I met the marketing manager for Durham Business School (a top ranked UK university) yesterday to follow up with a previous meeting I had with the Associate Dean. The following is from an email I sent as a follow up to the meeting.

My discussion with you was based on the assumption that DBS was desirous to increase its brand awareness in the marketplace so as to either increase total enrollment and/or increase the competitiveness of its admissions standards by increasing the number of highly qualified applicants.

The point of the presentation was that for organizations to be competitive in the new marketplace they must:

1) have a product or service that is remarkable (i.e. worthy of receiving mention),

2) plant the seeds that will facilitate online conversations that revolve around their product or service

3) be an active participant in these conversations

Furthermore, I also wanted to assert that prospective students do their due diligence on the web. They will go to the home pages of prospective universities, but ultimately the decision on where to apply largely will be influenced by the advice given to them by the online community.

The blogosphere is where the majority of the conversations are taking place online. Entering “Durham Business School?” and MBA into the popular blog search engines reveals that there is very little being said about DBS’s MBA program especially when you contrast that with what is being said about INSEAD and London Business School. This means that either the DBS MBA program is unremarkable or it is simply off the radar of people who are discussing MBA programs (or some combination of the two).

Battle of the Blogosphere Buzz DurhamBusinessSchool VS LondonBusinessSchool

DBS		LBS
Search Engine	# of Conversations	Search Engine	# of Conversations
Ice Rocket	19	Ice Rocket	228
Google	41	Google	1749
Tecnorati	8	Tecnorati	229

I have solutions that will dramatically increase both the quantity and quality of online conversations about DBS. The following is a summary of these solutions.

1) Join the Blogosphere

• Provide the tools, training and encouragement so that DBS students and faculty can effectively participate in the blogosphere. This would be a fantastic way for DBS professors and students to gain peer recognition, increase their networking opportunities and improve DBS’s online visibility. As an aside, the Boston Globe recently ran an article on the career benefits of blogging.
• Train DBS staff how to monitor and participate in outside blogs for DBS related conversations.

2) Give access to the brand (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html)

Give potential students, students and alumni access to the brand and invite them to participate. Make it easy for them to get involved with your brand and affect its direction and maybe even its values. This can be accomplished by creating an online space that combines collaborative tools with lecture notes, PowerPoint presentations and lecture podcasts thus encouraging conversations between all of the above mentioned principals.

This would provide the following benefits:

• Give prospective students an opportunity to experience lectures and discussions found at a top European MBA program
• Create goodwill among DBS alumni by giving them an opportunity to refresh their knowledge and keep current with the latest trends and analysis
• Create value for current students by archiving all recorded lectures and collateral material and by letting them discuss and collaborate with a broader base of people

3) Empower your alumni network

Your alumni should be your most ardent salespeople. One way to ensure that they keep DBS in the front of their minds is to provide them with a place online where they can interact and collaborate with their peers. Your current alumni website has some great tools but lacks the community building features found in the most vibrant online communities. In short, Agora needs an overhaul.

These suggestions are progressive – even a bit radical. However, you are in an industry that has been commoditized with little to no room for core product/service differentiation. I believe that if you want to increase enrollment and increase DBS’ Financial Times rankings, you are going to need to be a bit radical.

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One Response to “Of Blogs and B Schools – Part II”

1. Kim Said:
   on May 25th, 2006 at 12:31 pm

   Kim

   Looks like your page was heavily hit by spam