University Business - December 2007 - (Page 36)

MARKETING and cheese came highly recommended. • After lunch, the prospect and her mom went on to visit the dorms, and I was in meetings for the rest of the day. But, on our way to the meetings I stopped by my mailbox for the day. Waiting for me was a note from an administrator and a coveted blue slip (indicating I had a package). My box of memorabilia included a tie-dyed t-shirt, Frisbee, water bottle, pencil, chocolate, and candies. All items were very authentic to the Hendrix student experience. • The t-shirt proudly proclaims “Not just another college visit.” And considering that Hendrix’s entering freshmen class is its largest, of the highest academic quality, and from a broader national audience, I’d have to agree. It shows that the right experiences help us ﬁght through the clutter, render authenticity, and ﬁght selling on price. … The admissions staﬀ at Hendrix (including interns and walkers) are not only setting a higher bar for other colleges and their visit experiences, they’re true experience economy leaders crafting an experience just about everyone in the experience economy should strive for: one that is engaging, memorable, authentic, has a signature moment (or two) and a whole lot of fun!” WINWIN: BENEFITS TO THE STUDENT AND THE SCHOOL When done right, experience marketing beneﬁts both the student, who has a better experience, and the institution, which beneﬁts from increased response. The Hendrix campus visit experience bears this out. In ﬁve years, individual visits have increased 48.8 percent, and the yield since implementing the Hendrix Experience has increased from 28.7 percent to 38.7 percent. Best of all, 72 of the 410 freshmen applied to be members of the volunteer Hendrix HEAT (Hendrix Experience Admissions Team). It’s hardly surprising that the program won the TargetX Award for “Revolution- ary Campus Visit Experiences.” Could any college adopt Hendrix’s strategy? Certainly! EXAMPLE TWO: ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY My next example is from Abilene Christian University (Texas). ACU, like many schools, is deeply committed to delivering the best possible educational experience. One example of that commitment is the university’s “Body & Soul” program. This program pairs current health care professionals with students who are majoring in some facet of health care. It does not take vast resources to create buzzworthy experiences. An article in the Winter 2007 issue of ACU Today notes, “Body & Soul is a distinctive pre-health professions program at ACU. One of the program’s main components is its shadowing program, which pairs pre-medical and pre-dental students with Christian physicians. It gives students a taste of what’s in store for them as well as an edge over their competition for admission to medical and dental school.” In its third year, the program now has more than 30 participating doctors who share their practices and faith—the “soul” in the Body & Soul program—while passing along guidance and encouragement that helps shape how these students look at the profession. Not only is the program of keen interest to current health majors, but regional high school students and advisors are noticing the program too. Two years ago, the science departments had 98 pre-health majors enrolled. This year there are 137. Another statistic is equally as compelling. Historically, the acceptance rate of ACU graduates to medical and dental schools has always been well above the national average of 45 percent. In the past three years the accep- tance rate has soared to 80 percent. Students talk about their experiences in the pre-health professions program on ACU’s website. Jenny, a sophomore premed major, shares, “By shadowing a doctor I learned about the ropes of being an orthopedic surgeon. The doctor showed me X-rays, showed me how knee and hip replacements work, and told me how everything worked once it was inside the body. I have known that I wanted to be a doctor for a long time; shadowing not only gave me more knowledge, it also reassured me about my future. I learned not only how to help the patient, but how to treat them as a person as well. Being a doctor takes more than knowledge, it takes a person with a caring heart, and I learned that through this program.” Rather than spending dollars, ACU spent time identifying an opportunity to increase the quality of the brand experience it oﬀers to pre-health students. Another student, Jim, wrote: “I was sitting in the waiting room after watching an actual operation. The mother and father of the patient were there, and to my surprise began asking me questions about their daughter and how the operation went. The mother was shaking and the father began tearing up. … While the surgery was exciting, it opened my eyes to the fact that these patients were just normal people, from real families that care an incredible amount for their loved one.” FINAL COMMENTS It does not take vast resources to create buzzworthy experiences. And the events themselves, like the campus visit experience I described, can be commonplace. All it takes is a willingness to identify and enrich key touchpoints, to equip and engage faculty and staﬀ, to train well, and to continually improve. But ﬁrst, there must be a willingness to change positions with your students, donors, and other audience groups, and to work at seeing those experiences from their perspective. 36 | December 2007 universitybusiness.com http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of University Business - December 2007

University Business - December 2007 Contents College Index Company Index Advisory Board Editor's Note Behind the News Viewpoint Admissions On The Hill Marketing Future Stock Independent Outlook Technology Spending Survey '08 Conference Call A Working Education 30 Smart Business Ideas Educause in Emerald City What's New Calendar of Events End Note

University Business - December 2007

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