by Robin Duncan
Mount Wachusett Community College
Gardner, MA
Communicators they call us,
Because of our gift of gab.
And our ability to socialize and connect the dots,
Aren’t even half bad.
What an eclectic field of interest we’ve chosen to be in,
From design to measurements and all that lie within.
BUT HEY — Everyone out there thinks they can do our jobs, you know,
I mean, what’s it really take to come up with a slogan, take a few pictures, or make up a flyer to show?
NO — we’ve got that easy job with all the glamour and glitz,
Why would you need a full-time person to monitor FB, Twitter and website hits?
Sarcastically, they say, I wish my job was to play,
As much as you get to do on social media all day!
But little they know what they’re talking about, that’s one thing for sure,
What WE DO every day is, certainly, so much more.
You see, times are changing fast and I challenge just anyone to do our thing,
How quickly one would realize that it is more than just a fling.
Especially when the President wants to see the ROI,
And when the flyers didn’t bring in enrollments, and he asks, “Why?”
And how much money did you spend on those ads anyway?
Did those ads bring in enrollments? — What would they say?
They would probably say, “Maybe we need more ads. Ya, that’s it!”
Just a few more flyers and billboards. Yup, that ought to do the trick!
What they don’t realize is that we’re being held accountable more than ever before,
Beyond just how’s it looking and really knowing if our strategies worked, for sure.
Holy metrics Batman, what on earth will we do?
How ironic that the REAL superheroes with the answers,
Is every single one of YOU!
So, we cannot remain idle, if we want to play in this marketing communications game,
Whatever strategies you learned today will most likely change tomorrow and NEVER BE THE SAME.
But aren’t we most grateful to organizations like NCMPR for what they do,
For providing us with the opportunities, like this conference, to learn from all that is new.
I thank you all so much for this honorable award,
To my friends and my colleagues — let us go forth and make that difference with our capes, bat mobiles, and our swords.
Robin Duncan is vice president of marketing and communications at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, Massachusetts. She is NCMPR’s 2013 National Communicator of the Year.
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