The marketing communication plan of the

James R. Connor University Center

Content
Content..............................................................................................2
Executive summary............................................................................2
1.0 Situation analysis.........................................................................3
1.1 Service Analysis......................................................................3
1.2 Market Analysis......................................................................5
1.3 SWOT Analysis........................................................................6
2.0 Objective......................................................................................8
3.0 Marketing Communications Strategy and Action Plan.................8
3.1 Promotion strategy and tactics...............................................8
3.2 Center culture strategy and tactics........................................9
3.3 Innovative and balanced portfolio strategy and tactics........10
3.4 Business support strategy and tactics..................................10
3.5 Public relations strategy and tactics.....................................11
3.6 Corporate communication strategy and tactics...................12
4.0 Marketing activities to support communication Strategy...........13
4.1 Informed Pricing Policies.......................................................13
4.2 Effective Marketing Communications...................................13
4.3 Corporate Social Responsibility............................................13
4.4 Public Relations....................................................................14
5.0 Campaign evaluation.................................................................14
5.1 Quantifiable Evaluation........................................................14
5.2 Awareness Level Evaluation.................................................15
5.3 Online Evaluation.................................................................15
6.0 Budget.......................................................................................15
7.0 Conclusion..................................................................................16
References.......................................................................................16

Executive summary

The center of the student life on the UW-Whitewater campus is the

James R. Connor University Center. With the changes of all UC and
campus, the University Center (UC) still commit themselves to the
aim of to provide a supportive and popular environment which
might contribute to the educational process and enhance the
campus experience.

The University Center is continuously to try to provide high quality

service and improve the brand awareness which achieve huge step
(Handbook of UW-Whitewater, 2014). As been recognized, the whole
brand image is support by the University Center logo, student
employment training modules and cross-departmental committees
assist.

Many market researchers has claimed that the university center

provided enough space for the digital/social media, departmental
marketing efforts and customer communications. This integrated
marketing communications plan is designed aimed to improve the
promotion of the UC logo/slogan, accelerate the communication with
consumers and contribute to concern the social and digital
marketing efforts more closely. The strategies statement will feed
back to the target market so that the UC can acquire the
improvement of its brand image and awareness and acquire the
attention of potential market.

Additionally, this campaign might spread the information for the

consumers that the James R. Connor University Center is a student

centered destination that helps to build the connection between

students and the campus through some service and activities.

1.0 Situation analysis

The situation analysis is an overview of the circumstances university

center Community Care Center is facing. It covers a service analysis,
market

analysis

including

geographics,

demographics

and

psychographics and SWOT analysis.

1.1 Service analysis

The first student union in the UW-Whitewater was rebuilt from an

army barracks from Camp Grant in Rockford, Illinois in 1947
(Homepage

of

UW-Whitewater,

2015).

The

purpose

of

this

organization was to provide services like dining facility and

entertainment center for students. Later in 1959, a new type of
student union opened. It was a multifunction house including
cafeteria, bookstore, lounge, game room, offices and meeting
rooms.

In the following years, the student union experienced three major

revision programs. For the first revision in 1963, a south addition
was built to keep up with the increase of UW-Whitewater enrollment,
which featured new dining area, game room with bowling, more
study and programming space and information desk.

The second addition was in 1988 with the equipped of restaurant,

2

the UW Credit Union, administrative offices, student organization

offices, the Students Services Center (now Information Services),
the

Campus

Activities

and

Programs

Office

(now

Career

&

Leadership Development) and convenience store. The third addition

occurred continuously during the 1990s, including more dining
options, rec-center known as Warhawk Alley and Ike Schaffer
Commons.

The James R. Connor University Center was finished a $20.2 million

program that added about 50,000 new square feet. The architects
always keep the word a place to see and be seen in mind in the
process of building. Therefore, the building can be easily recognized
with open and airy spaces.

As this reason, the building has been seen as a bridge to connect

students with the campus and community. In 2012, the University
Center lunched a program with a new logo called Getting U
connected. This program was purposed to increase the awareness
of University Center. Today it provides large space of study and
programming, information services, Warhawk Alley, Reservations,
Robertas Art Gallery, administrative offices, Harkcard Office and
different types of dining options. The stakeholders of the building
were First Year Experience and Learning Development, UW Credit
Union, Career and Leadership Development. Additionally, there were
also Esker and Drumlin dining facilities and Ticket Services in the
Center of the Arts. They were all served for the original purpose of
University Center.

1.2 Market Analysis

Located on the UW-Whitewater campus, the target audience of

James R. Connor University Center are 12,034 students within the
campus. Serve as the student union of UW-Whitewater campus, the
University Center has a mission which is to provide a supportive
and popular environment which might contribute to the educational
process and enhance the campus experience (University Center,
2014). To achieve this goal, the UC provided many services and
benefits for students which included: relaxation and learning space;
bowling and billiards, and some other entertainments at Warhawk
Alley. Moreover, it also offers the meal plan, HawkCard, and some
dining options for students. And the reservations services, gallery
exhibits and workshops through Robertas Art Gallery have also
been provided. Furthermore, the students could get the ticket for
UW-W events through Ticket Services and they could also get
services offered by Information Services. To sum it, the UC provided
plenty of benefits and enough services for the students, staff and
community members. However, the students are the primary target
market.

Geographics

In the aspect of geographics, according to the handbook of the

university (2014), there are 12159 students enroll into the university
and there are 4300 students live in the campus and 8921 students
are in the Wisconsin Residents. For non-residential students, 41 of
them are states represented and 44 are international countries
represented.

Demographics

Considering the demographics of the university center, individuals

who enrolls in the campus are mainly between the age of 18-25 with
the gender of the students is balance (Collage Navigator, 2014) and
according the report of the university (2014) the annual tuition is
about $15000 or less. Additionally, English is the primary language
in the campus which can let international students feel comfort to
live in the campus.

Psychographics

In the part of psychographics, according to the Maslow`s Hierarchy

of Needs, the target audience of this plan are at the stage of
development the belonging and esteem stages. Therefore they will
require friendship, belonging and achievement. On the other hand,
there are more than 200 students organizations available for
students to join. They will cater the strong need for information and
connection of the target audience.

1.3 SWOT Analysis

Strengths

The university center have the ability

to upgrade.
The financial status of the university
center is good.
The staff of university center have

diverse skills.
The Brand awareness of the place
strong.
There are variety of food service,
recreation and entertainment
destination in the center

Weaknesses

The lack of consistency between

departments
The lack of communication between
staff and student employees
Due to the early establish time of the
place, the limited parking place is a
serious problem.
The potential market and audience
only about the students in the campus.

Opportunities

Due to many department in the

university, the facility can be used by
many individuals in the campus.
The university center is in the central
of the university.
The increase number of the students
provides the great opportunity for the
center.

Threats

The Library in the university also

provides group study space, video
game checkout and snacks
Residence Halls offer lounges, study
space, TV, and games.
The limited parking place in the

university center.
Students who lives in off-campus
housing may cause the potential
audience of the university center
reduce.

2.0 Objective

The development of the university center involve the development

of an identity for the organization as a entire different entity from
the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The implementation of the
whole plan in 2015 will lead to the increase of brand awareness and
impact of the university center.

Based on the SWOT analysis of the University Center, the objectives

of the marketing communication plan are as follow:

Increasing 5 percent the website traffic in 12 months.

Increase awareness of the University Center and its services in the
target market.

3.0 Marketing Communications Strategy and Action Plan

3.1 Promotion strategy and tactics

The strategy is to position the Brand as a learner oriented university

with the principal called Centers of Excellence to develop
students learning skills and ability.

To strongly brand the university, curved logo and designs are

presented. They should be easily understood, continually evaluated
and practiced both inside and outside the university.

The logo has developed from unique design, combined with regular
consumer research. It will keep evolving according with various
design

themes,

and

promoted

through

different

forms

of

advertisement. This brand should be able to highlight the core value

of university: high performing, creative and Center of Excellence
with high reputation.

The steps to develop and reinforce the market position of the

university:

Establish outstanding standards of excellence combined with

individual awards.

Promoting the concept of Centers of Excellence and resident

experts.

Delivering the core value placing on community interaction.

3.2 Center culture strategy and tactics

Through the center culture strategy added value will be identified,

developed and promoted to students` learning experience.

To help learners being fully informed when they make decision, the
university publications and information should be actual, accurate
and timely with proper language. Learners are encouraged to take
part in the implement of planning and the evaluation on the
performance of center.
8

To encourage learners to participate in extracurricular activities and

group work, the university will reward those who perform well in
these activities. The learners will have access to some private
information to complete some confidential tasks. The university
have a learning support system which could support learners to
develop study skills that will be beneficial for their professional
careers. Learners are encourage to participate in citizenship
activities. Therefore, the university center will provide a range of
outside the school plans like social activities and charity work.

The digital and social media are employed to increase and enhance
the communication between the university and current and
potential learners.

3.3 Innovative and balanced portfolio strategy and tactics

According to the research which was done by Lane (2001), in order

to achieve a balance, the needs of students, employees, businesses
and the society, it is necessary to design a portfolio strategy.

According to the introduce of the University Center (2014), the

Information Services can provide sufficient information to national
and local markets to meet the requirement of curriculum planning
decisions. The university will provide the local institution and
prospective learners with latest information on employment trends
and future development. This information will display in both of
paper and digital formats.

The Information Services will obtain statistics and information from

9

past students on the appropriateness of skills learned in university

which is based on the annual data. It will also cooperate with
Academic Centers and Service Departments to monitor the student
satisfaction of the university application, interview and induction
process. It can also apply many approaches and events to evaluate
the student learning experience and cooperate with other academic
institution to provide opportunities for the learner and the university
community as much as possible.

3.4 Business support strategy and tactics

As economic can provide the support to the development of the

University Center, It is crucial to identify, develop and promote it.

The whole plan will operate with the planned university budgets and
ensure at least ten percent of each years corporate business
revenue from new clients. The price of all the commercial courses
and services will reference the university pricing file.

The University Center will also keep environmental scanning to

identify the new trends and commercial opportunities to maintain its
market image of an innovative Institute.

Supporting

the

development

of

new

products,

services

and

profitable commercial It may need additional financial resource to

support the development of new products, services and profitable
business activities.

The campus and facilities within the university will provide

opportunities to guarantee additional economic benefits. The
10

University Center will cooperate with all other department to ensure

and promote these commercial opportunities. To maintain the
positive image of the university, the UC will keep monitoring on the
customer satisfaction and report to the heads of Center and senior
Management.

3.5 Public relations strategy and tactics

The positive staff relation strategy will offer a good environment for
the development of the positive culture which can generate the
excellent employee relations and team working (Andersen, 2005).
As the economic and time constrain during the implement of the
plan, it is necessary to recognize the importance of contribution
reward system for the development of the university and its
learners.

In order to enhance the brand image of the University Center, it is

necessary for the staff to try to seek outstanding performance in
activities

with

the

wider

community

to

to

acquire

external

recognition.

As one of the crucial part of developing and promotion, the

University Center will investigate and promote additional external
benefits

with

human

resources

to

provide

added

value

for

employees.

In the aspect of promote the social interaction between universities

and development relationships with center from other university,
11

the University Center will improve the skill and attitude of the staff
and learner.

To maintain the skills demanded of the progressive organization in

current or in the future, the university will keep supporting and
promoting the professional development.

The center will promote, recognize and reward individuals or a group

of staffs to meet the aims of University Center which is to improve
the effectiveness and efficiency of processes and performance
indicators.

3.6 Corporate communication strategy and tactics

External and internal communication play important role in the

development organization. Base on the statement of Cheung (2010),
the

aim of the corporate communication strategy is to offer and

maintain enough information for the effectiveness of internal and

external communication.

It is important to promote the information communication between

students and employees through the positive PR or the good news
and views on the university internal newsletter. Promote the
development of ICT skills and encourage all university employees to
use the internal communication channel in university such as
internet. Offer the open access for the staff to share and
communicate the information on the internal course bulletin boards
to assist in the development of Cross university Course Teams.

Manage the risk of using network during the communication of

12

brand image on some learner activities or blogs. Keep stimulating

social communication between the staff and wider universitys
community. To improve the brand image and the stimulate interest,
it is necessary to provide accurate information on the press releases
and publications. It is also very important to response whether
positive or negative publicity cause it reflect the values of
universitys.

Monitor publicity and communication materials to make sure that it

could

compliance

with

the

university

policies,

values

and

procedures.

4.0 Marketing activities to support communication Strategy

4.1 Informed Pricing Policies

The tuition between different universities can be a competitive tool

to acquire target audience and provide financial contribution to the
university. The center realize the importance of tuition and can use
the tuition maximum the financial contribution.

4.2 Effective Marketing Communications

University

Center

can

use

variety

of

marketing

and

communication channels effectively with new and old customers,

businesses and other stakeholders to ensure the most appropriate
media channel through both internal and external customers receive
targeted communication exchanges. The center will continue to
develop and maximize the efficient use of digital communications
13

with students, employees, employers and stakeholders.

4.3 Corporate Social Responsibility

The university realizes the importance of its Corporate Social

Responsibility and the need to work with local communities to
strengthen communication and mutual understanding.

A variety of social marketing activities will take place with local

communities, networks and partnerships, including charity fundraising events.

The university will in its communication demonstrate high ethical

standards and a proactive approach to equality.

The University Center aware about the social responsibility and the
need to work together with local communities, the importance of
enhance communication and mutual understanding. The university
center will hold a variety of social marketing activities with local
communities, networks and partnerships.

4.4 Public Relations

Public relations will be used to support and enhance the profile of

the university center through using targeted media publications and
marketing activities which includes the use of press releases, case
studies and awards.

5.0 Campaign evaluation

14

5.1 Quantifiable Evaluation

In order to ensure the effectiveness of the IMC plan, finding

approaches to assess different objectives is necessary. Due to the
first objective of the plan is quantifiable and easily to be tracked, it
is essential to implement a daily assessment of traffic statistic. The
collection of the data mentioned above is required at least once a
month.

5.2 Awareness Level Evaluation

In order to track changes in public awareness and image of the

organization, a survey should have implement once a year. Taking
into account the economic and environmental factors, the survey
can be conducted online. Because of the constrain of time , the
survey should be carried out in September, to allow time to evaluate
and make necessary changes on the basis of the results for the next
year.

5.3 Online Evaluation

Using some tools can help to complete the online evaluation. For
example, Google Analytics, a free service, which can collect the
relevant statistics about the University center website (Tagg et al,
2013). Google Analytics monitors data volume, no matter where it is
come from and what kind of contain are people most concerned. All
of these should be printed monthly and post on the media binder.

The number of fans and the number of posts on Facebook, hits of

videos that uploaded on YouTube will be a indication of community
15

involvement with University Center on the web. All of these factors

should be tracked on the media binder.

6.0 Budget

An increase of revenue to the University Center will be resulted from

the implementation of the marketing communication plan. The
addition of an active to the current fundraisers of University Center,
along with increased web presence, identity building measure and
continuous public relation efforts will lead to more support from the
community through the way of donations and volunteers.

The budget of marketing communication plan could be calculated by

using an objective/task oriented model. This model helps to figure
out the tasks need to meet the objective, set objectives and
determine the costs of tasks. The dollar approach was adopted on
the basis of expectation of costs for the university center
Community Days, printed material like brochures, business cards
and fliers, investing in website domain.

7.0 Conclusion

Under the aim of maintain relationships and increase the brand

image

and

awareness,

implement

successful

marketing

communication plan is inevitable. In order to improve the brand

image and awareness of the University Center, a successful
marketing communication plan is necessary.

The aim of this marketing plan is to promote the University Center

image,

improve

external

communication
16

and

internal

communication. With the combination of public relations, media,

promotions and social media list, the University Center will increase
brand awareness, and improving social/digital marketing efforts.

However there are some bias within this paper, such as the number
of papers been cite in this essay are low and the time of papers are
old without accurate statistic. Despite with all those bias, the paper
may still provide some appropriate advice for further research and
marketer.

17

References

Andersen,

P.

involvement

H.
of

communities:

(2005).

Relationship

professionals

The

case

marketing

through

of

and

brand

web-enhanced

brand

Coloplast. Industrial

marketing

management, 34(1), 39-51.

Cheung, M. (2010). The globalization and localization of persuasive

marketing

communication:

cross-linguistic

socio-cultural

analysis. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(2), 354-376.

Lane Keller, K. (2001). Mastering the marketing communications

mix: Micro and macro perspectives on integrated marketing
communication programs.

Tagg,

S.,

Stevenson,

A.,

&

Vescovi,

T.

(Eds.).

(2013). New

Developments Online Marketing. Routledge.

University

of

Wisconsin-Whitewater.

(2014).

Retrieved

from :

https://nces.ed.gov/universitynavigator/?q=university+of+wisconsin&s=all&id=240189#fedloans

University

of

Wisconsin

Whitewater

2014

Fall

http://www.uww.edu/registrar/schedule-of-classes/fall-2015

18

Profile.

(2014). Retrieved

from :

University Center. (2014). Retrieved from : http://uww-public.courseleaf.com/student-servicessupport-programs-activities/student-services/university-center/university-center.pdf

Welcome to UW-Whitewater. (2014). Retrieved from : http://uww-public.courseleaf.com/welcometo-whitewater/welcome-to-whitewater.pdf

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