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Marketing Plan - 2009

I. Overview

The Marketing and Public Relations Department has developed this plan to provide a roadmap of Lane’s current marketing strategy. As with any plan, this is not a static document but rather one that has been created to reflect the current climate and objectives that guide the College’s marketing efforts. This plan is based upon the ongoing contributions and feedback provided by faculty, management, staff, and the community, and will be fine-tuned and adjusted as necessary to ensure that the marketing activities are well coordinated and continuously improved to create the most impact with the available resources.

This plan is based upon the solid foundation of the Lane Community College Brand and reflects qualitative and quantitative research coordinated throughout 2007 and 2008 by Lake Research. Additional methods employed in the research included focus groups, surveys, and one-on-one meetings with community leaders. This document was developed with the knowledge and expertise of our agency of record, Funk/Levis & Associates, as well as other marketing professionals familiar with the unique landscape and best practices related to Community College marketing.

II. Our Brand Message – “Achieving Dreams”

All marketing efforts reflect first and foremost a commitment to ensure the overarching College Vision of, “Transforming lives through learning.”

In addition to supporting the College Vision, the Marketing and Public Relations Department has the unique task of telling the Lane story in a manner that is compelling and meaningful to the identified target markets. We are confident that we have identified several key messages known to hold broad appeal to these audiences. As a result, the Marketing and Public Relations Department is continuously refining the practice of incorporating the overarching brand message, “You can achieve your dreams at Lane,” into all communications related to the College. Secondary messages, described in the attached Brand Plan, have been developed to enhance the primary message and convey the following key benefits:  

A. Opportunity
B. Accessibility and Affordability 
C. Economic Impact
D. Connections
E. Enrichment

The distribution of key messages will ultimately strengthen the College Brand. Educating all individuals to coordinate communications on behalf of the College will require an initial resource investment.

III. History/Background

In 2005, Lane Community College began working with Funk/Levis & Associates with the specific goal of developing a comprehensive Brand Plan to guide internal and external communications. The College Marketing Plan and Brand Plan are intended to be complementary. Together, they identify the strategic objectives to be achieved by a coordinated marketing effort and provide a comprehensive picture of the College’s objectives, target markets, key messages and visual identity. The Marketing Plan provides an overview of the initiatives that have been selected as necessary to strengthen the Lane Brand and build long-term support for the College.  The Brand Plan outlines the College Identity and provides the rationale and the foundation upon which the strategies in the Marketing Plan are built.

IV. Situation Analysis

A. External Environment
Lane Community College is well respected and enjoys a rich history in Lane County. The recent passing of Bond Measure 20-142 is a tremendous accomplishment that reflects increased public understanding of the value that Lane provides to the community. Clearly, the increased awareness and voter support is a direct result of a well-coordinated Bond Information Campaign that consistently focused on the distribution of messages associating the College with affordability, accessibility and training critical to the economic viability of the community.

Prior to the passing of the Bond, research indicated that Lane Community College was widely known for funding challenges and less known for the contribution it makes to individuals and the community. By strategically positioning Lane for the Bond measure and increasing the level of positive awareness in the community, support for the College has increased dramatically. Thus, we are in a pivotal position to continue to build upon the campaign success, secure long-term supporters and strengthen Lane’s reputation as a community asset providing affordable and accessible education to anyone who is willing to work hard to achieve their dreams.

Given the current climate of community support, the timing for reinforcing and sustaining the positive community perception of Lane should be maximized. The Lane League and other community volunteers who have served as College ambassadors during recent months are resources that can continue to serve Lane and secure enduring community support.

B. Internal Environment
With regard to developing brand awareness on campus, there are a number of factors that inhibit the successful continuity of brand messaging. This plan sees the importance of building internal cohesion to ensure consistent representation and distribution of the College Brand.

Limited staff time has inhibited the ability to infuse consistent brand messaging via all communications and collateral developed on behalf of the College. Now is the time to be more proactive and provide college faculty and staff with the tools that will help them to coordinate communications in keeping with the Lane Brand and specific key messages. The Bond measure demonstrated the effectiveness of centralizing and distributing specific key messages. Furthermore, it allowed Lane to more effectively utilize a rather small budget to achieve maximum results. It is important that the momentum gained from this recent success be harnessed to continue the important work of strengthening the public perception and brand awareness of Lane.

V. Current Marketing Strategy

Presently the Marketing and Public Relations Department utilizes a range of communication channels to reach a carefully identified set of target audiences. The activities are prioritized in alignment with available resources and limited primarily to marketing activities required by the College. This plan presents a comprehensive list of the activities identified as important for increasing the impact of the Marketing Department. 

A. The Audiences

Lane’s internal and external audiences have been identified and are explained in detail in the Brand Plan. They include:

Internal Groups

1. Current Lane Students
2. College Faculty and Staff 
3. Board of Education 

External Groups

1. High School Students
   1. Parents of HS Students
   2. High-School Administrators, Counselors & Teachers
2. 2. Non-High School Students
1. Unemployed Workforce
2. Underemployed Workforce
3. Employees seeking additional career skills
4. Seniors
5. Community-at-Large 
   1. Businesses
   2. The Foundation Board & Donors 
   3. Voters
   4. Advocacy Groups:
      • The Lane League
      • Program Advisory Committees

B. The Competition

Marketing and Public Relations must remain cognizant of the emerging alternatives to a traditional educational environment and find effective methods of promoting Lane in a climate that is changing rapidly. As expectations for accessing education change to reflect the on-demand 24-hour-a-day access provided by on-line environments, marketing communications would naturally need to convey the benefits of Lane to appeal to these shifting values and preferences.

As we determine how to represent Lane’s unique value to prospective students we must remain knowledgeable regarding the strategies and benefits promoted by the following competitors:

1. Oregon Community Colleges
2. Four-Year Public Institutions (Particularly U of O and OSU)
3. Four-Year Private Institutions
4. Private For-Profit Institutions
5. On-Line Certificate and Degree Program

VI. Marketing Objectives/Goals

The Marketing and Public Relations Department has prioritized communication strategies and promotional opportunities related to three primary objectives. We expect that focusing resources in these key areas will allow us to increase the effectiveness of our efforts.

1. Increase Enrollment
   1. Strengthen coordination with recruitment activities.
   2. Develop retention strategies.    
   3. Incorporate diversity into Lane’s promotional strategy.
2. Increase and Strengthen Community Outreach
   1. Strengthen business and community partnerships.
   2. Improve State and local government relations.   
   3. Coordinate with faculty and staff charged with enhancing community relations.
3. Strengthen Brand Message Distribution
1. Coordinate communications to internal and external audiences.

VII. Marketing Activities/Promotional Strategies

The following methods are integral to achieving the objectives stated above. However, static general fund resources and variable secondary resources will likely impact the ability to implement this comprehensive plan.

1. Website Development
   The Lane website is the first contact that most prospective students will have with the College. Therefore, we believe that this communication channel should be utilized as the College’s number one marketing tool. In fact, there is good evidence to support the direct correlation between a community college website and the level of student enrollment. The October/November 2007 Community College Journal article titled, “Mass Appeal – How to build a better, more responsive community college,” sites two studies that illustrate this connection. First, the Stamats’ annual TeensTALK study indicates that nearly 85 percent of students considering a two-year community college visited the institutions website by their senior year of high school. Next, a 2005 study of Adult Learners demonstrated that the website was the most important influence on enrollment choice for non-traditional students.

While Lane has invested in some modest website improvements particularly with regard to the home page, as a whole the site lacks an integrated and engaging format for our target audience. Additionally, we must develop a process for regularly evaluating the demographic information collected from the website. We need to systematically assess the data regarding the hits per day, how long visitor’s stay, where they spend time etc. From September 2nd to November 24th 2008, we had 757,134 unique visitors. We know that each visitor views 2.9 pages on average and remains on the site for 3 minutes and 3 seconds. Monitoring this data to track the effectiveness of campaigns and marketing initiatives will help us measure the impact of our efforts. We believe that now is the time to make this important investment a priority so that we can maximize our full enrollment potential.

2. Community Outreach/Public Relations
   1. Lane League
      1. Provide key messages/materials to the League to increase their ability to raise support and advocate for the College. Provide the Lane League with current and relevant stories and information for presentations.
   2. President’s Outreach
      1. Ensure that the president is visible to the public by establishing an ongoing schedule of community presentations.
      2. Coordinate electronic communications to individuals identified as key supporters.
      3. Assess capacity to revitalize the Quarterly College Newsletter (print and/or electronic version).
   3. Business Partnerships
      1. a. Partner to maximize advertising efforts and communication opportunities that demonstrate the mutually beneficial relationship between the College and the business community.
      2. Build ongoing relationships with key business leaders to keep them abreast of College activities.

C. Brand Development
Branding begins with the internal structure of the College and extends outward. Educating faculty, staff and students will enable them to effectively share our key messages and improve word of mouth communications.

1. Develop a Brand Toolkit for faculty and staff. The toolkit will be a simplified version of the College Brand Guide that can be used as a quick reference for key messages, graphic standards and suggestions for developing written and verbal communications.
2. Develop brand training for staff, faculty and students charged with representing Lane.
3. Develop a Marketing Advisory Committee
4. Develop College Mascot – Titan

D. Collateral Development
The following publications are required by the college and funded from the Marketing and Public Relations budget. The production of these publications requires a significant portion of our department’s budget.

1. Aspire Magazine
   Publish quarterly magazine to promote the College brand, programs and services, career opportunities and success stories. Increase focus on offsetting costs through advertising and sponsorships.
2. Viewbook
   Conduct a Viewbook Audit to identify elements that are effective and incorporate changes that would increase appeal to high school students.
3. Program Sheets
   Continue to fund the development of these materials targeted to students planning their coursework.
4. Catalog
   Participate in the development and production of this annual publication.

E. Events
Support the planning and promotion of key events for the purposes of community outreach and student recruitment including:

1. Lane Preview Night
2. Business After Hours
3. Career Fairs
4. Chamber Business Expos

F. Promotional Items
Coordinate the production of branded promotional items for distribution at key events to support recruitment activities. Such items include magnets, pencils, highlighters, calculators, coasters and pens, etc. Additional promotional items are also available as gifts for college guests.

G. Media and Public Relations

1. Earned Media
   Update PR plan to include editorial opportunities and secure publicity to feature important College events and accomplishments.
2. Media Planning
   Determine the appropriate media mix for College promotions. This will include a media strategy targeted for specific audiences, a flowchart summarizing the action elements of the strategy and will prioritize optimizing our relationship with KLCC and Lane TV. 
3. Media Placement
   Negotiate rates, place media, track and evaluate media placements.
4. Social Media
   Continue to develop Lane’s YouTube presence via the LaneTubersCafé. Develop a strategy for utilizing social media tools to promote Lane and provide opportunities for students to connect via these tools as well as blogging on Life@Lane.

H. Development of Creative
Develop creative for the different mediums utilized in the advertising plan including print, on-line, radio, television and social media.           

I. Research
In preparation for passing the Bond, Lane made a significant investment in public perception research. It is not expected that additional research in this area will be required in the near future. However, using tools to create benchmarks regarding specific marketing initiatives should be considered. For example, utilizing web-based surveys to assess the awareness of Lane’s Brand message before and after marketing efforts have been executed.        

VIII. Conclusion

We believe that this plan provides a detailed description of the activities that would create a robust marketing initiative for Lane. Activities will be prioritized according to budget and updated to meet the changing needs of the College.