Marketing Your Program Successfully Through The Tseng College Integrated Marketing Communications Unit

Who We Are: We are a multiple award-winning, full-service, in-house public relations, advertising and marketing agency, staffed by professionals with advanced degrees in journalism, marketing and communications. Design staffers hold B.A.s with honors from CSUN's Department of Art.
Our Principal Clients: Tseng College program directors
Deans of CSUN colleges
Chairs of CSUN academic departments
CSUN faculty and staff

We have also performed marketing services for various other divisions and organizations within the university and the CSU, including the Chancellor's Office.
Our Goal: We are dedicated to helping you market your new and ongoing programs to the appropriate audience as successfully and cost-effectively as possible.
Our Collaborative Process: The purpose of this process is to clarify our collaborative procedure for the benefit of all concerned.

Marcella Tyler
Executive Director
Integrated Marketing Communications

Contents

The Marketing Project Process

Budgeting
Market Research
Entering the Job Stream
Timing
Content Preparation
Design and Production
Reviews and Revisions

Our Team

The Marketing Project Process

Budgeting: "Tell us what your budget is for the project before we start work on it."
– Russ Paquette, director of marketing and advertising services

Approved marketing budgets are necessary for both new and ongoing projects.

For all projects, be sure that your budget covers not only media (for advertising) and "deliverables" (the physical piece - postcard, brochure, etc.) but also staff time.*

For ongoing programs that need a new look, the decision to change the look must be made during the annual budgeting process and factored into the budget for the fiscal year in which the project is to be produced.

*Initial estimates of staff time charges are based on the production schedule agreed upon at the start of the project. If deadlines are not met (see "Timing"), additional staff time charges may be incurred.
Market Research: "The time to conduct competitive market research, determine the target audience and obtain information on mailing lists for distribution is before the piece is designed."
– Arti Mehra, marketing research analyst

Here's a handy checklist of questions for which you should have the answers before coming to us:
Is your program the only one of its kind?
Within what area? (i.e., In Southern California? In the U.S.? International?)
Who is/are your most serious competitor(s)?
What are their strengths and weaknesses?
What distinguishes your program from theirs?
Who is your target audience?
Why will your program appeal to them?
What are your thoughts about the best way(s) to reach this audience? (Ads, Direct mail? Brochures? Online?)
If you want to take advantage of our market research capability in order to find the best answers to these questions, please allow sufficient time for the performance of these services. Be sure to request an estimate for staff time charges at the earliest possible stage of your project so that this can be factored into your budgeting and approval process.
Entering the Job Stream: "Come and talk to me about your project. Then it will go on the production schedule and enter the job stream. Once that happens, please keep me as your principal contact when you have questions about your project."
– Russ Paquette

At any given time, more than 30 active projects are on our unit's production schedule. Your project will be assigned a place on this schedule only after meeting with the director of marketing and advertising services (Russ). At this first meeting about your project, be prepared to answer the questions on the checklist in the "Market Research" section.

Also, please tell us what tone you think the piece should have. For example, should it be warm and people-centered or more business-like and "corporate" feeling? Your responses to these and related questions about will influence the design direction in terms of layout, color palette, paper and photo selection.
Timing: "Our policy is first-come, first served. If you lose your place in the production queue, it may be difficult to produce your piece in a timely fashion."
– Marcella Tyler, executive director, PRMC

Meeting deadlines is the name of our game. You expect us to meet yours. To do this, we need for you to meet ours. The sooner you notify us of a potential problem with meeting a deadline, the better your chance of being accommodated.

As noted earlier, failure to meet an agreed-upon deadline may not only move your project to the "bottom of the list" but also end up costing you more in staff time, overtime at the printers, etc.
Content Preparation: "Come to us with complete, finalized information."
– Russ Paquette

The most important thing about your input is that it be complete and that all substantive elements have been approved by everyone in your organization who needs to do so before it comes to us.

You are welcome – indeed, we encourage you – to give us your input in the form of a draft of your marketing piece. Note, however, that we reserve the right to assign one of our editorial services experts to polish your material.

This is most commonly necessary when drafts have been pieced together with language from existing documents mixed with copy from multiple contributors. The usual result: jarring inconsistencies and redundancies.

In other words, any changes we would make or recommend would be stylistic rather than substantive – and you will have ample opportunity to review them.

If you don't have the time to write a draft but do have all of the content together plus a sense of the tone and organization, please feel free to talk to us about the possibility of having us prepare your first draft. Our ability to take on an extra assignment will depend on current staff workloads, so the earlier you request this service, the better – for budgeting purposes as well.
Design and Production: "We'll consider any and all design and layout ideas, but the final decision as to what is appropriate is in the hands of the design team."
– Russ Paquette

In designing a marketing publication, we take into account not only how your program and department/college are presented but also how your offering represents the university and The Tseng College as a whole and, possibly, how well your piece will "play" with other materials.

Our graphic design team is expert at getting the highest-quality results for your project dollar. Our vendors appreciate our business and have consistently demonstrated their commitment to meeting the demanding standards we set on behalf of our clients.
Reviews and Revisions: "Contradictory corrections and changes are counterproductive and crazy-making."
– Victoria Branch, senior publications and communications manager

You will have an opportunity to review a proof of your print publication once it has been laid out.

If you need to show your proof to other members of your organization, please assign one member of your team to consolidate and reconcile any differences of opinion about corrections or changes before returning them to us.

Note: The Tseng College follows the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook on matters of capitalization, punctuation, abbreviations, etc. You may find this disquieting (especially if you memorized the Chicago Manual of Style when you were writing your dissertation).

It may help to recognize that the Chicago Manual was originally compiled for use by authors of scholarly papers and books – not marketing publications.

Our Team

Marcella Tyler: Executive Director, Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
Leads The Tseng College's Public Relations, Marketing and Communications unit.
Victoria Branch: Senior Publications and Communications Manager
Writes and edits various print and online Tseng College publications.
Teri Crum: Senior Administrative Assistant
Supports Marcella and the Public Relations, Marketing and Communications unit.
Helen Khusit: Graphic Designer
Performs assignments related to the creation of marketing materials.
Arti Mehra: Markteting Research Analyst
Researches, analyzes and writes reports regarding new programs. Maintains college's databases, mailing lists and budgets.
Caroline Miranda: Public Relations Director
Prepares news releases and schedules of course offerings; performs community outreach, especially with local chambers of commerce.
Russ Paquette: Director of Marketing and Advertising Services
Works with a staff of four plus an external ad agency in creating marketing/advertising programs and materials.
Hildamerie Reyes: Graphic Designer
Designs promotional materials; obtains bids from print bureaus; assists Art Director
Rika Toyama-Gaines: Art Director
Designs marketing materials for print and Web publication; produces production schedule; directs graphic design team.

Official Policies

Marketing Your Program Successfully Through The Tseng College Integrated Marketing Communications Unit

The Marketing Project Process

Our Team