Strategic Priority 3: Communication

Goal 1: Maximize communication opportunities with campus partners.

Student Affairs will coordinate communication strategies with schools and student-facing divisions to help ensure divisional information is accurate and campus partners are appropriately informed.

Network with school-based marketing/communications directors/leaders to understand their communication efforts and patterns to students. See also Assessment, Planning, and Programming Goal 3, Action Item 2.
Expand reach of Student Affairs Shares Campus Partners newsletter to all academic deans, student affairs-related staff members in schools and divisions/units, and school marketing/comms/recruitment/fundraising teams.
Identify major annual divisional milestones (events, programs, traditions, services, etc.) our campus partners need to know about and craft storytelling communication strategies surrounding those milestones. See also Assessment, Planning, and Programming Goal 3, Action Item 3.
Use identified divisional milestones in communication strategies with campus partners (i.e., Student Affairs Shares Campus Partners, messages from Dr. Weldy, etc.).
Collaborate with divisional assessment team and/or committee to create structure for more frequent data and impact reporting to tell our divisional story to relevant stakeholders on campus. See also Assessment, Planning, and Programming Goal 3, Action Item 3.
Identify ways to utilize Student Affairs Council, Graduate Student Affairs Council, Faculty Council, Staff Council, and Council of Deans in our communications and storytelling efforts.
Network with campus partners to update the IU Indianapolis Academic and Student Support Services tab that instructors can embed into Canvas to ensure Student Affairs information is accurate.
Explore additional ways to leverage Canvas to communicate to students, including researching student needs and wants.
Expand the use of outreach presentations as a way to connect and share information with campus partners and students.

Increase divisional outreach presentations around campus every year.
Increase unique student participation in DoSA programs and services by 20 percent.
Average an average 55 percent open rate and 15 percent click-through rate on the Campus Partners newsletter.

Goal 2: Increase knowledge and use of various communication tools.

Student Affairs will focus on increasing use of inclusive and personalized communication modes available to us and exploring new tools when applicable.

Increase the number of units using Salesforce Marketing Cloud for student communication purposes.
Research ways in which the division and units could utilize the customer relationship management (CRM) system within Salesforce to better understand and communicate with students.
Host voluntary seasonal training opportunities for staff on a variety of marketing and communications topic, standards, and best practices including, but not limited to, copywriting, brand writing, visually appealing emails, media training, and Marketing Cloud best practices with the goal of supporting staff in building marketing and communication skills. See also Staff Development and Support Goal 3.
Benchmark marketing and communication efforts against peer institutions with a specific focus on technology utilized by peer institutions.
Host focus groups and survey students asking them to evaluate various communications for preferences and effectiveness including, but not limited to, emails, text messages, social media posts, websites, and print marketing materials.

Track and report on attendance at offered trainings and deploy assessment and evaluation tools after each training and in follow up surveys gauge effectiveness and satisfaction and to determine practicality, relevance, and future knowledge gaps/needs.
Increase staff satisfaction in marketing processes through periodic evaluations.

Goal 3: Enhance storytelling efforts around divisional needs and impact.

Student Affairs will use strategic communications and relevant data points to support securing external funding through donations/grants, solicit support from campus partners, aid in recruitment efforts, and broadcast the division’s brand.

Create individual student and staff testimonials where they talk about how their engagement with DoSA impacted them. Utilize a variety of different formats (social media, video, print, etc.) to reach a variety of audiences and aid in recruitment. See also Assessment, Planning, and Programming Goal 4, Action Item 2.
Develop an impact story for each division fundraising account to utilize in marketing and communication efforts. Create several assets for each story (news story, half-page graphic/testimonial, video). See also Assessment, Planning, and Programming Goal 4, Action Item 2.
Integrate with the Assessment, Planning, and Programming group to develop stories that align with goals for fundraising and signature programs.
Develop and implement a storytelling campaign focused on student recruitment that complements with admissions recruitment campaigns and determine success measures of our campaign.
Identify common reasons why students are not retained. Develop stories for retention efforts based on the common reasons students leave IUI (e.g., students who feel a lack of connection, showcasing a story of a student who did feel connection and how they got connected).

Develop and track stories and associated assets for five divisional foundation accounts.
Increase funding in divisional accounts by 25 percent.

Goal 4: Expand the use of marketing and communications plans and strategies to achieve divisional and unit-based key objectives.

Student Affairs will provide infrastructure and set new standards for approaching, developing, executing, and evaluating quality marketing and communication plans that help the division and individual units achieve key objectives and learning outcomes that support student success.

Develop visually appealing templates in Marketing Cloud for staff to utilize for emails and campaigns.
Utilize marketing/communications as an intervention strategy to support student success, targeting student populations who are underutilizing DoSA programs and services. See also Assessment, Planning, and Programming Goal 1, Action Item 5.
Identify a strategic goal for each unit and map how marketing and communications can assist in achieving the goal.
Perform a communications audit for regular divisional and unit-level communications sent to students, evaluating for quality, strategy, and best practices.
Research communication strategies that work best for Gen Z and Gen Alpha to inform divisional efforts.
Clarify how different units in the division can collaborate or integrate with them and set standards/expectations for collaboration/integration.
Embed marketing and communications-focused questions in initiative evaluations to learn more about how students are finding out about divisional opportunities.

Increase number of communication strategies to students underutilizing DoSA programs and services.
Increase student follow-through on "calls to action" outlined in communications.

Goal 5: Bolster internal divisional communication efforts.

Student Affairs will strengthen and promote our shared internal communications plan to be more intrinsically and holistically informed as division staff.

Evaluate the communications liaisons initiative and determine direction that has buy-in at all levels including, but not limited to, the purpose, expectations, flow of communications, and how staff are appointed to the role.
Understand why staff do not read or unsubscribe from Student Affairs Shares to identify gaps and to adjust strategies to meet staff where they are.
Clarify standards for when and how to use the division listserv and Student Affairs Shares.
Survey division staff every two years on internal communication efforts, such as Student Affairs Shares and use of the Intranet and decide where it's appropriate to implement learned feedback.
Establish guidelines and an audit schedule for shared file storage locations (G Drive, Teams, SharePoint, Google) and file sharing to provide clarity and fidelity for important information.

Increase staff satisfaction with internal communications efforts from 4.06/5 to 4.2/5 by 2025 and 4.5/5 by 2029.
Increase open rate and click through rate by 2 percent year over year, achieving a 57 percent open rate and a 17 percent click-through rate by 2025.

Strategic Priority 3: Communication