Viking Union Marketing Plan

The culminating project of my time as the Marketing Intern at the Viking Union was the development and presentation of the Viking Union Marketing Plan for 2009-2010. Below is the executive summary of the plan, along with a PDF link to the plan itself, including appendicies (VU Social Media Guide and Third Place Focus Group Findings).

Executive Summary

The Viking Union is the student union building at Western Washington University, housing food services, meeting and event space, offices, and the majority of the Associated Students programs and services. The facility was constructed in 1959, and was subsequently renovated and expanded to meet a burgeoning student population. The facility as it exists today is situated near the edge of north campus. Featuring an amazing view of Bellingham Bay and a plethora of services and programs, the Viking Union is a major community center for students.

The Viking Union has put increasing emphasis on marketing activities in the past five years to meet the changing wants and needs of the student population at WWU.. This marketing plan outlines the past marketing activities the Viking Union has participated in, as well as the strategy for the 2009-2010 school year.

The 2009-2010 VU Marketing Plan is organized across four major marketing goals. First, strategies to strengthen the VU brand have been developed through the new VU logo design and its subsequent implementation. The upcoming VU 50th Anniversary celebration in mid Fall 2009 will also serve as a significant branding opportunity for the VU, under the theme “Uniting Yesterday with Tomorrow”. Secondly, additional campus alliances will be pursued to maximize the

VU’s reach to new students at WWU. This will be accomplished by the development of an informational packet distributed at the Admissions Office’s Discovery Days throughout the year, and the exploration of various opportunities with Residence Life (ResLife). The third goal of the 2009-2010 marketing plan is a streamlined integrated marketing communications strategy (IMC), focusing on the reduction of print media in favor of online and social media. This goal also encompasses the planned re-design of the VU website, to occur during Fall and Winter quarters, maximizing dynamic content such as event feeds and social media. The final goal for this marketing plan is to develop the VU as an informational clearinghouse online (through the development of a VU-specific segment of the new WWU master calendar).

Marketing research is planned for summer 2009, exploring the EBI survey data (collected in Spring 2008) among student employees and full-time staff. This plan also strongly recommends the use of usability tests in focus groups for the new VU website design.

A detailed implementation timetable has been developed to guide the VU marketing intern and marketing committee in completing specific tactical objectives to achieve the strategic goals noted above. The results from the winter 2009 focus groups have also been included, as has a sizeable guide to social media strategy. Every effort has been made to make this marketing plan a more actionable document for the Viking Union, and should serve as a basis for future strategy. It should serve as the definitive guide for the VU Marketing Intern in their activities throughout the 2009-2010 school year, who may add to, or modify this guide when necessary.