Running Head: STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS PLAN 1

Strategic Communications Plan

The A Team

Salt Lake Community College

Bus-2200-402

4/26/18

Lon Schiffbauer
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Strategic Communications Plan

Purpose/Objective & Learning Objective

As the Academic Advisor for the Business Management, Lee Martinez has information

that hundreds of students need on a daily basis. This has created a problem as Martinez’s

prefered methods of communication are mostly one-to-one. He does not have the experience or

expertise that is required to create the one-to-many channels that he needs in order to keep up

with the demands of the students. The purpose of this campaign is to resolve such issues by

creating key communication channels that can push the basic information effectively. This will

allow the one-to-one channels to remain open for the more specialized questions to be answered.

Learning Objective

There are seven core learning objectives for every class at Salt Lake Community College.

This section will go over how project relates to the majority of them. This project has strong

correlation to the following learning objectives; Objective numbers 1,3,4,5, and 6. The objectives

that this project does not relate to are Quantitative Literacy and Lifetime Wellness. This is due to

the structure of the class not directly focusing on both of these objectives, and as such neither

does this project. However this project is successful it will help other SLCC students in their

pursuit of all learning objectives

The first learning objective is Effective communication. This project meets this learning

objective by begin all about effective communication. Our goal is to provide real world

communication channels that can be used at SLCC. As such it would be rather pointless to be

write them up in an effective manor

The next learning objective is number three, Creative and Critical Thinking. Our

objective to create novel ways for Lee to be able to quickly and efficiently reach the students
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who need his information. We will be thinking through the potential pitfalls of our project and

ensuring that they are optimized for the busy lifestyle off both Lee and the SLCC business

student.

Learning objective number four is all about Civic Engagement. This project directly

gives back to the SLCC community by solving all sorts of communication hiccups that are

leading to student frustration. The business department will be a better place once this project has

been completed and it is through our involvement with the system.

The Fifth Learning objective is Professionalism. We want to provide professional level

work for Lee to use, as well as conducting our group like any other workplace engagement. It is

professionalism that will set our project apart and make it a usable and enjoyable communication

campaign.

The last learning objective we are coving is the Sixth, Computer and Information

Literacy. This project lives and dies by how effect our computer proficiency is. Without our

Technological expertise, we cannot deliver the channels that are required to solve the core

problem of hundreds of students and only one Lee.

Audience Analysis

Demographics

 There are 1,829 students enrolled in the business department this year.

 39% are female, and 61% are male

 38% of SLCC students are under 20, 30% are between 20-24 years old, 14% are 25-29

years old, 12% are 30-39, 6% are over 39 years old. (DeSilver, 2014)
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 68% of SLCC students are white non-hispanic, 17% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 2% black,

almost 3% is multiracial, 1% pacific islander, 1% non-resident, and less than 1% is native

American, while the rest is unknown.

Psychographics

 Millennials are upbeat and open to change.

 ¾ of millennials have social media accounts. (Pew Research Center’s Social &

Demographic Trends Project, 2010)

 23% of full-time undergraduates, who are 24 or younger, work 20 hours or more a week.

 According to the Pew Research Center, business is still the most common major.

(O'Shaughnessy, n.d.)

 “Millennials are considered multitaskers” masters self-expression, with 75% creating a

profile on a social networking site,. Millennial’s main sources for news are television

(65%) and the Internet (59%). Lagging behind are newspapers (24%) and radio (18%).

Millennials are interested in entrepreneurship, and more than a quarter (27%) are already

self-employed.

The audience we are reaching will be mostly students between 17-24 years old. This means

they will have an easy understanding to any of the channels we create, they would be tech savvy

enough to use the video and web page, but would also still appreciate a poster and brochure.

Also the small number of older students in the business college would still be able to easily

understand the poster and brochure even if they did have a harder time accessing the video.

Sadly there is not a high diversity rate and most students are white non-hispanic, however that

would mean that most would be able to understand our channels that will be done in english.

Context
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Looking at the audience is really important because it helps us figure out what channels

will best fit with what we are trying to accomplish. Not only are we trying to make scheduling

appointments and giving out information, a lot easier for Lee Martinez, but we need to do this in

a way that actually reaches the students that benefit from this information. We see from the

psychographics that a high percentage of full time students also work, which means there are

many people who are very busy and need different channels to help them manage time

effectively and then their meetings with Lee will be helpful instead of tedious.

Messaging Goals

 How to make an appointment

 Figuring out how it could be easier for people to find him

 Lee wants to make sure students know that he is available for walk ins in the morning

8:30-12:00 noon

 Set up a texting app for lee like the one that Lon uses to be able to send messages back

and forth to students

 He wants to be able to have a system that he can work with throughout the years because

things always change every two or three years

 Use lees email lee.martinez@slcc.edu to help students find more info about him

Key Messages

Creating an orientation, should be the main ideas, the reason for this is because the

information that Lee is giving to new and previous students is very repetitive. Lee is ready to

help with difficult informational projects. However, we want the SLCC business students to feel

that Lee cares about their success and has the means to get them the information that they need.

Channels/Media Mix
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 Video - Lee wants to be in it, we need to see if he wants us to write script or him he do it.

 Web Page - Info that Lee wants such as frequently ask questions, info, etc

 Pamphlets - Info and info such as where Students can find more info like the video and

webpage.

 Poster - Similar info to the pamphlets, maybe some additional info.

 Remind - Try to use the remind app and let Lee send out a weekly or Bi-monthly text

with info to students who subscribe.

 Canvas - Create an add on canvas like the “apply for summer add” that could tentatively

be used as a channel.

 Lee Martinez - Lee is also a Media/Channel because we are creating all of these for him

to help him get info to students.

Budget

As of right now we do not see much of a budget to complete our project. The only

expense so far may be paying some poster board to make our poster, buying some nice paper to

create a professional looking pamphlet. We would still like to possibly find another channel or

two so there could be some expenses towards those.

Tactical Plan

 As our technology expert, Mark will create our website that connects to Lee’s

appointment times.

 Matt has already set up the remind app and will work on the poster.

 Rachel will be helping Matt with the poster, and will create the pamphlet.

 Sidney and Kevin will be working with Lee to create a video and familiarize him with the

other channels we are creating.

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Debrief

Our project defiantly had its strengths and weaknesses. The most difficult part seemed to

be our communication between each other and Lee Martinez. This meant making the video the

most difficult part of our project. However, after Matt created a strong style guide our canvas,

website, and pamphlet all turned out strong and cohesive.

Style Guide

Matt created our style guide to match the SLCC summer style guide, but still direct it

towards business specifically. Using bright colors draws people’s attention to our information

and is similar to the summer colors and happy people in the SLCC canvas photos.
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References

Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. (2010). Millennials: Confident.
Connected. Open to Change. Available at:
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/02/24/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-
change/

O'Shaughnessy, L. (n.d.). 20 Surprising Statistics about College Students. The College Solution.
Available at: http://www.thecollegesolution.com/20-surprising-statistics-about-college-
students/

DeSilver, D. (2014). 5 facts about today’s college graduates. Pew Research Center. Available at:
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/30/5-facts-about-todays-college-
graduates/

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. (2012). The Millennial Generation Research Review.
Available at: https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/reports/millennial-generation-
research-review