Comprehensive Strategy

Our approach to promoting each program or event is simple: combine every tactic that fits the audience. And we start by reviewing and understanding the audience — the key to any marketing or communication effort. Once we know the audience, we develop content tailored to reach them. For most projects, we consider tactics in the following order, ranked from most effective to least effective. But even the least effective tactics can be fruitful if combined with other efforts, especially if that means our audience will see the content in multiple locations with varied messaging.

#1 Word of Mouth

When someone hears about a program or event from someone they know and trust, they are far more likely to show interest themselves. Whether it's a student hearing it from a faculty member or alumni hearing it from other alumni — particularly when the person sharing is excited about it — word of mouth is the most effective means of promotion. However, it's nearly impossible to start a word-of-mouth campaign. This has to grow organically from a combination of other tactics and audience interest. (Note: Negative word of mouth can be equally effective, so we always try to stay ahead of the conversation, figuratively, and use positive messaging.)

#2 CRM Messaging (Email)

You might think that students don't read email. You might think that your colleagues don't read email, either. Sure, the open rate for emails may be below 50 percent, but it's still significantly higher than the engagement rate on any social media platform. While social media might have a broader reach, our audience is far more likely to click a link in a CRM message. We send professionally designed messages using a customer relationship management (CRM) platform to deliver content to students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders. The graphics and text are all fully responsive for mobile devices, and all content is fully accessible.

#3 Social Media

This one seems obvious. Our LinkedIn account leads all Texas business schools in engagement rate — more than double the next institution — and our Instagram has more followers than any other academic account at Texas State. It's not a surprise that we often receive requests for a "social media push" about a certain program or event. However, social media does not exist in a vacuum, so to speak, and it's important to remember that these are entertainment platforms (yes, even LinkedIn). It's crucial that social media posts are paired with other tactics.

#4 Takeaway Cards or Slicks

When was the last time you picked up a flyer or a tri-fold brochure for any reason other than absolute boredom? When was the last time you read a flyer tacked to a door or bulletin board? Unless it's about a crime or a missing pet, chances are that you haven't been interested in a long time. If a campaign calls for printed materials, we offer a solution: professionally designed takeaway cards or slicks. A takeaway card is a half-sheet (5.5" x 8.5") on cover stock, using full-color graphics, meant to be handed to an individual or set out on a table for pickup — something the audience can take away that will provide them with basic information (not all the myriad details) they can review later, as well as a link to the hub webpage. A slick is a full-sheet (8.5" x 11") on glossy text paper, using full-color graphics, meant to be taken from a tabletop or display; it features more information than a takeaway card, but still directs the audience to the hub webpage for details. Neither of these items looks like a traditional "flyer" — because they aren't flyers, and they aren't designed to be tacked-up on a door or bulletin board — and both are far more effective and less likely to land in a trash can moments after pickup.

#5 Video

Promotional videos can be effective, but only if developed and produced with audience, goals, and strategy in mind — and only in conjunction with other promotional efforts. One of the most important things to know about video content is that audiences generally will not watch videos longer than two minutes unless they're paying for a movie. In most cases, audiences lose interest after 90 seconds, and there's a steep falloff after just 60 seconds. And there's one other major issue: how will the audience know about it? It has to be shared on a website and / or via social media, and many social media users focus on video for less than 15 seconds while scrolling with the sound turned off — so the need is clear for comprehensive strategy beyond the video itself. Additionally, we have to consider accessibility for videos. When someone requests a video, we like to have a conversation about why and address the value of the results.

#6 Digital Monitors

Have you noticed that our explanations have grown long on these last few options? The further we go, the less effective the platform, and there are many more reasons not to use these low-performing mediums. Other than flyers, there is nothing in our arsenal less effective than the digital monitors in McCoy Hall. That's not to say that they're useless — we hear from students, faculty, and staff that they saw a particular slide on a monitor, and that's great. But since slides appear for 7-15 seconds, and because there are several, it's possible for any given person to walk past a monitor every and not see the content you're pushing for days or weeks (or ever). In other words, the engagement rate is atrocious. We even ran an in-house experiment with a can't-miss graphic to see how long it took someone to act on something they saw on the monitors: in 38 days, with thousands of potential viewers, just one person responded (on Day 32). Our solution is to use the monitors only for long-term campaigns with comprehensive strategies, knowing that our audience may only glance as they walk by on any given day. We carefully design professional, on-brand graphics that are visually compelling, and we match that imagery to other tactics for the same campaign so that the monitors can reinforce a message our audience has seen elsewhere, rather than being a primary platform.

_{We sometimes receive requests to "post a flyer on the digital monitors." This tactic is approximately zero percent effective. In fact, an off-brand flyer might actually damage a promotional campaign or reflect poorly on the organization presenting it. So, no, we will not post flyers on monitors.}