How 1 school harnessed the power of its biggest fans

More evidence that until you relinquish some control, you'll never unleash the power of the passionate. Church of the Customer tells the story today of OwenBloggers.com. That's a band of students who came to Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, only to discover that the experience of attending was far better than they expected! It seems the slick brochures from the marketing department just couldn't convey "the emotion, the hardships, the challenges and the achievements you experience in business school."

Our idea is simple: Tell it all. Tell the good. Tell the bad. Tell the unexpected. Let every prospective student know EXACTLY what they’re in for. We feel better information makes better informed consumers.

The response so far has been overwhelming. Very overwhelming. Every prospective student I’ve talked to said OwenBloggers has made a difference in their decision. We receive emails every week from people all over the map: recruiters, students, faculty and alumni telling us how much more they’ve learned about Owen because of our site.

The big question for college and university marketers is whether they trust their students enough to let them sell the school. Those marketers with nagging doubts must ask themselves whether it's the students they don't trust, or the quality of the experience they're offering those students.

Technorati Tags: customerevangelism, marketing, media, churchofthecustomer, journamarketing

Comments

[Matt Haverkamp]

David you hit the nail on the head here. Is it the product or it is the customer that you are afraid of. Maybe a little of both.

I wish I had had something like the Owens Bloggers for the Smith Business School at Maryland while I was applying. I really went into the experience blind. Everything turned out great, but definitely would have helped.

During my 2.5 years in the part-time program, I also was involved in the student gov't. It was our job to help serve as a bridge between the school and student population. We could have used something like Owens Bloggers to help manage the flow of communication and help foster the converstation. Smith would have greatly benefited.

Glad I found your blog.