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The Care and Feeding Of Bees

Everyone wants buzz.

Everyone wants buzz—buzz is authentic, personal, and the best marketing communication you can create. Buzz is word of mouth—people talking about your institution or organization with pride, enthusiasm and energy.

It’s your best donors telling their friends about your university’s vision for the future. It’s prospective students Facebooking to other students about their number one choice. It’s guidance counselors raving about the quality of your academic program to families, teachers sharing stories with students, soccer moms and dads discussing their choices on the sidelines.

If you want buzz, you need to feed the bees. You need to provide regular, interesting, credible and fun facts, stories and other types of content that are authentic and compelling. You need bite-sized bits and pieces that are striking—even funny—to share. Egads, you might even need a cat video. Or a President’s Day video (with 85,000+ views).

People enjoy sharing interesting, compelling news and stories with others. For most schools and colleges, that means communicating more effectively and authentically—and surprisingly—about what you’re already doing.

Sometimes, though, it means re-framing what you’re doing and thinking about your programs and strengths from a different perspective. Sometimes it means stripping away the jargon or wrappers to make it easier or more interesting to talk about. If it’s boring, it’s not something most people will be willing to share, even if they believe it.

Photo: Troy Tolley

The Letters
Brand Story, Brand Promise, Brand This, Brand That

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