Q: Can you tell me what LERN's recommendation is regarding on-staff marketing personnel vs. contracted vendor marketing services?
A: There are pros and cons for each strategy:
1. On-staff marketing person
Generally. LERN recommends that you have a marketing professional who fulfills a variety of functions including market research and analysis, creation and implementation of a one-year marketing plan, management of marketing processes and strategies, coordination of inbound marketing and social media marketing. A good marketing director can be a valuable asset for your organization and can guide you to greater financial success.
The marketing professional is responsible for “think marketing.” He or she is the one who develops marketing strategies that are implemented by the operations staff. This person is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the program. Since marketing is everything we do, it has become a much more complex responsibility. The promotions professional is responsible for the program’s image, as well as selecting mailing lists and deciding the number of promotions to print. A key component of the job is looking at purchasing history and key demographic statistics. The marketing professional is the person who develops and tracks the program’s market segments, making sure that the proper resources are being spent on the segments that are most valuable to the program.
Some considerations for whether this is the best strategy are cost, expertise, and range of responsibility. The marketing professional should not have adjunct responsibilities such as program development, general administrative obligations, etc.
2. Contracted marketing services
This can be a successful arrangement, but LERN recommends careful evaluation of any outside marketing vendors. Marketing lifelong learning programs is a somewhat unique marketing challenge, and it is very important that any outside vender have a thorough understanding of the lifelong learning business. This lack of familiarity with what we do has been a problem for many programs that have contracted marketing services. The outside vender needs to fulfill the same role as an in-house marketing person, and when contracting, it is important to make sure that the capability is there, the services are comprehensive, and the strategies appropriate. Again, cost can be an issue as many outside vendors do not provide services at the level LERN recommends. Doing so may price their services out of range.
Questions
Marketing Personnel Vs. Vendor Marketing
Jun 1, 2018 1:36:09 AM
by
Jordan Kivley
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