The following is Module 2, Section B of a series called Coherence, introducing key strategies that will enable you to market your institution more coherently.

Overview and Objective

In an “ivory tower” universe, institutions of higher ed have traditionally avoided language or concepts that reflect business or sales practices. That is certainly changing as more accountability is required of colleges and universities. Frankly, whether we’re comfortable with it or not, every college and university has competitors…even Harvard. By the end of this exercise, you’ll have a better sense of who your true competitors are.

Key Points

You can think of your competition in many ways. You may have a local or nearby college or university that serves as your primary “rival.” You might even celebrate that rivalry on an athletic field or court each year. In truth, you likely have many competitors: for students (tuition), for gift income and for media attention.

One option often overlooked is the competition that comes from your customers doing nothing: not attending college at all, not giving at all, not caring at all. But that is indeed competition. More competition comes from options open to your customers in other arenas: learning from an internship or apprenticeship or giving to other worthy organizations, for example.

Given the market’s openness to rethinking the college experience, the competitive floodgates open when you think of all the ways a student can earn a degree: on campus, online, on weekends or hybrids of all three. It’s not uncommon for students to “swirl” or include several institutions in their college experience—a year here, a year there, a year abroad—all options are open to students. (Savvy universities are offering all of these options to improve retention.)

Needless to say, the competition is intense. This exercise will begin to help you and your team bring the competition into focus. In the next few exercises, you’ll look at evidence to determine where your real competition lies and how you can tell your story in a way that stands up distinctly among your competitors.

Activity with Worksheet 2B: Your Competitive Landscape

We’ll take this one step at a time. To begin, simply start identifying who you think your competitors are. You might need to duplicate this worksheet a few times depending on how many alternatives make your list. The questions focus on competitors in the form of other colleges and universities, but keep in mind your customers’ alternatives that may not be a campus or a degree. Answer the questions that you can find in online resources or through your own campus data. The objective of this exercise is to simply get a good list of true competitors. Go!

Next, continue to Module 2, Section C of the Coherence Series: Why Are Your Competitors Here?