State COMM reports are impressive! Marketing & Public Relations

When we formed the State COMM Strategic Communications Planning Team in January 2010, I knew the challenges were daunting and the timetable totally unrealistic.  Yet this week’s reports form the four sub-committees were stellar.  All four groups; Marketing & Public Relations, Web & digital Communications, Internal Communications and Publications have made substantial progress toward our goal of delivering a strategic communications plan to Chancellor Woodson (get use to that name) shortly after his arrival.

While the presentations are posted on the NC State NING site, http://ncsucommunicators.ning.com/, I’m going to present each report here over the next few days.

To say I was impressed, blown away, amazed, would be an understatement. Congratulations to everyone involved and thank you for your commitment to the process and to NC State University.  This is a world class effort and it will help NC State achieve its dreams.

Marketing & Public Relations Committee

Our Charge:

Communications with a marketing component:

strategic planning, awareness campaigns and advertising.

• Develop and propose key messages
• Recommend improved tools, processes and training programs for campus communicators

SWOT Analysis – Strengths

• University has invested in hiring professional communicators throughout colleges, departments, units.

• Colleges have strong partnerships with industry.

• We have strong, relevant stories to tell and an alumni base willing to spread the word about NC State.

• University has invested in marketing research.

SWOT Analysis — Weaknesses

• Lack strategic institutional vision for messaging.

• Weak coordination among communication units on campus.

• Few measures in place to determine effectiveness of our work.

• Look and feel of materials/web is not consistent

SWOT Analysis – Opportunities

• New chancellor at NC State

• Growing comfort people have with electronic communications

• New opportunities to speak directly to alumni through social media

• Training on tools – Tim Jones Twitter class good example and also training for new faculty and current

SWOT Analysis – Threats

• Shrinking budgets

• Growing competition for attention of target audiences

• Social media challenges: developing cohesive messaging with multiple channels of communication.

Three Key Messages and Framing Sentences

•Internal tag line

Everything you can imagine

•Framing Sentence

NC State, the largest university in North Carolina, provides big-school opportunities in a global innovation hot spot while fostering a tight-knit community in one of the nation’s most desirable places.

•Internal tag line

Driving the economy every day

•Framing sentence

NC State provides results that drive the economy –bringing critical thinking skills and discipline-based knowledge to all sectors of society through education, dynamic discoveries, and solutions to real-world problems.

•Internal tag line

Solutions for your world

•Framing sentence

NC State touches lives. With North Carolina roots and a global reach, we deliver solutions that anticipate and meet the needs of society.

What’s Next

• Recommendations for key messages
• Recommendations for coordinating key messages
• Recommendations for training and tools

1 of Many

Passion Rules!