Rollins College Strategic Marketing Guidelines

Transcription

1 Rollins College Strategic Marketing Guidelines Role of the Strategic Marketing Team The Rollins College Strategic Marketing Initiative was designed to provide a substantial means to increase the visibility and recognition of Rollins academic programs, educational quality, student experience, community involvement, and many achievements. The Strategic Marketing team is charged with ensuring correct and consistent use of the College s logos, images, and messages so that the Rollins image is strengthened. What is Marketing Communications A marketing communication is broadly defined as any advertisement, brochure, handbook, bulletin, Web site, Web page, or other printed or online publications produced by an organizational unit of the College. It is produced primarily for limited or general circulation on or off campus and is intended to be an official communication of Rollins College. Regardless of form, it is essential that all marketing communications developed by the College be consistent with and reflective of Rollins vision and mission. Who Creates Marketing Communications? The College encourages its departmental units to take the initiative to produce marketing communications that cater to their specific needs while accurately conveying the overall Rollins identity. The Rollins Central Administration has provided procedural guidelines and support services to assist the College s units in this process. The following guidelines outline both the procedures and the responsibilities applicable to the creation of all marketing communications for the College. Marketing Guidelines Purpose The Rollins College Strategic Marketing team will work with the College s individual units and departments to help develop marketing strategies as well as promotional materials that clearly communicate the College s mission and identity. Such materials might include advertisements, brochures, newsletters, Web pages, and event-related publications. Timing is of the essence during this process, so it is of the utmost importance that any planned projects be brought to the attention of the Strategic Marketing team during the initial planning or concept stages. Creative Planning Process As part of the creative planning process, we will ask you to provide the following information regarding your proposed marketing-related project:

2 1. What is the general purpose of the proposed project and how will your plan advance the College s identity? 2. What is the intended result of your marketing project? 3. Who is your target audience? 4. What is your budget, and, in the case of publication, what quantity will you need and where and how will it be distributed or displayed? 5. What is your project s timeline? What needs to happen when? Who needs to sign off, and how will you get this to happen when you need it to happen? 6. What are your success metrics? How will you track the responses or results of the marketing project? Guidelines for Submission 1. Submit your information as early as possible. We require notice of any new marketingrelated projects before production begins. 2. Be sure to give us as much information as possible regarding the project. This will help us to better understand its purpose and scope. 3. Please indicate your Area Project Manager for Marketing so that members of our team, or others, may contact this person as necessary. Be sure to indicate those individuals other than the Area Project Manager for Marketing that will be involved in the project. Creating and Editing Copy Whether you plan to create print publications or online materials, it is important that the content included in these materials is both of professional quality and aligned with the College s mission and image. Because you know your unit or department s needs best, we encourage members of campus units and departments to draft their own material. The written copy will then be reviewed by members of the Strategic Marketing team early in the production process. If you need copywriting help at any point during the development process, members of the Strategic Marketing team can direct you to appropriate resources. Generally, we require one to two weeks for collaboration between our team and your unit in order to turn work around. On larger projects, however, a larger window of time may be necessary to ensure the marketing piece is of the highest quality possible prior to its release. Publication Approval Procedure In order to ensure that the campus community communicates a strong, unified image and identity for Rollins College, it is critical that there be consistency in messaging and graphics among all print marketing materials.

3 When creating any marketing communication in print form, we recommend working with Print Services throughout the concept, design, and production processes. Their team will provide guidance regarding viable printing options. It is also important to consider that the College strives to create print materials in the most environmentally responsible manner possible. There are many options available in terms of paper, ink, and other printing materials that have been created with the environment in mind. Throughout the development and production processes, the Strategic Marketing and Print Services teams will assist you in creating environmentally friendly print materials. Contact information for the Print Services team is provided in the Appendix. Publication Approval - Step-by-Step Step 1: Inform your Area Project Manager about your plans for a new print project. The Area Project Manager will provide guidance and will serve as a liaison with the Director of Brand and Publication Continuity. The Area Project Manager may recommend that you consult with the Director of Brand and Publication Continuity on project concept and production planning. Step 2: a preliminary proof of print project in PDF format to the Area Project Manager, who will forward it to the Director of Brand and Publication Continuity for review and feedback. Step 3: final proof of print project in PDF format to the Area Project Manager, who will forward it to the Director of Brand and Publication Continuity for final review and approval. Step 4: Once the proof is approved by the Director of Brand and Publication Continuity, contact Print Services who will guide you through the print and copy bidding process. All print and copy bidding must be handled through Rollins Print Services in order to ensure that all print materials intended for marketing purposes created by the College are of a high level of quality, priced consistently, and easily tracked by the Print Services and Strategic Marketing teams. Step 5: Provide project summary, including quantity, audience, vendors, and costs, and two final print samples to the Director of Brand and Publication Continuity. Throughout this process, the Director of Brand and Publication Continuity is available to consult on project concept, messaging, graphics, and recommendations on outside vendors, including writers, proofreaders, photographers, designers, and printers. Web Publishing Guidelines In today s day and age, the Web has become an increasingly important medium for any organization to reach out to its target audiences. People of all ages have come to rely heavily on the Web for information and connectivity. In fact, a College or University s Web site is often the first point of contact made with an individual who wants to learn more about it. Thus, it is

4 imperative that the Rollins Web site and all of its component pages are maintained in such a way that they properly reflect the College s image to its various stakeholders. This policy is provided for all employees of Rollins College who intend to publish Web pages hosted on a College Web server. Official College Web sites (including departments, programs, units, etc.) represent the College and are intended for the official business functions of the College. Each home page of an official College Web site should be registered with the Web Strategy Team who will include it as a link from the main Rollins Web site and in the College Web search. Personal home pages on College computers represent the individual in his or her primary role as a Rollins employee. Incidental personal information on employee pages is deemed acceptable so long as it is not false or misleading and it does not interfere with the function or desired presentation of the unit, cause disruption of normal service, incur cost to the College, result in excessive use of resources, contain commercial content, or represent non-college entities. Faculty and staff who wish to publish substantial personal information not related to their College functions should use an Internet service provider rather than College Web resources. Using Rollins Web pages for personal financial gain or other personal benefit is prohibited. Any commercial use of Rollins Web resources must be pre-approved by the Rollins Central Administration, consistent with existing College policies and procedures regarding outside employment activities. The College may require pages involving commercial content to reside on a specific domain or sub-domain. Rollins accepts no responsibility for content on servers not maintained by the College that are linked from pages on Rollins servers. However, Web page authors should consider that such links, even when clearly labeled, can be misinterpreted as being associated with the College. Links on personal home pages to sites where the individual has a personal monetary interest should be avoided. Web page authors are responsible for preparing and maintaining the content of their pages. It is the author s responsibility to ensure that all Web page content is accurate, current, useful, professional, and consistent with the Rollins mission. All Web pages must comply with the College s policies and any federal, state, and local laws that apply. The College does not monitor the content of Web pages, electronic mail or other on-line communications and is not responsible for the views expressed by individual users. Under certain circumstances, however, the College may be held liable if it fails to take reasonable remedial steps after it learns of illegal uses of its computer facilities. Use computer resources lawfully. Material posted on Web pages is generally accessible and thus deserves great thought and care. Remember that, absent restrictions, your Web page is available to anyone, anywhere, and act accordingly. Project Managers for the College s areas, units, and student organizations are responsible for ensuring that all Web pages in their areas adhere to Rollins marketing communications guidelines presented earlier.

5 Official College Web pages must be prepared using approved Web templates or design schemes and will be reviewed and approved by the Strategic Marketing team for accuracy and for compliance with the College s policies and publishing guidelines. All official college Web pages should be developed using the appropriate templates(s) prepared by the Strategic Marketing team. Templates may include a graphical header, background, navigation, font style, color, or size. No alterations of the graphical representations of the College s logo are permitted. Complete guidelines for effective Web page creation and maintenance are available online at: