the case for industry-academic deep partnerships

Universities are often the birthplace of innovation and play a critical role in supporting economic growth and entrepreneurship. They train workforces, they shape leaders, they produce research that results in new ideas, technologies and process and they can even incubate new companies and entrepreneurs. 

However, in a time when traditional sources of revenue for universities are shrinking and expenses are rising, it can be a struggle for universities to excel even at their core activities of research and teaching, let alone spur growth and innovation. Though it may seem antithetical to faculties who are struggling to make ends meet to cover the teaching needs required of them, I would argue that the way to overcome this challenge is through investing resources in developing deep partnerships with industry. 

Yes, it's true that industry-academic partnerships are flourishing these days within fewer universities, as companies become very strategic and work with only those institutions that align with their specific needs.  Corporations are investing (both philanthropic and research dollars) less frequently and in smaller amounts due to a dramatically changing corporate landscape of mergers, consolidations, and unpredictable markets.  But these conditions can be overcome if corporate relations and advancement offices at institutions of higher education rethink their opportunities for deepening their relationships with partners. It is not sufficient any longer for development staff to work solely with companies on gifts, nor for research staff or faculty members themselves to work solely on sponsored research agreements. According to a 2011 white paper published by the Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers "corporations no longer consider themselves 'donors' to academia; they consider themselves 'investors’, and as corporations approach colleges and universities on an enterprise level rather than a philanthropic level, they are looking to institutions as partners in solving the needs of their organization.”

These needs include dealing with decreasing in-house R&D for broad future-looking research, and the retirement of baby boomer employees leaving a huge gap in human capital.  Universities can help companies overcome these problems by offering faculty and student research partnerships and working side by side in research labs, by building an early and customized talent pipeline, and by offering customized and ongoing professional development, executive education and skills upgrading.

The size of investment a university receives from a company will depend in part on the number and quality of these engagements. When universities engage companies on an enterprise level and help them fill their needs, the investment that flows in return, including philanthropic investment, will greatly increase.

What that means to universities is better classrooms, labs and equipment. It means more research funding and unique projects to collaborate on. It means more jobs and experiential learning opportunities for students which then allows for greater recruitment success and repuational growth. Which in turn leads to more revenue and more investment in faculty recruitment and retention. 

Deep partnerships build the human capital needed to drive innovation and growth. Over time, a well-managed alliance produces a growing number of students, graduates, researchers, corporate employees and leaders who connect in key areas of interest and work harmoniously to define big and common strategic goals.

Deep partnerships require deep knowledge and understanding of the parties involved, including their mission, values, goals, needs, processes, people and resources. They are about developing a mutual respect and desire for mutual success. They are about long-term vision and innovative thinking. And so they need to be invested in as a priority of the universitiy, and resourced properly. Different universities may have different solutions for resourcing this work, but certainly they need to collaborate across campus to work with corporations in a unified way. 

The academic world may sometimes still be leery of corporate partnerships and the university resourcing directed to attracting and retaining them. However, deep partnerships will benefit every part of the university and deliver value to all of it's stakeholders (including communities and economic regions) in the long term. For universities who wish to continue to birth new innovation and cultivate new generations of thinkers, builders and leaders, deep partnerships must be part of their vision and supported at every level. 

the key to securing major gifts: action

More and more, alumni are giving their hard-earned money to their alma mater not because they believe in the cause, not because they are loyal to the institution (although these things are also necessary), but because they see action taking place. Our alumni are sophisticated and care about making the world a better place, so they want their gifts to go to those institutions with leaders who can get things done. Lots of times we see alumni who give generous but modest gifts to an institution steadily over the years, but aren't inspired to give to their full potential until they see a big idea finally put to work.  

So what can advancement officers do to both spur action and make sure our alumni see it?

• First, we need to listen to the things the donor cares about and is intrigued by (as I wrote about in this post). 
• Next we need to have the ear of university leaders to relay these things to them. Since we are on the front lines, we can often see trends when they are just beginning to form. 
• We can then offer university leaders the resources needed to take action by connecting them with alumni who can lend their advice and connections. 
• We can be task masters in setting out timelines and keeping academics and leaders on track to accomplishing these new things. 
• We can include our alumni in the strategy and planning. 
• And we can certainly report to alumni the results along the way, and give them their due praise for instigating the change.
• At this point we can often take a project to the next level when a request for support to the engaged alumni is successful. 
• And finally, we can acknowledge the donors publicly once something new is established and widely communicate the impact of the change. Which of course brings in even more support.

I've seen this happen a lot lately, as I am fortunate to work directly with a leader who is a big thinker, listens to alumni and industry, and then takes swift action where needed. It is very rewarding to allow a donor the opportunitiy to instigate change and then help make it a reality through gifts of time, talent and treasure. This is how real progress happens. And it's a lot of fun.

transforming higher ed institutions to social businesses

There was a time, back when we walked ten miles uphill in the snow to get to school, that traditional marketing combined with recruitment fairs and fundraising campaigns meant steady university revenue. No longer.  

Students, as "customers", are informed and influenced by a social community and by our adaptability to their needs, not by recruitment officers with shiny pamphlets. Donors, as "partners", rightfully demand information sharing, engagement and value, just as they would of the companies they invest in and purchase from.

How can we give them what they seek? Enhance what we already do well -  knowledge sharing and community building - with the evolution of social media, social marketing and, wait for it...social business.

Social business, as defined by SideraWorks is:

"the creation of an organization that is optimized to benefit its entire ecosystem (customers, employees, owners, partners) by embedding collaboration, information sharing, and active engagement into its operations and culture. The result is a more responsive, adaptable, effective and ultimately more successful company."

source

Isn't this what higher ed institutions are good at (or at least aim to be good at) naturally? Our researchers constantly look for inspiring cross-discipline and industry collaborations. Our core mission is effective information sharing with students and the community. Engagement of students, alumni, employers and donors is at the core of student service and advancement offices.

The only stretch is now to do all of these good things in a more strategic way, on a much bigger platform, and for a much wider audience.

But it takes work.

• It means a heck of a lot of transparent internal communication and installing the right technology platforms to do it with. 
• It means educating leadership on the benefits of empowering all employees to solve problems, share insights and connect with each other and directly with our customers and partners in order to adapt and evolve.
• It means involving our customers in forming what the product they are paying for will be.
• It means a shift in thinking by the marketing team to publish content that is consumer and partner-centred, instead of news celebrating our own achievements and credentials. 
• It means convincing faculty members that giving their time to speak at public seminars and blog about insights into industry or society will pay off for them in the future with more funding for their work. 
•  It means listening to what our alumni need to improve their lives and then giving it to them, instead of flooding them with emails to attend events that may not be meaningful to them.
• And it means directing financial and human resources to take advantage of new social technology and opportunities. 

The result of this effort is surely worthwhile. Adapting our organizations to a social business model will strengthen brand reputation and relationships since value, service, authenticity and transparency will resonate quickly with our audiences. We will become a true community, not an institution.

And the revenue will follow. More importantly, that revenue will be more purposefully directed to the projects and programs that have direct impact on growth - because it will come from partners and customers making informed choices due to engagement with the people who are creating change.

Demonstrating value, connectivity, and collaborative innovation is what will transform an institution into a social business, and thereby drive advancement success.

Note: another good resource on how to build a social business is at Social Business Forum.

why content marketing is key to higher education reputation and revenue

The explosion of content marketing is great news for higher education institutions trying to build reputation and increase revenue streams. For two reasons:

1. We have lots of content. Sure, it may take more effort to encourage and help faculty blog about their research and teaching, but the information they can share is the stuff that starts conversations. We also have students doing incredible things like experiential learning and community volunteering, and we have successful alumni who have wisdom to share about their industry. The effort spent by university marketing and communications folks on building editorial calendars, sparking ideas, and editing articles written by our stakeholders is so much more effective than simply reporting on faculty or alumni success. Articles and blog posts written by the experts themselves are genuine and they elicit discussion, advocacy and action.

2. It's cheaper than traditional marketing. Most universities don't have the budget these days for advertising, so it's beneficial to us that our target audiences pay attention to social media marketing. According to Hub Spot's 2013 Report on Inbound Marketing, inbound marketing-dominated organizations experience a 60% lower cost per lead than outbound marketing dominated organizations. What's more, social media and blogs are proving to generate real business, not simply brand awareness, delivering "54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound leads." 

So what do we need to do? 

First, we need to enhance our digital and social presence and find out what channels our target audiences are using.

Second, we need to encourage our faculty, students and alumni to provide us with content about the experience and knowledge they have gained, either directly or indirectly from being associated with our institution. We need to help them understand the payoffs for them -- writing credits and experience, but more importantly, reputational gains that will lead to long-term new revenue invested back into the school, which only boosts their work and credentials even further. 

Finally, we need to direct traditional marketing budgets and human resources into building mobile friendly sites and acquiring data analysis tools and training so that we can become even better at content and inbound marketing. 

Higher-education institutions are ahead of the curve when it comes to content marketing. Let's take advantage of that to build our level of success. 

To inspire your team, take a look at the great infographic on the anatomy of content marketing, from Content Plus. 

from donor pyramid to advancement pyramid

I'm a big fan of advancement shops over separate marketing, alumni and development shops. And here's why. It's almost impossible for marketing and alumni folks to directly connect their good work on a daily basis to the ultimate goal of revenue if they do not see strategies and tactics and results that move people from conversations and engagement to giving. 

Everyone working in higher education these days knows that universities and colleges are struggling to make ends meet. University leadership is therefore very focused on the bottom line, in order to meet the mission of high-quality research output and knowledge transfer to students and community. 

The best way to boost the university bottom line is by bringing in new revenue. A complete advancement shop whose many resources are all tasked with adding revenue creates a clear and inspiring goal for staff to work toward. 

Does that fly well with marketing shops who are working on building reputation or alumni shops who are building relationships? In my experience, yes. It inspires them to do even better work because they clearly see how reputation and relationship building are critical for new revenue generation and enhancing the university's impact on society. 

Here's how my shop has done it. We've gone from using the traditional donor pyramid to adding a conversation pyramid and an engagement pyramid as well. This "advancement pyramid" reminds us that it takes the whole team working toward the same goal to make a significant impact.

What do think? Do you agree with a shared advancement mission of revenue generation? I'd love to hear from you if have any other models that work well.