Proof of Concept

Everyone agrees, alumni matter. Their successes tell the story of the institution. They are also a pipeline for current students. I look at my eldest son who connected with alumni to decide where to go to college and already as a sophomore has made meaningful connections in the professional world. He recently told his younger brother that he should consider a smaller college because of the closer connections you build. That alumni network. But what I hear from the higher ed industry is that budgets for alumni communications are being cut and this crucial audience segment is becoming disengaged.

The problem with silos

I was recently lamenting with someone who works at a large state university about how fragmented departments are in higher ed. Many decisions are driven by institutional framework versus strategically considering how to engage with the community. Enrollment, Alumni Relations, Student Affairs, and Advancement are all operating separately from each other (fortunately many schools are moving Marketing and Communications up the ladder in order to align communications). In addition, individual colleges have separate communication teams also working in silos. What this means is a lack of cohesion with messaging and thoughtful use of resources. I worked with one college that had a centralized publications office yet each school magazine operated on a different budget due to the structure of the individual colleges. Instead of creating one segmented magazine, numerous magazines were created. Then along came budget cuts and all of the publications were cut. At the same time I also see investment in campaign communications. Engaging with alumni is advancing the institution. 

A multi-channel strategy

While I believe strongly that a print publication should be part of the communications strategy, I understand why some get cut. During the tenure for most of these magazines the communication landscape has changed dramatically. E-newsletters, microsites, social media, and podcasts are all part of the equation. And a lot less expensive to produce. Magazines that continue to print new updates and events are not taking advantage of the suite of channels—and this makes them vulnerable to budget cuts. Having a cross channel communication strategy and understanding print’s role in that equation is imperative.

Michael Callahan, editorial director of the award-winning UCLA magazine, publishes a high-end print piece once a year that is complemented by three digital issues. “I want the digital to feel like a destination. We launch in the winter, spring, and summer and send an email out to everybody, saying it's here.” He notes that the newsroom and social channels are constantly putting content out so it is important to make the magazine distinct. They then can give really good, strong content to the social media team since that is how people are coming to the magazine. Alex Scholnick from the UCLA social team, is also brought in on weekly story development meetings. He then relies on Judit Nagy, Chief of Strategic Insights, and her  team to give him valuable insight by drilling down into what people want and expect and how they're interacting with the material.

My own alma mater, VCU, recently won this year’s prestigious CASE Sibley award for their magazine. I recently met Jay Davenport, vice president of development and alumni relations, who was instrumental in launching the bi-annual magazine just two years ago. “Prior to VCU I was at Wake Forest and was impressed with the print magazine the school produced. The team at VCU was ready and eager to launch a magazine. We initially published 85,000 copies and the magazine was so popular we broadened the print run to 125,000 in a year.” His goal is to engage 25 percent of the over 200k alumni base, and the magazine is an instrumental tool in making that happen. After graduating over 30 years ago, I now feel more connected to the school than I did before when I only received emails and donation requests.

Wellesley Magazine gave its readers the option to opt in for print. Catherine Grace, senior editor, notes, “The number one source for information about the college for our alums is the magazine, in spite of all the newsletters, web pages, and direct mail. We have 35,000 alums that potentially could get the magazine and about 15,000 of them still get it in print. In addition, it gets sent to the five oldest classes and the five youngest classes to get into the habit of having it. My absolute conviction is that the reason people like the print magazine is because they could put it on their coffee table.”

It is all about meeting people where they are. Associate Dean and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, Teresa Mannix says that Georgetown Business Magazine, “Some people might want to listen to the magazine, people might want to read it in paper, print form, and some people are reading it online.” In addition they repurpose content in their digital marketing strategy, including paying to rerun the cover story, “Delivering Under Pressure,”  as sponsored content in the Washington Post.

It isn’t all about alumni stories

The days of an editor working solo to develop a print magazine are gone. As a comprehensive content strategy is imperative, so is partnering with campus partners to develop stories and weave in unique initiatives. Most communicators have weekly meetings with their teams (including design, photography, and video) along with consistent meetings with their campus partners to discuss potential stories and how to best tell those stories. The team at Wellesley also meets with department heads to find out about alumni to watch. The former editor at Bowdoin used to set-up a table in the campus center to get input from the community. Class Notes are also an important resource. 

Michael notes, “The magazine has to be holistic. We’re not simply running stories about alumni. We also run stories about faculty and about current students—we're trying to be a source where we take an issue of the day and then source it through UCLA and try to explain it to people.”

As stories are gathered across campus they should also be shared back out through multiple channels. Catherine adds, “The new [Wellesley] college website just launched, because of that there is more of an appetite for stories than there had been previously and Wellesley Magazine will be sharing more of our assets with them than in the past.” She notes that prospective students are interested in stories about what it is like to be a student at Wellesley and a way to make that happen is through storytelling.

Why it matters

Alumni are your brand ambassadors who are invested emotionally in the success and endurance of the institution. Understanding what is happening at the school today helps them tell the story of the school. This in turn helps to build the network for the school.

Teresa shares that after running the story, “Small Bites,” about backyard farmers helping feed people, she just had an influx of alumni reach out to her, wanting to support her cause, wanting to connect, wanting to find a local branch near them. “They really are very connected to one another in a very special way. They are your representation out in the world.”

Alumni are your proof of concept. Investing in them is investing in the advancement of the institution.