6 Ways Advancement and Marcomm Can Work Better Together

Advancement and marcomm have different day-to-day duties. However, both are working toward shared objectives of building belief, engagement, support and ultimately trust among their audiences. Despite these shared objectives, the relationship between the two areas is often transactional. For example, advancement needs campaign materials, event promotion or a donor story and marcomm is brought in to develop them. Conversely, marcomm may develop institutionwide messaging without tapping into advancement’s understanding of donors, alumni and community leaders.

Both teams benefit from the intelligence of the other: Advancement understands donors and constituents, while marcomm understands brand reputation and the broader communications environment. When information and insights flow seamlessly in both directions, each team makes better decisions.

Drawing on our own experience leading advancement and marcomm at multiple institutions, we share six strategies for building a strong partnership and strategic alignment.

1. Align the teams before making the ask.

Too often, those of us in advancement wait until the last minute to bring marcomm into the fundraising effort we are pursuing at the time. This does not only apply to last-minute requests to design the campaign brochure or create a new video. The larger mistake we often make is only engaging marcomm at a tactical level instead of a strategic one. It is a tremendous waste of talent for advancement to fail to engage marcomm early in planning. This is true whether we are talking about a single principal gift, an initiative or a comprehensive campaign. Our teams must be aligned, engaged and collaborative at an early, strategic point in the process, before we need the proposal designed or the website created.

2. Build one message architecture for everything.

Marketing and advancement are often talking to the same audiences, including prospective students, donors and alumni. External audiences experience one institution, and every interaction adds to or subtracts from their overall perception of the university. To minimize missed opportunities, marcomm and advancement should develop a messaging structure that supports advancement priorities while aligning to institutional brand priorities. Once developed, training across the departments is necessary to ensure messages are framed consistently, regardless of the specific sender or the platform utilized.

3. Prepare leaders as trust builders in all work.

Trust is built (or eroded) by everyone representing the institution. University leaders are regularly in conversations that shape how audiences perceive the institution, and advancement and marcomm both bring critical expertise. Before high-stakes conversations, the two teams should prepare leaders together, sharing what they know about the audience, identifying the goals and aligning on the messages that will matter to audiences. That collaboration gives leaders a fuller picture of the people in the room and the institution they represent. Trust is the oxygen our institutions breathe, and both teams have a role in helping leaders earn it.

4. Use donor intelligence as brand intelligence.

Donor intelligence is a valuable tool for marcomm leaders. Regularly getting insights from donors and alumni leaders helps strengthen the donor relationship. Even more important, it can be a strong feedback loop about the brand. Donors can reveal how branding and messaging land in the community, providing valuable insights for marcomm. Engaging donors in this way is valuable for both teams but only works when trust is strong. Advancement must believe that marcomm will thoughtfully act on donor insights, and marcomm must value the relationships as well as the context advancement brings. When done well, donor feedback can become a strategic asset, as opposed to isolated observations.

5. Use marcomm insights to strengthen fundraising.

Just as advancement can provide intelligence to marcomm, information should also move in the other direction. Marcomm’s work is based in data—email open rates, website behavior and social media engagement—that provides insight into what messages resonate with alumni and which topics spark interest among audience segments. Advancement shops can use this insight to personalize conversations and engage prospects based on demonstrated interests rather than assumptions. When shared consistently, marketing data becomes another form of donor intelligence that helps advancement identify opportunities and build more meaningful relationships.

6. Replace handoffs with shared ownership.

Handoffs work in football but not so well in the broad work of building public support in which advancement and marcomm are engaged. The problem is the loss of synergistic potential; when advancement hands off a project, large or small, to marcomm, there is usually some loss of understanding about the purpose and ethos behind the work. Instead, projects should be jointly owned, with both teams working across the project cycle. Shared ownership changes the nature of the relationship, with both teams bringing their expertise and talent together for the success of the work.

From Partnership to Impact

The real value of advancement and marcomm partnership is in the strategic nature of the relationship. By aligning early, the teams create stronger messaging and build trust. When teams move from sharing tasks to sharing ownership, they create better outcomes. Leaders in both divisions must invite strategic conversations and help their teams see the value of a partnership that relies on the expertise of both divisions.

When this happens, the result is far greater than improved communication and fundraising. Both teams understand their audiences better, communicate consistently and build stronger relationships inside and outside the institution. More importantly, the institution becomes more effective at earning the engagement, support and trust of the audiences it serves.