Best Practices for Marketing Your Geospatial Program

1
Best Practices for Marketing Your Geospatial
Program

• Emphasizing the integration of GIS, Remote
  Sensing and GPS

2
Marketing - On Campus and Off

• To other faculty
• To counselors
• To administrators
• To campus students
• To incoming students (high schools)
• To workforce
• Current
• Retraining
• User Groups and Advisory Committee
• To the community

3
Interactive Session

• Please comment, question or provide specific
  input
• All comments and suggestions will be compiled
• Any resources you are willing to share will be
  posted to iGETT
• Remember, in all materials, we would like to
  emphasize integration of geospatial technology
• including GIS, RS, GPS and emerging technologies

4
Marketing Elements

• Branding your program logo and message
• Create a short Message about your Program(s)
• Helps you focus
• Lets other know about your focus
• Think about a logo and include on all materials
• Have students help design this if you dont have
  other resource
• Your Business Cards logo and web page to
  program
• Create a PPT for your program including logo and
  template
• Getting the word out (more details later)
• Activities
• Paper, Digital, Online or media
• Flyers, posters, catalogues
• Web pages about program and student work
• Blogs, listserv create or join
• Radio, TV or other media ads and evening news!
• http//www.knopnews2.com/modules/news/article.php?
  storyid2625source2
• Person to Person
• Be ready to give an elevator pitch think
  about this and your message

5
To Faculty

• Do presentations at Faculty Development sessions
• Provide workshops (see NSF ATE Technical Training
  Tips) https//www.teachingtechnicians.org/resource
  s_tips.asp
• Create mini-modules for other faculty to use to
  teach a concept in their course
• Find out what they teach and point them to
  outside resources that they could use to teach
  that topic
• Tell them about software options open to them
  (free, low cost, site licenses)
• Have students as Interns or do capstone
  projects for other faculty that help introduce
  GIS in their discipline
• Have a lending library of books, teaching
  materials or other resources to lend (including
  GPS or other equipment such as cameras)
• Create a User Group on campus either as
  meetings or through Blogs, listserv or web site
  resources

6
Counselors

• Find out when/where they meet and do a
  presentation
• Create a Career Flyer or have some from other
  organizations (GITA, URISA, ASPRS, AAG)
• Types of careers, salary range, resources
• Provide each with your flyer on the program
• Find out and provide information on student
  support options (Title IV, Pell, etc.)
• Provide information about Internship
  opportunities (especially those that are paid)

7
To Administration

• Put a PPT together with possible administrative
  uses of GIS
• Campus Map, Facilities Management, Student
  (demographics, profile of students, marketing),
  Homeland Security, Room utilization
• Create a one page flyer on PPT topics and include
  a campus map with features of interest to
  administration
• List numbers of students, any grants you have,
  any other information on the value of your
  program including your activities to community
  and advisory committee members
• Find out when and where they meet and potential
  for a presentation
• Look at the governing body for the college
  (local, district, state) and see when they meet
  or if they have a publication that you could
  write/present information to/in
• Find out what other colleges in your state are
  doing with GIS and let your administration know
  about these activities
• Invite them to visit your class, GIS Day or any
  open house
• See if they would be interested in having an
  Intern work on a project for administration use

8
On Campus Students

• Work through other faculty (presentations in
  classes, handouts) to let students know more
  about Geospatial technology
• Target most likely disciplines, but almost all
  may be interested
• Form a Student User Group on Campus
• Have student project posters up about GIS/RS/GPS
  during registration sessions
• Advertise any activity in school news, kiosks,
  etc.
• Provide flyer about Careers during registrations
• Work with campus clubs, departments, faculty that
  help minority, physically challenged or other
  student focused groups

9
Incoming students high school

• Create 1 page flyers for high school students
  about program, careers, salaries, grant support
  options and other topics
• Visit high schools and leave materials and post
  flyers (both to students and for counselors)
• Invite high school faculty to campus for
  workshops
• Articulation is an issue try and set up
  articulation pathways
• Provide workshops or other learning activities
  for high school faculty
• Suggest Internships or Capstone projects for
  college students that mentor or do workshops at
  high schools

10
Incoming Students - Workforce

• Flyers for these students can be given or mailed
  to local users (city, police, fire, utility
  companies, dept. of transportation, surveyors,
  environmental consultants, etc.)
• Identify what grants may be available (Title IV,
  Pell, their employers, etc.) be sure your
  program is qualified for these grants
• Work with Advisory Committee to make connections
  with users
• Work with college counselors to identify
  potential student populations be careful about
  computer skills
• If the college has a Workforce Development
  office, work with them to identify possible short
  courses, extension programs or links to students
• If you state has continuing education
  requirements, be sure your program qualifies to
  provide those units
• Look for relevant places to place ads or leave
  flyers
• Attend User Group meetings and encourage current
  students to attend these meeting too good for
  your program and to interest employers in these
  students

11
To the Community

• Open House events
• Think Themes your community may be interested
  in
• GIS Day Events
• Internships and Capstone projects can be
  community oriented and provide good press
  releases for your program be sure and let the
  leaders of the community know about successful
  projects or other needs
• Invite the news media to events or
  workshops local newspapers, radio and TV stations

12
Preliminary work - Resource Assessment

• What/who are already using geospatial on campus
• What equipment already exists (large format
  printers, GPS, cameras, computers, servers,
  networks)
• What software exists on campus who owns it,
  maintenance, access for your program
• What are your data access options and what data
  is available (also think about your local
  community resources)
• What are your Tech Support options
• What computer labs and specifications are
  available to you
• What faculty may already have experience
• What adjunct faculty may be available in your
  region
• What kind of Grant writing support does the
  campus provide
• What special needs programs exist on campus
  (diversity, minority, physically challenged) and
  how can your program serve that population?

13
Needs Assessment

• Set up an Advisory Committee including faculty
  from local schools, the college and the community
  (industry, government, business)
• Determine what local user needs are
• Type of software, data types, analysis needs,
  etc. and be sure that these are covered or used
  in your program
• Determine campus needs
• Develop a network of people as you look for
  information about needs