Marketing through teaching

Greetings from the Australian Computer Society n Canberra, where Daniel Oyston is speaking on "How to build your authority in your industry to find opportunities". His first point was marketing through teaching: show your customers how to make better use of the product, they will trust you and therefore buy from you. He said customers go through stages of: awareness, research, evaluation, decision, purchase and post-evaluation. Daniel told the story of Dyson, who sent him a reminder it was time the clean the filter on his vacuum cleaner and provided instructions. He pointed out customers research products on-line before they contact to buy. As an example, Daniel has the "Ultimate Case Study Guide".

Daniel described taking blog postings and making it an ebook for customers. He also said he has a process of producing a podcast one week and a video the next. 

ANU Research Shows Strong Emotions Against PM

Greetings from ANU University House at the Australian National University, where journalists Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann are in conversation with Andrew Hughes, ANU political marketing researcher. Steve and Chris are discussing how much of their political satire The Marmalade Files is real.

One of the people present mentioned that negotiations were almost complete to produce a TV series based on the Marmalade Files, set in Canberra.

Also it was mentioned that research at ANU has just conducted, involved attaching electrodes to voters to measure their emotional response to political advertising. The research is yet to be published, but preliminary results indicate that Bob Katter rated well, whereas Julia Gillard rated negatively, even on what was intended as a positive advertisement.

Authors of The Marmalade Files Speak in Canberra

Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann, authors of The Marmalade Files will speak at the Australian National University, 6pm 21 June 2013:

Separating fact from fiction in an election year

Featuring Steve Lewis, News Limited, Chris Uhlmann, ABC, Andrew Hughes, ANU

Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. Join us for a politics-in-the-pub style debate at University House, separating fact from fiction in the lead up to the 2013 Federal Election. Featuring the authors of the The Marmalade Files and Press Gallery stalwarts Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann, and ANU political marketing expert Andrew Hughes.

Steve Lewis is the national political correspondent for News Limited, a position he has held since 2007. Lewis arrived in Canberra in 1992 as a reporter with The Australian Financial Review.

Chris Uhlmann is co-anchor and political editor for 7.30. He previously co-hosted 666 ABC Canberra’s top rating breakfast program, and worked as the chief political correspondent for ABC radio current affairs.

Andrew Hughes is a lecturer in the ANU College of Business and Economics, specialising in political marketing. ...

Email Still Best for Event Promotion

Getting people to come to free seminars at a university can be difficult. So I am trying the web based ticket sales system "Eventbrite" for my talk "MOOCs with Books" on 8 July at ANU. It may seem unnecessary to issue tickets for a free event where there are usually plenty of seats. But the ticket system's website provides a useful way to promote an event. Also potential attendees may feel more commitment to the event if they have been issued with a "ticket", even though there is no financial penalty for not turning up.

It was relatively simple registering the event in the web based system. As the event is free, there is no charge for using the system (a commission is charged on credit card sales). After entering the event details I selected the option to have the event promoted in an email newsletter and on social media. So far 12 tickets have been issued. This may not sound a lot, but it is for a university talk.

According to the Eventbrite system, about 58% of the tickets were referrals from their email newsletter, 25% from a search on the website and 17% from LinkedIn. No tickets came from Twitter or Facebook promotion. This is not surprising as the event is a professional, rather than recreational, one. What is surprising is how important a relatively old fashioned email newsletter is, compared to social media.

Designing a university web site

Occasionally I am asked about the design of web sites for organizations. One difficult type of organization to desk for is a university. There are conflicting demands between marketing and other parts of the universality, between student recruitment and research and between parts of the university. The web designer is confronted with these issues and there is usually no clear resolution. Some quick tips I suggest to designers are:

1. Follow an existing model: It is much easier to look at existing web sites, pick one you and your clients like and model your work on that. As an example, the ANU and University of Melbourne are Australia's two leading universities, so it would be worth looking at how they do their web pages.
2. Design for mobile devices: Increasingly web pages are being read on mobile devices. So it is a good idea to design for these. An added benefit is that the small screen size forces the designer to concentrate on what is important. There is no need to provide a special mobile site, just make the main site mobile compatible.
   
3. Design for the public: While universities have very esoteric topics for students and researchers, their web sites should be understandable by the general public. This will allow the parents of the potential students and the government decision makers who find the universities to understand what they are doing.
4. Show activities: There is a temptation to present dull history of a university or the courses available, but the first thing to show is there there are things happening. There should be a calendar of events, including many free to the public and a list of recent publications, with at least free summaries available.
5. Provide Accessible Text: While video and audio can be engaging on-line experience, important information should also be provided in cellar, simple text. This allows search engines to index the content, allows those on slow Internet links to read it and also provides additional accessibility for those with a disability,
   

Marketing Sustainability

Recently I have been revising my Green ICT coruse to take into account developments such as the Australian Government released its "Clean Energy Future" strategy. In the three years since the course was designed, not much has changed. The science on climate change is clear, the problem is essentially one of marketing. The ANU has a course in Sustainable Marketing, using social networking and digital video. This is something the Australian Government needs to look into more to sell its strategy, rather than old fashioned TV ads:

The concept of sustainability has moved to centre stage in recent years generating much public discussion and increased the focus on firm impacts and responsibilities
and consumer choice processes. Increased awareness of the significant environmental degradation, decline of natural systems and resources along with community, national and global social inequalities has placed a focus on sustainable business practices. For many it would seem that marketing has been perceived as part of the problem rather than the solution to social problems such as pollution, over consumption, the depletion of natural resource, unhealthy lifestyles, and human rights abuses. However markets provide a coordinating mechanism through which changes take place. Importantly marketing systems provide the crucial link between
market participants including individuals, households, and firms.

This course evaluates the role of marketing and marketers by examining how firms create value, reduce risk and build sustainable thinking and processes into their marketing activities and strategies as they respond to opportunities and threats that arise from both social, economic and environmental change, and changing
consumers attitudes and behaviour. Sustainable marketing requires a rethink of the assumptions that underlie traditional marketing practices and therefore presents a new paradigm through a holistic integrative approach that puts equal emphasis on environmental, social equity and economic / financial concerns in the development of marketing strategies and tactics. ...

Sustainable Marketing

Today I was interviewed by two students from the ANU Sustainable Marketing course (MKTG2002). They are making a short web video about green ICT at the university as paret of their course. This looks very different to the usual marketing coruse.

Sustainable Marketing MKTG2002

Offered By:	School of Mgt, Marketing & International Business
Academic Career:	Undergraduate
Course Subject:	Marketing
Offered in:	Second Semester, 2010 and Second Semester, 2011
Unit Value:	6 units
Course Description:	The concept of sustainability has moved to centre stage in recent years generating much public discussion and increased the focus on firm impacts and responsibilities and consumer choice processes. Increased awareness of the significant environmental degradation, decline of natural systems and resources along with community, national and global social inequalities has placed a focus on sustainable business practices. For many it would seem that marketing has been perceived as part of the problem rather than the solution to social problems such as pollution, over consumption, the depletion of natural resource, unhealthy lifestyles, and human rights abuses. However markets provide a coordinating mechanism through which changes take place. Importantly marketing systems provide the crucial link between market participants including individuals, households, managers and firms. This course evaluates the role of marketing and marketers by examining how firms create value, reduce risk and build sustainable thinking and processes into their marketing activities and strategies as they respond to opportunities and threats that arise from both social, economic and environmental change, and changing consumers attitudes and behaviour. Sustainable marketing requires a rethink of the assumptions that underlie traditional marketing practices and therefore presents a new paradigm through a holistic integrative approach that puts equal emphasis on environmental, social equity and economic / financial concerns in the development of marketing strategies and tactics.
Learning Outcomes:	By the end of this course students will have: Developed their ability to identify and understand the impact of social, economic and environmental change and the opportunities and threats these pose to the firm; Developed the ability to critically evaluate a firm's sustainable marketing activities by increasing their understanding of the marketing philosophies underlying sustainability; and Be able to incorporate sustainability processes and thinking into marketing tactics and strategies, including marketing planning and implementation.
Indicative Assessment:	Proposed assessment is a final exam (40%), individual assignments (40%), seminar participation (20%).
Areas of Interest:	Interdisciplinary Studies - Sustainability and Marketing
Requisite Statement:	48 units
Majors/Specialisations:	Corporate Sustainability
Other Information:	For further information please refer to http://ecocomm.anu.edu.au/courses/course.asp?code=MKTG2002