I am concerned about the lack of follow-through from Hamline University’s marketing and public relations departments.  The external communications to local media outlets have tremendously disappointed me and should disappoint you.  HU has a new president; the first African American female since the inception of HU, yet there are no television interviews on the local news, talk shows or human-interest programs, and by now, the window of opportunity to create a marketing campaign are all but dead. This creates several challenges that lead to only one conclusion; HU’s marketing department is antiquated and out of touch and probably should have left with Linda Hanson. I also received the Hamline magazine this week in the mail. It started out great on the cover, but after a close and critical read from page 1 to 31, it seems like there is no timely and relevant depth in any of the stories, and the magazine still represents HU as a safe, white, wonder bread intuition with a sprinkle of color (there is something to be said about using the right black person in a photo).

If HU is to survive during this transition period, it’s marketing department must tell real stories of real students currently on campus and work harder to get Dr. Miller out into the mainstream media, which to this point, they have failed miserably.  The future of university marketing denotes being attractive, converting visitors to leads, and then customers. Basically, HU has no PR staff to “close the deal,” and delight others while subliminally making visitors and leads, Piper promoters.

The HU marketing and PR department is only the first stop. Next HU officials will have to flip the on-switch at the Hedgeman Center; it’s been stuck between the basement and first floor for a very long time. In closing, I care about Hamline University to include the students, staff and professors; that side works great. If HU does not have an outbound, reliable relationship with local, national and international tastemakers via the HU marketing department, those people I care about can look forward to pay cuts, hiring holds and the whole gray cloud that comes with the innocence of not knowing and the arrogance of not asking how. I only write this letter to the editor because I can do much better.

Don Allen, ’15 – School of Education
CEO: Internet Marketing Social Media Concepts