Public Relations Campaign Book | The Sentinel

SENTINEL THE PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN FALL 2014 DREAM TEAM

BRANDAN CASE |GAVI COFFMAN ANNA HAWF |PAYMON KASHANI BECCA MORROW | HEATHER RUSHING

TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................Pg.3 Introduction & Background.................................................................................................................Pg.4 Client History, Client Mission, Product/Service Overview.................................................Pg.4 Financial Overview, Organization Staffing & Leadership...................................................Pg.5 Competition Overview, Previous Communication Campaigns.........................................Pg.6 Litterature Review....................................................................................................................................Pg.6 ResearchonSocial/Political/EconomicContext.............................................................................Pg.6 Industry Research, Analysis of Competition.............................................................................Pg.7 Analysis of Media Coverage.............................................................................................................Pg.8 Primary Resarch Findings.....................................................................................................................Pg.9 Infographics ..........................................................................................................................................Pg.10 SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................................Pg.11 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunties......................................................................................Pg.11 Threats ....................................................................................................................................................Pg.12 Discussion of Key Publics...................................................................................................................Pg.12 Goals & Objectives..................................................................................................................................Pg.13 Action Strategies....................................................................................................................................Pg.14 Communication Strategies.................................................................................................................Pg.16 Tactics.................................................................................................................................................Pg.18 Timeline............................................................................................................................................Pg.19 Evaluation........................................................................................................................................Pg.32 Budget......................................................................................................................................Pg.34 Appendix.........................................................................................................................................Pg.38 Action Strategy 1 Prototypes.........................................................................................................Pg.38 Action Strategy 2 Prototypes.........................................................................................................Pg.40 Action Strategy 3 Prototypes.........................................................................................................Pg.41 Action Strategy 4 Prototypes.........................................................................................................Pg.54 Bibliography...................................................................................................................................Pg.56 Team Biographies...................................................................................................................................Pg.58

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Key Research Findings: • Primary Research: The Sentinel lacks awareness on campus. Freshman tend to be less aware than other students. Students use smartphones to access news information. Students are interested in seeing more coverage on sports.

• Secondary Research: College students only use print sources to find information 18% of the time (Purcell, 2012). Newspaper advertising revenue is decreasing. The Sentinel’s competitors use engaging strategies to build relationships.

Publics Addressed: • Primary: KSU students and student organization leaders.

• Secondary: KSU faculty and staff.

Goals & Objectives: • Goals: Increase student involvement and awareness.

• Objectives: Create partnerships, improve web traffic, create positive opinions.

Key Strategies: • Action: 1. Create partnerships with five organizations on campus within six months.

2. Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

3. Host a KSU student organization event.

4. Create a social media campaign.

• Communication:

1. Engage with key publics through interpersonal communication tactics.

2. Use online platforms to generate online traffic and increase engagement from key publics.

3. Use organizational media tactics to communicate messages to The Sentinel’s key publics.

Proposed Tactics: • Create a digital newsletter for registered student organizations.

• Update The Sentinel’s website to include a weekly calendar of campus events.

• Press release for event.

• Promote social media profiles

Overall Cost: • Action Strategy 1: $200 • Action Strategy 2: $1,000 • Action Strategy 3: $3,250 • Action Strategy 4: $1,080

Timeframe: • Action Strategy 1: January-May, August-November • Action Strategy 2: January-December • Action Strategy 3: April-August • Action Strategy 4: January-December

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INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND Client History: The Sentinel is Kennesaw State University’s student newspaper. It is a weekly publication dedicated to bringing the students, faculty and staff of KSU a news publication that is informative and inspiring.

The Sentinel was founded in 1966 (ksusentinel.com). It is one of four student organizations that is nested under KSU Student Media (KSUSM). The publication has gone through many phases since its beginning. It started off as a traditional broadsheet style newspaper. According to Ed Bonza, in 2012, The Sentinel underwent a rebrand phase that changed the style, layout and content of the paper (personal communication, Oct. 1 2014). The tabloid style was chosen in order to save money and also to keep up with market trends, and that style is still used today. In the future, KSUSM will be acquiring Southern Polytechnic’s student media publications, so The Sentinel is already making plans for how it will handle the next big change to the organization.

Client Mission: KSUSM’s mission statement is the over-arching mission for each organization it encompasses, including The Sentinel. KSUSM states: “KSU Student Media is dedicated to the support and encouragement of responsible, ethical media to connect, explore and enrich the lives of the university’s many constituencies. It provides an open forum to the campus community for the free expression and exchange of ideas, concerns, issues, trends, and information, and outlets for the KSU community. KSU Student Media provides opportunities for interested students to learn and practice skills in art, journalism, design, production, photography, editing, business, advertising, web authoring, broadcasting, new media and management in a “true to life” setting. It encourages the values of integrity, tenacity, creativity and honesty in the pursuit of excellence” (ksusentinel.com).

Product/Service Overview: The Sentinel offers three main products to its publics. The primary product is the print edition of the newspaper. This product is produced weekly and distributed on campus every Tuesday. It is 16-20 pages worth of editorial content that is broken into four sections; news, opinion, arts and living, and sports. There are fourteen issues per semester, with two issues during the summer (Morrow, personal experience). The second product The Sentinel offers is the online edition. This is nearly identical to the print edition, but it is in full-color and available to read online. There are three main ways The Sentinel’s publics can reach the online edition; through an emailing list, through issuu.com, and on The Sentinel’s website. The third product that The Sentinel offers its publics is its website, ksusentinel.com. The website contains news stories that are in the print edition as well as some follow up stories and time-sensitive stories. These web stories are also shareable on social media platforms and have a place for readers to leave comments about the story content. Users can also upvote or downvote other user comments on web stories. The website has an average of 650 views per day, and an average of 1,000 views on Wednesdays, the day that most new content is posted online (ksusentinel.com). One feature that is unique to the website is its classified page where people can post listings online for jobs, text books, etc. The website also offers an events section that lists campus events.

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Financial Overview: According to Ed Bonza (personal communication, Oct. 1, 2014), the total annual budget for The Sentinel is $90,000. This budget is broken down into three categories; printing costs, subscription costs, and payroll. It costs The Sentinel an average of $1,800 a week to print 5,000 copies of an issue. Most issues are 20 pages and have eight color pages. Printing in color increases the cost of the product. So, annually, for 30 issues, it costs The Sentinel $54,000, or 60 percent of its budget. Payroll costs account for $11,000 annually, or 12 percent of its total budget. The remainder of the budget covers a variety of things, but a majority of these costs fall into the subscriptions category. This category accounts for costs of website domain names, cost of membership to organizations such as the College Media Association (CMA), and operational costs such as electricity, internet, etc. The Student Activities and Budget Advisory Committee (SABAC) awards The Sentinel $53,000 per year. The rest of The Sentinel’s budget is earned through advertising revenue.

Organization Staffing & Leadership: The organization is staffed entirely by students. There are two faculty advisers who are available for guidance when needed. These advisers are a part of the student media board who oversee the organization and vote to make important administrative decisions. According to Ed Bonza (personal communication, Oct. 1, 2014), the student media board is also are in charge of the hiring process for the Editor-in-Chief position. The Editor-in-Chief is the leader of The Sentinel. This position is in charge of leading the team of section editors, guiding the overall editorial direction of the paper, consulting with writers to build strong writing skills, and handling organizational issues, events and meetings.

Underneath the Editor-In-Chief, there are four section editors. Each section editor is in charge of one particular section of the paper and has a team of writers who turn in stories for that section on a volunteer basis. The Editor-In-Chief is the only position that goes through a formal hiring process that is overseen by faculty advisers. The remaining positions are decided upon by the Editor-In-Chief (Morrow, personal experience).

The second-in-command position is the Production Manager. The Production Manager is in charge of the creative direction of the paper. They oversee the design team and assist in laying out the paper’s content, making it interesting to look at and appealing to readers. The Production Manager is also in charge of placing print orders and managing the archive database. There are four section designers who report to the Production Manager who are in charge of laying out the content for the print and web editions of The Sentinel. There is also a Photo Editor who is in charge of all photographs going into the newspaper, and is in charge of a team of photographers who contribute work to the paper. The marketing team consists of advertising representatives, the distribution team and the promotional team. Advertising representatives are in charge of booking ad space in The Sentinel’s print edition and on its website. The distribution team manages the paper’s distribution throughout campus, and the promotions team manages and assists with planning organizational events. In addition, there is a team of web designers who are in charge of maintaining The Sentinel’s website. Social media efforts are mainly handled by the organizational leaders such as the Staff Adviser, Editor-In-Chief, Production Manager, Photo Editor and section editors (Morrow, personal experience).

The Sentinel has about 20 core members who are highly involved. These people are all on payroll, so it is not only their hobby to be involved with The Sentinel, but also their part-time job. Members who have been hired to their position are more heavily involved with the organization and have more of a say in organizational decisions. In addition to these members, there are about 20 lesser involved members.

These members include staff writers, photographers, and contributors (Morrow, personal experience).

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Competition Overview: The Sentinel is one of the top 5 student newspapers in the state of Georgia. Its main competitors are The Red & Black (UGA), The George-Anne (Georgia Southern), The Technique (Georgia Tech), and The Signal (Georgia State). These institutions are all relatively close to Kennesaw and all have student media organizations that produce the same three products. In terms of local competition, The New York Times (NYT) is a major competitor. This publication has a world-wide reputation as a credible news source and it is available on KSU’s campus. Many of the NYT racks are located right next to The Sentinel’s racks. When The Sentinel is entered in contests for content and design, its competitors could be any 4 year school that is about the same size. In terms of online competition, any online source of news is competition to The Sentinel. When it comes to revenue, local newspapers such as the Cherokee Tribune and Marietta Daily Journal are major competitors in terms of advertising clients. Coupon book companies such as Campus Special are also a big threat to advertising revenue.

Previous Communication Campaigns: The Sentinel has utilized a number of communication strategies in the past. More recently, the marketing team has developed a new distribution plan that is in the process of being implemented. The focus of the plan is to deliver the paper to students through hand to hand contact. At least two days out of the week, the distribution team will deliver papers through two events; News & Brews and Extra! Extra!

There is not a lot of manpower available for these events, so it is mostly reliant on a volunteer effort (Morrow, personal experience). In the past, The Sentinel has also been present at freshman orientation fairs. Members of the organization along with faculty advisers will pass out the summer issues of The Sentinel to incoming freshmen in order to gain new readership.

LITTERATURE REVIEW

Research on social/political/economic context: • Demographics: Kennesaw State University (KSU) has a total of 16,954 undergraduate students attending the university full-time and 5,730 undergraduate students attending part-time. Of those students, 9,502 are male and 13,182 are female. There are 3,194 freshmen enrolled (Kennesaw State University-Statistics, 2013).

• Social Factors: According to Purcell, et al. (2012), 94 percent of students use the Google search engine to research current news and information online, while only 18 percent actually use a print source to find information. In this same study, 60 percent of teachers said that online searches make the process of finding a credible news source more difficult, because it is more difficult to separate the less trustworthy ones. Mitchell (2014) also expresses the same concern with the rise of social media and online news sources. According to her article, “half (50 percent) of social network users share or repost news stories, images or videos while nearly as many (46 percent) discuss news issues or events on social network sites,” (p. 5). The internet can therefore distract students from finding a credible news source, and can draw them away from print publications, including The Sentinel. In order to attract the students who prefer to research online, the organization should increase online traffic by keeping Facebook and Twitter updated regularly with links to recent news stories, and by keeping active links to The Sentinel’s website available for online users. The organization should also promote its social media through the print edition.

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• Political Factors: According to an article regarding censorship and student-run media, public high school and college newspapers are considered a public forum. Most universities have adopted policies that student publications cannot be fully censored or edited by their school staff or faculty.

Opponents of this policy say that it gives students too much editorial ability, which could be dangerous for the school or university (Goldings, 2007). If local or national opponents of this policy decided to implement stricter censorship rules, this could be potentially detrimental to The Sentinel’s popularity because the publication could no longer publish certain stories that students may be interested in. In this case, it is important that the students involved in creating content for The Sentinel be aware of policies and laws that could potentially impact the paper’s content.

• Economic Factors: According to Mitchell (2014): “Traditional advertising from print and television still accounts for more than half of the total revenue supporting news, even though print ad revenues are in rapid decline. While seeing some small gains in new revenue streams like digital subscriptions and conferences, total newspaper advertising revenue in 2013 was down 49% from 2003,” (p. 3).

This decline seems to be the occurring within The Sentinel as well. Advertising revenue has declined, and the number of regular advertisers has also gone down (Personal Communication, September 2, 2014). In order to remedy this decline, The Sentinel needs to continue to aggressively reach out to a number of local organizations, including student-based housing, which has pulled a large amount of ad revenue in the past.

Industry Research: The Sentinel is currently a member of The Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and the College Media Association (CMA). Both of these organizations help student media organizations, like The Sentinel, obtain an objective opinion from a special and successful association, as well as attend conventions on popular trends and tactics for future success (Studentpress.org, 2014) (Collegemedia.org, 2014).

A few other associations that may benefit The Sentinel include the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) and The National Newspaper Association (NNA). Each of these associations would bring similar success to The Sentinel. For example, the CSPA unites with student editors and faculty advisers throughout the United States to offer clear standards for success, maintain the newspaper for student editors, and to conduct contests and offer rewards to help make the newspaper better than before (CSPA, 2014). The NNA is best known for protecting, promoting and enhancing community newspapers.

This associations main focus is providing information, solutions and strategies on current and emerging issues affecting the newspapers. (NNA, 2014). By becoming a member of these two additional associations, The Sentinel’s popularity has the chance to significantly increase.

Analysis of competition and/or similar organizations: The Sentinel suffers from not only a comparison to the NYT, but also an overall lack of student interaction on social media and personal communication from students in general. The Sentinel can be compared to other Student Media organizations such as The Red & Black at the University of Georgia by similarity of the types of publications. Research shows that The Sentinel falls behind The Red and Black when it comes to online traffic and social media interaction.

The NYT is distributed throughout KSU’s entire campus. Most of the racks are located in close proximity to The Sentinel’s racks. This is a huge competitor for The Sentinel because of the difference in the newspapers. The Sentinel is more focused on local news and information for the student body, whereas the NYT is focused on national news and has a number of extra sections for different preferences.

The only option The Sentinel has to decrease the competition with the NYT would be relocating the stands

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to where students would only have the option to pick up The Sentinel.

According to The Sentinel’s Facebook page (2014), there are only 1,579 people who “Like” the webpage. This is a very low number in comparison to the almost 25,000 students attending Kennesaw State University (KSU Statistics, 2013). The amount of followers being so low is also concerning because the Facebook page was founded in 2009. There are an average of 28 visits per day. Just to put in perspective the lack of student interaction on The Sentinel’s Facebook page, the University of Georgia’s The Red & Black newspaper Facebook page (2014) has 7,334 “Likes” and a total of almost 35,000 students (UGA By The Numbers, 2014). With only 10,000 more people making up the student body, The Red & Black still has almost seven times more followers on Facebook than The Sentinel.

The Sentinel’s Twitter page is a little more active, in relation to followers. The Sentinel’s Twitter page (2014) has 2,210 followers. The activity on this webpage is not, however, as interactive with followers as it could be. There are very few “Favorites” and “Retweets” per post, which help the popularity of a Twitter page. The amount of people The Sentinel’s Twitter account is following is also low; 162. In comparison to The Sentinel, the Twitter page (2014) for The Red & Black has 26.4K followers and is following 6,482 people. They also have over 20.7K tweets, where The Sentinel only has 3,944 tweets. The Twitter account for The Red & Black was founded July 2008, only seven months prior to The Sentinel page in February 2009.

When comparing The Sentinel’s social media to similar universities in Georgia, the organization does not fall too far behind. The Twitter pages (2014) of Georgia State University, Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern University’s newspapers all range from 2,200 to 2,600 followers. Each of these schools are also closer in population to KSU as well, with 32,000 at Georgia State (Georgia State Quick Facts, 2013), Georgia Tech at 21,500 (Georgia Tech Fact Book, 2013) and Georgia Southern at 20,500 (Students Enrollment Data, 2013). The Facebook pages of each newspaper, however, does not surpass The Sentinel.

The only one of these three schools with somewhat of a Facebook page is Georgia State’s The Signal, which merged its page with the official GSU page, providing them 65,000 likes.

The Red & Black has a definite advantage over The Sentinel due to the popularity of UGA as a SEC school and the popularity of the school as a whole. Another huge advantage The Red & Black has over The Sentinel involves their webpage.

After researching press releases regarding The Red & Black, it was found that the newspaper has a much better relationship with the student body than The Sentinel does at KSU. The Red & Black’s webpage has an entire section dedicated to press releases, all pertaining to the newspaper. A few examples include alumni homecoming festivities, new partnerships with organizations and groups sponsoring events, and hosting the annual housing fair (McClure 2013).

The Red & Black also has a contests/events page on its website that focuses on possible new partnerships and sponsors. This page has an application available for those who are interested in The Red & Black helping sponsor their event, with specific requirements that must be met (McClure 2013).

This would be a great idea to broaden partnerships with The Sentinel while also getting word out about the newspaper.

Analysis of media coverage: There is currently not any known media coverage involving The Sentinel. This could provide a strong opportunity for the organization to become involved and to partner with other local news publications along with student media at KSU in effort to generate much needed press. By doing this, students will have a greater exposure to The Sentinel.

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PRIMARY RESEARCH FINDINGS There were several different pieces of information found through the client research process. The key findings are as follows: overall, there is a major lack of awareness surrounding The Sentinel, the front page of the paper is a key component in leaving impressions on readers, an interactive phone application would be beneficial to The Sentinel’s key publics, The Sentinel’s key publics are mainly using Twitter as a news source, key publics are interesting in seeing more content on campus events and organizations, and including more sports articles and feature stories on athletes at KSU would increase readership.

The most consistent finding across all the studies is more content focused on KSU sports. According to Team 4, 65 percent of students were interested in seeing more sports. Students wanted more feature stories on players, and the teams across campus (Team 4 Client Research Report, pg. 2). This will increase pickup rates and involvement as a whole at Kennesaw State University. There are plenty of opportunities for content due to all the student athletes at KSU and this would open up readership to family members and friends who would be inclined to read about loved ones. This also be a great way for The Sentinel to build partnerships with KSU teams.

Another consistent finding is the desire for The Sentinel to create a smart phone application. Students across all studies said they would be more inclined to read content from The Sentinel if they were notified through an app. Research participants also would like to see content on the app such as social media, games and online editions. The majority of students in the studies claimed that they read their news online whether it be social media or from a news application. These applications allow students to choose stories they would be interested in reading and send them “push notifications,” which have a small two sentence description of the article and if the student is interested, they click to read the full article. If The Sentinel were to launch an application, it would potentially build more online traffic.

The next consistent finding is about campus events and organizations. Most students agreed that they would like to see more information about student life at KSU. The Sentinel can begin highlighting an organization or club each month to build a following in exchange for pickups or distribution by that club or organization. This will also encourage pickups for students who would like to see their club or organization featured in the paper, and for those who may be seeking out information about clubs on campus. Events would also increase student pick up rates. If The Sentinel can become the “go to place” to find out about events on campus, more students will be inclined to pick up the paper, especially those who live on or around campus.

Below is a chart from Tarzan’s Client Research Report (pg. 10). It shows the survey results of the question “What kind of content would you like to see in The Sentinel?”

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Below is an infographic from Dream Team’s Client Research Report (pg. 7). It shows the results of the first focus group that Dream Team conducted as part of their primary research.

1 sophomore

AVERAGE AGE

5 seniors

notable quotes “I’m sure if people knew that they could potentially be published in the newspaper that theres a bigger chance that they’d write in.”

21.8

males

5 juniors

gender breakdown

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5

females

class rank

FOCUS GROUP 1

“They should do a Hard Knocks series on the football team.”

“If you’re gonna have something on the front page, you want to have something that’ll grab someone’s attention and make them open it.”

top 3 topics football content homecoming coverage

social media use

Below is an infographic from Dream Team’s Client Research Report (pg. 8). It shows the results of the second focus group that Dream Team conducted as part of their primary research.

FOCUS GROUP 2

males

6

AVERAGE AGE

19.6

events calendar notable quotes marketing tactics online content “I think its kinda underrated. Like it looks like theres cool stuff in there, but like a lot of people don’t know about it. Its just not really out there.”

For further information please refer to the Client Research Reports.

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4f

r

e se hm

n

2 juniors

4 sophomores

class rank

4

females

top 3 topics

gender breakdown

“Literally, just put it in front of us” “Its cheaper to put things online, so why not add more content?”

SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: • The Sentinel is a student-run organization with two faculty advisors. The content of the newspaper isn’t sanctioned by KSU administrators or advisers. This is a strength because The Sentinel can publish content oriented directly toward their primary audience.

• The Sentinel has good relations with the other KSUSM organizations such as OWL Radio and Talon.

This is a strength because the organizations can cross promote and collaborate on events to raise awareness for each other.

• The Sentinel is a member of the ACP and CMA. This is a strength because it means the organization is being proactive within its industry and is actively partaking in conferences and workshops to become a better publication.

• The Sentinel has implemented a new hand-to-hand distribution method to connect with students.

This is a strength because members of The Sentinel are creating personal connections and building relationships by handing papers to students directly • The Sentinel is printed with color pages. This is a strength because it gives The Sentinel an attractive appearance that grabs the attention of the primary audience.

Weaknesses: • Despite having multiple newspaper rack locations, most students aren’t aware of the current distribution methods that The Sentinel uses. This is a weakness because if students don’t know where to pick up The Sentinel, it will be more difficult to increase readership.

• The Sentinel lacks interactive content within the print and online edition of the paper. This is a weakness because according to focus group research, students want to see content in The Sentinel that is interactive and interesting, such as contests and giveaways.

• Despite being a student-run organization, a majority of KSU students are not aware of the opportunities to work for The Sentinel or how to get involved with the organization. This is a weakness because The Sentinel is not effectively communicating this message to its key publics.

• The Sentinel’s content relies heavily on non-paid, student submissions, meaning there is no way to penalize someone for failing to submit their work. This is a weakness because the paper cannot be produced if writers do not turn in quality stories on time.

• The Sentinel does not utilize its Twitter page effectively. This is a weakness because followers expect to be engaged with and will unfollow The Sentinel if they are unhappy with the content that is being posted.

Opportunities: • Team 4’s primary research shows that 65% of students wanted more sports-oriented articles in The Sentinel (Team 4 Client Research Report, pg. 2). This is an opportunity for The Sentinel because publishing more articles focused around KSU athletics will attract more readers.

• Dream Team’s primary research shows that a majority of students get their news online (Dream Team Client Research Report, pg. 6). This is an opportunity for The Sentinel to reach out to their publics and put more effort into its online content.

• According to the primary research done by TARZAN, the majority of KSU students would prefer to

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get their news information from an application on their phone (TARZAN Client Research Report, pg.

5). This means there is an opportunity for The Sentinel to increase impressions and readership by creating a smart phone application.

• There is no known media coverage involving The Sentinel. This is an opportunity for The Sentinel to become involved and partner with other news publications in order to increase awareness.

• The Sentinel is already present on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The Sentinel Facebook page has 1,579 “Likes” and its Twitter page has 2,140 followers. This is an opportunity to engage the organization’s current followers and to increase social media following to the rest of The Sentinel’s publics.

Threats: • Some of The Sentinel’s distribution racks are located on campus next to The New York Times.

According to Dream Team’s primary research, students are more interested in picking up the NYT instead of The Sentinel (Dream Team Client Research Report, pg. 4). This is a threat because the NYT is a more reputable news source than The Sentinel, and it may be causing pickup rates to decline.

• According to Purcell et.al (2012), 94 percent of students use the Google search engine to research current news and information online, while only 18 percent actually use a print source to find information. This is a threat because this means fewer students are looking at a hard copy of the newspaper to get their news information. This also shows that typically, students do not actively seek specific online news sources, but use search engines to push them information.

• According to Mitchell (2014), “total newspaper advertising revenue in 2013 was down 49% from 2003.” This is a threat because advertising revenue is a major contributor to The Sentinel’s budget.

• Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) is merging with KSU in the near future. SPSU has its own student news publication, The Sting. This publication will continue to be produced once the universities have merged and will likely be distributed on the main KSU campus. This is a threat because it introduces new competition to The Sentinel, and readers may be more inclined to pick up The Sting for their news.

• The Sentinel often publishes stories about sensitive topics. For example, the opinion section has published a number of articles in response to a men’s rights group (KSUM) on campus (Morrow, personal experience). This organization has expressed its distaste for The Sentinel and has created a negative reputation surrounding The Sentinel. This is a threat because opinions expressed in The Sentinel could potentially cause negative backlash from students or student organizations, which could negatively affect readership numbers.

DISCUSSION OF KEY PUBLICS

KSU Students: (internal, active, primary key public) • The average age of KSU students ranges between 18 to 25 years old. The ratio of females to males is 60/40. Of all students, 64% are Caucasian, 16% African-American, 6% are Hispanic, 4% are Asian, and the remaining 10% are undeclared (KSU Fact Book 2013). According to Dream Team’s primary research, a good percentage of this public is not aware that The Sentinel exists, and some feel that the publication is wasteful or boring (Dream Team Client Research Report, pg. 5). This public is the most important to The Sentinel because it is a student-run publication that is aimed towards this group.

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KSU Student Organization Leaders (internal, active, primary key public) • KSU has a total of 200 different Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). The three organizations that The Sentinel should primarily focus on include the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life, The Black & Gold, and Kennesaw Activities Board. The Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life is home to the College Panhellenic Council, Interfraternity Council, Multicultural Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council, and within these councils are 20 fraternities and sororities. The Black & Gold is a studentrun organization whose leaders’ main focus is being leaders of the student body at all Kennesaw State University athletic events. The organization’s main goal is to promote school spirit and build tradition around KSU sports. The Kennesaw Activities Board’s main focus is to plan social events for the KSU student body (KSU Student Organizations 2014). These publics have a variety of attitudes towards The Sentinel, based on past coverage. Some organizations did not like the coverage they recieved, while others did. This is an important public for The Sentinel, so every effort should be made to keep this public in good standing with the organization (Morrow, personal experience).

KSU Faculty (external, inactive, secondary key public) • Faculty members of KSU include professors and administrators such as department chairs, deans, and presidents. The total number of full time faculty is 747. The total number of part time faculty is 609. Faculty members’ ages range from the 30’s (24%) to 40’s (29%), and 50’s (27%) (KSU Fact Book 2013). Some KSU professors encourage students to write for The Sentinel, while others use it as a tool for students to critique (Morrow, personal experience).

KSU Staff (external, inactive, secondary key public) • Staff members of KSU include those working in administrative duties, management positions, service positions, healthcare, business and financial operations, and maintenance positions. The total number of full time employees is 2,203. KSU staff members are primarily female (61%) (KSU Fact Book 2013). Campus police officers are known supporters of The Sentinel’s police beat section.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 1 (Awareness): Create partnerships with five organizations on campus in six months.

• Objective 2 (Action): Increase the number of student visits to The Sentinel webpage by 10 percent in six months.

• Objective 3 (Acceptance): Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print

content by 20 percent in six months.

Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

• Objective 1 (Awareness): Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

• Objective 2 (Action): Collaborate with student organizations to develop at least 3 articles per

semester by December 2015.

• Objective 3 (Acceptance): Increase the student pick up rate of The Sentinel by 30 percent by

December 2015.

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ACTION STRATEGIES Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

Description: The client should give its publics more opportunities to interact with The Sentinel. This is an important component of relationship building that will aid in improving The Sentinel’s reputation among students. For example, The Sentinel could partner with The Black & Gold to host a contest giving students the opportunity to win tickets to KSU athletic events. Other examples include opinion polls, social media interactions, and giveaways.

Goals and objectives addressed: • Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Create partnerships with five organizations on campus within six months.

• Objective 3: Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

• Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

• Objective 3: Increase student pick up rate of The Sentinel by 30 percent by December 2015.

Key publics reached: This action strategy will enable us to reach KSU students and KSU student organization leaders.

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Description: The client should develop and publish a news application that could push notifications to users about breaking news, upcoming events and more. In addition, the client should change online content by adding more information to stories and make the content interactive. The organization should include exclusive online content that focuses on sports and student organizations, in addition to an events calendar that will inform students about campus events.

Goals and objectives addressed: • Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 2: Increase the amount of student visits to The Sentinel webpage by 10 percent in six months.

• Objective 3: Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

• Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

Key publics reached: This action strategy will enable us to reach KSU students, faculty and staff.

14

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

Description: The client should develop and host a KSU student organization event, which should be held during the first week of the fall semester. This event will be a 5K that will be used as a fundraising effort with an after party that will highlight different KSU student organizations. Each organization will provide games, prizes, giveaways or promotional materials. The event will be held on the KSU Sports and Recreation Park.

Goals and objectives addressed: • Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Create partnerships with five organizations on campus within six months.

• Objective 3: Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

• Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

• Objective 2: Collaborate with student organizations to develop at least 3 articles per semester

by December 2015.

• Objective 3: Increase student pick up rate of The Sentinel by 30 percent by December 2015.

Key publics reached: This action strategy will enable us to reach KSU students and organizational leaders, faculty and staff.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Description: The client should implement a social media campaign. This gives the client an opportunity to organize its social media efforts so that there is a consistent message across all platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social media can be used for promotion of content, recruitment, events, contests, and other opportunities. In order to effectively convey these messages, a campaign calendar should be utilized.

Goals and objectives addressed: • Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 2: Increase the amount of student visits to The Sentinel webpage by 10 percent in six months.

• Objective 3: Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

• Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

• Objective 2: Collaborate with student organizations to develop at least 3 articles per semester

by December 2015.

• Objective 3: Increase student pick up rate of The Sentinel by 30 percent by December 2015.

Key publics reached: This action strategy will enable us to reach KSU students and organizational leaders, faculty and staff.

15

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES Communication Strategy 1: Engage with key publics through interpersonal communication tactics.

Description: Our team proposes to increase interpersonal interaction with key publics by generating faceto-face meetings. This can be done through visiting classrooms to recruit students to join The Sentinel.

Goals and objectives addressed: • Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Create partnerships with five organizations on campus within six months.

• Objective 3: Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

• Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

Action strategies addressed: • Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

• Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Key publics reached: This communication strategy will enable us to reach KSU students and student organizations leaders.

Media: This communication strategy will use interpersonal media channels including face-to-face meetings and public speeches.

Key messages: This interpersonal communication campaign will emphasize the following key message: The Sentinel is a student-friendly news outlet that can not only grow and benefit by gaining student involvement, but can also benefit students by providing entertaining and informative media.

Communication Strategy 2: Use online platforms to generate online traffic and increase engagement from key publics.

Description: Our team proposes to develop a social media campaign that will focus on promoting opportunities for involvement with The Sentinel’s key publics. This includes promotion of both internal and external events, recruitment efforts, information on contests, a smartphone application and updated website content.

Goals and objectives addressed: • Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 2: Increase the amount of student visits to The Sentinel webpage by 10 percent in six months.

16

• Objective 3: Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

• Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

Action strategies addressed: • Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

• Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

• Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Key publics reached: This communication strategy will enable us to reach KSU students, faculty and staff.

Media: This campaign will focus on utilizing The Sentinel’s website as well as social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Key messages: This online media campaign will emphasize the following key message: The Sentinel strives to provide timely updates about news that students value. In addition, The Sentinel will aim to engage publics by posting relevant topics and following social media trends.

Communication Strategy 3: Use organizational media tactics to communicate messages to The Sentinel’s key publics.

Description: Our team proposes that The Sentinel should implement an awareness campaign. This campaign may feature organizational media tactics such as a newsletter geared towards registered student organizations (RSOs), posters highlighting upcoming events, and window displays promoting new products to create knowledge about The Sentinel.

Goals and objectives addressed: • Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 2: Increase the amount of student visits to The Sentinel webpage by 10 percent in six months.

• Objective 3: Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

• Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

• Objective 2: Collaborate with student organizations to develop at least 3 articles per semester

by December 2015.

• Objective 3: Increase student pick up rate of The Sentinel by 30 percent by December 2015.

Action strategies addressed: • Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

• Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

• Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

17

Key publics reached: This communication strategy will enable us to reach KSU students, organizational leaders, faculty and staff.

Media: The channels used for this strategy include print material outlets such as B.O.B boards, yard signs, email lists, and OwlLink, a platform for registered student organizations.

Key Messages: The main message spanning across all organizational media will be: The Sentinel is an available news source on campus. Different tactics’ messages will also include information about upcoming events, information about how to download a new Sentinel app, and information about contests offered.

TACTICS

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

• Create a digital newsletter for registered student organizations. (Prototype included) • Email the newsletter out to recipients.

• Develop a contest for students.

• Develop contest rules.

• Email potential contest prize donors. (Prototype included) • Create signs and posters to promote opportunities.

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

• Create a smartphone application.

• Email to professors in relevant classes to ask for help.

• Recruit students face-to-face in app development classes.

• Create signs and posters to promote smartphone app. (Prototype included) • Update The Sentinel’s website to include a weekly calendar of campus events.

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Event plan. (Prototype included) • Press release for event. (Prototype included) • Media list to determine to whom the press release should be pitched. (Prototype included) • Pitch letter to media for event. (Prototype included) • Fact sheet to be distributed at event. (Prototype included) • Write script for Owl Radio promotional broadcast. (Prototype included) • Create signs and posters for event. (Prototype included)

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

• Social media plan for The Sentinel’s event; schedule for Facebook and Twitter.

• General social media plan; schedule for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. (Prototype included) • Promote social media profiles. (Prototype included)

18

Tactic

Jan. 5

Due Date

Promote social media pro7iles.

Weekly.

Jan. 15

Jan. 25

Monthly

Jan. 15

19

Send out university-­‐wide email containing links Jan. 21 to The Sentinel’s social media pages.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

Print large promotional banner.

Monthly

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Find content to include in events section of website.

Meet with web designer to discuss layout options.

General social media plan for The Follow monthly social media calendar Sentinel each month. suggestions.

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application. Email professors in relevant classes to ask for help and to schedule in-­‐class recruitment meetings.

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link.

Jan. 7

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

January 2015

Task

Create a digital newsletter for Create content for newsletter. Design and registered student organizations. 7inalize information.

TIMELINE

Ed

Ed

Becca

Ed, Becca, Brittany

News Editor

Grayson, Ed, Amie, News Editor, Brittany

Amie

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

Feb. 2

Due Date

Feb. 16 Feb. 24

Secure prizes, 7inalize promotional items.

Contest end date. Evaluation.

Feb. 17

Feb. 10

Set up and host meetings to discuss the development of the app and set app launch date

Recruit students face-­‐to-­‐face in app development classes at KSU and SPSU.

Promote social media pro7iles.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Boost Twitter page..

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

20

Secure slot to advertise on B.O.B.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Create a calendar of events for The Update weekly with campus events.

Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application.

Feb. 18

Monthly

Feb. 16

Monthly

Weekly

Feb. 28

Feb. 15

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Contest launch date.

Contact potential prize donors.

Feb. 9

Feb. 4

Develop contest rules and desired prizes. Begin to create promotional items.

Brainstorm ideas and decide on concept.

Develop a contest for students.

Feb. 4

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link.

Create content for newsletter. Design and 7inalize information

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

February 2015

Task

Create a digital newsletter for registered student organizations.

Tactic

Ed

Ed

Becca

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Grayson

Ed, Amie, Grayson

Amie, Grayson

All staff

Becca

Brittany, Becca, Alek

Alek, Ian

Brittany, Becca, Alek

All staff

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

March 2015

Task

Mar. 4

Mar. 2

Due Date

Create a mock-­‐up of what the app may look like.

Develop promotional plan for app launch.

Promote social media pro7iles.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

21

Print mini 7liers to promote social media/website.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

Begin advertising on B.O.B busses.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Create a calendar of events for The Update weekly with campus events.

Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application.

Mar. 25

Monthly

Mar. 20

Monthly

Weekly

Mar. 20

Mar. 20

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link.

Create content for newsletter. Design and 7inalize information.

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

Create a digital newsletter for registered student organizations.

Tactic

Ed

Ed

Becca

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Grayson

Grayson, Becca

Becca

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

April 20 April 28

Contest end date. Evaluation.

April 21

Begin researching potential partnerships/talent/venue.

Event Plan.

Promote social media pro7iles.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Weekly

Update weekly with campus events.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

22

Distribute mini-­‐7liers around campus.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Make contact with venue/legal/parking/partnerships.

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

Monthly

Ed

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Ed, Brittany

Brittany, Ed, Amie

Grayson

Grayson, Ed

Grayson, Becca, Ed

All staff

Becca

Brittany, Becca, Alek

Alek, Ian

Brittany, Becca, Alek

All staff

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

April 13-­‐ 20 Distribution staff

Monthly

April 15

April 1

April 25

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Suggested launch date.

April 15

Create a smartphone application. Run promotions for the app online and in print.

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Contest launch date.

April 14

Secure prizes, 7inalize promotional items.

Contact potential prize donors.

April 13

Develop contest rules and desired prizes. Begin to create promotional items.

April 8 April 8

Brainstorm ideas and decide on concept.

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link.

Develop a contest for students.

Due Date

April 6

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

April 2015

Task

Create a digital newsletter for Create content for newsletter. Design and 7inalize information. registered student organizations.

Tactic

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link.

Create content for newsletter. Design and 7inalize information.

May 6

May 11

Take inventory of equipment and make a list of what is still needed.

Promote social media pro7iles.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

May 4

Follow up on legal paperwork.

Event Plan.

May 4

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

Boost Twitter page.

23

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Monthly

May 15

Monthly

Contact potential partners and keep list of who has agreed May 15 to help.

Set up website for registration

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

Weekly

May 30

Update weekly with campus events.

Continue to run promotions for the app.

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application.

May 4

Due Date

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

May 2015

Task

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Create a digital newsletter for registered student organizations.

Tactic

Ed

Ed

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Ed, Amie

Ed, Haley, Amie

Grayson

Ed, Amie

Grayson

Grayson

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

June 30

Due Date

June 1

Secure talent, venue, and partners/sponsors.

Promote social media proSiles.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Create signs and posters for KSU student organization event.

June 1

Follow up with talent, special speakers, for after party.

Event Plan.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

24

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Begin to create promotional items for the event.

Order necessary equipment.

Contact businesses about donations/sponsorship.

Follow up with potential partners.

Monthly

Monthly

June 30

June 15

June 15

June 1

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

Weekly

Update weekly with campus events.

Continue to run promotions for the app.

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

June 2015

Task

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application.

Tactic

Ed

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Becca, Ed

Ed, Amie, Haley

Alek, Ruth, Ian

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Grayson

Grayson

Staf.ing

Finalize legal and venue booking paperwork.

Begin to draft press release. (see prototype) Edit/update fact sheet. (see prototype)

Press Release for event.

Fact Sheet.

Finalize script for OWL Radio promotion, (see prototype)

Compile media list. (see prototype)

Recruit volunteers or workers for the event.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

25

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

Promote social media pro[iles.

Social media plan for The Sentinel’s event.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Create signs and posters for Finalize promotional items. Decide what quantity to KSU student organization event. print/what outlets will be used to distribute.

OWL Radio promotion.

Weekly

Monthly

Monthly

Monthly

July 30

July 27

July 26

July 25

July 25

July 1

July 8

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

Event Plan.

Continue to run promotions for the app.

Update weekly with campus events.

Media List.

July 30

Due Date

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

July 2015

Task

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application.

Tactic

Ed

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Becca, Ed

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Haley, Amie

Ed, Amie

Grayson

Grayson

Staf.ing

Aug. 24 Aug. 31

Contest end date. Evaluation.

Secure slot to advertise on B.O.B.

Promote social media pro7iles.

26

Print mini 7liers to promote social media/website.

Send out university-­‐wide email containing links to The Sentinel’s social media pages.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Contest launch date.

Aug. 28

Aug. 24

Monthly

Aug. 17

Monthly

Monthly

Aug. 25

Aug. 17

Secure prizes, 7inalize promotional items.

Contact potential prize donors.

Aug. 17

Aug. 12

Develop contest rules and desired prizes. Begin to create promotional items.

Brainstorm ideas and decide on concept.

Develop a contest for students.

Aug. 12

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link.

Create content for newsletter. Design and 7inalize information.

Social media plan for The Sentinel’s event.

Aug. 10

Due Date

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

August 2015

Task

Create a digital newsletter for registered student organizations

Tactic

Ed

Ed

Ed

Becca

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Ed, Becca, Brittany

All staff

Becca

Brittany, Becca, Alek

Alek, Ian

Brittany, Becca, Alek

All staff

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

Aug. 30

Due Date

Finalize all paperwork, volunteer lists, partners/sponsors.

Event Plan.

Order fact sheet prints.

Fact sheet.

27

Distribute promotional items throughout campus and on social media.

Create signs and posters for KSU student organization event.

Broadcast event promotion.

Book promotional slot on OWL Radio.

OWL Radio promotion.

Pitch press release to the media.

Finalize press release.

Press Release for event.

Host event.

Gather all materials needed for event. Double check.

Set itinerary for event and make checklists to cover all details.

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

Update weekly with campus events.

Continue to run promotions for the app.

Aug. 1

Aug. 17

Aug. 10

Aug. 17

Aug. 5

Aug. 5

Aug. 22

Aug. 21

Aug. 17

Aug. 10

Weekly

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

August 2015

Task

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application.

Tactic

Becca, Ed

Ed, Brittany

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Everyone

Ed, Haley, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Grayson

Grayson

Staf.ing

Sept. 2

Due Date

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

September 2015

Task

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Promote social media pro7iles.

Evaluate the success of the event.

Event Plan.

Weekly

Sept. 30

28

Distribute mini-­‐7liers around campus.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

Begin advertising on B.O.B busses.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Sept. 14-­‐21

Monthly

Sept. 18

Monthly

Sept. 1

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

Update weekly with campus events.

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application. Continue to run promotions for the app.

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link. Sept. 4

Create a digital newsletter for Create content for newsletter. Design and 7inalize registered student organizations. information.

Tactic

Distribution staff

Ed

Becca

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Ed, Amie

Grayson

Grayson

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

Due Date

Oct. 7

Develop a contest for students.

Oct. 19 Oct. 27

Contest end date. Evaluation.

Oct. 20

Promote social media pro7iles.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

Boost Twitter page.

29

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Update weekly with campus events.

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application. Continue to run promotions for the app.

Monthly

Oct. 15

Monthly

Weekly

Oct, 30

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Contest launch date.

Oct. 13

Secure prizes, 7inalize promotional items.

Contact potential prize donors.

Oct. 12

Develop contest rules and desired prizes. Begin to create promotional items.

Brainstorm ideas and decide on concept.

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link. Oct. 7

Oct. 5

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

October 2015

Task

Create a digital newsletter for Create content for newsletter. Design and 7inalize registered student organizations. information.

Tactic

Ed

Ed

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Grayson

Grayson

All staff

Becca

Brittany, Becca, Alek

Alek, Ian

Brittany, Becca, Alek

All staff

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

Nov. 2

Due Date

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

November 2015

Task

Promote social media pro7iles.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts

Boost Twitter page.

30

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Update weekly with campus events.

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Create a smartphone application. Continue to run promotions for the app.

Monthly

Nov. 15

Monthly

Weekly

Nov. 30

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Email out to student organization leaders via Owl Link. Nov. 4

Create a digital newsletter for Create content for newsletter. Design and 7inalize registered student organizations. information.

Tactic

Ed

Ed

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Grayson

Grayson

Becca, Brittany

Becca, Brittany

Staf.ing

Dec. 30

Due Date

Promote social media proHiles.

Follow monthly social media calendar suggestions.

General social media plan for The Sentinel each month.

Boost 2-­‐4 Facebook posts.

Boost Twitter page.

31

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Update weekly with campus events.

Create a calendar of events for The Sentinel’s website.

Monthly

Dec. 15

Monthly

Weekly

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

December 2015

Task

Create a smartphone application. Continue to run promotions for the app.

Tactic

Ed

Ed

Ed, Becca, Brittany

Grayson

Grayson

Staf.ing

Timing

To collect this evaluation metric, the organization will need to use survey monkey, a free service that also provides results analytics.

To collect this evaluation metric, the organization will need to create an Excel database.This will require at least one staff member, but there is no additional cost for software.

Resources Required

In order to collect this metric we propose the client visit socialmention.com in order to 5ind data about The Sentinel’s social media presence before the social media campaign, mid campaign, and at the end of the campaign.

To evaluate our success in meeting this objective, The Sentinel will compare the changes in its social media activity between two dates on social mention.

Jan. 1-­‐ June 1

To collect this evaluation, The Sentinel will need to create an Excel Database. One team member will be needed for this operation.

32

To evaluate our success in meeting In order to collect this metric, we propose The Sentinel Jan. 1-­‐ this objective, The Sentinel may creates a survey that can be distributed through hand-­‐ June 1 survey readers about levels of to-­‐hand and email methods. involvement.

Jan. 1-­‐ June 1

To collect this evaluation metric, the organization will need to use survey monkey, a free service that also provides results analytics.

The Sentinel will have to appoint someone to take the data from the website before and after the campaign.

Objective 3: Increase engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

In order to collect this metric we propose the client create an excel sheet and enter the webpage traf5ic count for each page. These statistics can be found on the WordPress dashboard on The Sentinel’s. This should be conducted on a weekly basis.

To evaluate our success in meeting this objective, our team will measure the traf5ic to each webpage on The Sentinel website.

Objective 2: Increase the number of student visits to The Sentinel webpage by 10 percent in six months.

To evaluate our success in creating In order to collect this metric, we propose The Sentinel April partnerships, The Sentinel should creates a survey that can be distributed via OwlLink to 30 survey student organizations to members involved in student organizations. gauge their feelings towards The Sentinel.

In order to collect this metric, we propose The Sentinel Jan. 1-­‐ create an Excel database with the topics covered in June 1 each section of the newspaper. These should be organizations that The Sentinel has not worked with in the past. The client can then compare this number to the number of clients at the beginning of the six month course to see if an additional 5ive have been added.

Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel

Research Method

Objective 1: Create partnerships with 5ive organizations on campus in six months.

To evaluate our success with creating partnerships with different organizations on campus, our team will measure the number of articles that cover student organization events.

Evaluation Metric

EVALUATION

Timing

In order to collect this metric, we propose the client use socialmention.com to view all the instances The Sentinel has been mentioned on social media throughout the semester. Then, the client will be able to compare the results to the ones at the beginning and middle of the semester.

Jan. 1-­‐ Dec. 9

To collect this evaluation metric, the organization will need to access the Social Mention website or use Facebook analytics.

Comments can be tracked and analyzed in an Excel database. This will require at least two staff members.

To collect this evaluation metric, the organization will need to use survey monkey, a free service that also provides results analytics.

This will require one staff member.

Resources Required

In order to collect this metric, we propose the client create an Excel data with the total number of collaboration attempts with different student organizations. Then, the client can reference the database at the end if the objective was not met.

In order to collect this metric, we propose the client track the number of articles written about student organizations in an Excel sheet and compare at the end of the semester to see if the goal was met.

Jan. 1-­‐ Dec. 9

Jan. 1-­‐ Dec. 9

To collect this evaluation metric, The Sentinel will need to create an Excel sheet with what student organization were contacted and if a collaboration article was written. This will require at least one staff member,.

To collect this evaluation metric, the organization will need to count and track the number of student organization articles. This will require at least one staff member.

In order to collect this metric, we propose the client Jan. 1-­‐ uses existing Excel sheets to compare changes in Dec. 9 pickup rate. Then, the client can compare this number to the number of papers picked up last fall semester to see if the pick-­‐up rate increased by 30%.

33

To evaluate our success in In order to collect this metric, we propose The Sentinel Jan. 1-­‐ meeting this objective, our team creates a survey that can be distributed through hand-­‐ Dec. 9 will survey students on whether to-­‐hand and email methods. they pick up the paper and share with friends.

To evaluate our success in meeting this objective, The Sentinel should compare pickup rates that are recorded by the distribution team.

To collect this evaluation metric, the organization will need to use survey monkey, a free service that also provides results analytics.

This will require one staff member.

To collect this evaluation metric, The Sentinel distribution team will will have to enter pickup rate data and prepare it for analysis. It will require at least three staff members.

Objective 3: Increase the student pick up rate of The Sentinel by 30 percent by December 2015.

To evaluate our success in meeting this objective, The Sentinel should track the number of attempts to contact student organizations.

To evaluate our success in meeting this objective, our team will collect articles written about student organizations.

Objective 2: Collaborate with student organizations to develop at least 3 articles per semester by December 2015.

To evaluate our success in meeting this objective, our team will collect social media comments regarding The Sentinel.

In order to collect this metric, we propose The Sentinel Jan. 1-­‐ creates a survey that can be distributed through hand-­‐ Dec. 9 to-­‐hand and email methods. Surveys should be administered in January, May, August and December.

Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

Research Method

Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

To evaluate our success in meeting this objective, our team will collect student opinions via surveying methods.

Evaluation Metric

Tactic

Items for Tactic

Cost

Create signs and posters to promote opportunities.

Email potential contest prize donors

Develop contest rules.

$0

34

Print posters/signs. Standard size (8 1/2x11in) in color.

Design posters/signs. Include information about rules/prizes.

Send email out to potential prize donors once prizes have been decided.

Discuss prizes. Grand prize ($50), secondary prizes (2-­‐$20, 1-­‐$10).

Brainstorm partnerships for contest.

$0

$0-­‐100

$0

$0

$0

Tactic Total

$100 (for 800 mini Nliers) Total: $200

$0.50 each

$0

$0

$100 (can be donated)

$0

$0

Send email out containing newsletter. $0

Compile emailing list of student organization leaders on OwlLink.

$0

Design newsletter.

Develop a contest for students. Create concept for contest.

Email the newsletter out to recipients.

$0

Create content for newsletter.

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

Create a digital newsletter for registered student organizations.

BUDGET

Cost

Design posters/signs. Include information about how to download the app.

Create signs and posters to promote smartphone app.

Update The Sentinel’s website to include a weekly calendar of campus events.

Research classes to visit for recruitment.

Recruit students face-­‐to-­‐face in app development classes

$0.50 each.

$0

$0

$0

$0

$0

$100/year

35

Maintain and upkeep online section.

Create new campus events section on The Sentinel’s website.

$0

$0

$0

$700 (for 1,600 mini Oliers and a B.O.B bus shelter advertisement)

$0

$0

$300/year

Tactic Total

Total: $1,000

Purchase ad space on B.O.B buses to promote $250-­‐$1,000 app downloads. (can be exchanged with auxiliary services for free ad in The Sentinel).

Print posters/signs. Standard size (8 1/2x11in) in color.

Visit classes and recruit app developers.

Send emails out asking for help.

Research professors to contact about app development.

Email professors in app development classes to ask for help.

Purchase rights to sell in App Store and Google Play.

$199/year

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content.

Items for Tactic

Create a smartphone application. Use AppPresser to create website into smartphone application.

Tactic

Cost

$700

$40/worker

Finalize and pitch to media outlets.

Design posters/signs. Include information about rules/prizes.

Create signs and posters for KSU student organization event.

36

Print posters/signs. Standard size (8 1/2x11in) in color.

$0

$250 (for 500 Lliers)

$0

$300 (for 2,400 fact sheets )

$0

$0

$2,700 (for 10 workers, plus all other costs)

Tactic Total

Total: $3,250

$0.50 each.

$0

$0

Broadcast promotional spot on OWL Radio.

Book promotion slot on OWL Radio.

Write script for OWL Radio promotional broadcast.

$0.50 each.

$0

Print posters/signs. Standard size (8 1/2x11in) in color.

Compile fact sheet. Design Linal fact sheet and Linalize information.

Fact sheet to be distributed at KSU student organization event.

$0

$0

Write press release. Edit with updated information. $0

$500

Hire workers. (can hire volunteers instead)

After party supplies. (can be donated or in stock)

$200

$400

Necessary equipment. (can be donated or in stock)

Food/beverages for Linish line. (can be donated)

$400

Initial cost for supplies. (can be covered by registration fees)

Legal fees.

$100

Venue booking fee. (can be waived by student recreation park)

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

Items for Tactic

Media list to determine to whom Conduct research for media list. Compile contact the press release should be pitched. information list.

Press release for event.

Event plan.

Tactic

Promote social media pro@iles.

The Sentinel each month.

General social media plan for

Social media plan for The Sentinel’s event.

Tactic

Cost

$0 $0 $0

$0.50 each.

$0

$0

37

Pay to boost posts on Twitter. Payment is determinate of success. Pay Twitter $3 per new follower after campaign is started.

Pay to boost posts on Facebook.

and one bus shelter ad on B.O.B)

followers, 4 Facebook post booths per month

$1,080 (for 1,600 mini @liers, 100 new

$0

$0

Tactic Total

Total: $1,080

$3 per follower

$20 per post boost.

Purchase ad space on B.O.B buses to promote $250-­‐1,000 social media/website (can be exchanged with auxiliary services for free ad in The Sentinel).

Print posters/signs. Standard size (8 1/2x11in) in color.

Print large promotional banner. (3 free per semester through student life.)

Design signs and posters to promote social media following. Finalize.

University-­‐wide email containing links to The $0 Sentinel’s social media pages.

Implement social media plans.

$0

Create social media plan for Instagram.

Create social media plan for Twitter.

$0

Create social media plan for Facebook.

$0

Implement social media plans.

Create social media plan for Twitter.

$0

Create social media plan for Facebook.

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

Items for Tactic

APPENDIX Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

• Create a digital newsletter for registered student organizations. (Prototype included)

THE SENTINEL

RSO FEED

Jan. 2015

The Monthly Student Organization Newsletter

WE WANT TO KEEP YOU IN THE KNOW. LETTER FROM THE EIC:

On behalf of The Sentinel, KSU’s independent student-run newspaper, I would like to kick off the semester by personally offering first-hand information that we hope will benefit our fellow student organizations, faculty and staff. We’re excited to keep you in the loop with not only our weekly news publication but also with our monthly newsletter. These newsletters will keep student organizations updated on events, opportunities for coverage and advertisement information.

We’re looking forward to maintaining an open line of communication and we hope that this will be a great start to an even better semester. Below you’ll find a list chock full of information for the month of January.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU coverage The Sentinel is always looking for events and feature stories to cover around campus. If you have an upcoming event or if your organization is doing something inspiring or interesting, feel free to reach out to our editors. Any student is free to submit a guest opinion collumn also.

advertising partnerships Every registered student organization is allowed one free advertisement per semester. After this, RSO’s will recieve an advertising discount.

If you have an upcoming event or would like to draw more attention to your organization, get in touch with our ad department.

The Sentinel hosts a number of events throughout the semester. These events range from weekly news & brews events to larger expo type events. If you would like to partner with us on an event, please get in touch with the editor-inchief.

38

contact EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

eic@ksusentinel.com

PRODUCTION MANAGER production@ksusentinel.com

OPINION EDITOR

opinion@ksusentinel.com

ADVERTISING

advertising@ksumedia.com

ADVISER

adviser@ksusentinel.com

Action Strategy 1: Create interactive opportunities for students.

• Email potential contest prize donors. (Prototype included)

To: Martin Branick, primary contact for The Black and Gold (ksu.bg.recruitment@gmail.com)

Subject Line: Partnership Opportunity from The Sentinel Dear Martin,

My name is ______ and I’m contacting you on behalf of The Sentinel to see if you are interested in working with us on our upcoming social media contest. As you know, the main goal of The Black and Gold is to promote school spirit and to build tradition around KSU athletics. One great way to do accomplish this is to help The Sentinel engage our readers and encourage them through incentives to go to sporting events!

I believe the student body would be interested in receiving the opportunity to win tickets to Kennesaw State sporting events. It would also be a great way to get The Black and Gold’s name out there to the student body and attract new potential members. Would you have an interest in donating tickets for this purpose? If so, we would love to have ten football tickets to reward the winners of the contest with. We could arrange for your organization’s name to be mentioned in the contest as well as interview a member for the article in the paper.

The contest will be launched on our social media outlets. There will be Oive winners, who would each receive two tickets to a KSU football game.

The contest would entail students posting the best pictures or videos of them showing school spirit while reading an issue of The Sentinel. The newsletter and contest rules are pasted below for you to look over and if you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to contact me.

!

All the best,

___________________ The Sentinel

39

Action Strategy 2: Improve usability of The Sentinel’s online content..

• Create signs and posters to promote smartphone app. (Prototype included)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

THE SENTINEL

THE SENTINEL APP Get instant updates and notifications about campus news right to your phone! The Sentinel is your go-to source for KSU news, so why not download our convenient app? Get score updates, breaking news and information about events on campus.

40

!

Evaluation

Planning

41

• Objective 1: Increase positive opinions about The Sentinel by 5 percent of the student body by December 2015.

• Objective 2: Collaborate with student organizations to develop at least 3 articles per semester by December 2015.

• Objective 3: Increase the student pick up rate of The Sentinel by 30 percent by December 2015.

Goals and Objectives: • Goal 1: Increase student involvement with The Sentinel.

• Objective 1: Create partnerships with +ive organizations on campus in six months.

• Objective 3: Increase student engagement with The Sentinel’s online and print content by 20 percent in six months.

• Goal 2: Increase awareness of The Sentinel.

!

9/1/2015

8/22/2015

4/1/2015

8/22/2015

Ends

Begins

Event Date: Saturday, August 22, 2015

!

The Sentinel will host their +irst 5K in August 2015 to bring KSU’s student organizations together and to raise awareness for the Kids in Need Foundation. The 5K will be held the +irst weekend of the fall semester in order to get new and current students aware of and involved with the student organizations. The 5K will be held at KSU’s Sports and Recreational Park.

Runners who participate in the 5K will receive a t-­‐shirt, and they will be given a goody bag with promotional items from all of the sponsors. Then, participants will head to the +ield for the after party. At the after party, each student organization will set up a booth and have give-­‐a-­‐ways, games and promotional items to hand out. There will be food provided by Chick-­‐+il-­‐a and Jimmy John’s. In addition, there will be special guest appearances by Coach Brian Bohannan, the KSU 2015 football team, Scrappy the Owl and President Papp. All proceeds will go to the Kids in Need Foundation.

The Sentinel’s booth will have workers handing out promotional items, The Sentinel fact sheets, and a photo booth set up. The photos will be taken with an iPad so workers can upload the pictures to The Sentinel’s social media pages in real time.

Participants will be encouraged to go to the webpage and like and share photos. Also, participants will be able to go home with their printed photos.

Dates for Planning:

Description of Event:

The Sentinel Presents: The Back to School 5K

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Event plan. (Prototype included)

Grayson

7) Set up 5K website.

8) Set up registration.

Grayson

42

• Set up online registration.

• Set up paper registration.

• Make a WordPress blog, or subsection on The Sentinel’s website.

6) Contact special guest and ask Ed, Amie, Alek, • Brian Bohannan, Vaughn Williams, Dr. Papp. them to attend the event.

Brittany • Ask Athletic Department for Scrappy.

• Fill out any necessary paperwork for Scrappy.

Ed, Amie, Alek, • Contact Kids in Need Foundation to see how they Brittany want to be involved.

• Set up fund for charity.

5) Contact Kids in Need Foundation.

• Clear event parking with KSU. • Fill out form for event parking.

• Parking signage.

• Hire security.

• Hire EMT to be on site.

Permit paperwork.

Necessary signatures.

Permit payment.

Pay deposit.

• Pay insurance.

• Turn in any forms to KSU.

• • • •

Task materials and requirements

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Responsibility

4) Contact KSU about parking.

3) Hire security/ EMT.

2) Acquire insurance.

1) Acquire permission from university for use of the Sports and Rec Park on Aug. 22.

Acquire any necessary permits.

Tasks/Steps

Event Plan:

!

SpeciAic Objectives: Create 5 new student organization partnerships Collect 100 new email addresses Increase Facebook Page likes by 15% Create 100 new impressions on The Sentinel website

May 1

May 1

May 1

April 15

April 15

April 15

April 15

April 1

Do By

Responsibility

Ed, Amie

14) Materials for after party photo booth.

13) Promotional items.

43

• Download Photobooth for iPad. • Order/buy photo paper.

• Procure a printer (that you can send photos to through AirDrop).

• Order props.

• Yellow and black butcher paper for backdrop.

Becca, Brittany, • Design promotional items (posters, yard signs, Ed +liers).

• Print promotional items.

• Print fact sheet.

• Distribute promotional items.

July 15

July 1

July 1

• Recruit volunteers on through VKSU. • Email students about volunteering opportunity • Assign worker tasks

Rent Port-­‐A Potties.

Order signage (directional and milage).

Order necessary rentals.

Order cups.

Order promotional items.

Order awards.

Start and +inish line.

Rent cones.

Payment for equipment.

Ed, Amie, Haley, Brittany

Ed, Amie, Haley • • • • • • • • •

12) Recruit volunteers.

11) Order necessary equipment.

June 1

May 15

Do By

June 1

• Write and edit email draft.

• Send out email or call the leaders of the student organizations.

• Make a sponsorship/vendor agreement.

• Collect fees.

Task materials and requirements

10) Contact outside businesses Ed, Amie, Alek, • Ex. Chick-­‐Fil-­‐A, Jimmy John’s, Big Peach Running Co. for sponsorships/ donations.

Ruth, Ian • Collect donations and sponsorship money.

9) Contact the 263 KSU student Ed, Amie, organizations about Brittany, Becca sponsorship.

Tasks/Steps

Brittany, Becca

Brittany

23) Evaluate effectiveness of event.

22) Create and distribute mini-­‐ survey.

Everyone

Ed, Amie, Brittany

Ed, Amie, Brittany

21) Cover the event in The Sentinel.

20) Owl Radio broadcast

Ed, Amie

19) Send out press release and pitch letter

Goody bags.

T-­‐shirts.

Race bibs.

Timing chips.

Aug. 1

44

• Participate in de-­‐brief meeting to discuss strengths and weaknesses of event.

• Analyze surveys collected.

• Scan media for coverage.

• Keep clippings and videos of coverage.

• Assemble and +ile event records.

• Write, edit and design mini-­‐survey for event.

• Arrange for volunteers to pass out mini-­‐survey.

• Oversee distribution at event.

Aug. 30

Aug. 22

Aug. 1

• Story preview coverage.

• Advertisement on website and in print.

• Write-­‐up for OWL Radio broadcast.

• Pitch and participate in interview for OWL Radio.

Aug. 1

Aug. 1

Aug. 1

Aug. 1

Aug. 1

Do By

• Edit press release.

• Send out press release and pitch letter to media list.

• Fill bags with promotional and sponsorship items.

• • • •

18) Fill goody bags.

17) Order participant materials. Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie, Haley • Ordered materials.

• Water coolers.

• Tables, chairs, tents.

Update The Sentinel website and social media.

Post on KSU homepage.

Post on OwlLife event page.

Procure and distribute website and social media content for partner organizations and sponsors.

16) Gather materials.

• • • •

Ed, Amie, Brittany, Becca

15) Online promotion.

Task materials and requirements

Responsibility

Tasks/Steps

Of+icials or volunteers Worker 1

Double check all details.

Prepare for after party.

Oversee race route.

Race starts.

9:15 a.m.

9 a.m.

Runners check in.

Make sure EMT is in place.

Ed, Amie

Ed, Amie

Worker 2, Worker 3

45

Ed, Amie

Everyone

Ed, Amie

Everyone

Worker 8, Worker 9

8:00 a.m. – EVENT START

Make sure volunteers are in place.

Set up tables with water.

Worker 4, Worker 5

Sent up signage

Set up cones

Worker 4

Press table set up.

Worker 2, Worker 3

Course set up.

Set up runner registration table.

Worker 1

Over see set up/ booth placement.

Everyone

Pre-­‐event meeting.

Ed, Amie

Everyone

Volunteer check-­‐in.

Responsibility

8:00 a.m. – EVENT SETUP 6 Arrive at event location.

Task

7:30-­‐9 a.m.

8:30 a.m.

7:30 a.m.

6:30 a.m.

6:00 a.m.

Time

!

Detailed Event Timeline (i.e., Day-­of-­Event Timeline): !

Field

Field

Race course

Start Line

Sports and Recreation Park

Check in table

! !

Location

!

Event debrief

After party clean up

1:00 p.m.

12:00p.m.

5K Clean up

10:30 a.m.

Worker 14

Worker 12, Worker 13

Worker 11

46

Everyone

Staff and volunteers

Volunteers

1:30 p.m. – EVENT END

Uploading photos to social media

Working photobooth

10 a.m. -­‐ 12 p.m. Handing out promotional items

10:00 a.m. – AFTER PARTY

Backstage

Field

Race course

Sentinel Table

! !

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Press release for event. (Prototype included)

For Immediate Release The Sentinel to host Back to School 5K The Sentinel at Kennesaw State University plans to host a Back to School 5K to celebrate the start of the fall semester and to raise money for school children in need.

KENNESAW, Ga. (August 1, 2015) – The Sentinel announced this morning, that the organization will be teaming up with the following student organizations: _________, ________, ________, ________ and ________ to host a Back to School 5K to raise donations for the Kids in Need Foundation. The event will give members of the Kennesaw community the opportunity to get together to raise donations that will beneEit school children in need. The race will be at 9:00 a.m. on Aug. 22, 2014 at Kennesaw State University’s Sports and Recreation Park.

“When we came up with the idea for a 5K, we wanted to do something that gave back to the Kennesaw community,” said Ed Bonza, Kennesaw State University Student Media (KSUM) adviser. “We are hoping that this charity run enables us to help the Kids in Need Foundation continue to make a difference by providing under privileged children with the school supplies they need.”

To register for the race, runners can either sign up in The Sentinel ofEice or go online at www.ksusentinel.com up until the day of the race. Same day registration will be available prior to the start of the race from 7:30-­‐8:30 a.m.

“Since The Sentinel is partnering with other student organizations on campus, there will be a great mix of fun games and giveaways at the after party,” said Becca Morrow, production manager for The Sentinel.

The event will feature prizes from local businesses like Chick-­‐Fil-­‐A, Big Peach Running Co. and Jimmy John’s. There will be guest appearances by the KSU football team, Scrappy the Owl and football coach, Brian Bohannan.

!

About The Sentinel:

The Sentinel newspaper is one of four outlets nested under KSU Student Media. The Sentinel is a student run organization that brings the campus community timely, compelling and informative news content. The paper is published weekly during the spring and fall semesters. The Sentinel publishes 30 issues a year. For more information, please visit our website at www.ksusentinel.com.

Contact:

_________________________

The Sentinel www.ksusentinel.com/

###

47

Daily online and print

Marietta Daily Journal

OWL Radio

Hilary Butschek

Online Submission

Hunter Lacey

Contact

Radio/online Emily Jacobson

Magazine/ Seasonal

Daily online and print

Atlanta Journal Constitution

KSU Talon

Type of Publication

Publication

48

1000 Chastain Road, Kennesaw, Ga 30144

Address

404-­‐526 223 Perimeter Center -­‐7003 Pkwy, Atlanta, Ga 30346

Phone

1000 Chastain Road, Kennesaw, Ga 30144

hbutschek@mdjo 770-­‐428 580 Fairground Street nline.com -­‐9411 SE, Marietta, Ga 30060

http:// www.ksutalon.co m/submit/

communitynews @ajc.com

Email/Link

General generalmanager Manager @ksuradio.com

Local news/ Writer

Local news/ writer

Beat/ position

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Media list to determine to whom the press release should be pitched. (Prototype included)

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Pitch letter to media for KSU student organization event. (Prototype included)

!

Subject Line: Attention runners! Make a difference in a student’s life and do what you love. !

Hi Hilary, !

To: Hilary Butschek, Marietta Daily Journal, (hbutschek@mdjonline.com)

I hope this beautiful summer season Dinds you doing well. I know you are a wonderful go-­‐to source for community and local news, so I wanted to let you know a few things about The Sentinel’s upcoming Kennesaw State University Back to School 5K that will support the Kids in Need Foundation (KiNF). KiNF provides brand new school supplies for children in low income families through monetary donations and donations of school supplies. The race will be at 9:00 a.m. on Aug. 22, 2014 at Kennesaw State University’s Sports and Recreation Park. Registration is available online at ksusentinel.com and will be open through the morning of the event.

!

This will be the race’s inaugural year and will give Kennesaw runners a chance to make a positive difference in the lives of students in the local community. The Sentinel, the Kennesaw State University student newspaper organization, will partner with three other student organizations including Greek Life, OWL Radio and the Black and Gold to bring the community together in support of the Kids in Need Foundation. I think your readers would enjoy learning about an active and family-­‐focused way to become involved with the future of our community’s young students with the help of KSU student organizations.

!

Here are just a few points/story ideas for this 5K, but please see the press release pasted below for more information: • The KSU Back to School 5K will be the Dirst community service event hosted by KSU’s student newspaper, The Sentinel.

• The event will feature prizes from Chick-­‐Fil-­‐A, Big Peach Running Co. and Jimmy John’s.

• All proceeds will go toward purchasing school supplies for the Kids in Need Foundation.

• We will feature children in the Kennesaw community who has been positively affected by this charity’s efforts.

• There will be surprise appearances by Scrappy the Owl, the KSU football team, KSU cheerleaders and KSU football coach, Brian Bohannan.

!

Would you be able to cover The Sentinel’s Back to School 5K? If you’re interested, I would be happy to arrange for photos and interviews with families involved with KiNF, KSU President Daniel Papp and KSU football coach, Brian Bohannan.

!

Please call me at 770-­‐375-­‐5696 or email me if you have any questions. !

Best wishes, ________________ The Sentinel

49

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Fact sheet to be distributed at KSU student organization event. (Prototype included)

THE SENTINEL FACT SHEET

Founded in 1966, The Sentinel newspaper printed its 3irst issue at Kennesaw State University and has since been delivering news to multiple generations of students.

About The Sentinel: The Sentinel newspaper is part of the KSU Student Media organization, or KSUSM. The paper is currently published in 3ive column tabloid format on Tuesdays during the spring and fall semesters and twice during the summer. There are 30 issues of The Sentinel published every academic year, with each paper averaging 20 pages. There are 5,000 copies are distributed each week.

Inside The Sentinel: The Sentinel newspaper provides students the opportunity to read up on popular news topics. The different categories of The Sentinel include: • News: contains breaking news stories from on campus and around Kennesaw, Police Beat, Owl Events and other news beats such as SGA and Marietta Campus.

• Opinion: contains opinion stories from staff writers and guest submissions, Owl Yaks, student quotes, and editorial cartoons.

• Arts & Living: contains stories that pertain to concerts and movie reviews, Net3lix previews, crossword puzzles and sudoku, as well as student feature stories.

• Sports: contains game recaps, stories about the progress of teams throughout the season and athlete feature stories.

!

Pick-­Up Locations: There are 15 pick-­‐up locations on campus where students can 3ind new copies of The Sentinel each week. These locations include: • 1 stand in the Social Sciences Building, on the 3irst 3loor lobby.

• 3 stands inside the Student Center, near the KSUSM of3ice, near the North Entrance Atrium and outside the Bursar Of3ice/Card Services • 3 stands outside the Student Center, near the Campus Green, near the Visitor’s Lot, and on the patio on the west side.

• 2 stands in The Commons, one outside the main entrance along the sidewalk towards the Central Deck and one inside the main lobby.

• 2 stands in the Central Deck, one at the 2nd 3loor entrance and one by the bridge.

• 2 stands in the Library, one on each side entrance to the building.

• 2 stands in the Burruss Building, one near The Commons and one on the 3irst 3loor.

!

-­‐more-­‐

50

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Fact sheet to be distributed at KSU student organization event. (Prototype included)

!

Access The Sentinel Online The Sentinel is available online and through the following social media sites: • Website: http://www.ksusentinel.com/ • Instagram: http://instagram.com/ksu_sentinel • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ksusentinel • Twitter: https://twitter.com/ksusentinel

Getting Involved The Sentinel provides opportunities for students to contribute to the newspaper, as well as local businesses to advertise with the paper. The following include ways to interact with The Sentinel: • Submitting Opinion works to opinioneditor@ksusentinel.com • Submitting Arts&Living works to artseditor@ksusentinel.com • Submitting photos to photoeditor@ksusentinel.com • For advertising, contact advertising@ksumedia.com or call 470-­‐578-­‐6470

(For more information on how to get involved with The Sentinel, visit www.ksusentinel.com/contact/.)

###

!

Contact Information Ed Bonza The Sentinel, BLDG 5, MD 0501, 395 Cobb Ave NW, Kennesaw, GA 30144-­‐5591 470.578.6470 adviser@ksumedia.com

51

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event.

• Write script for Owl Radio promotional broadcast. (Prototype included)

OWL Radio Commercial – The Sentinel

Intro: Station Music Plays: 2 seconds

Cue Miss PayJay: “Hello and welcome to KSU OWL Radio’s Indi fo’ Shindi. I’m your host Miss PayJay. We have an awesome variety of songs to play today but Jirst I want to tell you all

about a great event taking place this weekend. This week The Sentinel will be hosting a Back to School 5K! The Sentinel will be collaborating with a lot of different student organizations and local businesses to host a charity 5K that will beneJit the Kids in Need Foundation, who

provide under privileged children with school supplies. But, once the race is done there will be a killer after party, with music by your favorite campus radio station OWL Radio. The

Sentinel will also be giving away chances to win great prizes at their booth, and there will

be booths set up by other organizations. It’s not too late to register, in fact you can register even on the morning of the event for all of those procrastinators out there. Be there this

Saturday for The Sentinel’s Back to School 5K, at the Sports and Rec Park! Be sure to pick up a copy of this weeks’ The Sentinel for more information. Now let’s check out this awesome track by Carnage.”

Cue Track: Carnage – Michael Jordan

52

Action Strategy 3: Host a KSU student organization event. • Create signs and posters for KSU student organization event. (Prototype included)

PRESENTS

BACK TO SCHOOL

5K

AUGUST 22

9AM - KSU SPORTS AND REC PARK THE SENTINE

REGISTRATION INFO ONLINE AT KSUSENTINEL.COM

5K

L

free shirt!

All proceeds benefiting the Kids in Need Foundation bring school supplies to donate for free registration!

53

! ! !

! !

“SelOie Sunday” (retweet followers selOies)

26

Interact with students about Extra! Extra!

Post preview video for upcoming issue.

!

Interact with other student organizations via Twitter.

27

Post about app launch on Facebook (boost post).

28

!

Post shortened version Social media contest to Instagram. launch date.

!

21

20

19

!

Post tweet about event Post teaser of new “News & Brews” issue of The Sentinel.

14

13

!

Follow 10 more students at Kennesaw State University.

54

Post highlights about new issue.

29

Post about contest on Facebook (boost post).

!

Post highlights about new issue.

22

30

Follow more students at Kennesaw State University and request likes by students.

23

!

16

!

9

Follow 10 more students at Kennesaw Post highlights about new issue on Facebook State University. (boost post).

Post about The Sentinel app.

!

15

!

8

!

Retweet interesting tweets from followers.

!

2

Post about new issue.

Post April Fools joke.

Thursday

1

Wednesday

April 2015

The Sentinel app launches -­‐ make announcements on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

25

Notes: “Post” means Facebook and Twitter

!

24

Answer questions.

!

!

11

4

Saturday

18 Like more pages and obtain a larger Start app launch following on Facebook. countdown.

17

10

Answer questions.

Tweet about release of The Sentinel app.

! !

Interact with followers.

3

Friday

Instagram picture of Retweet interesting Post “Tell us all about this week’s front cover. tweets from followers. your weekend plans and it just might end Share 2 stories from Interact with followers. up in the paper next week!” (boost post).

Post about The Sentinel The Sentinel website on Twitter. app.

7

Interact with other student organizations via twitter.

Tuesday

6

Monday

“SelOie Sunday” (retweet followers selOies)

Sunday

12

5

!

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

• General social media plan; schedule for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. (Prototype included)

Action Strategy 4: Create a social media campaign.

• Promote social media profiles. (Prototype included)

THE SENTINEL

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK FACEBOOK.COM/KSUSENTINEL

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @KSUSENTINEL #KSUSENTINEL

CHECK OUT OUR INSTAGRAM @KSU_SENTINEL #KSUSENTINEL

READ US ONLINE KSUSENTINEL.COM

DOWNLOAD THE APP IN THE APP STORE & GOOGLE PLAY 55

BIBLIOGRAPHY About: Why NNA? (2014, June 1). Retrieved October 2, 2014, from http://nnaweb.org/who-can-

join

About Us. (2014, January 1). Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://www.collegemedia.org/

site/about.html

ACP-Critiques. (2014, January 1). Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://www.studentpress.

org/acp/critiques.html

“Boro Herald” (2014). Twitter. Retrieved from: www.twitter.com Contests & Events. (2014, January 1). Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://www.

redandblack.com/contests_events/sponsorship/

Faculty Information. (2013, August 1). Retrieved October 10, 2014, from http://factbook.

kennesaw.edu/apps/fb/kenn_fact_book.pkg_fact_book_html.p_show_fact_book_page?p_

year=2012&p_page_type=FAC&p_page_id=109

Georgia Southern Fast Facts | Newsroom | Georgia Southern University. (2013, August 18).

Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://news.georgiasouthern.edu/at-a-glance/

Goldings, J. (2007). Hands off the high school paper. Retrieved from http://www.journalism.

org/2007/02/15/hands-off-the-high-school-paper/

Georgia Tech | Fact Book. (2013, August 1). Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://factbook.

gatech.edu/

“GSU Signal” (2014). Twitter. Retrieved from: www.twitter.com

Kennesaw State University - Statistics. (2013, August 1). Retrieved October 2, 2014, from https://

colleges.niche.com/kennesaw-state-university/statistics/“KSU Sentinel” (2014). Twitter.

Retrieved from: www.twitter.com McClure, N. (2013, November 4). Press Releases. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://www.

redandblack.com/site/press_releases.html Mitchell, A. (2014). State of the news media 2014. Retrieved from http://www.journalism.

org/2014/03/26/state-of-the-news-media-2014-overview/

56

Morrow, Becca. Personal experience - Sentinel employee. (Sept. 2013 - Nov. 2014).

Purcell, K., Rainie, L., Heaps, A., Buchanan, J., Friedrich, L., Jacklin, A., . . . Chen, C. (2012). How teens

do research in the digital world. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.

org/2012/11/01/how-teens-do-research-in-the-digital-world/

Quick Facts - Georgia State University. (2013, July 1). Retrieved September 27, 2014, from http://

www.gsu.edu/about/quick-facts/ “Red&Black” (2014). Facebook. Retrieved from: www.facebook.com “Red&Black” (2014). Twitter. Retrieved from: www.twitter.com

Student Enrollment Data. (2013, August 1). Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://

em.georgiasouthern.edu/osra/student-enrollment-data/

W The Red and Black. (2014, October 2). Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://www.

redandblack.com/

“The_nique” (2014). Twitter. Retrieved from: www.twitter.com

UGA by the Numbers. (2014, August 1). Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://www.uga.edu/

profile/facts/ Who We Are. (2014, January 31). Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http:// cspa.columbia.edu/

who-we-are

57

TEAM BIOGRAPHIES BRANDAN CASE

Brandan Case is graduating from Kennesaw State this December with his degree in communication. He enjoys going to motorsport events, playing sports, hiking and camping in his free time. Brandan has aspirations of one day working in Public Relations department for the TUDOR United Sports Car Championship. However, until the opportunity for his dream job presents itself, he will be happy working his way up at any company that allows him to travel.

Gavi Coffman is a small town native of Bremen, Georgia and will graduate from KSU in December, 2014. Gavi is currently in search of the best path to her dream career in public relations. During her time at KSU, Gavi was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority, PRSSA and was an intern with Atlanta Ballet. When she’s not concentrating on school, she loves to read, hike and spend time with her friends, family and her dog, Lainey. Gavi hopes to travel and see the world before she has to truly “grow up.”

ANNA HAWF

Anna Hawf was born in El Paso, Texas and moved to Kennesaw in late 1991. She is a senior at Kennesaw State University and will graduate December 2014 with a Bachelors in Communication and a concentration in public relations. After graduation, Anna plans on working in the Marketing and PR Department at Primrose Schools. Anna has a 6-year-old daughter, Ava, who keeps her very busy. Anna enjoys staying active through hiking, running and Crossfit.

Paymon Kashani is a communication major in public relations with a minor in professional writing at Kennesaw State University. He is currently a lead for the promotions team at Owl Radio TV. He hopes to work in public relations for an Atlanta sports team in the future. Paymon enjoys playing soccer and basketball in his free time. Paymon also has a passion for voice acting and has created several animated shorts on YouTube.

BECCA MORROW

GAVI COFFMAN

PAYMON KASHANI

Becca Morrow is a communication major at KSU. She has an interest in graphic design, New England sports, and rock music. She is currently the production manager for The Sentinel newspaper and has worked as an intern for Rock 100.5 and the City of Woodstock. Becca likes to spend her free time reading Rolling Stone, stargazing, and going to Taco Bell. In the future Becca would like to become involved in the public relations department of a company that fits into her many interests.

Heather Rushing grew up in Roswell, Georgia before attending Kennesaw State University. In December 2014, Heather will graduate from KSU with a degree in Integrative Studies with a focus in Public Relations. In her free time, Heather loves to read mystery novels, explore nature & spend time with her growing family. After graduation, Heather plans to begin working full-time with the events group she is currently interning for. Her main goal is to one day run her own wedding venue.

58

HEATHER RUSHING

PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGNS FALL 2014 DR. KRISTEN HEFLIN DREAM TEAM

BRANDAN CASE GAVI COFFMAN ANNA HAWF PAYMON KASHANI BECCA MORROW HEATHER RUSHING 59