Marketing Team

Interact’s Proposed Marketing Plan 

I have uploaded Interact’s proposed marketing plan recommended for implementing the new brand so that you can review and give feedback. You are welcome to comment on the brand or the plan. If you didn’t see Interact’s presentation to the Board it is available through the link below:

http://www.bartonccc.edu/it/interact/ 

The new brand and all that would follow (a new logo, website, etc.) has not yet been finalized so your comments are needed. With input from employees and others, the next step would be to take it and a plan for implementation to the board for approval in April.  

I was holding off on a question about the Fort Riley population until Interact’s work was completed but Joel hits on one of emphases for the new marketing plan they are developing. We are now able to market more aggressively to the Fort Riley population. Now that Bartonline is being accredited, the Fort Riley population will be one of the primary markets for it as well.

Interact’s work will tell us what mass media people use and when but word-of-mouth remains the strongest marketing element there is. In modern marketing terms it is called “viral marketing.” You want people talking about your product and people will listen to peers and those they respect more receptively then they will listen to advertisers.

Sometimes companies use social marketing to get the “buzz” started about their product. One example is inviting people to a cocktail party but the only thing being served is the company’s new vodka. Nothing is really said about it but everyone invited is taste-testing the new product. Another example is Kodak introducing a new camera by having a couple walking around New York asking people on the street to take their picture. They are put their new product in the hands of consumers who want to know what kind of camera it is, etc. When the camera finally comes on the market, people are already talking about it.

How can we tap into the informal channels at Fort Riley to create a “buzz” about Barton?

To suggest a new topic for discussion post it here. Thanks!

The Marketing Team is a part of the Strategic Planning Participatory Procedure. It’s purpose is to ”act as an advisory group providing broad based input for the development, monitoring and maintenance of a comprehensive plan to market the college; to consider image, articulation of mission and goals to the public, branding, promotional initiatives, public information approach, etc.

Interact Communications has completed all its reasearch and is in the process of developing the Barton’s new brand. They will be showing it to the Board of Trustees at their March 6 study session at 4 p.m.

Class schedules are printed in varying fomats and mailed to specific lists for both campuses and Bartonline. The Interact Media Preferences Survey confirmed that most students still want a printed class schedule.

An issue specific to the Barton County Campus is that the schedule has adapted to advising needs so well that it no serves as a very good marketing tool to attract students. All courses are included in one master listing. We no longer have the space to break out the online classes, or outreach classes in their own sections.

How can we improve our printed class schedules?

An issue for everyone is how our online class schedule works. You can look at it at the following address: https://buinb6.bartonccc.edu/pls/prod/bwckschd.p_disp_dyn_sched

The online schedule is particularly important on the BC Campus because the printed copy of the schedule is out of date almost as soon as it is printed.

How can we improve the online version of our schedule for students looking up courses?

The College Catalog is used in the recruitment process to provide students what they need to know before they get to Barton but also serves as documentation of certain requirements while they are attending. For example, when graduation requirements are changed, students have the option of using the requirements as stated in the college catalog during the year they began their studies with the college or using the new requirements.

We know from the Media Preferences Survey conducted by Interact that we are at a tipping point between a printed catalog and a downloadable catalog. It confirmed what we learned several years ago when we tried going to an electronic catalog.

The catalog should represent the whole College. How can we improve the catalog for its intended purpose and in representing the whole College? 

When posting FAQ’s remember to use the FAQ Category.