decline – Houghton STAR

As enrollment numbers gradually but unquestionably decrease, Houghton College turns to deliberate means of bringing in prospective students, particularly through marketing. Jeff Babbitt, Director of Marketing and Communication, spoke in an interview about Houghton’s past, present, and future marketing strategies.

“For many years, I would say we relied on our reputation, being one of the top Christian schools in the country,” said Babbitt. “But as other schools have ris

en to that same level and competition has increased, that name recognition hasn’t been there… Maybe twenty years ago, if you were to ask someone to name the top Christian colleges in the country, Houghton would have been in the top five. Now there might be twenty names of schools that are suggested, and Houghton might still be in there, but there are a lot of other schools that have risen to that sort of prominence.”

Babbitt, along with the rest of the Marketing Department, acknowledges that Houghton College can no longer rely on reputation alone.

He talked of different, more recent advertising techniques, saying, “We developed an advertising campaign just to get the word out about Houghton, both in the local area and our region of Western New York, and even beyond. So we’re doing more advertising online, in some Christian magazines, on the radio, putting up some billboards on Route 86, just so people know we’re here and know who we are and where we are, so when they’re thinking of college, they think of Houghton.”

Houghton’s online presence in particular displays a recent change in marketing that appeals to the current generation and seems to successfully advertise the college.

Marshall Green, Public and Community Relations Specialist, said, “In my opinion, the internet has really changed how prospective students shop for college. In the past, national magazines, word of mouth and alumni/family history might have been the key factors in college shopping. I think now, students are more apt to search online. To make the visits to schools that spark their interest and then make their decisions from there.”

Though advertising provides a method of creating awareness of Houghton College, it often serves as a means leading to a greater end of a larger marketing strategy. Both Green and Babbitt agree that the more important factor lies in a person-to-person experience.

As Green said, “Our campaigns are not designed to have the prospective ‘make the decision’ but rather for awareness to create openness to start a conversation with the admission team. Rarely, if ever, does a student make a decision based on an ad. It is the personal contact that usually leads to the decision of which school to attend.”

Babbitt also focused on sending Houghton College to prospective students, through tactics like the website, word of mouth, and other advertising methods, rather than waiting for them to find Houghton on their own. He said, “We’re trying to put Houghton in front of students where they already are.”

As private institutions may not represent the current trend, the Marketing Department’s primary goal is to remind prospective students why such an education might prove the best one for them.

Babbitt said concerning one underlying marketing technique, “I think what we need to do is to effectively tell the story of Houghton so that the differences between a private Christian education and a community college, a state college, or another type of college are very clear so that students see the advantages of coming to a place like Houghton.”

The U.S. government has troops deployed in over 150 countries in the world. We are actively engaged throughout the Middle East, North and Central Africa and some South American nations. In the 20th century alone, we witnessed two world wars and a handful of genocides including that of the Armenians, the Jews, the Tutsis and many more. Since the 21st century we’ve seen some of the worst terrorist attacks in history as well as the rise of the Arab Spring. Last but not least we can’t overlook the increase of mass shootings with Aurora, the Sikh temple and most recently, Sandy Hook.

Courtesy of http://www.theatlanticcities.com/

How many times have you thought something along the lines of, “What is wrong with humanity?” or said the classic: “Jesus is going to come back and judge this world.” But is the world actually getting worse? Is it even as bad as it always has been? Or could it possibly be that the world is actually becoming a better, more beautiful and peaceful place? Statistics are suggesting that the world is actually on the mend.

In a recent editorial about gun control I suggested that violent crime rates in the U.S. have dropped nearly 50 percent over the last 20 years. The U.S. is not alone in this positive trend. Crime rates have been steadily decreasing worldwide. According to Steven Pinker, a prominent Harvard psychologist, statistics have revealed a dramatic reduction in war deaths, family violence, racism, rape, and murder.

Pinker states in one of his three books on the history of violence, “The decline of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated development in the history of our species.” According to Pinker—whose findings are based on peer-reviewed studies—the number of people killed in battle per hundred thousand has dropped over a thousand fold since before the common era. In pre-industrial societies there was an average of 500 killed per hundred thousand. In 19th century Europe the death toll dropped to less than 70 per hundred thousand. In the 20th century, even with two world wars and numerous genocides, the rate dropped to less than 60. Currently there are less than three-tenths of a person per hundred thousand killed in combat.

Sixty years ago there were less than 20 democracies; now there are over a hundred. Authoritarian nations have dropped from 90 in the late 70’s to less than 25 today. Murder rates have dropped over all and especially within families; the rate of husbands murdering their wives has gone down from 1.4 to 0.8 per hundred thousand, and wives murdering their husbands have gone down from 1.2 to 0.2. Rape has dropped 80 percent over the last 40 years and lynching has gone from a rate of 150 per year to zero. Blacks, women, and gays are steadily gaining rights.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the amount of undernourished people in the world is steadily decreasing. Life expectancy is higher than ever. Modern medicine never ceases to surpass expectations, finding cures for diseases and new ways for operating on the human body.

As a Christian, this seems to be a problem. Isn’t the world supposed to be on a steady decline toward another “Sodom and Gomorrah” situation? According to St. John’s Book of Revelation there will be wars and rumors of wars in the end times. In the streets, the blood of the martyrs will be running up to the necks of the horses. Then Christ returns and saves us all. This sort of talk is common in a Christian milieu. But what do we say when faced with the evidence of a world that is becoming increasingly better?

God vowed to destroy Nineveh, but when he saw them change he then changed his mind. At the time that St. John was writing the book of Revelation, Caesar was lighting his parties with human torches. Humanity was in a pretty bad place. Now we live in a society with unlimited food, education, and commodities. The trends are suggesting that the rest of the world is quickly “stepping out of history” as Fukuyama wrote. The world is becoming a better and more beautiful and peaceful place.

As Christians are we going to continue, as Jonah did, to beg God to rain down fire and brimstone? Or are we going to accept that the world is getting better? This is not to say that we live in a utopia; there is still a lot of work to be done. But it is nowhere near being beyond redemption.