When communicating across franchise and parent companies their is often a disassociation between them. This can often wreak havoc in building a corporate brand and being successful in the market. On the other hand a cohesive group will be strong and successful.
I recently purchased a new vehicle from a Chevy dealer. At the time they were under construction with a renovation, but I didn't think much of it. During the discussion with the sales person it can to light that this was a corporate driven initiative. The dealer wasn't given much choice other than to renovate or lose their franchise. It was then that I realized that all of the local Chevy dealers were going through the same transformation.
The idea for Chevy was to get a consistent look for all of the dealerships across the country. The dealers would then be brand identifiable, even without looking at the sign above the lot. While there was a great cost for the dealers, it was made up with marketing from a corporate level that made it look like it was custom for each dealer (due to the consistency).
I haven't reviewed the exact sales numbers since the dealership overhauls, but from the little news I have read GM sales have been increasing.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Blue Cross Blue Shield Case Study
When Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Hampshire revised their communication strategy they had already done interviews with several of the important stakeholders, including the subscribers. To understand the results of the change in communications they will need to re-interview many of the same demographics to see the change.
Additional measurements should be taken to see how comprehensive the reach was. By doing interviews or surveys of prospective insurance purchasers they can see if they have moved above any of the competition as target providers.
The communications with local offices can be done with satisfaction surveys. They could also review locations to see if the local offices are compliant with broadcasting the new messages.
Additional measurements should be taken to see how comprehensive the reach was. By doing interviews or surveys of prospective insurance purchasers they can see if they have moved above any of the competition as target providers.
The communications with local offices can be done with satisfaction surveys. They could also review locations to see if the local offices are compliant with broadcasting the new messages.
Measurement Plan for Higher Learning
I decided to review Michigan State University due to the size of the institution. I find that sometimes these larger institutions will try to rest on the reputation of prior years instead of pushing to greater things.
The first item that needs to be looked at is the mission of the university. Without this we don't know what we need to measure or where we want to go. The following is an excerpt from the mission statement:
Other audiences such as staff, parents, and the media all have additional stakes in the process as well but in a lesser role.
The objective will be to connect with the mission to as many students as possible. By making a connection to the students that the university is focused on research and philanthropy they can recruit the and guide students to be better people.
The initial benchmark will be to compare news coverage of current achievements of MSU students both past and present.
To determine a measurement tool I went to Google News and did some searches for MSU related topics. The thought is that MSU is a prominent institution and that they will likely be covered by larger news agencies that are included in the Google News section.
In my research for this to get an idea of their success I filtered through pages of results from Google News and was a little disappointed in the coverage. I realize this is sports season, but it took a page and a half to find the first non sports related article. While the one article I did find outside of sports seemed on target to the mission of the school. It was focused on a study performed at MSU. The second article I found was unrelated to the school directly but was about a students living conditions off campus.
If feel that while the sports coverage is good for MSU (as long as they are winning) since it gives a sense of pride to all students, the administration needs to focus on getting more publicity for the achievements of the school.
The first item that needs to be looked at is the mission of the university. Without this we don't know what we need to measure or where we want to go. The following is an excerpt from the mission statement:
As a public, research-intensive, land-grant university funded in part by the state of Michigan, our mission is to advance knowledge and transform lives by:When identifying the audiences that are important we need to look foremost at the students, past, present, and future. Those audiences will determine everything that MSU is. If the past students fail or all become disenfranchised it will become difficult to recruit new students. If current students leave, you have no legacy. If future students decide to go elsewhere there is no reason to have a school.
- providing outstanding undergraduate, graduate, and professional education to promising, qualified students in order to prepare them to contribute fully to society as globally engaged citizen leaders
- conducting research of the highest caliber that seeks to answer questions and create solutions in order to expand human understanding and make a positive difference, both locally and globally
- advancing outreach, engagement, and economic development activities that are innovative, research-driven, and lead to a better quality of life for individuals and communities, at home and around the world
Other audiences such as staff, parents, and the media all have additional stakes in the process as well but in a lesser role.
The objective will be to connect with the mission to as many students as possible. By making a connection to the students that the university is focused on research and philanthropy they can recruit the and guide students to be better people.
The initial benchmark will be to compare news coverage of current achievements of MSU students both past and present.
To determine a measurement tool I went to Google News and did some searches for MSU related topics. The thought is that MSU is a prominent institution and that they will likely be covered by larger news agencies that are included in the Google News section.
In my research for this to get an idea of their success I filtered through pages of results from Google News and was a little disappointed in the coverage. I realize this is sports season, but it took a page and a half to find the first non sports related article. While the one article I did find outside of sports seemed on target to the mission of the school. It was focused on a study performed at MSU. The second article I found was unrelated to the school directly but was about a students living conditions off campus.
If feel that while the sports coverage is good for MSU (as long as they are winning) since it gives a sense of pride to all students, the administration needs to focus on getting more publicity for the achievements of the school.
Distance Learning Case Study
When reviewing the effectiveness of an online program there are several considerations that can be used. Items such as the employment rate of graduates, the average salary of graduates, or the number of students enrolling specifically due to the added feature of online studies.
For Lawrence Technological University I would suggest two measurements, the graduation rate of those attending online classes versus those using on campus study only, and secondly the alumni donation rate of campus only versus online students. These measurements will provide an insight into the number of students that are committed to the university. If a significant number of students drop or transfer before graduation that was using online studies, there may be issues. Also, the number of donations or lack thereof from online students could create future issues with funding the university.
Outside of internal measurements that can be made, LTU can also rely on studies from USNews and other evaluation sources. USNews did rank the Online Graduate Engineering studies one of the "Top Online Graduate Engineering Programs".
The audiences that they need to target with the measurements are prospective students from high schools and transfers from other colleges. They should also target LTU administration that gives online directives as well as the IT support teams. If the students are not targeted or a bad relation exists the students will not enroll no matter how good the program is. Likewise, if the LTU staff don't have confidence in the program they will make the experience poor for students.
The communications from LTU seem to be somewhat effective for me. I am a transfer student that attended a local college and am attending LTU remotely. If they didn't have effective communications I would never have considered them an option.
Content Analysis for Nonprofits
In reviewing the content analysis for the Capital Area Humane Society (CAHS) I found that they are positively received by most everyone. There were a couple news articles relating to them and all responses were positive. They seem to be making an impact in the community through getting addition legislation passed to stiffen penalties for dog fighting related crimes and changing the attitudes towards this activity.
The social media items that I found were also quite positive. The reach in Facebook seems quite well with nearly 11,000 people "liking" them. Each individual post is getting around 100 likes as well, with good conversations of several comments.
One area that I had concern with was the YouTube presence. The have very little content and what they do have posted is around a year old. The videos contained some information on specific pets, but nothing about the operation. They were not getting much traffic for the videos either.
The recommendations that I would have for them is to expand on the YouTube coverage. Get more active content available for both the pets and the operations. The videos could be easily linked to from the Facebook feed that is already successful. The attachment that a person can have over video would seem greater than that of a picture. By gaining the attachment for specific pets, they could create greater adoption rates.
The social media items that I found were also quite positive. The reach in Facebook seems quite well with nearly 11,000 people "liking" them. Each individual post is getting around 100 likes as well, with good conversations of several comments.
One area that I had concern with was the YouTube presence. The have very little content and what they do have posted is around a year old. The videos contained some information on specific pets, but nothing about the operation. They were not getting much traffic for the videos either.
The recommendations that I would have for them is to expand on the YouTube coverage. Get more active content available for both the pets and the operations. The videos could be easily linked to from the Facebook feed that is already successful. The attachment that a person can have over video would seem greater than that of a picture. By gaining the attachment for specific pets, they could create greater adoption rates.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Measurement Plan for Nonprofit
I will be identifying a measurement plan for the Capital Area Humane Society (CAHS). This organization runs a local animal shelter and places animals in approved homes.
The first step in the process is to identify the mission of the organization. The CAHS states their mission statement as:
The next step is to identify the audiences or stakeholders to the CAHS, then to prioritize them. For the CAHS the audience can be focused on several groups. From the most to least important are: Individuals that shop at pet stores are visit the zoo, also known as animal lovers. Area families with children, this will target the education group.
To establish a benchmark of success or failure the CAHS should be comparing the adoption rates and attitudes of the community compared to similarly sized cities. Surrounding cities should also be compared to account for geographic reasons, but the similar cities will be important as well even if not local.
The metric that should be chosen for the mission would be an adoption ratio of those animals that are successfully adopted compared to the number that are either euthanized or moved to other shelters. The metric for the education of ethical care would be the results of a survey that gets opinions on topics of dog fighting, what constitutes neglect, or proper care for animals. Other media coverage could also give insight on this.
By measuring the change in perception from before and after a given time period results can be analyzed. Changes can then be made to counter the results found. After the changes are completed another round of analysis should be done to confirm gains or losses.
Capital Area Humane Society, http://www.cahs-lansing.org/index.php/about
The first step in the process is to identify the mission of the organization. The CAHS states their mission statement as:
"At the Capital Area Humane Society, we are passionate about animals. Our mission is to promote the humane treatment of companion animals through protection, placement, education and example. Our wide variety of programs and services exist to serve the animals and the people of the mid-Michigan community."The objectives are then to take measurements that will identify promotion of humane treatment of animals and the placement of abandoned animals. To accomplish this, the rate of incoming animals can be compared to successfully placed animals. Another measurement could be the education level of ethical animal treatment to animals done through a survey.
The next step is to identify the audiences or stakeholders to the CAHS, then to prioritize them. For the CAHS the audience can be focused on several groups. From the most to least important are: Individuals that shop at pet stores are visit the zoo, also known as animal lovers. Area families with children, this will target the education group.
To establish a benchmark of success or failure the CAHS should be comparing the adoption rates and attitudes of the community compared to similarly sized cities. Surrounding cities should also be compared to account for geographic reasons, but the similar cities will be important as well even if not local.
The metric that should be chosen for the mission would be an adoption ratio of those animals that are successfully adopted compared to the number that are either euthanized or moved to other shelters. The metric for the education of ethical care would be the results of a survey that gets opinions on topics of dog fighting, what constitutes neglect, or proper care for animals. Other media coverage could also give insight on this.
By measuring the change in perception from before and after a given time period results can be analyzed. Changes can then be made to counter the results found. After the changes are completed another round of analysis should be done to confirm gains or losses.
Capital Area Humane Society, http://www.cahs-lansing.org/index.php/about
Saturday, November 24, 2012
PR Crisis Discussion
In a blog post, discuss a company that had a PR crisis. What was the
crisis and how did they handle it? How could they have measured their
communications effectiveness during and after the crisis? What could
they have done differently?
The crisis in question was caused by a Bank of America decision to charge $5 per transaction when using a debit card. The decision was made in an effort to raise revenue after the banking issues in 2008. The changes were not unique for the industry but new for a large institution. The push back from the general public was greater than anticipated. The discussions went viral and were transmitted with only half truths.
The discussions on the issue needed to to be monitored more closely during the initial announcements. The company appeared to be unprepared for the lash back from the public and wasn't monitoring or addressing the issue until it got out of hand.
Ultimately they changed course and decided to not implement the fees after the bad publicity dragged on for over a month. If the end result was generate more revenue through the process they should have been been more interactive with customers to address their concerns. By getting to the news agencies and trying to better explain the situation immediately the negative discussion wouldn't have went viral.
The crisis in question was caused by a Bank of America decision to charge $5 per transaction when using a debit card. The decision was made in an effort to raise revenue after the banking issues in 2008. The changes were not unique for the industry but new for a large institution. The push back from the general public was greater than anticipated. The discussions went viral and were transmitted with only half truths.
The discussions on the issue needed to to be monitored more closely during the initial announcements. The company appeared to be unprepared for the lash back from the public and wasn't monitoring or addressing the issue until it got out of hand.
Ultimately they changed course and decided to not implement the fees after the bad publicity dragged on for over a month. If the end result was generate more revenue through the process they should have been been more interactive with customers to address their concerns. By getting to the news agencies and trying to better explain the situation immediately the negative discussion wouldn't have went viral.
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