Best Marketing Plan
Marketing Plan As we began to redevelop our Marketing department in 2012, we focused on continuing our momentum and success into 2013. Our Marketing Communications department wanted to accomplish the basic goals of all newspapers: • Increase print readership • Increase online interaction and viewership • Create greater awareness about our organization • Boost our business’s image through positive public relations on and near campus In order to accomplish these four overarching goals, we decided to take a step further. First, we analyzed the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats of our organization. We quickly realized that even with our many accomplishments and traditions as the largest student-run newspaper in the nation, we could still use a lot of progress towards truly achieving each of these goals. Therefore, we embarked on the following four missions: Developing the Brand Ambassador Internship Program. With a limited budget, we had previously struggled staffing all of our marketing events and largely promoting all of our marketing campaigns. In January 2013, myself, along with two coworkers worked vigorously to develop a program to hire student brand ambassadors to help increase our presence on campus. We hired 15 eager and enthusiastic students who were willing to work as unpaid interns. Brand ambassador responsibilities where simple and effective: to promote the Daily all over the University of Minnesota campus. Ambassadors were utilized to promote the Minnesota Daily articles, events, and happenings on their personal social media outlets, which helped increase our online interaction and viewership. Along with social media posts, brand ambassadors were required to assist with event promotion, such as putting up posters around campus, and event execution including the physical labor of set up and clean up large events. Coffee & the Paper, Deadline Dash 5K, and Grapevine Awards Fair were highly popular and successful due to having brand ambassador assistance and promotion around campus. Brand ambassadors also handed out the paper to students and faculty, which helped increase our print readership. Along with increasing the Minnesota Daily brand presence on campus, the brand ambassador program acted as a stepping stool for hiring paid positions. Being a student run newspaper, we struggled with a high turnover rate within our organization. Our brand ambassador program familiarized potential hires with the Minnesota Daily organization, culture and operations. Within our Sales department and our Marketing department, we were able to hire 7 highly qualified and prepared brand ambassadors as Account Executives and Marketing Coordinators.
Marketing Plan Cont’d. Increase interaction with readership. Through our spring readership survey, we found that the University of Minnesota community saw itself as distanced from the work of The Minnesota Daily. As a result of this, we created more means of interaction with students, faculty, staff, and campus visitors. Historically, we have done the Housing Fair, Grapevine Awards Fair, and other annual events to interact with readers. However, we wanted to do much more this year so we did various giveaways, social media photo contests, and other interactive events such as Golf Carts Rides to Class, the Game Issue Event, and the Golden Ticket Campaign. Develop a strong relationship with incoming students, particularly freshmen. Naturally, incoming students have the longest customer lifespan (aside from some faculty and staff). They are likely to attend the University of Minnesota for 3-5 years, and may attend graduate school here afterwards. Therefore, we took on a number of marketing initiatives to specifically target incoming freshmen such as Welcome Week Jeopardy, Gophers after Dark Tie Dye. One event in particular that we did to gain traction with new students was the Superblock BBQ, which was on the first Thursday of classes, and was located in the middle of the freshmen residence hall cluster. The brand ambassador program also helped increase the Daily presence within freshmen dorms and clubs. Many brand ambassadors lived in dorms and were able to hand out free Daily swag to their friends and peers. Remind older students, as well as faculty and staff, of our presence on campus. In appealing to incoming students, we also didn’t want to lose the interest of older readers. Therefore, we made sure to post on Facebook information relevant to all readers regardless of age, as well as get a variety of media trade items to appeal to older students and campus employees. One event that we did in particular was the 1st Annual Drink & Dine Bar Crawl, which was highly successful and sold out quickly. Overall, I believe that we took a holistic approach to increase our community’s awareness of the services that we offer to them all, and have boosted our business’s image through the positive public relations that occurred as a result of our new events and marketing initiatives, and the continuation of old ones.
Schedule of Events 01/31/13 Spring Activities Fair
Every Wednesday Coffee + the Paper Every Thursday Get Caught Reading 2/7/13 Housing Guide & Fair
Every Wednesday Coffee + the Paper Every Thursday Get Caught Reading 3/12/13 Spring Break Swag Bag Giveaway 3/14/13 Sex-U-Mah Launch Party 3/28/13 Grapevine Issue & Fair
Every Wednesday Coffee + the Paper Every Thursday Get Caught Reading 4/18/13 Day In The Life Hand Out 4/25/13 Spring Jam BBQ
Every Wednesday St. Paul Saints Giveaways
Every Wednesday Varsity Theater Giveaways Every Wednesday St. Paul Saints Giveaways
Schedule of Events Every Wednesday St. Paul Saints Giveaways 08/30/13 Publika Campaign Launch 08/30/13 Welcome Week Jeopardy 08/30/13 Gophers after Dark Tie Dye
Every Other Wednesday Coffee + Paper 09/03-09/05 Golf Cart Rides to Class 09/12/13 Fall Sports Preview Launch 09/13/13 Party on the Plaza 09/18/13 Publika Campaign Winner Announced 09/19 – 09/20 Paint the Bridge 09/22/13 Thank U Homecoming Event 09/23/13 Goldy’s Homecoming Kickoff 09/26/13 Superblock BBQ 09/27/13 Homecoming Parade
Every Other Wednesday Coffee + Paper 10/3/13 Student Day at the University Bookstore 10/10/13 Drink & Dine Bar Crawl 10/20/13-11/20/13 Fall Readership Survey
Every Other Wednesday Coffee + Paper Every Thursday Get Caught Reading 11/14/13 Game Issue Event
12/6/13 Job Interest Session 12/12/13 Finals Issue Coffee + Paper
Event Descriptions Spring Activities Fair: University-wide fair where we handed out MN Daily branded items. Housing Fair: Annual fair to deepen our relationship with classified clients and provide students the opportunity to explore all housing options on and near campus. Grapevine Awards Fair: Annual fair to deepen our relationships with retail clients and allow students to vote for their favorite businesses on and near campus. Get Caught Reading: People caught reading the newspaper get a photo with our mascot, MOE, and are entered to have that photo in the newspaper. Spring Break Swag Bag Giveaway: We gave away MN Daily branded items in freshmen dorms including drawstring bags, sunglasses, beach balls, and stickers. Sex-U-Mah Launch Party: We hosted a Launch party at a local pub to promote our Sex-U-Mah Issue. We provided a photo booth with fun props and handed out MN Daily branded items. Grapevine Awards Fair: Annual fair to deepen our relationships with retail clients and allow students to vote for their favorite businesses on and near campus. Day In The Life Hand Out: Brand ambassadors walked around campus handing out the Day In The Life issue that displayed spectacular photography around the University of Minnesota. Spring Jam Barbeque: We provide food, MN Daily giveaways, and games for students outside of the University Coffman Student Union. Welcome Week Jeopardy: We hosted a session for incoming students teaching them about The Minnesota Daily and its relevance to the surrounding community. Gophers after Dark Tie Dye Event: We did a media trade with a local shirt printer to receive 400 shirts which were tie-dyed by new students at the First Gophers After Dark event, which was held at our student union. Publika Campaign: Please see subsequent pages. Fall Sports Preview Launch: We hosted yard games and gave away MN Daily baseball t-shirts and Gopher Sports season tickets to promote our Fall Sports Preview Issue. Golf Cart Rides to Class: We provided golf cart rides and the newspaper to hundreds of students while getting them across the Mississippi River. During Homecoming-Week, brand ambassadors handed out MN Daily t-shirts, lanyards, mugs, and tumblers around campus.
Event Descriptions Cont’d. Homecoming Parade: Over a dozen employees and brand ambassadors handed out our Homecoming Issue paper and branded items to thousands of spectators. Superblock Homecoming Barbeque: While handing out the paper, we provided free food and MN Daily branded items to freshmen within the freshmen dorm area referred to as the Superblock. Party on the Plaza, Thank U, & Goldy’s Homecoming Kickoff: We handed out coffee and the paper, as well as MN Daily branded items, at these University hosted homecoming events. Coffee + Paper: We partnered with a local coffee shop to hand out coffee for about 150 people with the paper. Paint the Bridge: We painted three panels of the Washington Avenue Bridge, which connects East Bank and West Bank, with information on our organization. Student Day at the University Bookstore: Partnered with the U of M Bookstore to hand out the paper and MN Daily branded t-shirts within Coffman Student Union. Drink & Dine Bar Crawl: Please see subsequent pages. Fall Readership Survey: Brand ambassadors distributed our survey via social media and print, which doubled the amount of responses compared to our 2012 survey. Job Interest Session and Tour: Please see subsequent pages. Game Issue Event: We partnered with a local coffees shop and Insomnia Cookies to hand out our Game Issue and donuts on the day of its publication.
Marketing Initiatives
The Brand Ambassador Internship Program was one of the biggest, most successful marketing initiatives the Minnesota Daily has created in the past 5 years. This program helped solve multiple challenges facing the Daily including social media presence, event execution and promotion, and high turn over rates for editorial and business positions. Brand ambassador responsibilities include: • Sharing and tweeting Minnesota Daily articles and promotions • Assist coordinating and attending all Minnesota Daily events • Hand out Minnesota Daily branded stickers, sweatshirts, tank tops, sunglasses, bottle openers, tumbler, mugs, lanyards, and magnets to friends and peers. • Pick up the Minnesota Daily everyday and hand it out to friends and classmates. • Hand out promotion flyers around campus
Marketing Initiatives
Publika Campaign To kick off fall semester 2013, we teamed up with a popular local coffee shop, Publika, and developed a marketing campaign to give an undergraduate student one free coffee everyday for the entire semester. Student entered the contest by taking a picture of their coffee drink from Publika and the latest issue of the Minnesota Daily and posting it on either Twitter or Facebook. Entries used the hashtag #MNDailyPublika and posted the picture on their personal social media pages. This campaign promoted not only our print edition as many readers took photos with the paper, but also increased our social media interaction as students directly tweeted their photos at the Minnesota Daily. This campaign was promoted through our Facebook, Twitter, paper promotions, campus posters, and at events. We received over 150 entries, which was a 170% increase in social media interaction compared to any other campaign we have done in the past.
Job Interest Session Since many students do not know that we are an entirely managed and published student newspaper, we decided to host the 1st Annual Job Interest Session and Tour to invite incoming and young students to learn more about who we are and what we have to offer. We targeted freshmen by posting flyers and posters in freshmen dorms and cafeterias, sending out email blasts to underclassmen, posting information on our social media pages, and promotions within the paper. We had 45 freshmen attended the session with interest in applying at the Minnesota Daily, which was more than we had expected. This was not only beneficially in developing a relationship with younger students on campus, but was also beneficial for multiple departments within the Daily to recruit and connect with potential hires. The 2014 applicant pool for the Brand Ambassador position doubled due to this event.
Marketing Initiatives
Drink & Dine Pub Crawl A majority of the University community is 21+, so we set up the 1st Annual Drink & Dine Bar Crawl to attract an older audience. Every year the Minnesota Daily creates a “Drink & Dine” guide for readers about the best places to eat and drink around campus. We worked with four different bars on campus to negotiate free drinks for bar crawl participants. We also partnered with Uber – a cab service – in order to provide participants with a safe ride home. We began promoting the crawl three weeks prior to the event and sold tickets for two weeks prior to the event. We promoted the crawl in a variety in formats including print advertisements in the paper, online banner ads on mndaily.com, posters around campus and the individual bars, and the Minnesota Daily social media channels. Our intense marketing efforts were quite successful as we sold out all 200 tickets. We were also about to generate social media buzz, with participants tweeting about the event and the Minnesota Daily. Additionally, the Drink & Dine bar crawl was listed as one of the top events in Minneapolis on October 10, 2013 by Huge City.