So here's a book update now that the semester is over and I've been able to get my desk in order and found some time (elusive though it is).
In one of my earlier postings I wrote about Robin Hood Marketing, a book that I had selected to use in my Non-Profit and Social Marketing class.
Well now that the course is over, I can look back and reflect if it was the right decision to include this book in the curriculum, and if I should continue to use this book as the springboard in the course.
Students were asked to read the book in the first three weeks of class. We held discussions on specific themes and they all participated. However, it wasn't until the final reflections that I got a better sense of how some felt about the book:
"My views started to change a little bit when I started reading Robin Hood Marketing. Some of the concepts in that book were very inspiring. The one that I relate to the most is the concept of checking your assumptions at the door. This is a concept that I need to work on very hard in my life. This class was a great example of the concept in my life. I thought it was a waist of time but as time went on I was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This chapter in Robin Hood Marketing changed my view on the class and is now a really big part in my life. I still snap judge situations but never endeavors."
"Although reading isn’t one of my favorite activities, the reading we did in this course was very helpful. In the first half of the semester we read “Robin Hood Marketing”, written by Katya Andresen. Katya preduced winning marketing campaigns to ten essential rules that are needed to either motivate people to take action, give money, or advance your worthy cause. I have read a lot of other marketing books and they have all seemed similar to each other, but this book helped me understand how to be successful with something you are passionate about, whether your organization is non-profit or for-profit. Katya made it clear that in order to get people to take action; you need to get the message not only into their heads, but into their hearts."
To start off the semester we read “Robin Hood Marketing” by Katya Andersen, which was about “Stealing corporate savvy to sell just causes.” This book was an introduction to the challenges that non-profits face with marketing and how they can overcome them[1]. One example of this is how many non-profits make the mistake of educating their audiences too much. Andersen makes the point that this is ineffective, and you are better off connecting with them in other ways like through their emotions. The examples throughout the book enforced the concepts of having a passion, knowing your market, and overall they just plain showed us that: Anything can be done!
1] I liked this book so much that I immediately emailed my mentor from my summer internship at a non-profit community center and recommended she and the marketing director read it!
There were some students who expressed that they didn't really like the book, however, what I observed was an overall better grounding in the material throughout the semester -- a great improvement from the several other times I've taught the course. It shows that adding this book to the curriculum has certainly made a big difference!
So, will I keep using Robin Hood Marketing? Yes I will. I think next year, though, I will add a blog reading requirement throughout the semester so that students get the foundation from the book, and then keep on reading more from Andressen.
It's a WINNER!
Facebook launched their third-party developer applications at the end of May and if you haven't gotten in to check them out, you really should. While a bit buggy there are some real gems in there that are set to take advantage of social networking and bump it up from the "what's my friend doing" focus to a more "how do I get my friends involved" focus.
While it's early yet several stand out:
- The CAUSE Application: Connect to any non-profit, put it on your profile and use it to not only invite your friends, but also donate! It tracks your invitations and the donors. There's some interesting debate going on in the dicussion topic on the Facebook group about how much of the donation is used for admin expenses, however I believe that the overall good and reach to access individuals is worth it. Uses Project Agape. Here's their pitch,
Make a difference, on Facebook. Causes on Facebook lets you start and join the causes you care about. Donations to causes can benefit over a million registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Learn more about Project Agape: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/about Have questions? We've got answers: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/help If you are a nonprofit that would like to work directly with us, please e-mail Randall Winston at randall@project-agape.com
The OBAMA Application: Connect directly to the Obama campaign. The only presidential candidate (so far) to use an application (note some controversy over this one which you can read about at techPresident) that not only puts a video and news feed on your profile, but even tells you which of your friends is located in an "early decision state" and lists them, with information on whether or not they are already an Obama supporter and a direct link to message them to tell them about Obama!
What I like about these applications is the fact that they move beyond the general options of music players and people ratings and shift the focus to even more involvement. Many applications are sure to follow with the masses deciding which will survive and which ones won't. Seems to me though, that this is an evolution in social networking which is going to have a big impact on those who which to reach specific demographics with a message -- whether it is a sales pitch or a call to some type of service.
It will be interesting to see which ones win out in this 18-23 heavy world.
Perhaps this is the way that younger Americans will engage in the political process...we'll certainly find out!
Kicking off the summer with a discussion on cheating doesn't seem to really make sense...since...well, school is out for the summer and who in their right mind would be cheating right now?
Lot's of people it would seem.
At least that is according to one of my colleagues, Greg Bemis, who offered up some thought today in a teaching demonstration about player-driven game design. Greg's point in the lesson was that any time an individual behaves in a way and takes actions that were not intended by the game designer, it's cheating. In essences, if it isn't in the rules, then it's cheating.
Other signs of cheating:
- Setting the game to an easier difficulty then you really need.
- Manipulating items in a game in some way they were not intended (example of Quake and people using rocket launchers to propel themselves up a cliff...rather than shooting someone with them.)
- Changing the "rules" in mid-stream when in a social game and working as a team.
- Shutting of your XBox just prior to it logging either success or failure in a competition-based area.
Greg's overall point is that human's are lazy. We'll take the path of least resistance, and its even easier to do that in a virtual game environment where the social pressure that comes from a face to face game is not there -- where anonymity rules.
I had never thought of cheating in this way, and frankly am still not convinced. In some of the examples above, I see inginuity and creative problem solving. And yet...others are just mean-spirited. So perhaps I don't disagree that much at all. If you are going to play the game, go with the process and have fun. However, if your fun is all about being better than everyone else at any cost, then it would seem that Greg's definition of cheating makes a lot of sense.
In the words of Mr. Spock, "Fascinating"!
Thanks Greg!
Ok, so it's clear that MY idea of timely is um...well...NON-EXISTANT!! There has GOT to be a better way to get this blogging done. Yeah...a direct link to my brain maybe? More hours in the day?
sigh...
Oh well. So it's time to look at some more books. I've got to figure out what to use for my Exploring Marketing class next Fall. This is a GREAT class where I bring together all the marketing majors into ONE room...and we do marketing stuff. Another one of those classes where the traditional textbook just does NOT work. Here's what I'm trying to decide between:
So the focus of the course is to have students fully explore the marketing field, so the Vault Career Guide makes a lot of sense. At the same time, I want to shake them up. Get them thinking. Make them take a look at this potential career choice and understand what it means and what it really is. Most students just think that Marketing = Advertising. It doesn't. We have to teach them that...what better way then some great case studies, or a book that basically shows that if you don't focus your efforts your marketing will suck? Stay-tuned to find out what I decided!
Switching the subject DRASTICALLY...
Social Networking. You already know how I feel about it. I really believe that it is going to be a big part of marketing -- of connecting with your customer and getting to know them...of building relationships. It's a wave that is only now just getting off the ground. I have both a Facebook and a MySpace page and I use them to connect with students.
And now I'm using Facebook to connect with recently ACCEPTED students, who, if all goes well, will decide that CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE is the place to come to in the Fall. And, of course, that the MARKETING or the E-BUSINESS MANAGEMENT programs are exactly what they want to be a part of.
What's particularly interesting is that current students and accepted students are using Facebook to connect with one another and to ask questions about the campus. Some current students are jumping in to provide info -- both positive and negative -- and the accepted students are eating it up.
And where is the College's ADMISSIONS department in all of this? Where is the MARKETING department? hmmm...
Actually...I wonder how the Admissions professionals are using social networking?
Rule #1 -- go where where your customers are and communicate with them the way they communicate. Snail mail and e-mail aren't working as much anymore with younger individuals who have found a way to by pass the marketing and get to what is real. Anyway...I'm connecting...so come on by and I'll see you on Facebook!
At the moment, my VOX blog seems to be the place where I post information about the books I am using in my Champlain College class rooms. I like to move beyond the traditional text book and bring in books that resonate with students (and with me). My Blogger blog, (yep I've got two!) is more about classroom interactions, and random stuff that impact marketing in general. Of course, this too may change! Anyway...
Some classes are just not textbook friendly. For example, my Non-Profit and Social Marketing class is one of those classes. I've taught this class for two semesters -- I'm in the third one now -- and one of the biggest challenges has been trying to find a book that reflects the main themes of the course: THE POWER OF ONE and PASSION. Traditional textbooks about non-profit work are boring. There is no life and there is no passion. With all due respect to the professors and authors, you've taken something that requires passion and beat it to death so there is no life, no engagement and no interest.
The past two times I've taught the course, I've cobbled together a host of different readings and articles. It's worked, but not to the level I had hoped.
What makes this course even more challenging is that it is a Service Learning Course -- one that requires students to work with Non-Profit organizations on a marketing challenge. I needed something that would really set the context...something they could read and refer back to and connect and make meaning out of.
About a month before the semester began, I hit Amazon and did a quick search...just in case. It was then that I say the book from Katya Andresen. The description was very interesting, so I ordered the book. When I received it, I begain reading and knew within one chapter that I had finally found THE BOOK for this course.
Andresen has captured all of the main pieces of non-profit marketing that I have incorporated into the course. The power of one, the passion, and the marketing imperatives that drive the best marketing decisions -- whether they be for profit or not for profit are outlined in this book.
The students read it in three weeks. It has set the context in a way that I have been unable to do before.
I believe it has made a huge impact on the focus in the Non-Profit course and that impact has been beyond positive. It has been affirming for the direction I have taken in the course, and it has provided students with a point of view that a traditional text would have NEVER done.
Thanks Katya!
Anyone hear of fydo? They are this great opera company in Burlington, VT and their focus is to bring classic opera to a new audience with exciting new ways to perform. Well..not so classic opera.
A group of Champlain College students will be helping out fydo this semester as part of our Marketing Management class. Their job is to help this organization with their Marketing. It will be interesting to see what the students end up accomplishing!
For more information on fydo check out "The Right Time for Opera" in the Burlington Free Press.
