How Programs Can Help With Marketing and Communications

Many programs across campus are looking for actions to take within their own area to help with enrollment. Here are some quick starting points to help with marketing and communicating about your program.

Develop talking points for your program.

Talking points are short bullet points that highlight how your program is unique and the right fit for prospective students. They should also help reinforce Chico State’s brand story by highlighting how your program provides/creates Catalysts for Change, Connections Beyond the Classroom, Culture of Belonging, and/or a Captivating Educational Backdrop. 

Resources: 

• Talking Points Worksheet 
• Worksheet Example

Review and revise your website.

Do a critical review of your website. In most cases, your site content should prioritize audiences by 1. Prospective students, 2. Current students, 3. Prospective faculty/staff, 4. Current faculty/staff. It should be focused on helping prospective and current students accomplish the task they visit the site for, not be a repository for documents.

Use the site to highlight the talking points you developed in step 1. If you have a great video or student quotes, incorporate those. Highlight job outcomes and what you can do with your major. 

Resources: 

• Do It Yourself: 
  
  • Website Design & Support Knowledge Base 

If you have social media, use it.

For dept/colleges who have an existing social media presence, develop a strategy and content plan for how your talking points will be infused throughout everything you post. For example, if you’re sharing about an upcoming guest speaker event, use the post to underscore how one of the perks of your program is the connection to professionals/alumni in their field.   

(If you don’t have an existing social media presence, consider your resources and capacity carefully before creating one. Make sure that you can sustain it and are able to build an audience. Read/watch the Social Media Fundamentals.) 

Resources: 

• Chico State Social Media Guide 
• Social Media Toolkit for Yield (Google Doc)
• Social Strategy Fundamentals Book (PDF) 
  • Focus on Section 1: Building and Articulating Your Core Strategy 
• Social Strategy Fundamentals (free video training series based on the book) 

Talk about your program all the time to everyone. 

People tend to look to the latest technologies to get the word out, and while tools like social media are helpful, old-fashioned word of mouth is still the most effective and convincing form of communication. Educate yourselves and every staff and faculty member on your talking points until they are internalized and can be shared without thinking. Use them with current students, use them with your neighbor, use them when you meet someone on vacation. You are the best representative of your program!   

Resources: 

• Conversation Guide (coming soon!)