I went to WPI venture forum for once before I learned from
prof. Shari, however, to be honest, I never knew about that the activity I
attended before is venture forum until I realized that the process (having
pizza, social network, and then presentation) is totally same with the one I
took two weeks before. As a WPI business school student, I supposed to be
familiar with this activity, which I didn’t. I don’t know whether it is because
that I came from a total different country and culture environment where lake
of entrepreneurship, or I did not pay much attention on school social event. Or
it is simply because the poor marketing of VF even in WPI campus.
As we learned in MKT 566 class, we know that VF is composited
with three part—entrepreneurs, investors and sponsors. It should be the
paradise of entrepreneurs to find capital, investors to find potential rewards,
and sponsors to build their fames among all the people who attend. However, as
a student, and a potential entrepreneur, I did not receive any positive message
that WPI VF was a place full of opportunities. Again,
I don’t deny that it might be my personal problem, but I believe there exists
numbers of students who faced with the same puzzle.
Since the entrepreneur is the most important composition for
VF, I think to make buzz among entrepreneurs is the first thing WPI should do.
WPI campus should be the first place to launce this marketing campaign. We can
see print ad of VF in campus now but is not enough. Most of VF ad content is
full of words and busy students can hardly stand by and get VF information from
poster board. VF faced with same problem with email ads. When I receive a VF
information email, I rarely read through over it. Every student receives tens
of emails every day and if the ad cannot catch their attention at the first
time, that ad lost value. What’s more, based on my experience and what I learned
from VF, I highly recommend that every business school professor hold a night
for VF on syllabus and request student attend a VF which has related topic with
that class. Also, the WPI VF website and social media webs should be well
designed. There should be an online forum (linked with Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin)
for students to discuss, provide ideas and give suggestions about the VF they experienced.
The other part of entrepreneurs is from WPI alumni and Boston
area who want to create their own business, especially who want to step into high-tech
industry. (WPI is famous with its engineering programs) So beside social media,
WPI can reach alumni by email, or some alumni events. Also WPI can add venture
forum information on WPI alumni home page. WPI VF also can cooperate with
industry associations to encourage entrepreneurs on industry conferences to
come and see WPI venture forum.
Nan,
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of involving more and more faculties of WPI in promoting VF. It's a brilliant idea!
For WPI business school students, we are informed all the time about these great events that are held on campus and we are encouraged to attend. However, when I talked to my engineer friends about this event, few knows about it. These are the students that always have great ideas on new business but have no place to get more information. So it's a great idea to involve as many as WPI faculties in it. Also the WPI faculties are also great resouces of word-of-mouth, since they also have great connections.
I couldn't agree more on WPI VF did a bad marketing in its own place, WPI campus. I never receive an event informing email from WPI VF. Or we can see WPI VF's main target customer is not us since we do not pay for money~ But it ignored the importance of students. As I mentioned in my post, academy brings in innovation, which is favored by most entrepreneurs and investors. That's why students are important to offer the most innovative business ideas. Utilize the technology academic power of WPI is a good way to different WPI VF from the rest. WPI VF can take the advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteRecommending the professor to schedule a VF class is not online-marketing related but a creative thinking. I do not know WPI VF until Prof. Hoy, my ETR500 professor, informed us. And prof.Shari also made a contribution to promote WPI VF,lol. However, it might not suitable for every kind of business class, such as supply chain or finance.
I also think collaborate with other colleges is a good way to promote WPI VF.
I love your idea about change the content for printed advertisement and email marketing. As a matter of fact, it is essential for WPI Venture Forum to rich their advertisement content. Some people may argue that the venture forum need to be formal to attract entrepreneurs' attention. However, pictures and graphics also can be formal. As our professor Shari required for us during our last course, marketing through story-tellinng could be very effective and efficient. Also, buzz and WOM among the students can generate the awareness for them and the friends of them. Referral marketing is a very convencing way to make people believe WPI Venture Forum is a great place for entrereneurs to come.
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