Function: Admissions Marketing. Function: Public Relations. ensuring the MVC brand is recognizable on all materials. Using the same logo, etc.

Transcription

1 Missouri Valley College Marketing & Media Relations Assessment and Planning Report Year: FY 14 Service Program: Marketing & Media Relations Supervisor: April DeGraff I. Mission The mission of the Marketing and Media Relations office is to manage all public relations efforts for the College, contributing to the advancement of the College s image/brand. Staff provides a consistent, professional image of the College by creating and maintaining the institutions advertising campaigns, publications, social media, and all other printed material, communicating internally and externally to support the mission of Missouri Valley College. The Marketing Office focuses on two primary groups of audiences, prospective students and their parents and alumni and prospective donors. II. Goals 1. Oversee all internal and external communication/marketing collateral, maintaining a consistent image and message. 2. Serve as a liaison between Missouri Valley College and local, regional, national, and international media outlets. 3. Work closely with the Admissions Office and academic representatives to design materials used for recruiting purposes in order to strengthen enrollment and recruiting. 4. Work closely with the Alumni Relations and Development offices to design materials used for reaching out to alumni and potential donors. 5. Increase awareness of the Marketing Departments function on campus. III. Service outcomes 1. All internal and external communication and admissions and alumni marketing collateral maintain a consistent image; that is identifying the image, brand and message of the College and ensuring that they are carried throughout all avenues of marketing. This includes using appropriate logos, slogans and boiler plates on collateral including but not limited to recruiting brochures, the College Viewbook, program brochures, the Viking Views and alumni newsletters.

2 2. Build Missouri Valley College brand awareness. Gain more recognition and understanding of Missouri Valley College throughout Missouri and the U.S. 3. Use alumni materials including Viking Views and the alumni newsletter to engage MVC alumni and potential donors, assisting the development and alumni offices with fundraising efforts. IV. Service delivery map Service Outcomes Alumni Marketing Admissions Marketing Public Relations Marketing & Communications Creative/ Design Maintain a consistent image -Viking Views -Alumni Social materials -Alumni Newsletter -Fundraising Collateral -social media -MVC Viewbook -Program brochures -Admissions mailing pieces ensuring the MVC brand is recognizable on all materials. Using the same logo, etc. maintaining a consistent message across all medium including press release, brochures, magazines, etc. following graphic identity guidelines Build brand awareness keeping alumni updated on the current MVC brand. -MVC Viewbook -Program brochures -Admissions mailing pieces -social media ensuring the MVC brand is recognizable on all materials. Using the same logo, etc. Marketing and communicating new programs and finding new avenues to spread marketing messages. -using social media following graphic identity guidelines Engage Alumni -Viking Views -Alumni Social materials -Alumni Newsletter -Fundraising Collateral -social media ensuring the MVC brand is recognizable on all materials. Using the same logo, etc. Marketing and communicating socials and programs of interest to alumni. following graphic identity guidelines

3 V. Assessment tools 1. Service Outcome: All internal and external communication and admissions and alumni marketing collateral maintain a consistent image; that is identifying the image, brand and message of the College and ensuring that they are carried throughout all avenues of marketing Work directly with all departments to ensure all materials reflect the image and message identified by the MVC marketing and media relations department. Enforce Graphic Identity Guidelines. Work to ensure that faculty and staff members are informed about the number of services offered by the marketing office, including graphic design work, distribution of information to media and covering events This assessment is both direct and indirect. We can quantify the number of projects we worked on and we can identify the number of projects that were completed that did not follow Graphic Identity Guidelines. We can not FORCE other departments to run their materials through our office, we can only encourage them to use the Marketing Office as a resource for design and marketing assistance. 2. Service Outcome: Build Missouri Valley College brand awareness. Gain more recognition and understanding of Missouri Valley College throughout Missouri and the U.S A survey of Missouri Valley College students was conducted. The survey asked MVC students a number of questions, including if they had heard of MVC prior to being recruited by an athletic or academic program. (DIRECT) 2.2. Media tracking reports are used to track media hits. (DIRECT) 2.3. Ensure that marketing messages are appropriately targeting the correct audience. Using information obtained through research and an internal survey. (DIRECT) 2.4. Google Alerts show us the reach of our public relations efforts. Anytime MVC is mentioned online, we are notified via Google Alert. These Google Alerts are often the result of a press release we ve released, but can also be newspaper stories about alumni or students. Tracking these alerts allows us to see who is talking about Missouri Valley College and where the College is getting publicity and for what reason. (DIRECT) 2.5. Continue to release relevant information about Missouri Valley programs to the media. (INDIRECT) 3. Service Outcome: Use alumni materials including Viking Views and the alumni newsletter to engage MVC alumni and potential donors, assisting the development and alumni offices with fundraising efforts Recording feedback from Viking Views and alumni newsletter (INDIRECT) 3.2. Measuring perception alumni have about the College (INDIRECT) VI. Summary of findings Approximately 112 surveys were completed. Fifty-nine males took the of survey and 51 females. The class breakdown was as follows; freshmen, 28 respondents; sophomores, 29 respondents; juniors, 32

4 respondents; and seniors, 21 respondents. Questions were formatted using a likert scale. The survey revealed a number of things including: 60 percent of students surveyed said they had not heard of Missouri Valley, prior to be recruited. The number one initial form of contact with MVC was made via a coach, followed by friend, website and then family. Parental influence plays an increasing role in college choice Students surveyed responded to the wording scholarship opportunities better than affordability 50 percent of survey respondents said internet radio was the primary medium used to listen to music. 57 percent of students in the survey said they would click on an internet banner ad if they were interested in the product or service The average number of hours respondents spent watching TV, outnumbered the number of hours spent listening to radio. The Marketing and Media Relations office worked on approximately 180 marketing projects during FY14. The office distributed approximately 60 press releases during FY14. Studies show that prospective students are consuming more material online then in the printed form, making our website and all web content (including social media) vital to the marketing strategy. The MVC webpage received 1,093,240 visits in FY14. That is an average of 2,995 visits/day. The webpage received 3,849,920 page views. The average time spent on the website was 4:10. The office also continued to increase its social media presence with the MVC Facebook page, Twitter Account and YouTube page. The MVC Facebook page has 4,900 fans, up 628 from FY13. The average number of fans for schools in the Heart of America Athletic Conference is 5,977. The office also maintains a Twitter page which currently has 1,220 followers, up 367 from FY13. Based on publicity submission records, all publicity requests were responded to in a timely manner. Production times for projects are contingent on the cooperation of the individual/group requesting publicity. With complete cooperation, production time for publicity requests is less than two weeks. VII. Level of achievement of service outcomes All internal and external communication and admissions and alumni marketing collateral maintain a consistent image; that is identifying the image, brand and message of the College and ensuring that they are carried throughout all avenues of marketing. This includes using appropriate logos, slogans and boiler plates on collateral including but not limited to recruiting brochures, the College Viewbook, program brochures, the Viking Views and alumni newsletters. The office doesn t set a goal on the number of press releases distributed each year as campus activities and news vary greatly from year to year. The office is satisfied with the amount of releases distributed. The office does not distribute athletic releases as that is the duty of the sports information director.

5 Moving forward the Marketing Office may consider creating guidelines or requirements for a press release. There continue to be instances where departments ask for a press release for information that is not timely or relevant, both important criteria for a release. The office also faces the exact opposite problem, there are a number of events on campus that are newsworthy and could gain publicly that are not brought to the attention of the marketing office. Based on publicity submission records, all publicity requests were responded to in a timely manner. Production times for projects are contingent on the cooperation of the individual/group requesting publicity. With complete cooperation, production time for publicity requests is less than two weeks. The office works with several groups, individuals, and offices on different campaigns throughout the year. Staff members feel that they have succeed the expectations on most campaigns, base on the criteria that they were executed in a professional manner and on time. Build Missouri Valley College brand awareness. Gain more recognition and understanding of Missouri Valley College throughout Missouri and the U.S. In order to develop a comprehensive recruitment marketing plan, the Marketing Office developed a survey that was given to MVC students. Survey questions were designed to gain information regarding what variables were important to students when choosing MVC and what mediums students used to get information. Due to the fact that most students at MVC participate in athletics, we expected the primary first contact from the College with students to be a coach. MVC recruits students from all over the world, 15 percent of its athletes are from a foreign country and 10 percent of its athletes come from the states of Texas, California, Florida, and New York. Limitations in the marketing budget prevent the College from focusing advertising to these states; as a result these students don t hear about MVC until they are approached by a coach. To prove this point, the question was asked had you heard of MVC prior to attending? Sixty percent of respondents replied no. The number one initial form of contact, with 45 percent of the responses, was made via a coach; followed by friend with 16 percent, and website and family with 10 percent. These four points of contact accounted for over 75 percent of the ways students hear about MVC. We were disappointed that so few students had heard of Missouri Valley College prior to being recruited, some even within Missouri. More effort should be focused on getting the Missouri Valley College brand to high school students throughout Missouri. This can be done through joint efforts with the marketing and admissions office. The Marketing office implemented an internal media tracking process in 2011 that continues to be helpful in gauging the reach of MVC media. During FY14, the office produced press releases that were picked up by local and national print and online media outlets which added up to $29,493 of free publicity. The office continues their internal media tracking process, and has begun to more specifically document which press releases are being printed. During FY 14, of the press releases ran by local and national print and online media outlets, 15 were produced by the MVC marketing department and 147 were produced by the media outlets themselves.

6 VIII. Staff/Clientele/Program information Director of Media Relations-April DeGraff Marketing and Communications Specialist- Danielle Durham The Marketing and Media Relations office falls under the Institutional Advancement umbrella, which includes development and alumni relations, rather than grouping it as a separate entity. Members of the Institutional Advancement office include: Cindy Carnes- Institutional Advancement Office Coordinator Eric Sappington- Vice President of Institutional Advancement Jennifer Hiller - Director of Alumni Relations Table 1. Staff Profile Full time Part time* GA Full time Total number of program staff Number of program staff by gender female 4 male 1 Highest degree for program staff High school 2 Associate s Bachelor s 1 Master s 2 Doctorate Years of professional experience in area *Part time is defined as 20 work hours a week or less. GA Part time* IX. Analysis/Interpretation In summary, the Marketing and Media Relations office has drawn the following conclusions with respect of program function and success. Information obtained through the marketing survey was helpful in identifying a number of important aspects including the increasing influence of parental opinion of College choice. Keeping this in mind when the MVC website was designed, it was done so that the information parents seek out are easily found, those things include cost, academic offerings, scholarship offerings, campus news and events. We

7 also understand that this trend toward parental influence will seemingly increase we will need to add this information to marketing materials targeted toward students. Interestingly, MVC students indicated affordability was not an influential characteristic in choosing MVC, but scholarship opportunity was. We will use this information moving forward, when marketing MVC to students, particularly first-generation students. While the two seem to go hand-in-hand, scholarship opportunities receives a better response than affordability. The Survey also gave us information regarding how students are receiving information. While the marketing office has greatly invested in radio as a means for marketing, our study showed that only 11 percent of respondents said their primary medium used to listen to music was radio, while 50 percent said internet radio. Because coaches are the primary initial contact, the marketing office can work to make sure coaches are portraying a consistent image of Missouri Valley in ways that students and parents can relate to (i.e., talking about scholarship opportunity and academic offering). With the information obtained through the survey the Marketing Office should took toward a number of new marketing possibilities that are more suited at targeting students, within the restraints of a limited budget. The Marketing and Media Relations office increased its marketing projects during FY14 by 140. This can likely be attributed to the awareness brought about regarding the MVC Marketing Department s role on campus. All materials being distributed by the College are to be created or approved through the MVC Marketing Department. Our analytics show that our website visits as well as the time spent on our website have increased. This can be linked to our new upgraded website. Our old website was more difficult to navigate and less visually pleasing. With the newly redesigned and reorganized website, viewers are able to find what they are looking for faster, thus spending more time on our page reading the sought-after information. X. Action plan/closing the loop In regards to the action plan set out in the 2013 assessment several actions were completed. The MVC Student Government Association took on the signage project that was suggested in the last Service Report. Cohesive campus signs should be on campus by the end of the fall 2014 semester. The signage will help direct students and visitors. The MVC website was updated, with a fresh look and navigation. Attention was given to make sure information sought by parents and students was easily found.

8 The Marketing Office chose a new marketing slogan and will begin using this slogan on further marketing pieces. The new slogan will guide the Missouri Valley College marketing plan. The slogan reaches all demographics including prospective students, current students and alumni. The slogan represents all of the positive and unique aspects of receiving an education at Missouri Valley College. A 125th Anniversary Committee was created to carry out events relating to the College s anniversary. Things that were not accomplished were hiring an external company to conduct a media audit and attending a workshop on the Adobe Creative systems. These were both not accomplished due to lack of funding. Moving forward there are a number of things identified by marketing office to invest in our explore further, these things include: Redesigning of the College Viewbook. The primary marketing piece used by admissions is several years old, the design needs to be refreshed to incorporate the new It s a Great Day to Be a Viking theme. The Marketing Office will work closely with the Admissions office to come up with copy and photos that best represent MVC and its brand. TV ads. As students are moving away from radio, we need to try and capture their attention in new avenues. According to our survey the average number of hours spent watching TV are 6-12 per week. This was far more than the average time spent listening to radio. TV ads are expensive and may be cost-prohibitive. Broadcast - this marketing is primarily targeted at alumni. The current newsletters we send out are not interactive. It is essential that we work with a company that can provide us with a service that allows us to make true e-newsletters. This will not only make our newsletter more visually attractive, but also will make them more user friendly. Broadcast would provide us with analytics for , this will help with reaching alumni, and understanding alumni behavior to develop the best way possible to reach them. We currently do not have a way of tracking alumni behavior. Additionally, broadcast could be cost effective because it would allow us to pieces, like the bi-yearly fundraising letters currently mailed to a list of approx alumni. Since the website remains the number one tool parents and students use to find information about MVC, some enhancements may improve our website. These improvements include a subscription to a Flipping Book software that is used to make documents and photo albums more attractive on the website, particularly for something like the Viewbook. All prospective students should be driven to the website to look at the Viewbook, it is the first image prospective students see, so making it attractive is important. The software allows for individuals to turn pages of a book rather than scroll through a PDF. It s a more attractive way of presenting things. Fifty-seven percent of students in the MVC Marketing survey said they would click on an internet banner ad if they were interested in the product or service. Creating a marketing campaign that utilizes internet banner ads could be an effective way to target students. To see if the Marketing Office is meeting the needs to faculty and staff members promoting their programs, the Marketing Office may consider conducting a satisfaction survey.

9 Work with the Admissions Office to possibly appoint a marketing liaison who would work closely with the MVC marketing Office to develop strategies that strengthen enrollment and recruiting marketing. Below: Please list all individuals who assisted in the completion of this report. April DeGraff and Danielle Durham