AEC Preliminary Marketing Plan: Teaching

UF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION

preliminary marketing timeline phase 1: teaching

INTRODUCTION GOALS

It was determined by the AEC Marketing Committee that the main goal of the AEC marketing plan would be to increase awareness of all AEC programs, including the undergraduate program, graduate program and all AEC affiliated programs, and to increase enrollment numbers in both our undergraduate and graduate programs. We will focus our efforts heavily on the three major components of the land grant mission-teaching, research and extension, with phase one having a strong emphasis on teaching.

TIMELINE

To accomplish our goal and to ensure a successful marketing campaign, the campaign will operate in three phases, with each phase building off the previous phase. Phase one of the marketing plan will focus on teaching, with phase two focusing on research & extension and phase three focusing on affiliated programs.

This method was determined by the AEC marketing committee. It will allow us to successfully execute the marketing campaign by narrowing in on important aspects of the campaign for the specific area we are dealing with (teaching, research/extension and affiliated programs).

While phase one of the plan will focus on teaching (within both the undergraduate and graduate programs), our efforts will focus very heavily on undergraduate recruitment due to a recent decline in enrollment numbers.

Target audience(s) for phase 1- teaching

• Primary audience: Prospective students, ages 18-24—high school and community college students and UF undergraduate students with a lack of awareness of AEC academic programs.

• Secondary audience: Agri-science teachers, extension agents, high school guidance counselors, undergraduate and graduate coordinators, departmental and college administrators, parents, etc.

background

In July, we received news that there has been a decline in the number of students in CALS majors since last year at this time and that there would be budget cuts to the college (and eventually departments). Because CALS receives funding based on student credit hours, it was determined by our

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marketing committee that we needed to first focus on individual course promotion and recruitment for both Fall 2014 and Spring 2015.

After receiving this news, we analyzed current enrollment numbers for our AEC undergraduate and graduate fall courses, paying special attention to courses with low enrollment numbers. For any course that wasn’t at least 75% full, we developed a course promotional flyer. The flyer contains information from that course’s syllabus, meeting times and a corresponding photo.

Flyers were distributed to Cathy Carr and CALS associate dean, Dr. Joel Brendemuhl. The flyers were then distributed to undergraduate and graduate coordinators and academic advisors throughout CALS and other colleges with complementary curricula. The flyers were also distributed over AEC and CALS social media channels (Twitter and Facebook).

We plan to continue this process as we work to increase enrollment in our AEC courses, and ultimately the AEC major. We also plan to evaluate the effectiveness of these flyers to determine if there is an actual increase in students enrolled in these courses.

stage 1

Individual AEC course promotion and recruitment

In late Summer 2014/early Fall 2014 we will focus heavily on undergraduate recruitment, specifically in AEC courses (as explained above).

Tasks to be completed: 1. Analyze enrollment numbers for Fall 2014 AEC undergraduate and graduate courses 2. Promote courses with low enrollment through course promotional flyers 3. Distribute flyers over AEC/CALS/UF social media 4. Distribute flyers to undergraduate and graduate coordinators and academic advisors throughout CALS and other colleges with complementary curriculum.

5. Develop interactive booklet of courses (via Issuu PDF viewer) to distribute to students when they are shopping for courses; develop several print booklets to give to coordinators and academic advisors to keep in their offices 6. Develop print booklets to give to coordinators and academic advisors to keep in their offices for student advising appointments.

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STAGE 2

Message testing, logo testing and image testing through the use of focus groups and surveys

In early Fall 2014, to ensure that we are using the most effective messages and vehicles of communication to reach our target audience(s), we will conduct focus groups and surveys when appropriate with our target audience(s).

Tasks to be completed: 1. Testing of current, prior and concept marketing efforts: • Prior

i.

Test prior AEC promotional materials (brochures, old square cards)

ii.

Test prior AEC messages/catchphrases (Connecting People with Agriculture)

iii. Test prior AEC logo (AEC wording with Connecting People with Agriculture written underneath)

• Current i.

Test current AEC promotional materials (square cards)

ii.

iii.

•

Test current AEC messages/catchphrases (personalized, passionate professional) Test current AEC logo (orange square)

New content/content developed by Campaign Strategies course i.

Test campaigns class promotional materials ii.

Test campaigns class messages/catchphrases iii. Test campaign class logos

• Concept

i.

Test concept promotional materials (including new blue triangle

concept we have used recently)

ii.

Test concept messages created by AEC Marketing Committee

iii. Test concept logos created by AEC Marketing Committee

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2. Analysis of results from focus groups and tests by panel of experts

• Establish a universal template to use for all AEC promotional materials

(square cards, brochures, etc.)

• Establish an official AEC catchphrase/slogan to use on all promotional items

• Establish an official AEC logo or “graphic element” to use on all promotional items

stage 3

Development and production of all new AEC promotional materials

In early Spring 2015, if focus group and survey results show that new promotional materials need to be developed, these items will be developed and produced during this stage of phase one.

Tasks to be completed: 1. Create new promotional materials based upon analyses of focus group and survey results • Square cards, brochures, bookmarks, etc.

2. Create new catchphrase/slogan based on results • Personalized, passionate, professional • Connecting people with agriculture • Other catchphrase 3. Create new logo based on results • Old AEC logo • AEC square • Logos created in campaigns • New logo concepts 4. Meet with representatives at FedEx office to arrange printing of materials • Determine quantity, quality and pricing of promotional materials 5. Have materials printed and delivered to AEC • Determine production time and delivery time

stage 4

Distribution of promotional materials to prospective students

In Spring 2015, after the production of new promotional materials has been completed, we will distribute these new materials to our secondary audiences:

Tasks to be completed: 1. Distribute to undergraduate coordinator, faculty members and departmental administrators

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2. Distribute to high school guidance counselors • Send out to selected Florida high schools (note: how to select which

schools to send to?)

3. Distribute to community college advisors • Santa Fe, South Florida, Indian River, Chipola, Florida State College, etc.

(note: how to select which CCs to send to?)

4. Distribute to Florida agri-science teachers • Connect with alumni who are teaching and send to their schools 5. Distribute at career fairs, CALS Kick-off, TailGator, Gator Encounter, university and college wide recruiting events, etc.

stage 5

Migration to new Terminal 4 web platform (*see appendix)

Migration to Terminal 4 has already begun at the University of Florida. Currently, IFAS is in the process of migrating their main sites (ifas.ufl.edu, cals.ifas.ufl.edu, etc.). Migration for AEC could happen any time from late 2014 through late 2015 (depending on how the migration process goes for UF and IFAS. IFAS will contact us when it’s our turn).

The Terminal 4 web migration is occuring in three waves. IFAS Communication Services conducted an in depth analysis of each IFAS website’s directory to determine how ready each website was to migrate.

The order of migration was determined by two factors--website visibility and website “cleanliness”/organization. For the department sites, specifically, they wanted to migrate the cleanest sites first. This means these sites’ files are organized well, there are no broken links, no orphan files, etc. These sites will have the smoothest migration.

Mirgration order: • Wave 1- Main IFAS sites (as referenced above).

• Wave 2- IFAS research centers and programs.

• Wave 3- Academic departments • We are fifth in line for migration out of a total of about 25 websites.

Tasks to be completed: 1. Merge website content from directory to Terminal 4 • Manual migration of more than 80,000 individual files on the AEC website (aec.ifas.ufl.edu).

• Determine what frameworks we need for our website based upon the Website

Communication Strategy form filled out by AEC Marketing Committee.

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DAILY MARKETING EFFORTS

Although we are focusing heavily on teaching during phase one, research and extension will still continually be promoted through our daily marketing efforts.

1. Keep AEC website updated with new media content: • Pictures from recent events, conferences, etc.

• Corresponding feature stories for these pictures • Monthly faculty spotlight videos • Faculty and graduate student awards and recognitions 2. Keep AEC website updated with recent course syllabi (most recent three semesters): • Upload course flyers and course interactive booklets onto website 3. Keep AEC social media outlets updated on a daily basis: • Facebook • Twitter • YouTube 4. Update hallway monitor(s) with newsworthy content: • Faculty spotlight videos • Current course offerings • Explore Research videos • AEC social media content • Important upcoming events 5. AEC Fall and Spring newsletters • Upload onto Issuu (online PDF viewer) • Print copies to send to alumni and friends • Content

• News stories written by students

• Awards/accomplishments

• Department photos/department group photo

WHAT’S NEXT?

1. Phase 2- Research/extension • Promotion of department’s research and extension initiatives

• Focus group testing (including message testing)--the Marketing

Committee will begin process of determining this in Spring 2015,

once the majority of phase one is underway.

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2. Phase 3- Affiliated programs • Promotion of department’s affiliated programs

• Focus group testing (including message testing)--the Marketing

Committee will begin process of determining this in Summer 2015.

APPENDIX a

This is what our aec site will look like:

EVERY SITE WILL HIGHLIGHT THE LAND GRANT MISSION.

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APPENDIX b FACULTY INDEX PAGE:

INDIVIDUAL PROFILE:

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THIS IS WHAT YOUR FACULTY PAGES WILL LOOK LIKE: