Economy, Education and a Method to Marketing- All in One Post!

I am going to blatantly steal this post from Craigslist because it's funny, a little crass but mostly because it's SPOT ON! It covers two of the three passions of this blog, and another personal passion: Education, the Economy, and Marketing.

Economy:
Short version, this person from Seattle is telling her former university that they are wasting their money on glossy brochures asking her for money because their endowment is down to a meager $500 million... when she doesn't even have a job. Waste of time and money all around.

"You know, maybe if you wanted a little bit of money from me (and these days you'd get about $3) maybe you should send me a fancy color brochure admitting your role in the bubble economics that got us all in to this mess.

For example, since 1987, higher education expenses have gone up 450 percent, while personal income in this country has gone up 87 percent, making tuition IMPOSSIBLE to afford without special financing. But, during this time, you were thriving because people could come up with the cash in two ways:

1. Get a home equity loan and use the inflated value of their house to pay for their kid to get drunk at your school and then lose the house when the market crashed.
2. Get a federal loan.

HAD IT OCCURRED TO YOU THAT NEITHER OF THESE SOURCES OF MONEY ACTUALLY EXIST? THAT IT WAS BEING MANUFACTURED BECAUSE YOU MADE PEOPLE THINK THAT ONE OF YOUR DEGREES WAS NECESSARY TO CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE BUBBLE?"

Education:
A few points here that I have to highlight. Education expenses are up 450% while income is only up 87%. And to think I used to dream of making sure my children didn't end up with north of $50k in debt after school. Pipedream realized. Great. Sad statement about the goals of our country. Almost as sad as the healthcare disaster.

Marketing:
Another point noted: educational institutions might want to consider a marketing automation tool or at least a theory. You signed their loans, you have to know they aren't paid off for a while. Don't put them on the mailing list for the glossy brochure for at least 10 years. If they didn't take a loan out at your institution, do a bit more profiling, find out if they are living at home, do it under the guise of a survey for goodness sake. Guess what? You are turning them off. BIG TIME! Speak to people like they are humans, not just numbers and all the same.

I am amazed at how behind our institutions are when it comes to marketing and revenue generation. Huge opportunity for marketing automation, lead generation and nurture campaigns all around. Hell, huge opportunity for me, since this is what I do...

Best of Craigslist was insipiring today. Awesome way to end a week. Have a good one!