as of Date Here

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Alumni Relations MarketingSeptember 6, 2008
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Briefly, what is marketing?
Marketing is a coordinated effort to package and
promote the goals and activities of your
organization.

• A successful marketing strategy will help you
• Build support today and for the long haul.
• Understand and articulate your identity as an
  organization.
• Learn more about your members, and their needs.
• Become a stronger, more focused organization.

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Briefly, what is marketing?

• In the context of Cornell classes and clubs

• Marketing is about communication
• The right message
• At the right time
• Using the right medium

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Crafting The Right Message

• Tips
• Focus on what your audience wants and needs.
• People are rational and emotional.
• Be direct Attention is a valuable commodity.
• Consistency is the key to long-term success.

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Finding The Right Time

• The right message at the wrong time is the wrong
  message.

• Involve marketing in your strategic planning.
• Have a master calendar for the organization.
• Use it to time your marketing and communications
  efforts.
• Let common sense guide you.
• Too early and people forget.
• Too late and people will have other plans.
• Too often and people will start to ignore you.

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Choosing The Right Medium
There is no best tool for communication. All
have strengths and weaknesses.
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Print Media

• Letters, postcards, class notes, etc.
• Pros A tangible object, sense of importance,
  high capacity, versatile, accessible, portable,
• Cons Cluttered marketplace, eco-friendliness,
  cost, changeability

• Tips
• Keep your message brief.
• Allow adequate time for approvals, production,
  and distribution.
• Complement with electronic communication.

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Electronic Media

• E-Mail and the Web
• Pros Low cost, high volume, updateable,
  eco-friendly
• Cons Sense of unimportance, clutter, push vs.
  pull media, fatigue, accessibility, filters

• Tips
• Keep it fresh, up-to-date, and interactive
• Copy should be web-friendly
• Actively promote your website
• Make sure you are capturing site statistics
• Use other media to guide people to the web
• Its easy to overdo it with e-mail

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The Tools at Your Disposal

• Event Marketing
• Pros Aligning your goals with a powerful
  experiences can create intense loyalty. Great way
  to reach niche audiences!
• Cons Can be extremely costly and labor
  intensive, poor execution can backfire

• Tips
• Allow enough time for planning
• Think about steps to take before, during, and
  after
• Before save-the-date, invitation, publicity
• During take photos, get attendee feedback
• After post photos on websites, follow-up to
  attendees
• Measure your success

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The Tools at Your Disposal

• Creative/Nontraditional Marketing
• Pros Reach lost populations by connecting at
  their interest point, cuts through clutter, can
  be low cost
• Cons Difficult to assess in some cases, easy to
  spin your wheels

• Some ideas
• Social networking sites (facebook, myspace,
  linkedin, etc.)
• Target messages for niche audiences
• User-generated content
• SecondLife
• TXT Blasts

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Word of Mouth

• Pros Strong credibility, totally free,
  authentic,
• Cons Hard to control people have a habit of
  speaking their minds

We know from research that people are much more
likely to trust a persuasive message from a
friend than from a third party.
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Helpful Resources

• The CACO website
• Also, your representative at alumni house can
  enlist AAD help with
• Website support
• Writing, editing, design for major event
  promotion.
• Online events directory make sure to list
  yours!
• Bulk e-mail support through Cornell Information
  Technologies

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Evaluation Refinement
Marketing is a never ending process of evaluating
your results and refining your approach going
forward.
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Questions?