Strategic Plan for Marketing

Transcription

1 Strategic Plan for Marketing Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Marketing Staff Sandy Duckett, Vice President of College Advancement Val Call, Director of Marketing and Creative Services Erica Plaza, Marketing Coordinator Janev Smith, Marketing Assistant

2 NWTC Business Market Strategy NWTC has hundreds of products and services that Marketing continuously promotes. The College has 12 different business units made up of Centers of Learning, Student and Business Services, and Special Events. The specific programs of learning and certificates fall under each business unit. Low enrollment programs and new initiatives are areas where the Marketing staff devotes additional time and resources. We do not promote programs that have waiting lists but try to highlight the programs and services that need special attention. Building a consistent brand and message across all business units enhances the marketing efforts by creating a recognizable and unified public perception of everything NWTC has to offer Northeast Wisconsin. 2

3 Marketing Plan Northeast Wisconsin Technical College College Advancement September 2009 July 2010 Introduction The purpose of the NWTC Marketing Plan is to increase the overall visibility and enhance the reputation of the college by creating a consistent brand recognition. The trademarks of the college are academic excellence, responsive student services, advanced technology, community and industry partnerships, and workforce and economic development. NWTC s marketing efforts are meant to highlight the excellent education and dynamic services we provide to the community, and ensure the college s growth, prosperity, and future. Marketing should be recognized as a central, core operating principal of the college. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. Within the above definition of marketing is an affirmation of an integrated approach to marketing which enhances the college s reputation. Integrated marketing means applying a variety of communication and marketing strategies and efforts from various groups and/or departments across the college. Marketing has the goal of managing lifetime relationships in ways that benefit the student/community/member/donor and the institution. The Executive Leadership Team (ELT) has multiple goals for which are described in greater detail later in this plan. Many of the major goals fall under the following categories: 1. Establish the NWTC brand internally and within the community 2. Continue efforts to sustain and increase student enrollment in existing and new programs 3. Leverage NWTC s existing strengths in the Regions by increasing FTE s The success of an integrated marketing approach is shared goals across the college and an understanding that we are all working towards the same end goal to promote NWTC. All departments work to accomplish the goals while supporting the institutional mission. Every department should consider a marketing dimension to their plans, rather than marketing being the sole responsibility of College Advancement. Marketing should be considered when new programs are being developed, when growth plans are established, or when enrollments are at risk. When resources are coordinated and communication is effective, the college can best serve its students and the community. This enables everyone to articulate a consistent message and the NWTC brand as we work together to develop, promote, and deliver the educational advantages NWTC has to offer. 3

4 Goal of Marketing The main goal of marketing department is to support the divisions with the appropriate marketing/sales collateral to complement their divisional goals and plans. Marketing relies on each business unit to be experts in their field and provide the necessary information to allow our department to evaluate the best medium and message to reach the desired audience. With the pervasive nature of advertising and constantly changing technology, how to reach target markets may vary per division. The Marketing Department tries to keep abreast of new marketing mediums as well as changes in existing media. Marketing uses different venues depending upon the demographics and psycho-graphics of each market. What is the work of Marketing? The role of Marketing is to create and manage an effective and consistent image of the College. Executing the strategy will encourage students to enroll and continue their learning, and share their experiences at NWTC with other potential students and parents. Marketing works to: Create meaningful visual messages through words, ideas, and images that deliver upon the promises and benefits made by NWTC to its customers, and strive to ensure that the message is consistent throughout the College and to the public. Develop effective marketing publications and collateral which enhance the College s image, promote enrollment, and maximize financial resources. Keep NWTC in the minds of people who need our products and services. Provide professional design that creates a high-quality uniform image for all public facing materials (ie. publications, direct mail, class flyers, Website, advertisements, billboards, etc.). Raise the value of NWTC locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally. 4

5 Primary and Target Audiences Marketing works to create meaningful messages to reach the general public as well as target specific audiences. Marketing of all types relies on multiple touch points. A touch point is a point of contact with a potential student. It can be in the form of a one-to-one conversation with a Recruiter, listening to an ad on the radio, reading an ad in the newspaper, or word of mouth from a previous student or parent. Having a consistent message and brand through as many touches as possible will help build recognition; especially in more rural areas where our regional centers are located. NWTC General Audience 1. Students who live in the NWTC region 2. Parents 3. Leaders in educational environments 4. Community at large 5. Business Community Targeted Audiences are broken into three main categories. 1. Secondary School Students this is a traditional market that is often reached by outreach efforts and relationship building with high schools through our Recruiting Department. Subgroups would include: a. Middle School Students and their parents b. High School Students and their parents c. High School counselors and teachers 2. Non-Traditional Students a majority of our market falls into this category in terms of students who are >26 that have been out of the educational system/and or workplace for awhile and are looking to update skills, start a career or are looking to change careers. Subgroups would include: a. Unemployed/Underemployed: Adults who have been downsized at work and are creating new careers or have graduated from college, but are unable to find a job in their career field. b. Housewives who are coming back to education after years of taking care of their families and homes. c. Incumbent workers: Students that need certain courses in order to move up in their jobs - or to hold onto their jobs. d. Divorced/Separated/Single Parents e. Adults looking for a career in a non-traditional occupation 3. Diverse Student Populations The 2013 strategic directions plan outlines the current environmental conditions of the Green Bay market Subgroups would include: a. Latino students (Brown County has the 5 th large Hispanic population in WI) b. Other ethnic groups (11 Green Bay schools are majority minority) c. Students seeking English as a Second Language classes (ESL) 5

6 Marketing Boundaries As with most public institutions, the marketing department is faced with various challenges that we cannot change. Constant communication and project discussions help us overcome the items we cannot control. One of the bigger challenges we would like to see improved would be a transition from a reactive environment to a more proactive environment. With a more collaborative and integrated approach across departments, our hope is to begin making this transition and enable our staff to efficiently schedule design projects with more precision and ample time to explore the most effective marketing approach. Some of the external constraints we face are: Limited staff and budget Executive Leadership initiatives Dependency on other departments Lead-time Equipment Political and economic climate 6

7 Marketing Budget Setting the Budget The overall marketing budget is classified into five main categories: 1. Public Information (Dept. ID 96300): this is the largest component of the budget. It is comprised of our statewide marketing initiatives, registration drives on radio and in print, and other overall branding initiatives as presented throughout the course of a standard school year. 2. Post Secondary (Dept. ID 96310): this section of the budget covers materials that can generally be considered recruiting materials such as the catalog, brochures, and the admissions packet as well as some Foundation materials such as Friends. 3. Program Specific (Dept. ID 96320): this smaller part of the budget is set aside to help assist programs who may need additional exposure to get the appropriate number of enrollments. Other specific projects would be items like advertising for events such as the Engineering Open House or promoting new programs such as Gerontology and Utilities Engineering. 4. Outreach (Dept. ID 96330): the second largest part of our budget is almost exclusively used to help support the regional learning centers through printing the Continuing Education Magazine (ACE), the Reminder Flyers, and covering the postage necessary to mail both items. a. In the school year, 94% of this budget allocation was devoted solely to the printing and postage for the ACE and Reminder flyers. A substantial amount of ads are also created for each area. 5. General Studies (Dept. ID 96340): this area was created to help marketing efforts targeting new and potential students and parents with program information and the cost benefit of the General Studies Certificate. The two charts on the next page break out the budgets by department allocation and compare to the previous school year. The budget has decreased by 8.5%. With print and mailing costs continually on the rise, it is imperative to monitor current practices to ensure we are effectively reaching our target audience with the correct message and format. 7

8 Total Budget: $700,520 8

9 Marketing Strategies Business Market Strategy The College has done a good job in identifying the product needs of our district and creating new business units to grow the College. Society today is saturated with information and messaging thus NWTC has to deliver multiple messages without losing the interest of our customer. The Marketing staff also has the responsibility of stretching our marketing dollars to meet the needs of the new business units. We have to be careful not to split the market into so many pieces that there will not be enough dollars to create an effective market strategy for new initiatives. We continue to look for market niches but we also have to maintain our efforts to grow FTEs and enrollments. Consumer products and business units have grown over the past five years. For example certificates have grown from 35 certificates to the current 85 certificates offered, with four additional certificates to be created for renewable energy. New events and fundraising activities have also created more demand for staff time and resources. A main strategy of the Marketing Department as outlined by ELT is to develop the NWTC brand. There are many factors that will help marketing achieve this objective but it will require the work of the entire college. Some key points to be successful are: Web presence: the overhaul of the website was critical to help all future branding and messaging. Many of our ads, direct mail, and other collateral should utilize this new feature by driving their traffic to the web for more enhanced information. Our web presence will always be an ongoing and evolving project but is now equipped with enhanced search capabilities, intuitive navigation, and the ability to have content experts from around the college contribute information to the website themselves rather than relying on a single web administrator. o In addition to the Appleseed survey, the new website will allow the Marketing department another means of measuring improvement. Marketing and Public Relations work to increase the awareness of NWTC, thus improving the perception of NWTC to parents of future students. Measureable Improvements: Increased use of photos on the website. Teaching staff/faculty the use of meta tags and search engine optimization tools. Increased participation of faculty and staff in providing valuable content on the website. Measureable Results: Increased satisfaction of visitors to the website. Increased awareness of NWTC Greater search engine visibility for the college. More valuable web content for visitors. 9

10 Public-facing collateral: while we understand we are challenged with a small staff, it is critical to have the marketing department review or assist with as many public facing pieces as possible. This will ensure a similar look and feel is carried throughout all departments and enforces the NWTC brand. Strategic Key Point: Consistency helps build familiarity. 10

11 How will we know that Marketing has made an improvement? Marketing and Public Relations work to increase the awareness of NWTC, thus improving the perception of NWTC to parents of future students. Measurable improvements include: Increase in the percentage of parents who are NWTC promoters (people likely to recommend NWTC to son/daughter) from 41% to 46%. Decrease in the percentage of detractors (who are unlikely to recommend NWTC and have negative opinions of NWTC) from 17% to 12%. Movement of passives (neutral about NWTC) into promoter category. Increased number of updated photos in campus displays, publications, and presentations. Measurable results include: Increased percentage of enrollments and FTEs. Increased number of minority enrollments and FTEs. Increased efficiency with the coordination of documents and publications that have been created, designed, and edited for production. Increased positive airtime and media coverage. Increased attendance at events. Increased web analytics. 11

12 Adjustments Made to Meet the Growing Demand Growing the College has been a team effort and all areas of the College have been supportive to generate FTEs for NWTC. The best forms of advertising are word of mouth and the great experiences that students and visitors have when dealing with the faculty and staff at NWTC. Individuals need marketing tools to help tell the story about NWTC and to promote the business units and the hundreds of products and services that NWTC offers to its learners and other constituents. Internal marketing and communication is just as important as external marketing and communication. The Marketing staff has made strategic adjustments to its ad placement and market saturation to stretch these dollars and yet continue to support the new and expanding product lines. Radio ad placement and direct mail pieces continue to be the most effective marketing vehicles for the College. When marketing resources have been provided for new initiatives such as the General Studies Certificate, the College has been able to reach the FTE targets set forth by the new initiatives. Financial resources are not the only limitations in promoting the College. Identifying the appropriate venue, creating the materials, and placing the ads all takes additional staff resources to meet the needs of the divisions and assist in the generation of FTEs. We also have to be careful that we do not become too narrowly focused on a new product or business unit. It is difficult to divide the existing financial resources among the hundreds of products and services that need to be promoted at the College. The Marketing staff aligns their advertising resources to meet the major initiatives of the College. We also do not spend time on promoting programs that have waiting lists. We focus our efforts on filling the enrollment gaps with marketing dollars to support low enrollment programs. The majority of marketing dollars are spent during enrollment periods, because it creates the highest rate of return on our investment. As the college is continuing to grow, the demand for marketing related projects also continues to grow. Marketing needs to reduce the number of proofs going out for each project to 3. This relies heavily on each division supplying correct information when the project is submitted. Divisions also need to rely on the expertise of the marketing staff to develop a piece based on appropriate design principles and market research. As previously discussed, the marketing staff relies on each division to be experts in their subject matter and market demographics. When possible, projects should be submitted with a 4 week turnaround. 4 weeks allows the designers to work on the project and get the appropriate approvals (2 weeks) and the remaining 2 weeks gives Printing Services time to print the project. We will always try to accommodate last minute projects as we understand it is the nature of our environment. 12

13 Action Item Timeline 1. Establish the NWTC Brand internally and within the community Define NWTC s brand November 15, 2009 Create an internal branding campaign in front of staff and March 30, 2010 students, because they will be our primary brand advocates Investigate the need for NWTC mascot February 15, 2010 Educate staff about importance of having a brand that January 30, 2010 distinguishes NWTC from competitors and the role that staff plays in making students and staff feel confident, proud, and welcome. 2. Continue efforts to sustain and increase student enrollment in existing and new programs Develop timeline to identify marketing materials to promote January 30, 2010 occupational experiences to K-12 students Conduct marketing event with various college areas to identify November 30, 2009 current state and future state marketing and public relations needs Develop and implement appropriate public relations and TBD marketing timeline to promote craft certificates Market and promote the Gerontology Healthcare Certificate Completed Market and promote the Utilities Engineering Technology Completed program Begin marketing the Energy Management Technology program October 15, 2009 for January 2010 enrollments Develop and implement appropriate PR and marketing timeline TBD for Gerontology & Sustainability centers Identify comparable markets to reach new student populations December 30, 2009 Identify specific populations and distribute marketing materials December 30, Leverage NWTC s existing strengths in the Regions by increasing FTE s Roll out new marketing strategy including increased visibility in October 15, 2009 advertising placed in the regions Determine what products are most likely to succeed in Regional September 30, 2009 Centers, what markets they will serve, and how best to reach those markets Create a marketing and PR plan that leverages NWTC s existing October 30, 2009 strengths in the Regions including the strong ties the Coordinators have with their communities, customer satisfaction among students, and flexible credit offerings 13

14 Recommendations It is recommended that we create a unified informational piece to promote all transfer degrees at the colleges and universities to demonstrate the value of NWTC education to our students. It is also recommended that additional marketing resources be included when developing new initiatives, as was done with the General Studies Transfer Certificate. Marketing dollars will be needed to support the Renewable Energy Center, International Education, Manufacturing Technology Center, and the Center for Entrepreneurship. To facilitate an integrated marketing approach, the Marketing Department is set to begin round table discussions to review divisional needs and establish a marketing team with representatives from each division. This will help enforce the branding initiative as well as create awareness of the project schedule for the marketing team. 14