Why Marketing is a Good Thing...
Yes, there are still people who think marketing is evil, or at least a misleading waste of time nad money. If that debate is still alive and well on your campus and impeding the adoption of effective marketing plans and activities, then a new book from two authors at the Harvard Business School might help.
The title and subtitle of an AdAge article on the book pretty much tell the tale: "Marketing, Much Like Democracy, is Good for You (Yes, Really)" leads the story, followed by "Think About It: Politicians Should Treat Citizens the Way Marketers Do."
The AdAge article is at http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=124885
You Don't have to agree with everything in "The Greater Good" by John Quelch and Katherine Jocz to use an essential part of the argument on your campus: marketing spreads knowledge about what's being marketed and engages and involves people to an extent that would not happen otherwise.
Can marketing be silly and ineffective and even dishonest? Of course. But at least in this era of "reality marketing" people are more alert to false claims and dubious evidence than in the past.
One point is especially relevent for online marketing. It is much easier today for word-of-mouth marketing to spread the tale of a bad experience with your college or university. That runs the gamut of a first experience on your website to a campus visit to your orientation week experience. And thus higher education marketers more than ever are under pressure to present accurate, realistic images of life at their schools. Be honest. You can't afford not to be.
And that, these authors say, is something politicians might do better at as well.