Universities Fail to Deliver – Students Left Holding the Bag

Marketing and Public Relations Undergraduate students are less prepared than ever to enter the workforce. As these two industries rapidly change so too should the education system that supplies the industry with the human resources to do the job. The education system has long been known as a slow turning ship, but it seems as though most universities have forgotten their primary job. Many talk about providing a high level of education for their students. Sure, that’s important. But how would you define a high level of education? Is it a seal of approval from an Ivy League school? As a hiring manager, I say no. The job of educational institutions is to provide us with the next generation of thought leaders. Which means that students need to learn complex problem solving and most importantly how to think for themselves. When you add in the recent shifts in the marketing and public relations industry, many recent graduates are entering the workforce and immediately figuring out that their shiny new education depreciates much like the value of a new car as you drive it off the lot. Of course, after paying thousands of dollars for their education, students are left scrambling to learn the latest and greatest on their own so they can get a job to pay back all of those student loans. If you are an educator challenge yourself and your students to raise the bar and get the most out of their educational experience.

What are the schools missing that the rest of are dying to hire?

• Millennials (Generation Y) That Get Relationships – This has long been the critical piece in the puzzle. That hasn’t changed, but the facilitation of relationships has. People expect you to be where they are, to connect with them, to hear them. Not vomit your marketing messaging on them, which parlays nicely into my second point.
• Millennials That Get Social Media – I’m not talking about avid Facebookers here, I’m talking about graduates that not only understand the tools of social media, but can apply it to our business to help develop relationships. As Chris Brogan, brilliantly stated at Web2.0, how can we extend experiences and relationships and how do we develop relationships that yield? They may not have all the answers as recent graduates, but if they are at least thinking about it they are leagues ahead.
• Millennials That Break the Rules- These are the students that can think for themselves, play devils advocate, and constantly challenge what doesn’t make sense. Good enough is never good enough. They try to solve problems and have a decent idea of how to execute their solution. They aren’t scared to speak up, but know how to do it professionally.

How can professors go beyond the syllabus and teach young students marketable skills?

1. Put Down the Textbook – Go beyond definitions; get your students reading business books with real world examples. Show them videos and blogs from influencers. Use tools like Skype to get these influencers talking to your students and asking questions.
2. Stop Vomiting Information – Standing in front of the room with a slide deck isn’t going to develop thought leaders it will develop clones and rebels. Facilitating a discussion on a topic is far more difficult, but it will allow students to start thinking for themselves and learn how to problem solve.
3. Let your Students Lead – Present your students with real-world problems that companies are facing and ask them to try and solve them. Guide their thought process, point out fallacies and easy answers, challenge them to do something new.
4. Educate Yourself – Go to industry conferences in your specialty. While I’m sure the conferences for educators are great, sitting and mingling with a crowd of business people will give you a whole new perspective on what companies are looking for that you can take right back to the classroom.

I’ve spent some time looking at what is happening in the economy and how companies are adjusting.  In my career I have seen many different corporate cultures.  They have ranged from being nimble and quick to respond to market conditions to bureaucratic and unable to adjust in time.  Interestingly, the company’s size did not make this determination but rather it is fueled by the culture that is found within the organization.  And mainly that culture is derived from the leaders of the organization.  That’s really not rocket science. However, in today’s economy it is imperative that companies are able to quickly react to what’s happening and adjust their actions accordingly.  In marketing this is truer than ever before.

What I see happening around us in mid-size companies with conservative cultures:

In Sales Departments- Sales people are struggling to make their numbers and are using aggressive tactics to close the deal that they never would consider in an up economy.  But the market is tough and they have to fight, really fight, for every sale.  They have become quick to blame marketing for not giving them enough leads but haven’t realized that there aren’t as many leads out there and they are killing off the ones that do come in.  In the meantime, they keep turning over the same rocks hoping that a pile of money will be under them.

In Marketing Departments- Marketing teams are trying to balance long-term lead generation with generating short-term sales.  Budgets that focus on long-term lead generation are being slashed and everything is going into the short-term win.  For companies that did not have strategies to manage this before their marketers are rushing around trying to come up with a game plan.  Once they do, the game plan gets trapped in the approval process and either gets approved too late or the items that carry the most risk and likely largest payoff are stripped out of the plan before it is executed.

Here’s the reality.  What used to work ain’t gonna work anymore!  And what you’re probably finding is that some of the people who seemed totally competent two or three years ago are really total idiots who were able to ride the wave of others success! It’s easy to be successful in an up market because pretty much anything you do will work.  It takes really strong leaders who are willing to take risks and innovative marketers prepared to break out of the pack when the market is tough.  Do you see the ability for that to happen in a conservative company?  The ability to see the payoff in the long-run while capitalizing in the short-term?   The ability to trust your experts and have faith that they know what they are doing? The ability to make quick decisions on something you might not fully understand? In the conservative companies I’ve worked for there is zippy chance that they are going to take a leap of faith while their asses are being held to the fire. They want to be in the comfort zone, the place they know and can explain in three words or less.  I’ll go back to my previous statement.  What used to work ain’t gonna work anymore!  If you can’t get out of your comfort zone and try something new and don’t have a ton of cash in the bank to see you through low or no-profitability for a couple of years, you will fail.

Here is what companies can do to break out of the pack and capture market-share from their competitors.  Because let’s face it.  That’s the only way you are going to grow in the short-term.

Be Bold! Don’t be scared to take risks on ideas that seem a little crazy at the time.  Do you think anyone besides Jack Dorsey and a few investors ever thought that telling a bunch of people that you’re eating lunch at your desk on Twitter would ever be a business model that would work?  Probably not.  If you want to break out of the pack you need to have a group of like-minded creative individuals at the helm who are willing to do the same old, same old while taking risks on a few “seemingly” crazy ideas to the old bureaucratic cranky folk. That doesn’t mean take on any idea that comes you way.  Check it against reality, but if you can do something with minimal investment that doesn’t risk the company but could be huge then try it!

Integrate, Integrate, Integrate! Take all those things you’ve been doing for years in little silos and look for synergies.  Look for ways they can support each other and do it.  Make them work together or don’t do them anymore. This is especially crucial when it comes to sales and marketing teams.  Sales can’t offer a discount to every person who calls and undervalue the value proposition for your product that marketing has worked so hard to establish.  Marketing can’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars running brand awareness campaigns when sales are in the tank.  Create a supportive environment, on both sides of the house.

Get Rid of Pet Projects! Every company has at least one.  Some project a member of the executive team came up with that is totally stupid but no one has the chutzpah to stand up and say it. So a limited number of people are assigned to work on the idea and it stays under the radar enough that people forget about it.  Stop the project!  NOW!  And if you have a hard time knowing what people are working on look for a web-based project management system.  There are many out there but I’ve had a lot of success with Marketing Central in managing small and large complex projects.

Get on the Social Media Bandwagon! This is one of the most cost-effective tools you can start using TODAY to connect with your customers and prospect.  Please notice, I said connect.  I didn’t say vomit your marketing message on the world. When you get involved with social media remember that if you want to be relevant to your customer and prospect base you need to have two-way conversations.  You need to talk about things they care about and let them know you care about their perspective if you want them to listen to your marketing speak when you deliver it.  Make sure you have a person behind the tool who engages with people and doesn’t talk like a corporate puppet.  You need to have a blog and Twitter account, not some corporate BS blog or Twitter account, but corporate accounts run by individuals that provide value and lets people know that you actually have human beings who work for you. If you don’t trust anyone let your CEO be your spearhead, but if you do let your training team give out tips and tricks, let your marketing team share their expertise with other marketers, let your sales team talk about what they are hearing is happening with other customers (no names unless you get permission.)  Let your company’s real personality shine and you won’t be sorry!  At least not too often.  Eventually, someone will say something you don’t want to be said, or say it in a way you wouldn’t have said it.  But you know what.  GET OVER YOURSELF. You aren’t perfect either.  Choose people you trust.  That is the key.  This allows you to truly be in relationship with your customers, rather just casual acquaintances who exchange money every once in a while.

Stop Doing What You’ve Always Done And Expecting the Same Result

That really doesn’t need a lot of explanation.  But if you think you can be successful today by doing what you did yesterday, you are sadly mistaken and unfortunately tomorrow you might be out of business.

But there is some good news.  This is an opportunity for the small and the mid-size company to aggressively take market-share from their large competitors while they try to break through the own bureaucracy and correct course.  Progressive, forward-thinking companies that are able to quickly adapt will come out ahead!

In summary, if you aren’t already, you’ve got to start Thinking Big and Acting Small.