The Status of the Reputation Building Initiative

As the UW faces as-yet undetermined cuts to its state funding, many of you have asked us if the Reputation Building Initiative (RBI) is still moving forward. The answer is yes. The only change is one of scale. We no longer plan to have a highly visible public launch of the initiative. However, we still plan to be purposeful about how we present this remarkable University to the world. And we will still provide tools, templates, and training to help us all market the UW in a consistent way -- and to help everyone save costs and gain efficiencies and expertise.

The RBI is not just a UW Marketing project; it is the responsibility of everybody who works for the UW -- from gatehouse attendants to vice presidents to professors. Every interaction with a student or a member of the public is an opportunity to build our reputation and deliver on the UW's educational mission.

The health, well-being, and growth of the UW are deeply connected to the health, well-being and growth of Washington state -- and that's an outcome we all have a stake in. If you have questions about the RBI or other marketing-related issues at the UW, please let us know at mktg@u.washington.edu. To stay up to date on the latest RBI progress, please visit the RBI Web site.

Sincerely,

Tricia Thompson
Associate Vice President, UW Marketing

Best Practices

Featured Unit: UW Libraries

Recently UW Libraries Marketing Manager A.C. Petersen faced a challenge familiar to many of us right now: how to reach more people but also spend less money and be more environmentally responsible. The Libraries' two-color printed newsletter struck her as “so last century,” and they could only afford to mail it twice a year to higher-level donors.

Then inspiration struck while she was waiting to do a press check of UW Libraries' annual (and expensive) Report to Contributors. "I knew from reviewing our Web site statistics that people were actually downloading the PDF of that report and our newsletter," says Petersen, "So, I started to think, ‘What if we could just turn our newsletter into a big postcard that would drive people to our Web site?" And, that's just what they did.

The benefits over the old model were immediate. They were able to:

• Upgrade to four-color printing
• Reduce mailing costs
• Drive readers to their Web site
• Promote their new e-newsletter
• Acquire more e-mail addresses
• Print enough copies to have at the front desk of every UW library

UW Libraries donors and friends received their first copy of the newly formatted newsletter in mid-January. You can view a copy online and also compare it with past issues. For more details on this project, contact A.C. Petersen at x39389 or acpete@u.washington.edu.

Question of the Month

Q: My group has decided that we want to do an e-newsletter. How do we get started?

A: The first step is to become familiar with the best practices and how-to guides described in the Feature Toolkits and Template section (below), which will help you put the right plans in place to help ensure long-term success for your e-newsletter.

The next step is to decide from among the options listed below to build and send your e-newsletter using Convio. Convio is Web-based e-mail marketing software that is available free of charge to UW units that use one of these four options:

1. If your e-newsletter is primarily for alumni, you can work with the UW Alumni Association. Contact: Malik Davis, x65303 or malikuw@u.washington.edu.
2. If it is primarily for fundraising, you can work with the UW Foundation. Contact: Ryan Hagg, x50679 or ryanth@u.washington.edu.
3. If it is primarily for other audiences, such as an internal UW group, you can work with Creative+Communications. Contact: Heather Prenevost, x31663 or heatherp@u.washington.edu.
4. If you work in a unit where you have access to someone with technical expertise and you have some experience with HTML code, you can receive training on how to use Convio within your own unit. Contact: Elise Daniel, x68923 or eperdan@u.washington.edu.

Got a question for next month? Send it to mktg@u.washington.edu.

Featured Toolkits and Templates

E-communications Toolkit

Those of us who do marketing and communications at the University of Washington are increasingly being asked to use e-mail rather than printed materials to stay in touch with our audiences. Making this transition can feel like a steep learning curve if you've never done it before. To help ease the transition, we've developed guidelines to help get you up to speed more quickly. You'll find information on:

• How to create an e-newsletter
• Technical terms you'll need to know
• Content and design best practices
• How to measure the success of your e-communications

To stay up to speed on the latest trends and developments in e-mail marketing, as well as social networking and new media, you can join the E-marketing Working Group by contacting Elise Daniel at x68923 or eperdan@u.washington.edu.