Building a Digital Marketing Strategy

from Scratch: A Babson College Story

Gene BeginDigital Marketing

DirectorBabson College

Babson College

• Small, private college 14 miles west of Boston• #1 in entrepreneurship for 18 and 15

consecutive years• Approximately 2000 undergraduate and 1300

graduate students, representing more than 74 countries– Undergraduate program (top 20 in business)– Graduate program - MBA and MS degrees (top 40 in business)– Executive education program (top 10 U.S. and top 15 in the world

for custom programs)– Babson Global, which works with corporate, university, government,

and foundation partners to advance entrepreneurship education and Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® worldwide

Building a Digital Marketing Strategy

from Scratch

The Babson InterwebsAs of March 2011

• Black hole of a website redesign project• Siloed business units, with no institutional

strategy• Not the best relationship between IT and

Marketing• Web resources across campus within

business units and IT• Traditional web support model

- Throw it over the wall and we’ll put it up- “Content monkeys”

Approaches for

Building a Digital Marketing Strategy from Scratch

Entrepreneurial Thought & Action (ETA)

• ETA uses “effectual” logic that is based on asking the following four questions:–Who am I? (My identity as shaped by

culture and context, skills, and abilities)–What do I know? (My knowledge and

training)–Whom do I know? (My professional and

social network)– How do I bring these 3 elements into a

network of participants who can co-create an opportunity?

Source: Babson College Strategy , Version 2.1 ( May 2009)

Be a Politician…

• Assess the current campus landscape– Resource needs– Business unit goals

• Build relationships– Internal (staff, faculty, students)– External (alumni, governance)

• …but too much of a politician– Deliver on the campaign promise!

Listen, Learn & Engage

• Benchmark• Learn from not only the best, but

those who have shared their mistakes• Listen to your peers– Campus experts–#highered peers– Industry experts

• Bring the experts to campus

#edugurusummit

Building a

Digital Marketing Strategy from Scratch

Where Does Digital Marketing Strategy Fit In?

* As defined by Mark Greenfield, eduGuruSummit, March 2011

Institutional Strategy

Digital Marketing Strategy

Content Strategy

Social Media

Strategy

Information Technology

Strategy

Marketing Communicat

ions Strategy

Goal Planning? Who is Our Preferred Audience?

Advancement

Executive Education

Students (Prospective & Current)Guidance

counselors

Parents

Employers

Ugrad Graduate

HR DevelopersWorkingprofessionals

Educators/Academic

Institutions

Faculty, Centers,and Institutes Policy

Makers

Governance

Granting Organizations & Foundations

Alumni

Develop 3-Year Business Plan

OUR PLAN

Year 1: Laying the FoundationTeam, Governance, Process AND Education

Year 2: Advocacy MarketingBetter alumni engagement => more participation => better student experience => better alumni engagement

Year 3: The True Mobile Marketing ExperienceThe next era of mobile marketing, live-social, geo-location and QR code marketing

Year 1: Resource and Goal Alignment

• Build out team to meet business unit needs AND institutional needs

• Hybrid, hybrid, hybrid– Development resources– Business unit goals– Team experience

• 1 director, 5 digital marketing specialists– 1 Senior DMM focused on Institutional web support (CSS and UI)– 1 DMCM focused on UG web support and Institutional community

management (SM)– 1 Interactive Media Specialist focused on Executive Education web

support (development)– 1 DMCM for Alumni & Friends Network (content curator)– 1 DMCM for Graduate School (TBH)

LESSON LEARNED:Hire quicker.But still hire right.

Establish Governance Model

• True Web Governance *– Establishes authority and accountability– Defines the role of the campus units as it

relates to the web and establishes how they will support web efforts

– Involves senior leadership

* As defined by Mark Greenfield, eduGuruSummit, March 2011

Babson Governance Model

President’s Council

Digital Marketing Director

Marketing & IT

Council

Digital Marketing Managers

Content Contributors

Division Website

Champions

Section Owners

WEBSITE

President’s Council

Digital Marketing Director

Social Media Steering

Committee

Social Media Council

Graduate Student Council

UGrad Online Ambassadors

SOCIAL MEDIA

LESSON LEARNED:Clearly and continuously articulate roles & responsibilities.

Distributed Governance Model for Informational Website Maintenance

Subsite Section

Section Owner

Content Contributor /

Website Champion

(if different than SO)

Digital Marketing Content Manager

Undergraduate Admission

Dean of Admission Assistant DirectorDigital Marketing &

Community Manager

PermissionsSuper Authors • Digital Marketing and IT A&D teams (10 – 12 individuals)• Access to alter home page, web parts and all parts of templates

Authors • 5 – 10 individuals• To be treated as power users; individuals to be determined by digital marketing team• Access to edit web parts by subsite, in addition to the editing accessing outlined below

Editors • 60 to 70 staff• Access to edit content area by subsite level • Also, 200 faculty have access to edit so they can update their bio

LESSON LEARNED:Continuous check-ins with business unit contacts on responsibility due to turnover

Digital Marketing Governance Support Model

• Online ticketing web support system for short-term needs

• Online project tracking for longer projects and integrated creative production plans

• Cross-functional support  Alumni Undergraduate Graduate Executive Education Institutional1st Level Support ADMCM DMCM GDMCM IMS SDMM2nd Level IMS ADMCM DMCM SDMM DMCM3rd Level DMD DMD ADMCM GDMCM IMS

DMCM  - Digital Marketing & Community ManagerSDMM  - Senior Digital Marketing ManagerGDMCM - Grad Digital Marketing  &  Community ManagerADMCM - Alumni & Friends Network Digital Marketing  & Community ManagerIMS  - Interactive Media SpecialistDMD  - Digital Marketing Director

Content Strategy

1. Audit - Go be that politician across campus

2. Assess - Asset type and channel

3. Prioritize - Strategy and goals

4. Build - 6 month plan

5. Develop– Creative production, curation and re-imagination

LESSON LEARNED:There’s more content on your campus than you can ever imagine … or re-imagine!

After 3 months, check in and start audit cycle again

FOCUS!

FOCUS!

• Develop goals, tactics, and ACHIEVABLE measurements

• Prioritize the aspects of your digital marketing mix that…– A. Align to the institutional strategy– B. Need the most help

• For us:– B. Website redesign– A1. Social media strategy, branding and guidelines– A2. First steps of the mobile mix

LESSON LEARNED: Focus on education and training first

FOCUS!

• Understand your limitations• Engage with experts–Mobile mix–Media-buying– SEO strategy

LESSON LEARNED: Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

#higheredweb Manifesto

Break the Silos!

• IT and Marketing• Faculty and staff• Across business units

“To do disruptive innovation, you have to be willing to be misunderstood for a very long time.” – Jeff Bezos

Educate. Educate. Educate.Be a change manager.

THANK YOU!Gene Begin

Digital Marketing DirectorBabson College

gbegin@babson.edu @gbegin

http://www.linkedin.com/in/genebegin http://www.slideshare.net/gbegin