As Director of Marketing at the University of Michigan, a primary focus for me involves providing creative ideas, strategies and solutions that will advance the global brand for U-M.
In a large and decentralized organization like U-M, it takes a team effort across the institution. This team includes marketers and communicators that come from our 19 schools and colleges and various business units like undergraduate admissions, financial aid, student services, etc. who work together to move the institution forward toward common branding and marketing goals.
The Communicators’ Forum at the University of Michigan is an opportunity to bring hundreds of our key marketers and communicators from around campus together for a time of relationship-building, networking, and education around important branding, marketing, and communications topics for our institution. It provides us with an opening to learn and grow together as a group. This internal group represents an extremely important audience to me. Like any audience that we are trying to reach and influence, I have to provide transformative experiences in order to gain impact and have influence.
For me, bringing hundreds of our key marketing and communications people off campus to spend a morning in an incredible environment like the Google offices in Ann Arbor was the perfect transformative experience. Not only did we have the experience of being in a really cool, high-energy space like Google, we also had the unique opportunity to meet with and learn from leading Google experts from around the country. They enlightened us on where the web is going and what we need to do to continue to meet and exceed the expectations of the many external audiences that we are trying to reach through digital communications.
My challenge with the next Communicators’ Forum – try to top the last Communicators’ Forum at Google. The bar has been raised. The expectations have increased. I need to deliver another transformative experience at our next Communicators’ Forum in June. Sounds like a familiar challenge that we all deal with day in and day out in the wonderful world of higher education marketing. Have any great ideas? I would love to hear them. Thanks!
