UNIVERSITY MARKETING PLAN
Introduction
The marketing department is excited to begin a new academic year. We partner with admission and financial aid, undergraduate and graduate academic programs, advancement and the career and alumni network, athletics, and other departments and individuals across campus for design, copywriting, digital marketing, photo/video, branding, and other marketing needs. This may include strategic marketing planning, creative consultation, paid advertising, social media, print and web publications, writing and editing, or event promotion.
This plan lays out a series of objectives for the 2024–2025 academic year for the Office of University Marketing in addition to long-term branding goals.
We will discuss key messages and target audiences, a more intentional approach to audience segmentation and personalized messaging, and how an integrated marketing approach can advance Valparaiso University’s enrollment goals and brand positioning.
This plan includes tactical execution examples designed to increase applications and enrollments from historically marginalized populations, increase tuition revenue by more clearly demonstrating the value of a Valpo education, and improve brand perception and awareness through distinct messaging and a targeted approach.
By outlining our priorities and initiatives for the academic year, we aim to increase collaboration among campus units, align brand messaging across constituents, and leverage resources and expertise to work more efficiently and effectively.
We look forward to working in partnership with you during the 2024–2025 academic year.
Jill Sifuentes ’04 Schur
Kristen Knoerzer ’16 Vice President Executive Director Enrollment Management and Marketing University Marketing
Executive Summary
This plan outlines key marketing objectives with a focus on aligning brand messaging, enhancing collaboration, and leveraging resources for effective marketing efforts. It is broken down into three primary areas: brand marketing, academic marketing, and enrollment marketing.
Brand Marketing
• Transform the valpo.edu website into a high-performing, user-centered platform that serves as the primary marketing and recruitment tool for the University.
• Ensure consistency across the University to strengthen brand recognition.
• Enhance the University’s brand awareness and improve perception among key audiences through proactive reputational marketing
• Support brand messaging through strategic content marketing across multiple channels, with a particular focus on short-form video and content optimized for search engine performance.
Academic Marketing
• Storytelling: Recent alumni, accomplished faculty, and students from diverse backgrounds will be prominently featured in marketing materials.
• Beyond the Classroom: Stories will highlight experiential learning and leadership opportunities that benefit students.
• Graduate Programs: A distinct identity for graduate programs will be developed.
• Audience Personas: Personas will be created by academic area to tailor marketing strategies effectively.
• Targeted Outreach: Messaging will focus more intentionally on specific academic programs in prospective student communications.
• Priority Programs: Identified priority academic programs will be featured on social media, and digital advertising campaigns will be executed for priority programs.
• SEO and Content Prioritization: Keywords will be identified for SEO, and new content will be created for programs lacking recent marketing materials.
Enrollment Marketing
• Digital and Social Advertising: Reach prospective undergraduate and graduate students and their influencers through a variety of list-based, activity-based, demographic, and geographic targeting techniques.
• Print Mail: Engage prospective students at key moments through keepsake materials, action-oriented messaging, and educational content.
• Email: Deliver personalized, segmented messaging that effectively represents the Valpo brand to prospective undergraduate and graduate students and parents of prospective undergraduate students.
Valparaiso University Mission and Values
“Valparaiso University, a community of learning dedicated to excellence and grounded in the Lutheran tradition of scholarship, freedom, and faith, prepares students to lead and serve in both church and society.”
Mission Statement
Uplift Valpo: Our Beacon for the Journey Forward.
Valparaiso University’s strategic plan is formed around four themes Learn, Serve, Lead, Thrive that align with the University’s mission as a Lutheran institution and serve as a reflection of our community to the outside world. Each theme is supported b y key initiatives that will purposely drive Valpo toward achievement of these ambitious goals.
The Role of University Marketing
The Office of University Marketing is the brand champion of Valparaiso University and is charged with upholding and advancing the Valpo identity and brand equity through strategic, comprehensive work that uplifts the University’s commitment to all constituents. Through authentic, cohesive messaging, we work with campus partners to create a shared community among prospective and current students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and local community members.
This office pairs the professional expertise of the University Marketing team with consultation from internal and external advisers to drive interest in the University and create a positive perception of its academic prestige, focus on leadership and service, and commitment to an enduring legacy.
As we seek to advance Valpo’s brand positioning and meet the changing needs of the higher education marketplace, the work of this office will prioritize initiatives that support the University’s mission, strategic plan, and enrollment goals, particularly those that are externally facing and targeted to major constituencies. We will increase the availability of resources for campus partners, further integrate our refreshed brand platform into the daily operations of the University, foster strategic partnerships with a variety of stakeholders, and build meaningful relationships that support the University’s mission and drive its continued success.
Current Situation
The work of University Marketing serves two overlapping yet distinct purposes: brand marketing and direct marketing. The key difference is that direct marketing is actionoriented and is measured, while brand marketing is culturally oriented and is not measured by a direct impact on revenue generation.
In terms of Valparaiso University’s primary audiences, direct marketing expects a direct response from the audience: for a prospective student to enroll, a prospective donor to make a gift, an athletics fan to purchase a ticket. Brand marketing, however, builds reputation, awareness, engagement, and community. Equally important, brand marketing influences sentiment and can serve direct marketing, even if the impact is less tangible and occurs over a longer timeframe.
Both brand marketing and direct marketing are of essential importance for the 2024–2025 academic year. With a new, stronger brand platform and recently implemented marketing processes and tools, we have the resources necessary to improve our brand awarenes s and perception, which is of absolute importance in an increasingly competitive environment and with an ever-changing prospective student population.
The National College Attainment Network cited a 13.5% decline in FAFSA completions nationally by May 31, 2024, compared to the year prior. A survey conducted in spring 2024 by Niche found that affordability is the key concern among high school juniors, and 60% of those aware of FAFSA delays are feeling even more anxious heading into their senior year. This is heading into the looming demographic cliff that we all know is coming, which will force universities to re-think their idea of what a prospective student looks like.
With these challenges, our brand awareness and perception must improve and we must devote serious attention to our marketing and enrollment efforts. Our current competitor list is largely made up of flagship state universities and their satellite locations, and we aim to change this. Where we cannot compete on the cost of tuition, we must demonstrate the value of a Valpo education and the distinctive nature of our faculty, academic programs, and the care students receive here. We simply cannot afford not to.
During the 2023–2024 academic year, the work done by rpk GROUP involved a survey of faculty and staff that included questions about university marketing and communications.
While communications is no longer part of the marketing team, this plan will address the marketing-related items in the report.
From the final report released in April 2024:
Faculty and staff survey responses indicated a lot of frustration in how Valpo has been branded in the past, have doubts about the efficacy of historical marketing efforts, and are frustrated with both internal and external communication efforts. However, this is an area that has experienced a significant amount of change in terms of structure and oversight, and there have been key investments recently, including a brand study, which should begin to yield positive results soon.
Recommendations:
1. Share the findings of the brand consultant with faculty and staff to demonstrate the time and attention being paid to improving the marketing and communication of the Valpo brand.
2. Establish key performance indicators for the department and create a process for regular community updates
In addition, portions of the enrollment management section also pertain to marketing:
1. Program-specific marketing strategy is unclear, and some units feel ignored or underserved. The process through which resources (people, time, and marketing budgets) are allocated to specific units feels opaque to stakeholders.
2. Graduate program marketing particularly was noted as a pain point
During the 2023–2024 academic year, we increased outreach to campus units through meetings with academic and university leadership, with department chairs and program directors, and with divisions and departments across campus to share information about the brand refresh and other updates. We will continue these efforts in 2024–2025.
The first step is making this plan available to campus. Marketing goals have not always been formalized or shared transparently with campus under previous leadership, and that changes with us. This is your university, and we could not tell the Valpo story without you. There is no reason you should not be aware of what we are setting out to do. In addition, we will solicit input on the most effective vehicle for sharing additional background on the development of our brand strategy and other ongoing information with faculty and staff at large, knowing that details sometimes get lost and do not always make their way amongst colleagues and teams. Additional objectives outlined below will include specifics on tactics and measurement that will be shared throughout the year.
Brand Marketing
Valparaiso University’s Strategic Plan, Uplift Valpo: Our Beacon for the Journey Forward, includes an initiative specifically focused on the University’s brand.
Initiative 4.2 We Are Valpo – Brand identity as a culture
● Clearly define and communicate the Lutheran identity of the institution and what it means to various constituents
● Establish and direct the institutional narrative through proactive press to promote the University from a position of strength
With our new brand platform that places our faith identity at its core, we have more cohesive and distinct messaging than this University has seen in years. This messaging serves not only the University Marketing team, but it also supports University Communications through their press outreach, and it can be a tool for all campus community members.
As we build on the progress made last year, we will focus on the following objectives.
Redesign and overhaul the valpo.edu website
A high-performing website is a university’s most important marketing and recruitment tool. Currently, the valpo.edu website does not effectively serve all audiences, is difficult to navigate, and has several WordPress theme issues that hinder maintenance and editing.
During the 2024–2025 fiscal year, we will partner with ERI Design Studios, a digital marketing firm that serves primarily higher education institutions, along with healthcare, and focuses on stunning, user-focused websites that tell authentic brand stories. This project will focus on both back-end and front-end development and design, improving the experience for all visitors to the website, as well as our IT department, web team, and web editors across campus in their daily work. When it launches in summer 2025, the new valpo.edu will:
● Enhance navigation to direct visitors efficiently to relevant information.
● Boost prospective student engagement through optimized inquiry and application processes.
● Increase visibility through strategic brand promotion and search engine optimization.
● Showcase inviting, narrative-driven content that resonates with a diverse audience.
● Emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion, reflecting the values of the Valparaiso University community.
Through research, persona development, and best practices, this website will be structured to serve the user through both intuitive navigation and compelling visuals and content. Rather than being driven by institutional structure and internal priorities, we must put the audience first to effectively drive enrollment of traditional and non-traditional undergraduate and graduate students.
Campus partners will be engaged throughout the process, from discovery to design review to content development to launch. We will develop training materials and comprehensive governance and editing guidelines so departmental web editors have the tools needed for success, and the marketing team will serve as a strategic and support resource for all campus units to ensure optimal performance of our website. Additional information about the strategy that will inform this project will be shared as the process moves along.
Implement integrated branding practices
The most important element to the success of a strong brand is consistency. When you think of the McDonald’s brand, immediately the golden arches and “I’m lovin’ it” come to mind. For Nike, it’s the swoosh and “Just Do It.” These brands have incredibly high name recognition and brand awareness and remain extremely consistent in their use of logos and taglines. For brands with less brand awareness, it is all the more important to establish themselves through consistent branding that does not sway through muddied use of variations of unapproved logos or new taglines and identities for every new project that arises. As we continue to integrate Valpo’s new brand platform, this consistency will be of vital importance. Therefore, we will focus on the following:
● Ensure all University marketing and communications reinforce the brand message.
● Align academic branding with University messaging.
● Partner with key internal stakeholders to develop common understanding of the Valpo brand experience, bringing our brand strategy off of screens and brochures and into the lived experiences of our community members.
● Conduct messaging exercises with the Advancement team to adapt key brand messages for alumni segments. Test messages by demo and affinity group.
● Develop Valpo Athletics brand identity that is distinctive and competitive within NCAA collegiate athletics and aligns with University brand standards to support overall marketing objectives.
● Minimize competing taglines used by other campus units to headlines or other message elements.
● Continue to offer regular brand open office hours and departmental trainings/presentations upon request.
● Develop internal network of marketing/communication professionals for sharing best practices and providing support and information.
● Identify method for regular, ongoing communication to faculty and staff with marketing updates and tips & tricks.
Implement strategies that promote brand awareness and perception
Ultimately, it is the job of a marketer to promote a brand’s awareness and perception. While brand marketing is not measured in terms of conversions or revenue generation, we can evaluate the impact of our efforts and gauge the sentiment among our audiences.
In summer 2024 we will launch a brand perception survey among several stakeholder groups including current students, recent alumni, recent stop-outs/withdrawals, and a panel of community members from Indiana and the Chicago MSA. Questions will focus on awareness, perception, the value of an education with the institution, and how brand messaging can influence value. And as we seek to shift our competitive set, the strength of our brand and reputation will be measured against private and faith-based universities.
This survey will serve to establish baseline KPIs for our current brand perception and awareness. A summary of results will be shared with faculty and staff. This survey will be operationalized and conducted every one–two years to measure progress and adjust strategies accordingly.
In order to move the needle on awareness and perception, we will deploy a reputational marketing campaign including paid and organic tactics targeting key audiences.
● Goals
o Raise awareness among prospective student influencers (family members, high school counselors, teachers), alumni and prospective donors/supporters, prospective employers/partners
o Improve perception among peers; influence U.S. News & World Report rankings surveys
o Establish distinctiveness through signature academic programs and Lutheran character
● Content Themes
o Unparalleled Learning Experience (arts & humanities, business, engineering, nursing & health professions, honors college, VUE, interdisciplinarity/Valpo Connect)
o National Recognition (Carnegie Classification for Leadership for Public Purpose, annual rankings)
o Community Impact (partnerships/internships/field placements with local and state businesses/nonprofits/healthcare facilities, service, entrepreneurship, on-campus events)
o Education Grounded in the Lutheran Tradition (Lutheran Centennial, Lutheran Summer Music)
● Channels
o Northwest Indiana Business Magazine
o VALPO Magazine (Valpo Chamber)
o Valpo Neighbors Magazine
o BizVoice Magazine (Indiana Chamber)
o Indianapolis Business Journal
o Direct Mail & Email (peer institutions, high schools)
o Alumni Newsletter
Enhance content marketing efforts to support brand messaging
By leveraging content marketing across channels, we can showcase key brand messages and engage multiple online audiences using both push and pull techniques. Tactics will center student, faculty, and alumni stories and include blogs, stories, and videos meant to be shared and found through search. Specifically, we will:
● Explain the “Grounded, We Radiate” brand story through authentic student, alumni, and faculty stories exemplifying the idea of radiating everywhere.
● Build upon success of Instagram Reels to create more short-form video content for the website and YouTube shorts.
● Revamp YouTube page and playlists to focus on the stories we want to tell rather than institutional structure.
● Create content that answers commonly searched questions to boost search rankings.
● Share content through social media and email marketing.
● Leverage new virtual tour to engage domestic and international prospective students, alumni, and prospective partners.
● Engage with audience comments and questions.
● Integrate TikTok, LinkedIn, and admission social media content, previously managed separately, into the University social media strategy.
● Optimize social media photo and video naming conventions and alt tags for Google image results and accessibility standards.
● Optimize page titles, meta tags, and content through keyword research and competitor analysis.
Academic Program Marketing
In higher education marketing, our academic programs are our product. They are the core element of what Valparaiso University offers to the public and should be front and center in our marketing. As such, academic program marketing will bridge both brand and direct marketing strategies. In both our reputational marketing efforts and our communications with prospective undergraduate and graduate students, the quality of our academic programs will be a recurring theme. Specific priorities include:
● Focus on distinctive/signature academic programs as a key element of University marketing.
● Continue to feature recent alumni, accomplished faculty, and students from a variety of backgrounds.
● Follow a three-pronged approach that outlines the features, benefits, and outcomes of academic programs. Utilizing our brand message map, connect the dots between the attributes and the benefits or outcomes to demonstrate the tangible value to those in the program.
● Prioritize stories that demonstrate experience beyond the classroom or highlight programs where current students and recent graduates have benefited from Valpo’s leadership in a given field.
● Include current student or recent alumni testimonials on all undergraduate program webpages and one-sheets.
● Develop identity for graduate programs at Valpo:
o Create promotional plan for graduate certificates as career enhancers.
o Ensure all graduate program webpages and one-sheets include outcomes/median salary, time to completion, and cost.
o Identify key messages that speak to mature audience and resonate with those looking to advance their professional career or seeking personal fulfillment.
● Develop student personas by academic area to inform marketing strategies.
● Incorporate more intentional messaging focused on specific academic programs in prospective student outreach across channels including:
o Email (build campaigns earlier in cycle for both undergraduate and graduate)
o Loper (undergraduate search engagement tool that includes eight paid campaigns and push messaging)
o Niche (college search website that allows featured programs that can be rotated throughout the year)
● Continue to feature academic programs on University social media including program highlights, student spotlights, and faculty accomplishments.
● Develop and execute digital advertising campaigns for priority programs as identified by the provost and vice president of enrollment and marketing.
o Two–three programs for Google search and display campaigns to limit brand keyword competition.
o Group similar programs together for Meta advertising campaigns to create audience pool large enough for list targeting and lookalike audience creation.
o Utilize Slate landing pages to best track conversions.
● Identify 10-15 keywords for priority programs to integrate into search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
● Prioritize those programs on the priority list as well as programs that do not have recently produced content (within the past three years) for new video creation rather than those that have been featured heavily in the past one –two years.
In order to accomplish these objectives, ensure we have the most current and accurate information about our academic programs, and better partner with our faculty colleagues and keep them informed, we have created a new position: an academic marketing manager. This position will report directly to the executive director of marketing and serve as the primary liaison to all academic units. They will be a strategic partner to share updates from University Marketing, learn about new developments and student/alumni stories from academic partners, and develop marketing campaigns to leverage the academic experience at Valpo and position the University as distinctive amongst our peer and competitive set.
Direct Marketing
For the purposes of this plan, direct marketing will focus on driving enrollments of undergraduate and graduate students.
Our enrollment marketing plan utilizes an integrated approach to reach prospective undergraduate and graduate students across a variety of channels including direct mail, email, SMS, social media, content marketing, search engine marketing, display advertising, website and behavioral retargeting, and third-party platforms.
For undergraduate recruitment in particular, the search process starts early and our messaging must adapt as they move through the funnel from awareness to consideration to decision to enrollment. By the time a student enters their senior year of high school, we must be at the top of their consideration set in order to improve the likelihood of yield and decrease the chance of melt.
2025 Recruitment Cycle Priorities
● Lutheran and Catholic high schools
● Private selective high schools Honors College
● HSI initiative
● Midwest focus
● NACAC trips
● Alumni involvement
● Community-based organizations in Chicago
● Graduate
● International
o Targeted areas
o Agent reengagement
Marketing Channels
Digital and Social Advertising
A robust digital and social advertising strategy will be used to meet prospective undergraduate and graduate students and influencers, on the channels where they spend the most time.
Targeting Methods and Channels
● First-party matching of undergraduate students and parents
● Lookalike audiences to expand reach by targeting specific types of students who share interests, activity patterns, and demographics similar to current prospects, inquiries, applicants, admitted, and/or enrolled students
● Location-based targeting of prospective students, guidance counselors, and other key influencers within a particular location, such as feeder high schools and community colleges, and athletic/school events.
● Social media targeting undergraduate students and parents on Instagram and Facebook based on social, demographic, and behavioral criteria.
● Graduate program Facebook ads targeting high affinity audiences, historical student lookalikes, purchased names, and IP address-matched users, as well as retargeting, to generate graduate-wide awareness, consideration, and decision.
● Paid search campaigns using keyword targeting to generate graduate-wide awareness and drive conversions for specified priority programs. Branded keywords and remarketing are set to run nationally, while more specific keywords run within a 60-mile radius to maximize ROI.
● Retargeting to engage undergraduate students after they leave the traditional marketing path.
● Page context AI targeting to reach audiences based on the content they consume.
Direct Mail (Print) Undergraduate
Print materials continue to be valuable as they are a way to layer outreach and connect on timing of emails and text messages. We will continue to strategically use print as an outreach to prospective undergraduate students.
Objectives
● Provide keepsake materials (stickers, posters, apparel, etc.).
● Encourage actions (learn, connect, visit, apply, deposit).
● Educate prospective students and parents about the college search, application, and financial aid processes, as well as Valparaiso University points of distinction
● Share stories and brand personality.
● Engage right-fit students and build excitement for joining the Valpo community.
Tactics
● Postcards
● Self-mailers
● Packets
● Merch
Success Metrics
● Monitor QR code usage and post-delivery activity.
● Increase segmentation and hyper-personalization.
● Increase number of touchpoints with Access College students, historically marginalized populations, and transfer students.
Calendar
Email is the primary preferred communication medium of prospective students, both undergraduate and graduate. We must ensure we are not only delivering the right messages to the right audience, but doing so in a way that best virtually represents the University brand.
Objectives
● Increase hyper-personalization through the use of AI.
● Incorporate segmented messaging using data provided by Encoura Mindsets, ZeeMee, Loper, web activity, and other sources.
● Create and execute parent campaign for undergraduate.
● Create and execute bi-monthly series for high school freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.
● Incorporate segmented academic messaging into undergraduate and graduate campaigns.
● Build affinity communications (underrepresented, out-of-state, Access College) with key messages for specific audiences.
Success Metrics
● Deliverability, open, and click-through rates.
● A/B test formats and messaging.
Handouts
Handouts can be used in direct interactions during on-campus and high school visits, college and graduate school fairs, meetings with faculty members or other campus departments, at community events, and more.
Objectives
● Complement counselor interactions
● Assist students with admission and financial aid process
● Provide reminders of admission dates and deadlines
● Encourage actions
● Distribute print and swag items at events like:
o Campus visits and events
o Counselor high school visits
o College fairs
o Group visits
o Health care facility/community organization visits
Success Metrics
● Gather feedback through direct interactions
● Measure effectiveness of print materials in comparison to other marketing programs through focus groups and surveys
Departmental Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
As a department, efforts will be measured and evaluated through a variety of metrics, including:
● Results of brand perception and awareness survey
● Website performance (in consideration of industry trends):
o Top destinations (should be Admission and Academics)
o Time on site
o Visitors primarily from markets where advertising is placed
o Demonstrated increase in search engine results tied to keyword targeting and internal optimization efforts
o Organic search metrics:
▪ Average pages per session: ≥ 2.55 (industry benchmark for enrollment < 3,000)
▪ Average session duration: ≥ 2:23 (industry benchmark for enrollment < 3,000)
▪ Bounce rate: ≤ 51% (industry benchmark for enrollment < 3,000)
● Social media performance
o Engagement: Increase engagement rate from 1.8% to 2.8%
o Traffic to website: Increase engagement rate across all referral sources from 74.51% to 75.5%
o Bounce rate of website visitors ≤ 76% (industry benchmark for enrollment < 3,000)
● Impact on enrollment funnel
o Increased organic inquiries for both priority academic programs
o Improved conversion of inquiries to enroll (measured over FY25-FY26 cycles)
● Campus partners indicate satisfaction with progress; deans indicate they better understand the roles and scope of work by University Marketing and understand where they should participate
● Peer recognition and awards for outstanding work