Are you listening to WII-FM?
If you’re in the marketing business, you should be. It’s everyone’s favorite station.
WII-FM stands for “What’s in it for me?” And as a blog by that name says, “It’s all anyone’s listening to.”
As higher ed marketers, we need to be attuned to what our audiences want. We need to talk to them about the benefits of our programs rather than the features.
That means less talk about what we offer and more talk about what they get.
It means that instead of saying, “We offer a customized approach for learning,” we flip that statement to make it less about us and more about the audience or customer. Instead, we tell the customer, “You’ll get a customized learning experience at XYZ University.”
Most organizations are tuned in to WII-FM, but for the same reason everyone else is. Because we think that we are important, and we want people to know what’s in it for us.
It’s time to change channels and listen to what our audiences want. Too bad WII-FT (what’s in it for them) isn’t so catchy, because that’s what we should be tuned in to. Only then can we talk to our audiences in the language that resonates with them.
Higher Ed Marketing 