Mar 17

Written by: Myra Norton
3/17/2008 8:00 AM

I was meeting with administrators from a University in the Northeast last week to help them improve overall Alumni participation, and more importantly, engagement. I have to say this was one of the most refreshing meetings I’ve had in a long time with a group like this because they actually said to me, “We have no interest in developing a strategy to raise more money from our alumni – we just want to serve them better and improve their experience of the University.” What a breath of fresh air – they get it!

Alumni are an interesting group because they already have a natural affinity for each other, and that often extends to the institution as well. But time after time I see Colleges and Universities make the mistake of valuing the relationship between an alumnus and the institution above the relationship of the alumnus and his fellow alumni – and not the alumni the institution thinks he should be connected with – the alumni who mean the most to the alumnus. A great deal of research has shown that we form some of the strongest and most enduring bonds with folks we met while at undergraduate and/or graduate school; and beyond the research, I think we all know that to be true in our own experiences. Yet, when we look to engage alumni, we revert back to the same demographic models employed by our counterparts in B2B and B2C marketing to predict likely relationships and behavior. Those models aren’t working in the traditional realm of marketing, and they certainly aren’t working in the context of alumni engagement.

For those schools making the effort to understand and support the relationships that matter to your alumni, I applaud you! But more importantly, your alumni applaud you – of course, you probably already know that.

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