Strategy Brief

The St. Bonaventure University

Career Center &
the Bonaventure Experience

Prepared By
Ms. Ruth A. Harper

Prepared For
Ms. Shelley A. Jack &
The SBU Career Center
 Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary 1 V. Creative Strategy

II. Situation Analysis Overview 2 Creative Brief 23

Individual Services Breakdown 3 Big Idea 24

Target Market Analysis 7 VI. Marketing Communication Strategies & Tactics

Promotional 25
Target Market Segmentation 8
PR 26
Consumer Profile 1: Freshmen 9
Web 27
Consumer Profile 2: Amanda Smith 10
Advertising 28
Consumer Profile 3: Jake Miller 11
VII. Campaign Timeline 29
Distribution Network Analysis 12
VIII. Campaign Budget & ROI
Competitive Analysis 13
Campaign Budget 30
Current Financial Situation 14
ROI Measurement 31
Historical Results 15
IX. Evaluation 32
Macroenvironment 16 X. Conclusion 33
SWOT Analysis & SWOT Action Plan 17 XI. Appendices
III. IMC Objectives & Issues 19
Works Cited 34
IV. Marketing Strategy 21 Research Summary 35

RH Strategic Marketing | TOC

 I. Executive Summary

St. Bonaventure University students live by the “work hard, play hard” mantra. They love to have fun and they love their Bonaventure
friends, but when it comes down to it, they are here to learn so they might someday be a professional success. Unfortunately, despite a
desire to succeed and knowledge of an overly competitive job market, Bonnies remain mostly in the dark when it comes to services the
Career Center offers. This strategic brief hopes to answer the question of why they’re in the dark and — most importantly — how the Ca-
reer Center can come into the light so all students can benefit.

According to secondary research, members of Generation Y, also known as Millennials, have three major characteristics in common:
1. They’re confident in their futures.
2. They’re connected with their peers, friends, family and the world.
3. They’re open to change on many fronts, including social and technological.

Students aren’t in the dark because they want to be or because they don’t care about finding a good job for the future. They’re in the dark
because they don’t understand the career planning process and they would much rather have fun than prepare for something two or
three or four years down the road. For years, the Career Center has tried to reach students using fairly traditional methods like fliers, No-
tice Boards and e-mails. While the center has seen some success as a result of these efforts, it hasn’t brought what we need. We need
to get a larger presence in students’ lives. Beginning freshman year and lasting until they walk across the stage in that gown, we need to
be on their Facebook and Twitter pages, in their classrooms and, overall, in the forefront of their mind. Our big idea is:

The SBU Career Center is more than just a service —

it’s a vital component of the Bonaventure experience.
We can achieve our objectives, many of which deal with increasing brand awareness, by spreading this message across a number of
media channels that students use.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Overview
The St. Bonaventure University Career Center belongs within academic affairs and is considered an academic resource (“Academic
Resources”). Enrollment management, student life and intercollegiate athletics are also a part of academic affairs, led by Provost and
Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Fischer (“Provost & VP of Academic”). The Career Center is a small, yet important, part of
academic affairs. The office frequently works with various other campus offices, including student life and residence life.

Career Center Services The following situation analysis includes detailed information on the center’s services, a target
market analysis, an evaluation of the center’s competitors and distributors, historical results of the
 Individual career counseling
center’s past marketing efforts, a financial analysis, macroenvironment information and a SWOT
 Interest and personality assessments
analysis to determine internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and
 BonaConnection Alumni Database
threats.
 Workshops on job search topics
 On-campus events
The center currently offers a number of services to SBU students, the center’s broadly defined
 Credential file referral services for
target market. This report will focus on promoting only three services: events/programming, the Bo-
education majors naConnection database and College Central. More details on this decision will follow.
 Career-related webpages
Although individual academic departments, like the schools of journalism/mass communication and
 Preparation materials for the
graduate admissions, including business, work with students to help them professionally, we are the only specialized career center
on the St. Bonaventure campus.
graduate admission examinations
 College Central
Our physical and digital services help students learn vital career information and build nec-
 Career resource center
essary professional skills. The following pages explain how we can promote our services to
achieve our overarching goal: Giving students the experiences they need to be successful in life.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Individual Service Breakdown
One-on-One Career Counseling

Features
 In-person meeting
 Personalized advice and assistance
 Generally 30-minute meetings

Benefits
 Personalized advice makes the student feel the meeting was
worthwhile and actually has assisted in his/her career search.
 Meeting in person allows for a more effective line of
communication as each person can see body language and
facial expressions and can effectively to explain information.
 A 30-minute meeting isn’t too long but is long enough to get
something accomplished.
Strengths
 Meetings help students feel more comfortable with the
Reasons students meet with a counselor career planning and search process.
 Résumé and cover letter critiques
 Students can meet with counselors for a variety of reasons.
 Career direction and advice
 The office is located in the Reilly Center, which receives
 Job/internship search direction
heavy traffic, according to primary research results.
 Vocation assessments
 Graduate school admissions advice

Weaknesses
Meeting with a career counselor not only helps prepare students for  Only two counselors with additional job duties limits the
the job search and for professional life, but also fulfills a need to number of appointments that can be scheduled.
feel more comfortable and confident with the process and what  Counselors offer broad career advice as well as specific
they will do in their futures. field advice that department faculty members also offer.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Individual Service Breakdown
On and Off-Campus Workshops, Events & Programming
Features
 Numerous topics covered
 Outside professionals participate
 Extra incentives, like snacks

Benefits
 Topic diversity allows students to choose to events on topics
that interest them.
 Professionals ensure students that the advice they receive is
legitimate and worthwhile.
 Face-to-face interaction allows for relationship building and
networking with professionals.
 Incentives like food will make students feel like they’re getting Strengths
more than a useful, educational experience.  Numerous topics addressed throughout the year.
 Events are offered at many times allowing students to take
Events include advantage when they are available.
 Graduate School Admissions Week (fall semester)  Faculty members, especially in the business school, have
 Etiquette Dinners (twice per year) found value in these events and often encourage students to
 Freshmen passport events on various topics participate.
 Job/career fairs in Buffalo, Rochester, New Jersey, etc.
 CareerFest at St. Bonaventure (spring semester)
 Alumni Weekend Career Events (spring semester) Weaknesses
 A limited staff makes planning and implementing plans more
Events and programming meets students’ need to feel comfortable difficult.
and confident in professional environments and with the career  Communication among different areas of the university is
search process. Also, most events contain a socialization aspect sometimes muddled.
that fulfills a need to communicate with others.

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Individual Service Breakdown
College Central
Features
 Job/career opportunities are filtered by Career Center staff
 Ability to upload resumes and portfolios
 Career-related resources (videos and articles) are available
 Ability to search the national job bank
 Ability for career center staff to refer resumes to potential
employers through the on-campus recruiting program
Benefits
 Because jobs are monitored before posted, users can feel
confident that the jobs they find are legitimate opportunities.
 The national job bank allows users to find more than the lim-
ited number of jobs the center receives or knows about.
 Students can share their resumes and online portfolio in an
organized format with potential employers for free.
 Students interested in learning about the career search proc-
ess can learn more through engaging videos and articles.
 Students can apply to jobs and feel assured the employer will
view their resumes since a professional refers them.
 Students become aware of opportunities that are available pri-
marily to students in western New York and that might not be
advertised many other places.
College Central meets students’ desire to find a job, internship or
volunteer position in a convenient, efficient and safe manner.
II. Situation Analysis
Strengths
 Bonaventure’s job bank is filtered to be specific for the
Bonaventure campus.
 Some positions, especially those in nearby areas, are not
listed in national databases and are exclusive to western
New York college career centers.
 New listings are added almost daily and are removed from
the site once the deadline passes.
 Students can search for opportunities using many criteria
(i.e., major, field, location, etc.)
Weaknesses
 The job databank has more jobs for the Buffalo area than
any other area, which could turn off those not from the area.
 A limited number of staff maintain the database and they
have limited time available.
 Only one resume and one portfolio can be stored at a time.
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Individual Service Breakdown
BonaConnection Database
Features
 Contains contact information for about 5,000 Bonaventure
alumni who volunteered to be a career mentor
 Provides users with knowledge and advice on networking and
informational interviewing through a preliminary training
session
 Allows users to search based on a number of criteria, including
location and current vocation
Benefits
 Users have thousands of Bonaventure alumni at their
fingertips.
 Users can feel more comfortable contacting alumni because
they know alumni have agreed to being contacted.
 Users can feel more comfortable with the process because of
the preliminary training session.
 Students can search for what they want rather than sift through
a bunch of information that doesn’t pertain to them.
Networking is one of the top, if not the top, ways job seekers find
jobs. This includes student job seekers and internship seekers. The
BonaConnection assists students with this process and fulfills a
need to communicate and connect with those in the real world —
and hopefully to find a job.
II. Situation Analysis
Strengths
 Large number and variety of alumni contact information
is available.
 Students make appointments prior to using the database to
ensure they know what they’re doing.
 Easy to maintain because alumni career volunteers can
register on the career center’s website. Also, alumni services
manages updating the database.
Weaknesses
 While it helps decrease the workload, having another
department manage the database gives the Career Center
less room for control and future improvements.
 Alumni contact information isn’t kept updated as much as it
should be.
 Alumni who began volunteering years ago may not remember
they signed up or they may have inadvertently agreed as part
of a survey completed by alumni services.
 The PDF documents that users receive are often difficult to
look at because they are so large.
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 II. Situation Analysis
Target Market Analysis: Millennials at Bonaventure

Overall, the Career Center needs to reach current St. Bonaventure students.
While all current undergraduate and graduate students are invited to the
center, we will focus primarily on those living on or near the Olean campus
because they are the most likely to spend a lot of time on campus and near
the center.

Because St. Bonaventure is a Catholic university in the Franciscan tradition,

one would assume students find certain Franciscan values important,
including love, the individual and purposeful learning.

St. Bonaventure is small, which makes transportation around campus fairly

easy for most students. Based on results from a February 2009 survey,
students said the most-visited places on campus are academic buildings,
on-campus housing and the Hickey Dining Hall. In addition:

 Nearly half of respondents visit the RC building multiple times per day.
 76% of respondents said they sometimes visit the RC Café
 73.5% of respondents sometimes visit the post office.

Many current trends frequently affect Bonaventure students, including:

 Technology & Connectedness: Students always have their cell phones or other mobile devices nearby, allowing for constant con-
nectedness (“Millennials Confident” 1).
 Family vs. Work Ethic: Millennials, like their elder counterparts, largely value their families but, when describing what makes their age
group unique, they do not include work ethic in the top five, something the last four generations have done (“Millennials Confident” 2).
 Jobs & Money: Despite the economic recession, Millennials feel confident they will be able to find a job that will allow them to support
themselves financially. However, Millennials are less likely to be employed than Generation Xers or Boomers had been at the same
age (“Millennials Confident” 17).

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 II. Situation Analysis
Target Market Segmentation

Demographics for St. Bonaventure Target Market Segment Breakdown

University Student Body

Males 48%
Broad Target All SBU Students
Market
Females 52%
Race, White 72%
Race, Black 4%
Primary Target Freshmen
Market
Race, Hispanic 3%
NY State Residents 75%
Secondary Target
Avg. Age Range 18-22 Female Sophomores Male Juniors
Market
*Source: http://members.ucan-network.org/sbu

Feb/March 2010 Survey Results
 35% of respondents have attended a
Career Center event in the last year
and 54.5% have not.
 20% of respondents have a College
Central account.
 53.5% of respondents do not know
what College Central is.
 95% of respondents have NOT used
BonaConnection in the last year.
 60% of respondents have never visited
the center’s website.
Based on primary and secondary research, most important target market for the Career
Center should be freshmen because what they learn and do their first year at Bonaven-
ture will likely dictate their last three years.
 Students surveyed and interviewed said they wished they had gotten to know more
about the center before their junior and senior years. All freshmen will be exposed to
the center.
 Female sophomores will have that knowledge they gained as freshmen and will
receive more exposure the following year, making it more likely they will participate.
Female sophomores were chosen because they were most responsive to research
efforts.
 When female sophomores begin using the center and seeing success, they will
likely tell their friends, including male counterparts, bringing them to participate
by their junior year if they aren’t already.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Consumer Profile 1: SBU Freshmen
Because this consumer segment is less specific than the other two segments, this analysis
will look at all SBU freshmen as a whole to understand the group. First, freshman year is a
vital one. As the first year of college for most Bonaventure students, it often offers glimpses
into students’ next three years at the university. Also, if a student starts doing something as
a freshman, he or she is more likely to continue doing that all three years.

In general, freshmen spend most of their first year feeling out the situation in which they’ve
placed themselves. They spend most of their time with other freshmen at this point; they’re
working on building the relationships that will last for the next three years and for life.
They’re also adjusting to life at college — something much different from life at high school.
Some also become homesick for their parents and their high school friends.

They spend more time doing homework than they spent in high school but not nearly as
much time as sophomores and juniors spend. Because they have less homework, they
have more time to socialize and do things they enjoy, including spending time on social
networking sites like Facebook and YouTube. Freshmen, as members of Generation Y, en-
joy interactive, engaging activities, like creating videos and posting them on YouTube.
Also, rather than watching much TV on an actual television set, freshmen spend a lot of
time catching up on TV shows via Hulu and similar sites.

Freshmen also have plenty of requirements to fulfill. They go through the First-Year Experi-
ence program, which aims to help students adjust to life at St. Bonaventure through educa-
tional programs and a class all freshmen take called University 101. This class teaches stu-
dents how to approach their time at Bonaventure from an educational standpoint — from
planning to studying abroad to learning about the Career Center. Freshmen tend to look
down upon at this course and other requirements because they think it’s a waste of time
and not as much fun as chatting with friends on Facebook.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Consumer Profile 2: Amanda Smith

Amanda, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major at St. Bonaventure University,
loves her school and holds high aspirations for the future. Luckily, she’s also a perfect example of
our secondary target market, female sophomores. Here’s a breakdown of her average day, her
general interests and her general beliefs.

Amanda takes 15 or 17 credits per semester and puts a lot of effort into her classes. She also
works for her campus newspaper as a features editor. She loves writing and editing, but most of
all, she loves the friendships she has developed through becoming involved with the newspaper
and other on-campus activities, like Voices, a women’s advocacy group for students.

She’s a Christian, although not overtly, and she describes herself politically as liberal. In fact, in the
last year or so, politics have been important to her. Just two years ago she turned 18 and voted for
the first time; in 2008, she supported Barack Obama and voted for him, too.

When not working on homework or at the newspaper, Amanda spends a lot of time online, particu-
larly on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. She uses these tools to keep up with
friends and family and she also likes following some of her favorite people and organizations on
Twitter, including funny sites like ROFLquiz and campus organizations like the campus radio sta-
tion and Bona Responds, a volunteer organization.

Speaking of volunteering, Amanda keeps busy by volunteering with the local SPCA once a month.
While it’s not a ton of time, she enjoys helping the shelter and the animals by cleaning cages and
just showing the dogs and cats some much-needed love.

Finally, like many Bonaventure students, she attends the occasional party on the weekends and is
excited to have her own Townhouse, which she believes will allow her to “party” more often than
she currently is able to.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Consumer Profile 3: Jake Miller
Jake, a junior accounting major, is more concerned with having a well-paying, reliable ca-
reer than doing something he absolutely loves. He does love numbers, though, and ac-
counting allows him to get paid fairly well for using math. While he does participate in extra
activities, he concentrates heavily on studying and his GPA because he feels that is most
important. Last month he worked with VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) at the
Olean Center Mall helping those below a certain income level with their income taxes.

When he’s not studying or volunteering, Jake spends time finding out about his favorite
sports teams, the Buffalo Bills and the New York Yankees. Hailing from Buffalo, the Bills
and Yankees have been a part of his life since childhood, and he’s very passionate about
the teams and their games. He enjoys watching them on TV, and when they’re not on, he
flips through ESPN and the YES channels to learn more about other teams and other
sports. He also enjoys comedy channels, like Comedy Central, and he loves any movie
with Adam Sandler or Chris Farley.

On the weekends, which begin Thursday for Jake, he spends time drinking with his friends
and going out to the bars. Drinking allows him to let loose and have fun, and he also can
be competitive when playing drinking games like beer pong, his favorite. He has a solid
group of seven friends that he regularly hangs out with on the weekends, but others join
sometimes.

He spends plenty of time online as well, particularly on Facebook and sports and news
websites. He feels like he always needs to know what’s going on with his friends and fam-
ily as well as in the world around him. He occasionally plays video games online as well.

Finally, Jake loves eating food, especially when his girlfriend or mother make it. Junk food
is a weakness as well, and he counters that with going to the gym whenever he has time.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Distribution Network Analysis
General Career Center Distribution Process

St. Bonaventure
University Academic Affairs The Career Center SBU Student

The Career Center’s services are distributed directly from the center to the students. However, for some programs, the center does need
to go through faculty and/or alumni (alumni-student networking events, for example). Also, the center is under the academic affairs
umbrella so without that office, the center would have nothing.

BonaConnection Database Distribution Process

St. Bonaventure
University Alumni Services The Career Center SBU Student

The BonaConnection database’s distribution channel is slightly different because the Career Center receives information from Alumni
Services and without Alumni Services, the database would not exist. The Career Center also uses a similar distribution process for alumni
-student networking events.

College Central Database Distribution Process

The distribution process is also different for College

Central as it is a service the center receives from an College Central The Career Center SBU Student
outside source. The diagram to the right shows this
distribution process.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Competitive Analysis
The Career Center does not have any direct competition in the sense that it is the only career center on campus. However, a few
possible indirect competitors do exist.

Pressing, Indirect Competitors:

 Career sites like Monster may draw in students because they have a
better online presence

 Other student life offices, like student organizations and other student
life offices, fighting for students’ time

 Internship coordinators and faculty members in specific departments

who help students find internships and jobs.

Less Pressing, Indirect Competitors

 The general concept of time — students think four years is an ex-
tremely long time when they first come in to college and it isn’t until
they reach their senior year and are almost done that they think
about what they should have been doing career wise.

 Perhaps other universities’ career centers only because perhaps

some students choose to go to a different university because that
university’s career center offers something different from the
Career Center

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 II. Situation Analysis
Current Financial Situation
St. Bonaventure University
The Career Center’s financial situation is primarily decreasing, mostly because of a decrease in an enrollment in recent years (Balling).
In general, St. Bonaventure University faces a tough economic situation. The university has struggled with enrollment in the last few
years. From 2008 to 2009, the incoming freshman class size decreased by almost 100 (Balling). However, because graduate student
enrollment is up, the total enrollment has remained close to the 2008-2009 school year’s number.

In addition to student enrollment, the university also receives funding from endowments/donations, most notably from alumni. According
to St. Bonaventure’s website, the university is in the top 10 of private master’s degree-granting institutions in alumni giving rate and of
about 25,000 alumni, more than 20% donate to the university’s annual fund, compared to a national average of 12.6%
(“End of Fiscal Year”).

The SBU Career Center

Currently, the Career Center’s budget is somewhere between $X and $X per year because this is what the university allots it.

Overall budget estimate: $X

Overall marketing budget estimate: $X

Although organizations typically give 10-20% to the marketing budget, the percentage would be different because the career center is
part of a nonprofit university. So, the estimated marketing budget for the Career Center would be 5% of the total budget, which is a
marketing budget of approximately $X.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Historical Results
Currently and in the past, the Career Center’s marketing initiatives rely heavily on
e-mails, Notice Board announcements and paper promotions. These initiatives
have seen mild success, allowing the center to break even with its goals.

The center plans to begin a Facebook page at the beginning of the 2010-2011
school year. Also, the center has a website, but students are highly unaware of
its existence.

The Career Center excels at creating and disseminating flyers, and students who
responded to the survey generally said they prefer that method. However, this
method isn’t perfect. Not only is paper costly, but posters can easily get lost in
the clutter of posters as this is a very popular way to advertise on campus.

E-mails are also a useful and effective way for the center to advertise, especially
for upcoming events. While students do pay attention to them, research has
shown the center needs to pay attention to how often it sends out messages.
Students need to know what’s going on, but bombarding them with too much
information will numb them to our message and will turn the away quite quickly.

In terms of promotion and our company’s marketing efforts, we have an

advantage over competitors because we offer resources and services that
students know can be very valuable for them and their futures. However, we may
be at a disadvantage because of our limited funds and staffing. This may mean
we are not able to reach as many students as we would like to as effectively as
our competitors, especially faculty internship advisers.

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 II. Situation Analysis
Macroenvironment
Economic
 The recent economic recession may affect the career center in two ways:
1. Fewer people will consider attending a private school like St. Bonaventure University.
2. Those who attend will depend more heavily on career assistance because of the extra competition within the job market.
 The cost of a college education
 Unemployment & difficulty finding a job

Environmental/Nature
 Sparse natural resources, especially paper
 The going green trend has affected all aspects of life, even the workplace.

Technological
 Rise of social media and social networking
 St. Bonaventure is slightly behind other universities technologically.

Political
 The university’s president, Sister Margaret Carney, O.S.F., has been in place more than five years.
 The center’s director, Connie Whitcomb, has been in place more than five years.
 President Barack Obama and the Democrats are now in control of the Federal government. They are mostly in favor of more
funding for colleges and college students.

Cultural
 St. Bonaventure students live by the “work hard, play hard” mantra. The Career Center should keep this in mind and make sure it
doesn’t conflict with students’ desire to balance the two.
 St. Bonaventure is known to be a nurturing environment, for the most part, with small class sizes and a high importance placed on
relationships between friends, faculty, staff and alumni.

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SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
 The Career Center’s office is centrally located on the St.
Bonaventure campus.
 The Career Center staff, including administrative help, are
friendly and willing to help the students however possible.
 The university has a strong alumni base and faculty base that it
can use to help students. Also, the Career Center has
established some relationships with faculty and alumni.
 The Career Center has backing from other offices and from the
university as a whole.
 The center has the ability to operate in a fairly efficient manner
because it can do much of its work without approval from upper
authorities (i.e., administrators).
OPPORTUNITIES
 Social Media has become more popular than ever, especially
among the college-aged population (“Millennials Confident).
 College Central is a useful but underutilized tool based on
survey results.
 The recession means students may be more likely to begin
preparing for their careers earlier.
 The “green” trend because the center tries to run paperless for
financial and environmental reasons. Also, the center’s office
has two skylights.
II. Situation Analysis
WEAKNESSES
 Many students are not aware all the center’s services.
 The Career Center has a small budget, and an even smaller
marketing budget. (See Current Financial Situation)
 Compared to other similar universities, the SBU Career Center
has a very small staff with limited time.
 Although located centrally on campus, once inside the building,
students may learn the Career Center is difficult to find.
 The BonaConnection database is somewhat outdated and the
process is somewhat difficult.
THREATS
 Online job Web sites like Monster threaten in-person services
the center offers.
 The university’s decline in new students will hurt us and the
amount of money we get (Balling).
 Students generally act somewhat apathetic when it comes to
career planning, based on survey results and secondary data
(“Millennials Confident”).
 Companies aren’t hiring as much as they were a few years ago,
which may make it more difficult for students to find
opportunities and may frustrate them.
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 II. Situation Analysis
SWOT Action Plan

In moving forward, the Career Center needs to play up its strengths, downplay its weaknesses and threats and keep opportunities in
mind at all times.

Overall, the center can work toward orienting students more during their freshman year using digital and traditional means. The center
can use the social networking opportunity to inform students of the center’s location and services, including College Central. Also,
increasing its social presence online will help the center compete against other career-related websites.

In addition, the center can use the university’s strong alumni base and the social media opportunities to revamp the BonaConnection
database to turn it from a weakness to a strength.

Also, the center can use its connections with other offices to offset its budget and resource constraints by combining funds and
collaborating with other staff members.

The center can use the recession and the competitive job market to encourage students to visit and ensure they remain competitive in
the market. The center should also keep in mind that students are somewhat apathetic and feel more confident in the job market than
perhaps they should, something the center needs to address in its outreach.

The center can also play up the green trend by highlighting its efforts on social networking sites and other media. Emphasizing these and
other trends that Millennials find important. Attracting more Millennials to St. Bonaventure would allow the university’s funding to increase
and, in effect, the career center’s budget to increase.

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 III. IMC Overall Objectives & Issues

Based on the analysis of our target market, competition, and the opportunities available in our market, I have developed marketing and
financial objectives for our marketing efforts. These objectives align with the center’s mission statement below.

The SBU Career Center’s Mission Statement

To empower St. Bonaventure University

undergraduate and graduate students

with skills needed to develop career and

life goal. The center will assist students

in creating and implementing strategies

that will aid students and make them

feel more prepared and comfortable

with the professional world outside

Bonaventure.
To act as an integral piece of the university’s mission to develop stu-

dents who are knowledgeable, skilled, compassionate and ethical.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 19

 III. IMC Overall Objectives & Issues
Objectives
Financial Objectives
1. To aid the university increase combined
undergraduate and graduate university
enrollment by 10% within three years.
2. To help the university increase its endowment
by $1 million in the next 10 years.
Critical Issues
1. Students are not aware of the Career Center’s
services, especially College Central and
BonaConnection.
2. The Career Center lacks the amount of funding
and staffing it needs to operate at a larger level.
3. Students have said they see the center as
disconnected from the rest of the university.
4. Students do not see the need to plan for their
careers until senior year when it’s too late to
plan and to ensure the student does what he or
she needs to do while a student.
Marketing Objectives
1. To increase brand awareness by 10% among the entire SBU student body over
four years.
2. To increase brand awareness among freshmen by 50% over two years.
3. To increase brand awareness by 25% among both female sophomores and
junior males over two years.
4. To increase faculty and alumni involvement with Career Center activities by
20% within one year.
5. To increase BonaConnection (or a similar replacement service) use by 25%
over two years.
6. To increase the number of College Central accounts by 50% over two years.
7. To increase student attendance at Career Center events and programming by
15% within one year.
8. To increase presence among prospective students by 10% within two years.
9. To convince the majority (60%) of students of career planning’s importance
within four years.
RH Strategic Marketing | Page 20
 IV. Marketing Strategy
Marketing Strategy
Target Market Strategy
While the campaign must reach the St. Bonaventure student body as a whole, it can do so most effectively by first targeting one influen-
tial primary market, female sophomores, and also two secondary target markets, junior males and freshmen. These segments were cho-
sen based on a survey and focus groups conducted in February and March 2010.
 Freshmen: They’re extremely shapeable when it comes to life and habits at St. Bonaventure. While freshmen are only a secondary
target market, they are a vital piece to the target marketing strategy because they are the students’ first impression of the center.
Therefore, this market may be even more important than the other two.
 Female sophomores: They had the largest response to primary research and are more likely to respond to promotions than their
male counterparts. Also, they are fairly influential because they, along with juniors, are in the middle of the age scale.
 Male juniors: They are less likely to plan ahead than their female counterparts. However, by the time they reach junior year, they
realize it’s time to start getting into motion if they haven’t already.

Positioning Strategy
In general, the overall target market is unaware of the center’s services. They are not aware of how the center could help them define
and achieve their career goals. While they think it’s something they should do, they don’t do it because activities that seem more time-
pressing than planning a career. Also, some that may have some extra time don’t participate because they would rather do other activi-
ties that are more “fun” and they believe they will have plenty of time for career planning later.

We need to position ourselves and our services as an integral part of the Bonaventure experience. They must understand the importance
of career planning and preparation and must feel that a Bonaventure experience is not complete without general career guidance from
the center. Students experience Spring Weekend but use the Career Center service. But we need to make it more than a service.

{ We need students to believe the center is a vital, integral part of their Bonaventure student experience. }
Marketing Research Strategy
For this project, I have already conducted two focus groups and an online survey. I also gathered internal information, like the survey
completed by the center on 2008 graduates. In moving forward, I will continue to gather information through secondary means, through
more conversations with current students and through more discussions with career center staff members.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 21

 IV. Marketing Strategy
Marketing Strategy (Continued)
Marketing Mix Strategy
Services
Our fundamental service is individual career counseling for students. However, for this product to continue its success, the university
needs to hire at least one more career counselor. Because this is mostly out of my hands, I will focus the services strategy on three ser-
vices: events/programming, College Central and BonaConnection. By getting more students to use these services, the university will
see the center’s value and the services will draw more prospective students to St. Bonaventure.

Pricing
Most of the center’s services, including career counseling, BonaConnection and College Central, are free for students to use. How-
ever, various services, like the teacher credential files service, cost small amounts. Some events, like the etiquette dinners, cost the stu-
dents $10-$15 per dinner to cover dinner costs. The center’s pricing strategy will remain the same, although we will plan to decrease the
cost of future etiquette dinners.

Promotions
Currently and in the past, the Career Center has had mild success by promoting its services through e-mail and Notice Board announce-
ments as well as through word-of-mouth by faculty and Career Center employees. I will discuss specific promotions strategies and
tactics in upcoming pages, but, to briefly summarize, we will join social media sites, pump up our website, advertise more through
traditional methods and increase word-of-mouth from faculty, students and alumni.

Distribution
As mentioned in earlier sections, distribution doesn’t play an enormous role for the Career Center. College Central can be done com-
pletely online and events and programming take place across campus, although primarily near the Career Center or in the Reilly Center.
Career counseling takes place almost exclusively in a Career Center office near RC 216. Students must call or visit the center to sched-
ule an appointment. Finally, students must also visit the center at some point to use the BonaConnection database. However, making
this more of an online process could change the distribution network a bit. So, rather than focusing on distribution, the center’s market-
ing communications strategy will emphasize promotional and branding strategies.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 22

 V. Creative Strategy
Creative Brief

To whom are we talking?

We are talking to all students at St. Bonaventure University, especially female sophomores, junior males and freshmen.

What do they currently think?

Currently they are not aware of the center’s services and activities. Those who are aware do not view career planning as
an important issue, or they may see other things as more important than career planning.

What would we like them to think?

We would like the target market segments to feel empowered about professional life and to consider the Career Center
an important part of their St. Bonaventure experience and an important first step to a successful professional future.
Also, we need to encourage students that they can — and must — make time for this important step early in their SBU
careers.

What is the single most persuasive idea we can convey?

The Career Center is a vital and necessary component of the Bonaventure experience that easily fits into students’ lives,
no matter what year they are. (It’s never too late and it’s never too early.)

Why should they believe it?

They should believe this because their futures and their current professional experiences depend on Career Center use.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 23

 V. Creative Strategy
Big Idea

The SBU Career Center is

more than just a service —
it’s a vital component of the
Bonaventure experience.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 24

 VI. MarCom Strategies & Tactics
Promotional Strategies & Tactics
Strategy
Hold a contest for current College Central users, encouraging them to convince friends to join and to upload a résumé to the site.

Tactics
 Current College Central users can refer friends to join the service and upload their résumés. Once resumes are uploaded, friends
must send the Career Center a quick e-mail or a message on Facebook stating who referred them to the site.
 Both students (referrer and referee) will be entered into a drawing for one of three Spring Weekend bracelets (worth $20 each).
 Student life, as the organizer of Spring Weekend, will assist in offsetting the cost of the bracelets for the Career Center.
 The Career Center will inform current College Central users of the contest through Career Center e-mails.

Strategy
Ask a group of successful alumni to participate in interactive presentations on the importance of career planning.

Tactics
 Six different sessions at varied times will take place throughout the semester. Alumni participants will share their experiences, an-
swer career-related questions and meet the students who participate.
 Alumni will receive promotion on the center’s Facebook page and website as well as university relations promotion.
 Work with Alumni Services to identify six alumni: two business, two journalism and two arts & sciences.
 Promote the event through Facbook, campus media, faculty word-of-mouth and Career Center e-mails

Strategy
Associate events, like the etiquette dinner, with successful upperclassmen to freshmen and sophomores.

Tactics
 Identify senior leaders with help from student life and faculty members. Seniors must have attended a Career Center event.
 Partner with faculty members and ask them to allow senior leaders to come in to underclassmen classes to speak for 5-10 min-
utes about Career Center events
 Ask seniors to share their stories with freshmen and assist with events.
 Seniors who meet with classes and assist with events can receive LAP hours for their senior forum classes.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 25

 VI. MarCom Strategies & Tactics
PR Strategies & Tactics
Strategy
Create third-party credibility through on-campus student media outlets

Tactics
 The PR graduate assistant will create a media kit with useful Career Center information and will send press releases at least twice a
month to student media regarding upcoming events and important topics
 The center will host special open hours sessions for members of the student media in which they can come and have their résumés
and/or cover letters reviewed.

Strategy
Create a relationship with the surrounding community to improve professionals’ presence on campus and among students

Tactics
 Work with university relations to release information to external local media about important events pertaining to outside businesses
and organizations.
 Focus on local media, like the Olean Times-Herald and the Salamanca Press.
 Pitch story ideas to local media on career tips and how students become involved with the career planning process.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 26

 VI. MarCom Strategies & Tactics
Web Strategies & Tactics
Strategy Strategy
Associate the Career Center with being technologically savvy by becoming involved with relevant Increase the number of Federal
social media and web tools. Work Study student employees
who can promote the center
Tactics through web means.
 Use the center’s Facebook page to interact with students and faculty.
 Create a Twitter page to interact with students and employers alike.
Tactics
 Ask professors who currently use the tools to mention or suggest them to their students.
 Hire an intern to be respon-
 Create an external website (outside of the sbu.edu domain) that is more appealing to students
sible for writing two entries
but also conveys vital career-related information in an efficient manner. blog entries per week on
career-related topics.
Strategy
Continue to communicate important information to students using the Bonaventure e-mail addresses.  Ask student workers to put
links to favorite blog entries
Tactics on their Facebook page and/
 Send vital Career Center e-mails with upcoming events once every two weeks.
or post to Twitter.
 Give students an option to “opt-in” to the center’s e-mail list to receive weekly tips, internship/
job opportunities and other important career-related information  Hire an online student street
 Create a monthly Facebook breakdown for students to learn about the Facebook page and to
team to promote Career
learn about the information on the page that month. Center events on their
Strategy
Instead of using the traditional Excel database for BonaConnection, use a combination of social networking tools

Tactics
 Create a LinkedIn group for student/alumni networking.
 Students must attend a 15-minute orientation before the center will approve them for the group.
 Advertise the program on Facebook, the website and in campus media.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 27

 VI. MarCom Strategies & Tactics
Advertising Strategies & Tactics
In this section, I would like to note the Career Center will not focus as much on advertising strategies and tactics compared to other
media for two reasons:
1. Advertising can be quite costly
2. Advertising is not the most effective way to reach students on the St. Bonavetnure campus; they’ve become somewhat numb to
an overabundance of advertising messages.

With that being said, here are two recommendations for advertising.

Strategy
Show students how the Career Center can fit into their lives using paper ads/flyers around campus hotspots.

Tactics
 The ads should show campus maps with the Career Center’s location (the Reilly Center)
 In the Reilly Center, advertisements should show a map of the RC, pointing out the center’s location upstairs in RC 216.
 On the flyers with maps, include the center’s website (www.sbu.edu/careercenter) and the center’s Facebook page name.

Strategy
Show students how the Career Center can help them using flyers containing anecdotes from successful seniors and alumni

Tactics
 Feature five separate recent alumni and have their stories and pictures placed on a flyer
 Place flyers on bathroom stall doors in sophomore and junior dormitories as well as in the academic buildings (Plassmann and
Murphy)
 Place an advertisement in The Bona Venture containing selections of each of the five anecdotes.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 28

 VII. Campaign Timeline

When creating the campaign timeline, it was important to keep breaks and busy times in mind. Because students get very busy toward
the last month of the semester, events were typically scheduled toward the beginning or middle of the semester .when possible.

Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Coll. Cen. Contest

Alum Presentation
Sr. Leaders Pgm.
Student Blogger
Media Kit Creation
External Media
Media Open Hrs.
FB/Twitter/LI Use
Social BonaConn
Online St. Team
New website
E-mail Lists
Map Fliers
Alum Anec. Fliers
BV ad #1: Maps
BV ad #2: Alum A.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 29

 VIII. Campaign Budget & ROI
Campaign Budget
Most tactics would be free for the Career Center because a Career Center graduate assistant already on staff would manage the tactics
and their implementation. Also, student workers would not cost anything because they either volunteer or receive payment through
Federal Work Study. The prizes for the College Central contest would cost at least $60, perhaps less if they are subsidized by student life.
A website on BlueHost costs about $7 per month. Also, I estimated spending about $100 on printing costs for both fliers. Finally, The
Bona Venture advertisements proved the most expensive at $127.50 for a quarter-page ad.

Q1 (Jan-March) Q2 (April-June) Q3 (July-Sept) Q4 (Oct-Dec)

Coll. Cen. Contest $60.00
Alum Presentation
Sr. Leaders Pgm.
Student Blogger
Media Kit Creation
External Media
Media Open Hrs.
FB/Twitter/LI Use
Social BonaConn
Online St. Team
New website $X $X $X $X
E-mail Lists
Map Fliers $X $X
Alum Anec. Fliers $X $X
BV ad #1: Maps $X
BV ad #2: Alum A. $X
$X
TOTALS $X $X $X $X

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 30

 VIII. Campaign Budget & ROI
Return-on-Investment

As a non-profit organization, investing in the Career Center’s marketing budget won’t bring the organization any solid figures in terms of
return on investment. However, it will help the university’s overall mission to provide students with vitally engaging learning environments.

Students who participate in Career Center activities will feel more prepared and more comfortable with the career planning and search
process. They will be overly satisfied, financially and emotionally, upon graduation.

This satisfaction creates a two-fold ROI:

1. Financially and professionally 2. Emotionally satisfied students

stable students who are satisfied are more likely to donate as well
after graduation are more likely as to recommend the university
to donate to the university. to teens considering colleges.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 30

 IX. Evaluation

To increase brand awareness by 10% among the entire SBU student body over four years.
Measure overall student involvement with Career Center promotions
Tactic: Track Facebook fans, website hits and use e-mail message trackers.

To increase brand awareness among the primary target market by 50% over two years.
Within overall student involvement measurement, measure primary target participation.
Tactic: Before/After survey, monitor Facebook page analytics and event participation sign-ins.

To increase brand awareness among freshmen by 25% over two years.

Within overall student involvement measurement, measure primary target participation.
Tactic: Survey freshmen, monitor Facebook page and event participation sign-ins.

To increase faculty and alumni involvement with the center by 20% within one year.
Measure how many more faculty and alumni agree to work with the Career Center.
Tactic: Observation, interviews, surveys of faculty, survey of students asking how they found out about services

To increase BonaConnection use by 25% over two years.

Observe and measure the number of students who use the service.
Tactic: Use information sheets and end-of-year reports to compare years.

To increase the number of College Central accounts by 50% over two years.
Measure the number of College Central registrants and résumés uploaded.
Tactic: Use the analytics available on Career Services Central.

To increase student Career Center event/programming attendance by 15% within one year.
Monitor who attends each event throughout the year.
Tactic: Use sign-up and sign-in sheets to monitor who says they will attend and who actually attends the events. Also, ask how
they heard about the event on sign-in sheet.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 31

 IX. Evaluation
(Continued)
To increase presence among prospective students by 10% within two years.
Measure how many students have heard about the Career Center as freshmen.
Tactic: A freshman introductory survey, freshmen interviews and Facebook/website analytics.

To convince the majority (60%) of students of career planning’s importance within four years.
Measure the student population’s perceptions of career planning.
Tactic: Choose an incoming freshman class; survey them their freshmen and seniors years.

To help the university increase combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment by 10% within three years.
Measure enrollment numbers and university website analytics.
Tactic: Work with university admissions/enrollment to understand incoming class sizes and reasons students choose to attend St.
Bonaventure. Also, use information that favors the center to obtain more funding/resources for the future.

To help the university increase its endowment by $1 million in the next 10 years.
Measure how much money the university brings in through donations from alumni and others.
Tactic: Work with the Bonaventure fund to monitor this. Also, survey donors to ask them if they used the Career Center while at St.
Bonaventure.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 32

 X. Conclusion

Hopefully this report has helped the Career Center realize what it does well and what it can do better — from making its BonaConnection
Alumni Database more student-friendly to altering event promotion methods of events, a few key strategies will help the center achieve all
of its objectives. Perhaps more importantly, the strategic guidance offered in this paper will help the center create a larger, more
integrated presence within the university and will achieve its own goals as well as the university’s overarching goals.

Many may consider St. Bonaventure a party school, but I would disagree. I would say Bonnies like to have fun, yes, but they define fun in
many different ways. And no matter the social life, all Bonnies have one thing in common: They want success and they believe they can
get this through a Bonaventure experience. The Career Center needs to ensure it is a part of this life-lasting experience. Using the
outlined strategies and tactics, the Career Center can achieve its objectives to become

More than just a service —

But rather a vital component of the
Bonaventure student experience.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 33

 XI. Appendices
Works Cited

“Academic Resources.” www.sbu.edu. St. Bonaventure University, n.d. Web. 8 May 2010. <http://www.sbu.edu/

academic_resources.aspx?id=5878>.

Balling, Hank. “Freshman Class Smaller, SBU Larger.” The Bona Venture 25 Sept. 2009: n. pag. Web. 8 May 2010. <http://

media.www.thebv.org/media/storage/paper1111/news/2009/09/25/News/Freshman.Class.Smaller.Sbu.Larger-3783121.shtml>.

“End of Fiscal Year Giving.” www.sbu.edu. St. Bonaventure University, n.d. Web. 8 May 2010. <http://www.sbu.edu/

alumniAndFriends.aspx?id=29764>.

“Homepage.” Bluehost.com. Bluehost.com, n.d. Web. 8 May 2010. <http://www.bluehost.com/>.

“Lifestyle & Media.” Student Monitor. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://www.studentmonitor.com/lifestyle.php#SlideFrame_4>.

“Millennials Confident. Connected. Open to Change. .” Pew Social Trends. Pew Research Center, Feb. 2010. Web. 9 May 2010. <http://

pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf>.

“Provost & VP of Academic Affairs.” www.sbu.edu. St. Bonaventure University, n.d. Web. 8 May 2010. <http://www.sbu.edu/

academic_resources.aspx?id=7382>.

“St. Bonaventure University.” www.ucan-network.org. University and College Accountability Network, n.d. Web. 8 May 2010. <http://

members.ucan-network.org/sbu>.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 34

 XI. Appendices
Research Summary
Executive Summary for March 29 Research Report
Through a 300-student survey, focus groups and secondary research, the researcher has collected information on the St. Bonaventure
student market and their Career Center habits — from how often they visit the Career Center to how aware they are of the center’s ser-
vices. Results may feel jolting to those who have handled university students for years. According to the research, St. Bonaventure stu-
dents are highly unaware of what the Career Center offers as far as services like alumni networking databases and job search tools. And
even those who are aware aren’t using it as much as one might hope. This report also focuses on how the Career Center might reach out
and promote these useful services to students who are or are unaware of their usefulness.

Survey & Focus Group Findings

 About half the members of the student body said they have attended a Career Center
event(s).
 Many students are not aware of all the Career Center’s services.
 Notice boards, e-mails, paper promotions and a Facebook page seem to be students’
favored communications methods.

RH Strategic Marketing | Page 35