My Approach to Marketing

**NOTE - this is part of a proposal that I wrote for another position at WestEd. It describes my approach to marketing.

People often ask me what marketing is all about, so I thought I'd write a little about my approach. My background is in marketing and educational technology, so I am in a unique position to understand and assist the kind of projects that are under the WestEd umbrella. My first goal would be to meet with each of the project directors in the Vermont, Massachusetts and Washington DC offices to find out what their marketing needs are. I would ask them about who their audience is, how they are reaching them now, and if they are using their products in a cost effective way. My goal would be to help them create a short-term and long-term marketing plan.

INTERNAL MARKETING

I would take a three-pronged approach to the needs of our east coast offices. The first would be to look at “internal” marketing which has to do with knowing who we are, what we are doing, and where we are going – a mission statement, vision statement, strategic plan, and that sort of thing. First, we would look at their products and collateral materials (brochures, stationary, newsletters, etc) for internal consistency. Do they look like they all come from one source? Do they use the same colors, fonts, and logos in every product? Does the design reflect their values and goals? Is the writing easy to understand? For example, while it’s important to have professionally designed brochures, a small project might not want to have brochures that were too fancy because that might turn off potential clients. On the other hand, they might want brochures that are MORE fancy because they want to look bigger than they are.

EXTERNAL MARKETING

My second goal would be to help each project look at their external marketing. We’d be looking at their products again, but this time in terms of whether they are effective vehicles to reach their audience. Are these products the right vehicle for the message we want to deliver? Are they being delivered to the right people? For example, are the NERRC newsletters reaching the people who need to read them? Are they actually being read? Are they cost effective? Are there ways to encourage people to read them on the website instead of paper versions?

MARKETING WITHIN WESTED

The third way to look at building marketing connections is within WestEd. Are our projects using WestEd’s name and reputation to enhance their work? Are the products and designs in alignment with WestEd’s communications policies? Are we utilizing WestEd’s materials such as the folder, brochure, and newsletters? If not, why not? What could WestEd produce that would help us be more effective? How can we increase connections within our projects here? How can we spread the word throughout WestEd about what we are doing?

CONCEPTUALIZING WHAT EACH PROJECT NEEDS

Once I have learned where we are, I would explain some of the things that I can offer. While I do have the skills and technology to offer graphic design, writing, and editing to our east coast offices, it would probably not be realistic to do that for every project. What I can do is help projects conceptualize what they want, and what product would be the best way for them to reach their goals. If we can articulate exactly what we want, it’s easier to find a designer or writer to produce the product. (AKA if we don’t know where we are going, we won’t know when we get there). I can continue to offer production skills to Learning Innovations and WestEd as a whole, as well as specific projects as recommended by management.

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

I would also like to help our offices use technology more effectively. This isn’t just about knowing how to use word processing software, but in using specific applications in a more cost and time effective ways. For example, I developed an Access database for the science center’s clients. Now we have contact information on every client that can be organized by project, geographical area, or any other delineator. I developed an Excel spreadsheet for the NERRC internal evaluation that produced graphs and charts showing results in a way that processing the numbers by hand never could. I can also help projects evaluate how best to use technology for their needs. For example, I wrote a proposal to buy a high-end color printer so that we could print our brochures, newsletters, and other products on demand. It gave us the flexibility to make changes on a monthly, or even daily basis with no waste.

CONCLUSION

I hope this explanation gives you a clearer idea of what I can bring to WestEd. I am a very passionate and driven person, and I would like to use these gifts in the service of helping our projects have a more cohesive marketing vision.