New Year’s Resolution in Marketing for 2011

Melissa Brown’s personal “to do” and improvement list for the upcoming year, based on lessons from 2010.

• Better correlation between the Facebook ad analytics and Google. They never seem to match.
• Internal Brand Ambassadors and certificate program. There are so many great examples of these internal campaigns and programs, like Virginia Tech’s outstanding Brand Ambassador Program. I’m motivated to create the program for UM-Flint. Much of the framework is complete, just need to put everything together.
• New and improved dashboard metrics for tracking social media. Another “we have the framework and basic methods”, but it could be so much more. I attended the American Marketing Association’s Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education in sunny San Diego, California this past November and discovered a whole new world of social media and marketing measuring options that I can’t wait to implement. It will be a lot of work and tracking, but this process is extremely important in showing the ROI for using new media in marketing.
• Work with more marketers, recruiters and communicators on campus. We have a Marketing Council group with staff and faculty from these areas, but it’s time to make some collaboration happen! I’m thinking brand and marketing projects where we all contribute. Shouldn’t be that difficult, right?
• Give the people what they want! This is the title to an old, but popular song by R&B vocal group The O’Jays.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ex1_ExOORE[/youtube] This group was actually talking about social justice and it was used in the Obama 2008 campaign for change, but I feel it fits my next item. The campus community and its supporters want to be updated about the good, bad, and in-between regarding anything that could potentially affect their interaction with campus. We learned this in the most revealing way from our recent inclement weather situation. We have a team of content administrators in our office, but 2011 will be the year to be efficient and effective in how we communicate with the campus.
• Communicate. Communicate. And communicate again. Continuing with the need to communicate more, I need to produce more detailed reports of all areas within University Relations. As a department, we do provide updates, attend meetings and try to provide resourceful information on our department website, but more updates regarding our PR, marketing, web, social media, community relations, and branding efforts can only encourage internal awareness that may help us in producing more great untold stories of UM-Flint. This could also help increase more collaborative efforts among departments.
• The Logo Cop. Ok, I really hate that name, but I have been called “The Logo Police”. It is my responsibility, along with others in the office, to protect the image and brand of UM-Flint, which means reviewing and addressing any logo violations. In 2011, I will continue doing this, but will also provide more resources for those that need alternative non-logo options to represent UM-Flint.
• It’s been an interesting year in managing the brand and it helped me realize that more needs to be done. I would also love to see more basic UM-Flint clothing and promotional items sold in local stores. Anyone should be able to find UM-Flint paraphernalia anywhere in Genesee County. I would say the world, but that may be a bit much; however, an online option could make that possible.

So there you have it, my version of the New Year’s resolution. It didn’t include some crazy workout and diet plan to lose weight in four weeks or how I will be a better person in the new year (shouldn’t that be automatic anyway?), but it does provide me with some lofty goals that will take some strategic planning on my part. I’m ready to work it out! See you in the new year.