Marketing and Branding
Scope of Work
In our work to raise the profile of the University locally, nationally, and internationally, the University Relations Marketing team focuses on marketing strategies and solutions that shine a light on the great minds and amazing discoveries that improve the lives of people throughout the state and the world. The marketing team applies a unified and strategic approach that leverages the strength of the University's brand, Driven to Discover, to demonstrate the University’s value and rich contributions.
Through the PEAK initiative, the marketing team provides a slate of common good services to campuses, colleges, and units that were identified as those of greatest need.
Common Good Services
The common good services noted below were identified through the systemwide HAAS survey (Huron Administrative Activity Study) as those of greatest need. We define in-scope services as those that directly:
- support your campus, college, or administrative unit and broader University strategic goals;
- achieve clear marketing objectives; and
- affect your primary campus, college, or unit website/s; related high-profile center or institute websites; or primary administrative sites. Support for those projects includes website development, content strategy, informational architecture, design, testing, usability, and management of agreed-upon websites.
Common good services that fit the above criteria are then identified through planning sessions with campus, college and admin unit Marcom Leads and documented in annual services level agreements.
Account Services
- Brand Management: Provide training for local unit Marcom leaders; Develop brand assets; Consult with units on brand alignment.
- Marketing Planning & Strategy Consultation: Provide marketing consultation to other University units; Promote standard marketing and branding processes. Consult on all campus/college/unit marketing objectives (including KPIs) and plans
- Paid Advertising & Freelance Management: Consult with unit on strategy, evaluate and identify alignment and efficiency opportunities for media planning, creative concepting, production of marketing campaigns; connect Marcom Lead to vendors who will meet project objectives
- Social Media Strategy: Guidance on strategy, measurement and KPIs
- User Experience: Collaborate with Usability Services to conduct audience research and develop strategy for user testing, including goals, questions, scenarios
- Digital Strategy & Consultation: New website planning, Content and channel strategy, SEO, digital advertising consultation.
- Project Management for all in-scope work
Creative Services
- Graphic Design for campus, college or main admin unit marketing projects; includes brand identity system development
- Multimedia Production: Photography and Video production
- Written Content: Video scripts, stories, articles, and faculty features for marketing projects
- Digital Creative & Production: Wireframing, digital storytelling, writing content and basic style (e.g. headlines, titles) for digital, web design, photo slideshows, content asset packages, original asset creation specific to common good services project
Digital Communications
- Web Development:
- Develop, modernize, refine, and test websites for primary campus/college/unit website/s, and related high profile center/institute websites, or public-facing administrative sites;
- Develop and build responsive websites in Drupal 10 Enterprise using HTML, CSS, PHP, Twig, and Javascript.
- Provide ongoing support for adding font awesome icons, applying color blocking, setting up microsites, updating header and footers, updating content types (News, Events, Slider), answering day-to-day support questions, and more;
- Conduct accessibility testing and remediation for websites;
- Prepare for major Drupal updates for content types, components, and custom modules;
- Manage and execute system integrations (e.g. LiveWhale, Google calendars, RSS feed, Threads, X, etc.)
- Knowledge Transfer:
- Provide site-specific documentation and training for content editors
- Provide Folwell documentation and training
Measurement & Analytics
- Analytics and measurement goal setting - working with unit to determine KPIs and tracking recommendations (determine if services can be offered to out of scope projects based on resources)
- Google Analytics Looker Studio Training
- Data visualization tools and templates such as Tableau, Google Looker Studio
- Data collection, measurement, analysis, insights and recommendations for projects UR is partnering with unit to implement
Agency Model
University Relations uses the agency model, which brings talent and expertise from across our teams to develop the best recommendation that will achieve the objectives. Below is an outline of that model and process:
- Unit Marcom Lead and UR Team Leads define in-scope work in Service Level Agreement
- Unit Marcom Lead Submits Project request form: z.umn.edu/projectrequest
- UR core team reviews request in terms of UR scope; for work UR will provide, this process follows:
- Assign teams and project manager
- Develop recommendation
- Share with Marcom Lead
- Produce or deliver agreed upon work
- Measure
- UR & unit will use Asana to track project details, reviews, approvals