: Implementation
: Marketing
Charge
As we reposition the College, it will be crucial that we
identify a consistent and clear set of messages in communications
with our constituencies: prospective students, students,
alumnae, faculty and staff, media, the Lynchburg community,
high school guidance counselors, and the national higher
education community.
And as we develop a new curricular platform, it will be
essential that we capture that with clarity and brevity:
it must be compelling, especially to prospective students
and their families. We must also “brand” our
new curriculum and the College as a co-educational institution,
yet one that pays particular attention to developing women
leaders of distinction.
We do not underestimate the challenge of your task. As you
know, we struggled during this past year in finding the right
terminology for our new curricular approach and the details
of that will be in development concurrently with your work.
We also recognize that the College has received considerable
media coverage for its decision to admit men. What opportunities
has that created for us to provide follow-up coverage on
our repositioning?
Among the considerations that should inform the working
group’s charge and, ultimately, its goals and objectives:
- Integrated marketing will pay a significant role in
the future of this College. It is important that your working
group communicate with others within the College and with
the other working groups, since the intent of an integrated
marketing approach is coordination.
- The working group should broadly acclimate itself to
best practices of integrated marketing communications in
higher education. This group should work closely with Student
Recruitment / Admissions Strategies. As an example, consideration
of integrated marketing should extend to the factors of
pricing and discounting as a means of creating preference
for the College, but should also develop messages that
do not diminish the College’s perceived value.
- In A&S’ report to the College on alumnae,
it is noted that the Alumnae Bulletin is one of
the College’s most powerful tools for communication
and alumnae have enormous satisfaction with the Bulletin. Yet,
alumnae do not feel connected to the College. How should
the College communicate and engage its constituencies?
For example, what can the College do to communicate with its alumnae about
student recruitment goals and outcomes and fund raising? The success of the
College, especially success in Admissions, will influence alumnae satisfaction
levels.
The working group should also be prepared to make recommendations for engaging
alumnae and other members of the College community in its internal marketing
and fundraising efforts.
- How have other colleges and universities structured
an integrated marketing program? In interviewing various
institutions what is considered optimal communications/marketing
staffing for a College of our size? What is the relationship
of in-house marketing professionals to the admissions,
advancement, and alumnae relations offices?
- What considerations should the working group give to
the Web, perhaps the College’s most important marketing
tool?
- The working group, though its point person, should serve
as the conduit to NCSDO and mStoner for feedback from alumnae,
faculty, and staff (the College’s internal constituencies)
for the purpose of informing updated talking points, Q&As,
and advancement communications.
- It should be noted some of your recommended strategies
may need to be implemented prior to the final report deadline.
We recognize that usual procedure in a process such as this
is to identify and engage a consultant(s) from a firm with
a proven track-record in marketing and branding in higher
education. We also recognized that the College has engaged
such firms in North Charles Street Design Organization of
Baltimore, MD and mStoner (Web) of Chicago , IL and Woodstock
, VT.
Working with these firms, it is expected that:
- a College communications platform is developed,
- a graphic and visual identity system and to provide
support for name-change communications is created,
- a national student recruitment communications plan is
created,
- marketing communications in support of advancement activities
are established,
- a new Web site is developed,
- and testing among targeted prospective student groups
to determine optimal marketing support of the “global
honors” platform is done.
|
 |
|
