Category: books that matter

Books that matter: Karine Joly on ‘Content Everywhere’

And we’re back to our occasional series of books that matter for higher ed marketers. This one comes from Karine Joly of College Web Editor. Karine regularly posts 1-1-1 “express” book reviews on her website. If you don’t read her blog or follow her on Twitter (@karinejoly), you should.

Content Everywhere

Review by Karine Joly

content_everywhere-200x300I’ve read 9 books since the beginning of this year.

Reading non-fiction books is part of my work – although I get all my reading done in the evening or during the weekend.

While I don’t pretend to compete with Mark Greenfield when it comes to book reading, I always try to review the books that I found the most useful.

Yet, I know that people don’t have the time to read book reviews that are as long as book chapters. That’s why I came up with the 1-1-1 express format for these book reviews a few years ago.

Sara Wachter-Boettcher’s book, Content Everywhere, was the best book I read in 2012.

So, here is my 1-1-1 Express Book Review of Content Everywhere by Sara Wachter-Boettcher.

1 thing I liked

Sara didn’t write this book for higher education. Yet, she used many great higher ed examples: Arizona State University Online division, WVU, University of Notre Dame and Columbia University. So, when you try to convince your boss to move in the right direction following Sara’s advice, you won’t hear the traditional “it doesn’t apply to us in higher education.” It does, and the book makes it very clear with all these higher ed examples.

1 thing I didn’t like too much

I love everything in this book, but the 1-1-1 book review calls for a balanced view of my reading experience. So, here is what I didn’t like as much as the rest: the first part of the book – making the case for structured content strategy – felt a bit long to me (although it’s only 30 pages). I’ve been sold on the idea for some time now, so this is probably why I couldn’t wait to get to the newest part. But, I understand this section is targeted to people who might need more convincing.

1 big take-away from the book

The part on content modeling was the big take-away for me. With this book, I learned why it is important to structure content, but also how to do it through a proper analysis and by defining content types and content elements that make sense for my audience needs, my goals and my content.

Sara provides you with a clear road map and walk you through – every step of the way – which I really liked. For the Higher Ed Experts web redesigned project implemented last Fall, it led to the creation of several content types (courses, testimonials, faculty and institutions) that are called upon throughout the website depending on the audience needs. When your content is properly structured, it can be more powerful and flexible at the same time. So, this is definitely a great foundation for the future.

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Sara Wachter-Boettcher will be one of the presenters in the Higher Ed Responsive Websites Summit, a three-day online event scheduled for April 23-25 and presented by Karine’s HigherEdExperts.com. Sara will present on April 25 on the topic “Analyzing Content, Empowering Authors: The Prerequisites for Responsive Design.” Karine also recently published an interview with her on the College Web Editor blog.

Books that matter: Sam Waterson on ‘The Five Most Important Questions…’

The latest installment in our books that matter series of guest posts is from Sam Waterson (@slwaterson), executive vice president for RHB.

The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask Your Organization

Review by Sam Waterson

The_Five_Most_Important_Questions-744583If you’re visiting this blog, you’re aware of the state of higher education in the United States. You understand the crossroads that the industry faces and can easily re-trace the steps that brought it there. But despite these challenges, you value the transformative nature of higher education in creating a more informed public and better citizenry. And you’ll do whatever it takes to protect it, solve its challenges and help it flourish.

In the quest to market higher education, there is one volume that every marketer must read: The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask Your Organization (FMIQ), written by one of the most trusted marketing sages, Peter Drucker.

FMIQ is a guide for the self-study of non-profit organizations. Why self-study? Drucker writes, “The self-assessment tool forces an organization to focus on its mission.” In a higher education landscape wrought with mission adultery, this volume is not only practical and insightful, but also necessary.

FMIQ presents timeless strategy that is as relevant today as it was when it was published. This doesn’t mean that non-profit marketing is without innovation, but rather that Drucker presents the fundamentals that need to be understood before we start building our new “app.” Or making it “sticky.” Or “disrupting” something.

Those fundamentals are examined in the following questions:

What is our mission? “A mission can not be impersonal; it has to have deep meaning–something you know is right.”

Who is our customer? “Who must be satisfied for the organization to achieve results?”

What does the customer value? “What do customers value? What satisfies their needs, wants, and aspirations is so complicated that it only can be answered by customers themselves.”

What are our results? “Results…are always measured outside the organization in the changed lives and conditions…”

What is our plan? “To further the mission, there must be action today and specific aims for tomorrow.”

I bring these questions to bear in every client engagement. The questions enable us to see past the symptoms (falling enrollments, student/donor attrition, reduced gifts) to accurately diagnose what is almost always the foundational problem that the institution faces. While many marketers are tempted to address missional challenges of their higher education clients by repackaging an institution’s offerings, they run the risk of ultimately—and unknowingly—helping those institutions abandon their missions. And when that happens, scores of young minds remain unchanged, their potentials unmet.

If you can help a client articulate a compelling answer to every one of Drucker’s questions, it will make your job easier and your client’s institution stronger.

FMIQ is the volume that higher ed marketers should begin with.