Marketing 101 - University of Houston
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Marketing 101

Branding

A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. It’s an emotional, intuitive reaction. It’s the meaning that surrounds the company, product, or service. The foundation of a brand is trust – our audiences trust our brand when their expectations are consistently met or exceeded.

The 5 C's of building a brand are listed below:

  • Create a clear, consistent message
  • Confirm credibility
  • Connect emotionally
  • Convince the consumer by building trust and exceeding their expectations
  • Results in: Concrete consumer loyalty

Setting Goals

Every good marketing brand and strategy starts with these simple questions.

  • Who are you?
  • Who is your audience?
  • What do you do and why does it matter to your audience?
  • What is your goal?
  • What is your call to action?
  • What do you want your audience to do?

Marketing Plan

Every good marketing plan includes:

Goal(s) and/or Objective(s):

  • What do you want to accomplish?
  • SMART Goals: Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistic. Timely.

Example: To increase student attendance at event X by 10% for FY15 as compared to FY14.

Target Audience Definition

  • Who needs to "hear" your message in order to accomplish your goal?
  • Demographic characteristics: Age, gender, ethnicity, location, etc.
  • Psychographic/lifestyle characteristics: Like going to movies, spend time on Facebook, works out regularly, music majors, etc.

Example: Current UH students between the ages of 18-22 who live in the residence halls. They are active in social media.

Strategies

  • What are the best ways to communicate your message to your target audience?
  • Strategies are typically broad in nature, as they identify the major communication vehicles or marketing mediums that are the most relevant to your audiences (and your budget).

Examples: Print ads, CoogTV, social media, outreach events, website, etc.

Tactics

  • What are the specific action items needed to implement each of your marketing strategies?
  • Tactics are specific in nature, as they identify the "who, what, when, and where" for each marketing medium.

Example:
Strategy: Social Media

Tactic #1: Post an announcement about Event X on UH DSA’s Facebook page on the first of every month.
Tactic #2: Tweet an announcement about Event X on Student Housing & Residential Life’s account every Tuesday afternoon.
Tactic #3: Create a video about event X to post on the Campus Recreation YouTube channel.

Budget

  • What is your overall budget to execute your marketing plan?
  • Typically, projected budgets are broken down by strategy and/or tactics.

Actual expenses for each tactic should be tracked for return on investment (ROI) evaluation and future planning purposes.

Implementation Timelines

  • Each tactic should include an internal deadline for staff to complete the work.
  • As applicable, document the publication, distribution, or "go live" dates for each tactic.

Assessment & Evaluation

  • What are your key performance indicators (KPIs)? (i.e. site traffic, post clicks, retweets, etc.)
  • Identify the methods for measuring the overall success or return on investment (ROI) of your marketing plan, which should correlate to your goals and objectives.

Example: To track attendance, students will complete a registration form at the beginning of Event X.

  • As applicable, identify the methods for measuring the success rate or ROI for each tactic.

Example: The registration form will ask students to identify how they heard about Event X.

Resources

Marketing and Communications

Marketing Assessment