Dear Colleague,

Nearly every day, I see or hear about wonderfully creative initiatives being implemented across our three campuses to help promote this great institution. As we all face the need to squeeze more from each budget dollar without compromising the quality of our work, it's important for us share our successes with each other.

This e-newsletter and the UW's marketing best practices blog are good places to start. I encourage you to share your individual experiences -- about what’s working, what’s not, and the lessons you’ve learned -- by sending a message to us at mktg@u.washington.edu or posting comments on the best practices blog.

I feel so fortunate to work with such a talented and resourceful group of marketing and communications professionals. I look forward to seeing the powerful outcomes our shared knowledge will generate for this university.

Sincerely,

Tricia Thompson
Associate Vice President, UW Marketing

Best Practices

Featured Unit: iSchool

As print budgets shrink and e-mail use grows, gathering e-mail addresses is an ever-higher priority for marketing professionals striving to stay connected with their audiences. The Information School has a long-term e-mail acquisition effort that is already starting to bear fruit.

The iSchool advancement and communications team started by pulling information from professional directoriesand by sending a simple postcard to a wide audience requesting e-mail addresses. Next, they plan to leverage the iSchool's social media presence while keeping an eye out for the next great technologies, just like their tech-savvy target audience does. “We know from our research that e-mail acquisition must be an ongoing process and that other media can supplement that effort,” notes Lane Hatfield, assistant director for advancement at the iSchool.

“Knowing your unit’s core values is the best place to start,” advises Hatfield. In 2007, the iSchool’s strategic planning process also revealed the need to explain as well as demonstrate to its constituents what the iSchool is about. “In that process, we saw our values, branding needs and budget realities meet. Building community, going green and being user-centered define what the iSchool is, so getting updated e-mail information from our audiences was a logical step.”

The iSchool team also suggests the following tips for use in an e-mail acquisition strategy:

• Focus your message primarily on why providing their e-mail addresses will be good for your target audience, not why it's good for your unit.
• Keep the message copy concise.
• Determine what communications vehicles are most likely to be reaching your alumni (for example, professional organizations and social networking sites).
• Be open to trying more than one way to gather information; successful approaches may differ by generation, profession and other factors.
• Keep your alumni and donor records up to date in Advance.

To get more details about the iSchool’s efforts, contact Lane Hatfield at lhatfiel@u.washington.edu or David Shepherd at shepard1@u.washington.edu.

Related Tip: Are you using Convio to send e-newsletters or do you plan to in the future? Then you’ll want to add our e-mail sign-up form to your Web site. You can see an example on the UW Foundation Web site. To add the form, just have your Web site manager contact Colin McClure at colinm@u.washington.edu or x57784.

Question of the Month

Q: Can you help us find more economical options for producing our print publications?

A: Yes! You may be pleasantly surprised to discover that several money-saving and environmentally friendly options exist for print publications. Before you forgo print communications altogether, analyze your publications in terms of their specific objectives as well as your business plans, marketing objectives and budget. Honor the preferences of your target audience, and if appropriate, post publications online and send the links to your readers via e-mail or postcards. But remember, moving online is not the right option if it causes you to lose readership.

Other options worth investigating include:

• Digital color print on demand: Print only the quantity you need at the lowest per-unit price without overprinting.
• Personalized messaging: Data show this approach gets higher response rates and minimizes paper waste -- outcomes that can compensate for the additional cost.

Want to learn more? Contact UW’s Creative Communications. With its Web and design teams as well as extensive printing and mailing capabilities, Creative Communications is a great campus resource for finding money-saving ideas to fit your project’s needs and goals. And the best part? Creative Communications doesn’t charge for a consultation.

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

Featured Toolkits and Templates

Web Best Practices Toolkit

A campus-wide coordinated Web presence is key to enhancing the UW’s reputation and standing as a world-class higher education institution. Creating and maintaining an effective Web site, however, can be a challenge, even for the most experienced Web professionals. That's why UW Marketing created a Web best practices toolkit. According to Gina Hills, UW Marketing's associate director for Web communications, “This portal should be one of the first stops in your search for answers, information, guidelines and inspiration. And it will help all of us streamline our collective work to make the UW Web the standard by which all other university Web sites are measured.”

If you have ideas, questions, solutions and suggestions about the University’s Web presence, join the UW Web Council. This group of Web developers, content producers and designers gathers each month to:

• Discuss common issues, including standards, templates, systems and marketing
• Help determine best practices for the UW's Web presence
• Foster collaboration and cooperation
• Share resources and expertise

If you have questions about the Web Council or the Web best practices toolkit, contact Gina Hills at ghills@u.washington.edu or x32561.