Better life through marketing

As I wait for meetings to start the process of creating the marketing plan I have been contemplating the why's of marketing. Basically, part of it stems from the believe that if we communicate better we can change the world through our students. Part of it is just my natural bent toward process and trying to order a world that is by it's definition chaos. On its best days the inherited structure of higher education is chaos.

There is a good artilce on the Christianity Today website right now about "Organizational Pain". While I would say I'm in an organization that isn't exhibiting a lot right now, I see some signs that are worth paying attention to. The article is at http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2006/002/11.41.html .

The biggest challenge ahead is getting everyone to really see the value in this process and to see how each department can contribute to a greater overall impression. I think it was the Greek Tacticus (I may be wrong) who said "Self interest is the enemy of all true affection." I take that to heart as I survey the landscape and see that we really need to each give a little of our own agendas to make this great, and it could be great.

Research my be a key to this. Asking our stakeholders what they think instead of guessing is a good place to start. But having done everything from surveys to focus groups I know that research takes a lot of work, and good research takes even more work. However, I also know that nothing is as valuable.