University Relations Division Strategic Plan

Actions Steps:

• Schedule biannual reviews of our graphic standards; updates made as needed. 
• Promote the importance of adherence to our graphic standards through various channels of communication. 
• Provide readily available access to our graphic standards document via posting a digital file to the NSU website and sharing directly with individuals upon request.

Performance Measures:

• 60% annual reduction in projects from divisions outside of University Relations submitted for approval that are in violation of our graphic standards.
• 100% of marketing materials produced within University Relations adhere to our graphic standards.
• 100% of final production work submitted for approval to University Relations aligns with NSU’s graphic standards.

Action Steps:

• Maintain a list of current licensed vendors on NSU’s website.
• Promote awareness and importance of using licensed vendors for items bearing the NSU brand/logo through campus workshops.
• Serve as a procurement resource for branded NSU SWAG.
• Review all submissions to licensed vendors to ensure adherence to NSU’s graphic standards.

Performance Measures:

• 100% of licensed products meet NSU’s graphic standards.
• Provide updated graphic standards to licensed vendors annually.
• Representatives from each division attend and complete the annual workshop.

Action Steps:

• Work with Enrollment to audit current marketing materials and identify pieces for translation.
• Engage a consistent voice/source for all translations.
• Seek diversity in radio/video & on other digital platforms.
• Standardize specific translations of common marketing phrases, photography and place them in a common file for use by multiple divisions.
• Ensure translations and/or photography represents the values of the Hispanic community. 

Performance Measures:

• Add at least 15 images of Hispanic students engaging on campus in classrooms, activities, for testimonials to our marketing files.
• Translate 1 adult learner, 1 transfer, 1 graduate, 1 FTFT freshmen ad into Spanish; 1 general scholarship ad 
• Have focus group review photos and materials 1x a year for accurate representation, values.

Actions Steps:

• Maximize digital marketing ROI by decreasing pay per click, increasing impressions, conversions and ultimately enrollment applications from social, display and paid search campaigns.
• Support paid media flights with unpaid/organic media shared across other platforms.
• Ensure all marketing print material and ads (high-touch recruitment pieces, newspaper and magazine campaigns, editorials, advertorials, etc.) reflect NSU’s culture and commitment to student success, workforce needs.

Performance Measures:

• +5% increase in website sessions/visits; engaging prospectives over blasting impressions. 
• Exceed Education sector CTRs for paid search (2.20%), display (.20%) and social (0.9%).
• Increase lead generation YOY by 3% and applications by 6%.
• 65% of all marketing material will be integrated into other marketing channels as applicable.
• Of those integrated, 100% of digital, print and broadcast materials will show seamless consistency in design, messaging, etc.

Actions Steps:

• Work with Student Affairs and other departments to readily provide information on NSUtube, the NSUOK app, etc. to promote student support services and events.  
• Continue producing RiverHawks Weekly to promote student support services and upcoming events to the campus community. 

Performance Measures:

• Create/audit an annual list of student support services and events with key stakeholders. 
• Include one specific mention of a student support service and/or event each week in RiverHawks Weekly.
• Post 1-2 student support services/events every 2-3 weeks on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
• Recognize 1-2 student support services/events on NSUTube, LED, NSU app and other campus signage as appropriate.

Action Steps:

• Cultivate NSU storytellers, both internally and externally, by keeping in regular communication with college deans, chairs and specialty groups, promoting the use of our Submit a Story link.
• Expand earned media reach across region and beyond, including specialty opportunities; seek to increase the number of stories picked up and/or pursued by media outlets per week.
• Grow relationships with media, actively engaging in personalized communication to include an annual NSU Media Relations day which hosts area media influencers for conversations about NSU, its overarching goals, key thematics and abundant resources, as well as NSU media protocols, etc.
• Showcase NSU stories, events, resources in various forms across multiple platforms, such as testimonials for print, broadcast and digital; event promotion through earned media like press releases and social shares, etc.
• Add a News tab/presence on NSU’s homepage so the public can keep up to date with campus announcements, latest research, student spotlights and other NSU-related news. 
• Develop the RiverHawks News page into a user-friendly resource for the faculty, staff, students and the public to keep up to date on what’s going on at NSU. 
• Work with campus stakeholders to encourage use of NSU Communications & Marketing Services to assist with awareness of programs, research, grants and events.

Performance Measure(s):

• Increase use of NSU Submit a story link by 25% annually as NSU storytellers seek out CM as THE resource for sharing their voices.
• Increase earned media coverage across the state and into quad state news markets by pitching NSU as a go-to media resource for opportunities/stories about adult learning, education, teaching, immersive learning, healthcare degrees, events, graduate opportunities, etc.
• Share 2-3 press releases per week with a target for at least 1 to inspire media-produced attendance/coverage and 2 or 3 to be picked by a media outlet. Enlist student workers to actively add larger, public events to community calendars, etc.
• Submit 1-2 pertinent (non-event) NSU earned media stories as published by media to the OSRHE daily news feed.
• Meet 1-2 times per semester with key on-campus committees to reinforce the need to work with Communications & Marketing and to highlight efforts in hopes to encourage further buy-in from the campus community. 

Action Steps:

• Launch yearly campaigns that revolve around Higher Ed Day, Oklahoma Promise, etc.
• Develop regular communication with government officials utilizing materials to include legislative sheets, thank you cards, email blasts, and social media posts.
• Engage student leaders in Higher Ed Day at the state Capitol.
• Invite our local representatives to visit one of our three campuses in order to speak with students and other campus administrators about legislative issues.
• Monitor all higher education bills that come up yearly and have open dialog with our representatives concerning their effects on our institution.
• Participate in chamber and community organizations activities within our service area.
• Align our social media efforts with OSHRE’s statewide communication and outreach plan. 

Performance Measures:

• Have no less than 20 legislators attend the NSU Higher Education Day Luncheon.
• Sponsor 15 chamber events between Tahlequah, Muskogee and Broken Arrow communities.

Action Steps:

• Use student testimonials to highlight NSU business partnerships through internships, preceptorships, clinicals and student employment opportunities.
• Highlight NSU business partnerships in official university publications and via press releases when applicable.
• Work with campus partners to procure a list of students who can be spotlighted on social media, press releases, NSUTube, university publications and other marketing channels.
• Work with academic partners to generate a list of business partners that can be featured across workforce marketing campaign channels.

Performance Measures:

• Produce and utilize seven testimonials by Nov. 1 and seven additional testimonials by April 1 annually. Testimonials will be made available on the website, print and social and other media.
• Produce one business or immersive learning partnership feature per month highlighting their relationship with NSU.

Action Steps:

• Implement proper titles, descriptions and keywords to metadata across all of our domains.
• Train and monitor departmental content managers by holding quarterly beginner/intermediate content manager training.
• Improve accessibility by adding image descriptions, proper heading hierarchy, correcting broken links and adhering to other WCAG 2.0 (Level AA) guidelines.

Performance Measures:

• Obtain or maintain a minimum of 95% or better in SEO scores on all NSU’s domains using an SEO assessment tracker.
• Obtain or maintain a minimum of 95% or better in accessibility on all NSU’s domains using an accessibility assessment tracker.
• Have a 100% completion rate for beginner and intermediate content manager training and have regular monthly correspondence with content managers through email or zoom.

Actions Steps:

• Provide training for content managers on the topic of ‘Writing for the Web’ and frequency of refreshing content.
• Conduct an annual audit to review for outdated content and (or) unused pages.
• Locate duplicate pages that can be combined or removed entirely by doing an yearly annual audit across all of NSU’s four main domains.
• Work with content managers to keep pages relevant by running bi-annual audits that highlight pages with low or no visitor traffic.

Performance Measures:

• 95% of content managers have completed and implemented Writing for the Web strategies.
• 100% of our landing pages are updated on a yearly basis.
• 100% of the duplicate web pages have been deleted from the website.

Action Steps:

• Conduct an audit of all department and college default pages to identify those that currently have a FAQ available for current/prospective students and current/prospective parents. 
• Create a list of frequently asked questions that should be represented on all college and department default pages.

Performance Measures:

• Make sure 100% of colleges have FAQ listed on their web pages.
• Make sure 100% of departments have FAQ listed on their web pages.
• Provide a list of updated FAQ to college and department web editors per semester.

Action Steps:

• Post 2-3 times a week on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn wall boards.
• Post to Facebook and Instagram stories 2-3 times a week.
• Tweet or re-tweet on Twitter a minimum of ten times a day.
• Create Snapchat filters for at a minimum of five events a year. 
• Focus social media posts on student life, grad and undergrad programs, public events while showcasing NSU’s three campuses.
• Experiment with the latest trends and features of the major social media channels, while presenting the NSU brand in a positive way.

Performance Measures:

• Increase in followers on Facebook and Instagram by 5%.
• Increase impressions on Facebook and Instagram by 10%.
• Increase followers on LinkedIn by 10%.
• Increase followers on Twitter by 10%.
• Increase Snapchat users by 20%.

Action Steps:

• Develop a strong relationship with NSU departments to constantly stay informed of enrollment dates and program specific events and announcements in order to reach our intended audiences in a timely manner.
• Ensure readability by reducing billboard clutter.
• Add call to action when appropriate.
• Create and maintain a web page dedicated to advertising rental space on our Arrowhead billboard.
• Create slick sheets to promote advertising of rental space on our Arrowhead billboard. 

Performance Measures:

• Continuously have 3-4 digital billboards in rotation at each of our billboard locations.
• 90% of billboards will not exceed 9 words to improve readability.
• Generate at least $200 a month to cover the cost of our Arrowhead billboard. 

Action Steps:

• Produce an interactive campus map tour of the Broken Arrow campus using our interactive campus map.
• Produce an interactive campus map tour of the Muskogee campus using our interactive campus map.
• Review all student services to ensure they are easily found on the campus map and that the appropriate information is listed.  

Performance Measure:

• Conduct a bi-annual review of our campus map to ensure all information is correct and easily accessible. 
• Have an interactive campus map tour video available for all three campuses easily accessible by the end of FY24.

Action Steps:

1. Schedule workshop topics 1x per semester with no workshop being repeated twice in one year. 
2. Create and conduct workshops according to the semester schedule; follow up with a web accessible version of each workshop to be hosted on the University Relations webpage.
3. Create a one-page print and digital sheet that can be shared with departments that outlines how to request services from University Relations. This resource document can also be shared with college department heads, content managers, etc. 

Performance Measures:

1. Increase attendance to UR workshops by at least 5% with representation of 1-2 individuals from each college and/or specialty area.
2. Post each updated workshop on the University Relations website.
3. Send out our one-page print sheet to each department head once a year.