there are surely going to be "exclusionary personas" in our database.

So what can we do about them? Well, teachers can be prompted to sign up for our dedicated newsletter and anyone who expressed an interest in studying in a previous year will not meet the filter requirements used when segmenting the database. Anyone else (University staff from here or elsewhere) can just enjoy being communicated with since we don't have to worry about sales teams and wasted resources chasing leads.

2) Leverage Exclusivity

The higher education market has seen some massive changes in the last few years meaning more universities are competing for fewer students who are paying higher fees. Where price is not a measure of quality something else is needed and maybe exclusivity is the answer. We state in our prospectus how many places there are on each course and how many applications are received each year. This gives the student an idea of how competitive the course is and for subjects like Medicine only 6% of applicants actually get a place.

In terms of promoting open days, I know of some universities that restrict places on the day and thereby increase the exclusivity of gaining a place on these events. Whether these are actual restrictions or a marketing tactic I do not know but I would feel uncomfortable lying about something like this. That's not to say that you can't leverage exclusivity by offering something to the first 100 bookers.

3) Craft Negative Titles and Headlines

Now this is where I could really get creative. As mentioned in the HubSpot blog, though, it's important to back these up with solid content and not be negative just to court controversy but here are few ideas I had:

• Top 10 things you can get up to at uni (that you wouldn't want your mum to find out about)
• Do local residents hate our students?
• Is it possible to live solely off baked beans and instant noodles?

The thing to remember with these is that if all you're doing is trying to get people to click on your email or Facebook link fair enough but, as with #7 below, there has to be some positive to offset the negative.

I don't think I'll be using these any time soon but it's fun to think what I would write.

4) Create a Bond Over a Shared Negative Experience and 5) Cast Some Villains

I'm combining these two because I think they're very similar and both equally hard to equate to the Higher Education sector. Since our student body is so diverse it's difficult to come up with a shared experience without alienating large groups of people. Who's the enemy of the prospective student? Someone lazy who doesn't put the effort in at school or who can't be bothered to attend open days and do their best? We need to be careful to avoid seeming superior. 

I think universities are just too nice to point the finger and so our prospectuses are always full of happy smiling students. It never rains when you're at uni. Now there's a shared negative experience - the weather. Maybe we should have some fun and bright rainy day pictures in the prospectus.

6) Stir Up Some Controversy

This is not my particular area of expertise but I think it's already something that universities have to deal with, especially regarding controversial research or even justifying research in general. No matter what you do there will always be groups of people who do not agree.

7) Use Data to Build a Case Around Why Something Stinks

This is like that interview question that I hate "What are your weaknesses?" and the answer that you're not supposed to give "oh, I'm such a perfectionist, I just have to do a job to the best of my ability..."

But in all seriousness this is underpins most of the points above - be negative but make sure you leave the student with a positive impression of the university.

So an email about the top 5 complaints that people have about our open days would look at the issues that we've encountered in the past and talk about how we've improved things and how we're continually working to ensure the experience received at our open days and throughout their time here as a students is the best that it can be.

8) Make Fun of Yourself

Again, this one perhaps doesn't translate well for the Higher Education sector. Regardless of the age of the student recruitment staff, the university still has to retain a certain amount of dignity. There's a fine line between being down with the kids and being the sad unfunny uncle. So for us "Make Fun of Yourself" should be restricted to highlighting what our students have been up to and not us. Like this video of the student  body taking part in their own Harlem Shake (although I realise that is now soooo  a few months ago!)

The HubSpot blog has certainly given me something to think about. perhaps it's time to start thinking a little negatively albeit for a positive result.

That's all for now.

Liz