Marketing

learning
communities

Part 3
Marketing to critical audiences

By
Jacque Mott
with Jean Henscheid
& Barbara Leigh Smith
 Marketing to critical audiences

 Learning communities can:

 have many different audiences

 be offered in various areas of the curriculum
 be administered differently at different institutions

 Wherever the program is situated,

reaching key audiences and important
communicators is critical

 Marketing is a means of gaining support

and building understanding of your
program
 Marketing to critical audiences

Who are the key institutional audiences

for your learning community program?
Why?
 Different strategies for different
audiences
STUDENTS FACULTY

COUNSELORS

ADMINISTRATORS
 Different strategies for different
audiences
In general terms:
 Students are concerned with graduating as well as
making friends and having fun
 Faculty are concerned with academic quality,
collegiality, and life-long learning
 Counselors are also concerned with student completion
and are often involved with the development of all
aspects of the student’s life
 Administrators often have a broader view of campus
life. They are concerned with logistics, academic
quality, and maximizing every dollar.
Other critical audiences
Residence Halls

Computer Technology

Professional/Career

Developmental

General Education
(“Core Course”)

Natural and Life

Sciences
 Marketing to students

Stamats Communications reports that

teenage students considering college say
the following marketing approaches work
best with them:

• Honesty and clarity

• Humor
• Seeing the product
• Knowing something important about
the product
• Showing realistic situations
 Marketing to students

Making visible learning community values

and benefits is an effective promotional
strategy for students, including:

 Good schedules
 The opportunity to make friends
 A sense of community
 Deeper connections with faculty and peers
 Supportive study groups
 Inter-related courses and interesting subjects
 Higher retention and student academic achievement
 More coordination of coursework
 Marketing to students

 Since LC assignments are often

coordinated, use “manageable homework”
theme in publicity as a selling tool for
student recruitment
 Work the scheduling-advising center,
helping students select their courses
 Ask the testing center to inform you of
incoming students who test at pre-college
levels so you can direct them into
developmental LCs
 Marketing to students

 Remember personal contact is most

effective
 Include LC literature in all new first-year
student orientation materials
 Send letters to new students and their
parents inviting them to join in the honor
of participating in the program
 Marketing to students

 Send promotional literature to high schools

and feeder schools
 Consult with high school counselors and hold
informational sessions
 Organize high school visits to see LC
courses in action
 Marketing to students

 Ask marketing and graphic students to

help develop promotional materials
 Field test LC titles with students
 Hold campus-wide program naming or
logo development contest
 Develop a student testimonial video for
use during registration and presentations
 Establish a speakers bureau on learning
communities
 Marketing to students

 Leaflet strategic locations around campus

 Create LC buttons for students and
advisors
 Place LC bookmarks in public libraries
 Place LC displays in mall store windows
 Use your student programs office
 Involve student leadership groups and
residence life staff in recruiting
 Marketing to students

 Include students on your LC steering

committees
 Routinely speak to student leadership
groups and solicit their assistance
 Develop an LC alumni group to speak to
new LC students
 Designate a learning communities room
with a large sign
 Marketing to students
 Link courses so registering for one course
automatically registers the student in the
other(s)
 Secure key timeslots for LC courses and
priority registration
 Require LCs for graduation
 Build LCs around high demand courses
 Offer sequential LCs
 Offer one or two semester LCs fulfilling
general education requirements
 Marketing to faculty

Marketing efforts directed at faculty are

often motivated by a desire to interest
them in teaching in learning communities
or, if they are in a key positions such as
department chair, getting them to support
the LC effort. Working from their interests
and issues is key.
 Marketing to faculty

Before approaching faculty, determine

how each individual:

 Reacts to innovation from within

 Can be influenced to endorse change
 Expresses their feelings and exchanges
ideas
 Responds to ideas from outside
sources
 Marketing to faculty

Employ these strategies:

 Publicize models in use and LC

rationale
 Demonstrate benefits to students
 Show how LCs can support other
innovative programs they may be
interested in
 Make assessment results public
 Sponsor professional development
activities
 Hold term-end celebrations and
opportunities for reflection
 Marketing to faculty

Keep LC values and benefits visible,

including:

 Opportunity to teach with colleagues

 Learn new teaching techniques
 Have more time with students
 Learn new subjects
 Build closer relationships with students
and colleagues
 Marketing to faculty

Employ these strategies:

 Communicate with full and part-time

faculty
 Publicize work with regional and national
movements
 Invite faculty from other campuses to hold
workshops
 Arrange for faculty to visit other LC
campuses
 Marketing to faculty

Employ these strategies:

 Develop a handbook for developing an LC

 Connect faculty to LC listservs
 Provide sample syllabi from other
institutions
 Connect them with faculty on other
campuses who have done similar LCs
 Marketing to faculty

Incentives for participation can include:

 Stipends
 Reassigned time
 Professional development credit
 Class size reduction
 Intrinsic rewards and enhanced collegiality
often matter the most!
 Marketing to
advisors and counselors

The “first contact” with students

 Marketing to
advisors and counselors
Advisors and counselors are critical in
recruiting students to learning
communities. Consider the following
strategies:

 Work to gain and maintain their support

 Inform them early and often about LCs
 Re-educate them since turnover is frequent.
 Work to maintain consistency in your program. It’s
easier for advisors and counselors to explain.
 Many campuses have annual LC retreats that include
advisors and counselors.
 Marketing to
advisors and counselors
Employ these strategies:

 Invite them to speak with LC students or visit classes

 Distinguish special qualities of each LC
 Keep LC materials visible and accessible Some institutions
have developed a LC Handbook for advisors.
 Create easy-to-use promotional materials
 Include them on LC steering and marketing committees
 Marketing to
advisors and counselors
Employ these strategies:

 Introduce them to the larger LC national movement

 Interact with them one-on-one
 Attend their meetings to review LC courses
 Understand their advising philosophy
 Marketing to
advisors and counselors
Employ these strategies:

 Invite LC allies to speak with them

 Provide assessment results
 Buy pizza on registration days or other high-stress times
 Assist at registration tables
 Provide up-to-date information on LC enrollment status
 Marketing to administrators

Successful LC programs
have administrators who
believe in the effectiveness
of programs and are willing
to provide resources and
leadership for them.
 Marketing to administrators

Good strategies for reaching out to

administrators include:

 Providing frequent, concise assessment results

 Maintaining high quality in the program
 Involving administrators in LC committees
 Inviting them to visit LC classes
 Marketing to administrators

Employ these strategies:

 Invite their peers from other campuses to speak to them

 Connect to national LC movement or bring in national
speakers to build status and prestige
 Provide practical models that work at similar institutions
 Immediately provide solutions to problems
 Collaborate with others in making requests
 Marketing to administrators

Employ these strategies:

 Jointly develop strategies for student and faculty

recruitment and faculty development
 Ask well in advance for approvals on lower
enrollments for first-time LCs
 Seek a minimum and maximum enrollment guideline
for LCs
 Marketing to administrators

Define LC effectiveness in multiple ways.

Jointly develop an assessment plan around
specific measures of:

 Cost effectiveness
 Benefits to students
 Benefits to faculty
 Benefits to curriculum
 Benefits to institution

Visit other sections of our website for more

information on evaluation and assessment
measures.
 Marketing to all audiences

 Distribute literature and assessment

results across the campus
 Develop a catalog insert
 Permanently locate LC signs to provide
updates
 Feature articles on an LC class in
newspapers - invite reporters to come to
class
 Have previous LC faculty write columns
for the papers and journals
 Marketing to all audiences
 Speak at student and parent orientation
sessions
 Promote LCs as an innovation that puts
your college at the forefront of educational
practices
 Visit classes that could feed into LCs -
make presentations and distribute
registration information
 Develop a campus learning communities
newsletter or become a featured section of
an existing publication
 Develop an effective website (see section
on effective promotional strategies)
 Marketing to all audiences

 Reserve a dedicated space in the course

schedule for LC listings
 Develop a method to easily identify LC
courses in the course schedule such as a
dot in front of them or a comments line
 Mention LCs in routine institutional
recruitment letters
 Ask faculty members, rather than the
coordinator, speak to their students about
upcoming LCs
 Marketing to all audiences

 Ensure LC announcements run on:

 campus radio station
 Kiosks & electronic signage

Internal TV announcement channels
 Find community, corporate or government
sponsors for certain learning communities
(i.e. the Department of Water Resources
for an LC with a water theme)
 Marketing to all audiences

 Stage an LC “event” on campus (break

the Guinness Book of World Records by
making the longest paperclip chain) to
build awareness
 Distribute publicity materials at a “give-
away” table in the center of campus
(popcorn, coffee) established by your
program
 Build momentum to announce the arrival
of an LC class through a
billboard/signage campaign