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Best Practices
51社区黑料Branding Guidelines
51社区黑料publishes branding guidelines that help to identify and separate 51社区黑料from other universities and strengthen our overall position within communities that we are working to attract to our programs. Each program in each Faculty and academic unit is unique and should also have its own messaging, however, the impact of that messaging will be greater being supported by the overall 51社区黑料brand identity.
Grad Studies Marketing and Recruitment Templates
We recognize that many of the messages used within SFU鈥檚 branding guidelines are better suited for undergraduate, rather than graduate student recruitment. Working with consultants, we created some suggested messaging that will resonate better with our audience, share our unique promises for graduate students and also fit within the overall identifiable 51社区黑料branding structure.
Photography and visual elements tell our individual and unified stories. The 51社区黑料Brand Guide has some great guidelines for compelling photography. Anyone taking photos that might be used for your branding, should review them.
Ideally, photos representing your programs will come from within your academic unit, representing your students, faculty and locations in meaningful and compelling ways. They can be from events, labs, or even in class as long as you have the proper consent from all participants.
51社区黑料no longer has in-house photographers. However, Creative Services can recommend contract photographers that you can work with directly on a fee-for-service basis. You can contact sfu-brand@sfu.ca for photographer referrals. These photographers can also book the Communications & Marketing Studio for formal in-studio portraits.
Places to find visuals
If you can鈥檛 take your own photos or hire a contract photographer, there are some options for you to find photos that either have free or paid licensing options.
When communicating with prospective as well as current students, it is important to be professional and responsive. Here are some ways in which every individual working with students can support the recruitment process:
- Respond warmly and promptly
- Establish and maintain good relations
- Be service-oriented and attentive
- Communicate frequently, but not aggressively
Read,
Be authentic and realistic about what students can expect in your program and academic unit. Potential students want to know that their academic and research goals will be fulfilled, but also that they can visualize themselves in your unit as well. They want to feel connected to their programs of interest, so it鈥檚 important to create channels for this to occur.
In your communications, you'll want to be:
- Positive
- Friendly/Welcoming
- Confident
- Conversational
- Concise
Use short, simple sentences in an active voice (e.g. Use: "Bring your documents to our office." instead of "Your documents should be brought to our office.")
Use plain language. Not all who read your copy are native-English speakers and some people with disabilities need to use text-to-voice tools. Even though we are aiming to recruit students who have completed their undergraduate degrees, we need to remember that the prospective student may not understand overly academic or technical language. They might not 鈥渂e there yet鈥�, but will have a good grasp of the academic vocabulary once they鈥檝e been introduced to it while enrolled in your programs.
Emotional/Personal Fit Information for Potential Students
Beyond the basics, potential students also want to know that they will find themselves at home while at the university. They want to see themselves reflected in the range and type of research and academic pieces of the program, but also in the type of support they will receive as well. A curt or unanswered email or unfriendly phone call can sour a potential students鈥� perception of how they feel they will be treated as part of the program. (. He chose 51社区黑料over other programs because he felt valued as a person when he was reaching out to different universities.)
Graduate Students as ambassadors through profiles, stories, or even one-to-one contact
One of the most powerful recruitment tools is word-of-mouth by current and former students. We can help create student ambassadors through:
- Profiles or testimonials of students on your website (Note, if your website is in CLF4, Grad Studies is happy to share code with you to include on your site that will automatically add your students鈥� profiles on your site once published on ours. The profiles on the bottom of the Economics website are profiles shared from Grad Studies鈥檚 website. (Contact Stacey Makortoff, stacey_makortoff@sfu.ca for assistance.)
- Stories and write ups featuring graduate students, their accomplishments, and overcoming challenges.
- Profiles submitted to Grad Studies include the option for grad students to have their email visible or not. Potential students may choose to contact these graduate students in advance, however, we do not have any data or information about this. (Note: You can also train and incentivize grad students to be ambassadors over social media or email during key recruitment periods, however, this requires resources - i.e. time and training, to make this effective.)
- During recruitment events you host, you can have a grad student (or multiple students) present that are willing to share their stories and/or answer questions.