Tier Jumping: How Do Colleges Do It?

One of my clients recently fulfilled a long-term ambition: jumping to the top tier of the U.S. News rankings. Being part of the top 25 reminds me of the difference actors talk about after they win an Oscar for the first time. It doesn't make their lives magically perfect. The general public isn't always even aware of the win. But their peers pay them more respect and they get offered more and better roles.

Similarly, I have spoken with college presidents whose institutions have made a jump to or within the top tier. They say flat out it has made all the difference – they get more respect from peers and feeder high schools (sometimes begrudgingly) and they have more and better students knocking at their door.

So how does an institution tier jump? If I look at the clients I know firsthand and the institutions I’ve watched from afar it seems to come down to a simple but hard-to-achieve formula:

Selectivity: As one president told me, we just stopped taking some students. That made some of our alumni unhappy and it made some of our feeder high schools unhappy. For that particular institution the gamble paid off because of the next ingredient – money.

Money: At the risk of stating the obvious, to be selective, institutions need the resources to provide significant financial aid, to attract top faculty, and to build distinctive programs. As a leader of another college that has made the jump told me, “None of this could have happened if it weren’t for very strategic donors who saw the importance of investing their time, money and energy in strengthening areas of the college that would move us forward and make us what we are today."

Abandoning Generic: The tier-jumping college mentioned above used to talk internally about being a college on the move. But how did it know where it was going? How did it attract and capitalize on strategic philanthropy to arrive in the top tier? By abandoning the idea of competing on generic excellence.

If there is a formula for tier jumping this is certainly the trickiest part. Being among the top tier of colleges or universities bestows generic prestige and reputation on an institution. But in order to earn that generic reputation for excellence, the first step is carving out a specialty. As one college president who has been at a top tier liberal arts institution and is now at another liberal arts college trying to make a tier leap says, “Every successful institution has an identity, brand if you will – something readily identifiable that marks what is unique to it. For us, that is a combination of mission and place (the college is in a very dynamic city). That brand is, in part, a way to become known and to attract interest from students and from donors. In both these areas, the efforts we have made to connect mission to place have already paid off.”

As this president knows, while students and donors are essential to making a transformational leap in prestige and reputation, successful branding is the springboard that comes first. Next week, I will be talking with my tier-jumping client about how their generic seal of approval from US News is one more element in what must continue to be a very non-generic brand.

The Frugalista School?

I've always seen a connection between fashion branding and school branding.

High fashion and elite education are both luxuries but clothes and school are necessities. If a pair of jeans can cost $14 or $400; if you can go to high school for free or for $40,000 a year, anyone selling these luxury options better be able to explain why they're worth it.

When it comes to schools, each family uses its own subjective set of scales to weigh and balance a school's prestige, cost, quality, experience and outcomes to determine if that school is worth it. By necessity a school's brand tries to weave the perfect blend of these same factors to attract its market.

For some people, prestige trumps cost. They'll go into debt to get it. For others, affordability is king. But what if you could have both? That's the allure of elite magnet schools and public honors colleges. And that's the sweet spot of the new Target "Frugalista" campaign. For several years, Target has done the seemingly impossible -- marrying cachet and low prices by bringing top designers to Target without cheapening the prestige of those designers (Anyone remember the disaster of Halston and J.C. Penny?)

But now, Target has gone further, giving its affordable prestige brand a persona -- the Frugalista. Emerging victorious from the post-2008 economic wreckage, she's just right for our times. She's a Mini Cooper not an Escalade. She believes, as Oprah declares in this month's O Magazine that small is the new big. The frugalista's sensibility is one that the marketers of elite private schools, colleges and universities should pay close attention to.

The crucial fact to note is that the frugalista is not a wannabe wearing knock-offs. She chooses not to spend more but she still wants the real thing. (Look, there's Project Runway's own Nina Garcia now loading up a red Target hand basket with frugalista chic to prove it.)

So how can schools, colleges, and universities market affordable prestige? First of all your school has to have the elements of legitimate prestige -- successful outcomes, excellent faculties and programs. Second, to be a real frugalista you have to make cost and affordability a key message. I'm working with an Ivy League institution that is marketing two degrees for the price of one and graduating debt free as part of its primary message. Another Ivy League client is heralding "the good news about cost."

Schools that are in the best position to take a frugalista approach are those that produce great outcomes but really do cost less than their competitors. I've worked with two independent schools that have superb college matriculation lists (face it, these lists matter to parents) and are priced more like parochial schools than their independent school competitors. Now is the time for schools like these to forge a single powerful message out of quality at a low price.

How does Target do it? By getting fashionistas like Nina Garcia to embrace the ethos. Schools have known for a long time if they can get one influential family to value their program more will follow. So, once you have your affordable prestige message in place, who are the frugalistas in your parent and alumni community who will spread the word?

Entrepreneurial Toolkit – What would be in yours?

What does it take to venture out on your own in the field of higher education and succeed?

In a couple of weeks I will be speaking to a group of women administrators in higher education who might be interested in starting their own businesses and nonprofits. I’m sharing a panel session with Ginger Fay who started her own college counseling practice and Madeline Yates who has launched her own nonprofit -- Maryland's chapter of Campus Compact. The panel, called Encouraging the Entrepreneur in You, is the brain child of Maggie Margiotta Melson of St. John's College. It is designed to arm participants with useful questions, resources, and tools when considering striking out on one’s own. Ginger, Madeline and I will share our stories – the rewards and dangers of “solopreneurship.” We’re also going to share our own toolkits or secrets to our success thus far. What would be or is in yours? Here’s mine:

Alignment: Being an independent agent, free to work on my own or in collaboration with creative partners and institutions, suits my talents and work style extraordinarily well. I thrive on project-oriented work, I like to be recognized for my individual talents, I like some ownership and control over my work, and I like to connect those talents with the talents of others as a team. (Alignment is about knowing yourself. Fantasize about your perfect professional day. Even if you have no concrete plans or ideas for an entrepreneurial venture your fantasy day can point you in the right direction.)

Relevance: Being able to provide value is the key to success for any business, organization or consultant. You can’t provide value without understanding what your market wants and what you have to offer that meets that desire. In my case, while effective communications have always been valued in higher education, communication used to be the advancement stepchild. Today, being able to articulate an institution’s relevance and value in effective and exciting ways is essential. I have been in the lucky position of being in the right field at the right time.

Expertise: I have thought about developing on my own business since college but it never quite worked out until I had the expertise gained through experience to really have something to offer clients. Once I gained experience as a writer and media relations specialist for national publications and organizations, as well as five years on the senior staff of a college – where I had been part of strategic planning, new identity development and a capital campaign – I had the right portfolio of expertise to venture out.

Distinctiveness: Perhaps your service or product is unique and that is what makes it distinctive, but uniqueness isn’t essential to success. Distinctiveness is really about quality – the effectiveness and enjoyment that comes with buying or using your product or service. When I can delight my clients with quality of insight and finished work – exciting them about their own institutions – that’s where my distinctiveness comes through.

Credibility: The caliber of institutions I have worked with has definitely opened doors for me. But the relevance and range of my experience has kept me in the room. The question I often ask myself is how do I know what I know? What are my proofs of effectiveness? Answering these questions yields the proof points I need to communicate my credibility.

Passion: I really enjoy what I do. Writing and education are two of the most enduring passions in my life. Writing is my calling. Education is a story worth telling – a constant inspiration.

Space: This is about both the physical and psychological elbow room you need to do your work. Comfort zones differ. What works for me is my own office that is somewhat secluded within my house. Having a dedicated space – and professional supplies, equipment and technology – allows me to be purposeful, avoid distractions, and tell distractions (my family) I’m working – this is a place of business.

Support: Being alone in an endeavor can be the greatest thing and the hardest thing about solopreneurship. For me it’s been essential to have professional and emotional support for my work. The professional support comes in the form of a technology whiz for a husband, designers who barter graphic design work in exchange for writing services, and reliable accountants, copyeditors, transcriptionists and delivery services. The emotional support comes from a husband, parents, children and friends who understand what I value about what I do. They show their pride in my successes and they encourage me when I go through challenges.

Network: My entrepreneurial network began in 1997 with former colleagues who had moved on to other institutions and a key college connection – an alumna who went to my college was in a position at CASE to recommend me as a freelance writer not only to CASE CURRENTS Magazine but to other institutions where she had worked. Over the last decade my network has grown to include clients, partner firms, college presidents, those I’ve interviewed for my articles and the advancement and admission practitioners who read my articles. More recently, my network has expanded through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as people connect with me directly and also share my articles, blog posts, and Twitter updates. This network fuels my business through referrals and partnerships. It also gives me a community of colleagues for idea sharing and support.

Continual Growth: Working on your own allows you the nimbleness to incorporate new ideas and push out in new directions far more easily than you can while working within an organization or institution. Building in ways to keep developing your skills is rejuvenating and ensures continued success. Workshops, conferences, taking on projects that scare me, and the research I do for new client projects and CASE CURRENTS articles keep me fresh. (I also love the growth ideas in Seth Godin’s post on effort vs. luck.

Ways to Refuel: When you work on your own the job is never done. Never. Working 24/7 was a constant way of life for me until it began to take a physical toll. Now, I know that I will be of no use to my clients if I am depleted. Yoga is my fuel of choice four to five times a week. I also recharge through family dinners every night, weekend dates with my husband and totally non-working vacations during winter holidays and summer.

Audacity: You have to have a little audacity to create something out of nothing. When everything else in your toolkit works you find the Emperor does indeed have clothes.