Strategic Plan Success: Record levels of coverage, views and an improved communications ecosystem

At the start of San Diego State University’s strategic plan in 2020, a major communications and marketing coordination effort was already underway. 

Led by Strategic Communications and Public Affairs (StratComm) in coordination with dozens of campus partners, communications tools and resources were being centralized, SDSU’s website was being aligned and updated, and, among other plans, new projects had launched to amplify national and international visibility around the success of SDSU faculty, staff, students, student-athletes and also academic programs and other offerings. 

The We Rise We Defy: Transcending Borders, Transforming Lives strategic plan would both further these efforts and drive new initiatives collectively designed to position SDSU for greater global brand awareness, 

“The brand launch was far more than the creation of logos, it was about strengthening our communications ecosystem so that we were speaking in unison, sharing the story of SDSU’s impact more broadly and generating the type of public visibility that helps to drive enrollment, engagement and giving,” said La Monica Everett-Haynes, associate vice president for Strategic Communications and Public and Chief Communications Officer. The effort has involved dozens of communications and public affairs professionals across the entire organization since 2019. 

“What we have developed in that time has allowed us to generate record levels of visibility for university initiatives and the success of our faculty, staff, students and administrators,” Everett-Haynes said. “When you have a strong, well-told story of success and community impact, that often translates into higher levels of participation and investments.” 

The refreshed SDSU brand honors the university’s history while looking ahead to its vibrant future. (SDSU)New resources driving communications coordination, university awareness 

Since the launch of the strategic plan, the following are among the many initiatives, resources and other efforts implemented by university communications, marketing and public affairs professionals: 

• A comprehensive brand strategy was launched during the 125th anniversary kickoff celebration, resulting in new, centralized resources to promote university programs and initiatives. 
• The redesigned SDSU.edu site was launched in 2021 through a partnership between StratComm and the Information Technology Division. This is part of the ongoing collaborative web alignment initiatives, which is bringing all university web pages into a centralized content management system and ensuring that web content is current, brand-aligned and accessible. NewsCenter was redesigned in January 2024. 
• Brand Portal now serves as a centralized repository, managed by StratComm, for university marketing and communications resources, to include logos, templates, photos, videos and more. All resources developed help colleges, departments, programs and other units to effectively communicate and market their offerings – and more resources are in development and regularly introduced. 
• Additional government affairs and community relations staff were also hired in support of the university’s advocacy and community engagement efforts, contributing to SDSU’s success in garnering $80 million in state funding for the SDSU Imperial Valley Sciences and Engineering Laboratories project, among many other initiatives.  
• StratComm’s Digital Services Team (the DigiTeam) was restructured as a service unit and now manages or assists with campus-wide emails, e-newsletters, web content, data assessment and reporting, SEO guidance and other efforts across campus locations.
• StratComm has either introduced or expanded enterprise tools for all campus adoption, to include: Salesforce Marketing Cloud, for email communications and marketing; Asana, for project management; and Canva, for designing marketing materials.
• StratComm’s marketing efforts have been aligned to enrollment, and the team works closely with both Admission and SDSU Imperial Valley to drive student recruitment and enrollment – key efforts as the university is seeing year-to-year record levels of applications and is meeting recruitment targets. 
• In a partnership between StratComm and University Relations and Development, SDSU Magazine, formerly 360, was redesigned in 2021 to better capture the excitement and energy of SDSU and evoke community and school spirit among alumni and other readers. The magazine now has a more contemporary, photo-driven design with a focus on storytelling. It also has several new sections, including “State Lately” for recent news from all campus locations and “Why We Give,” a new format to highlight philanthropy stories. 
• Several communications, marketing and media relations professionals were hired specifically to support academic deans and faculty, to include those at SDSU Imperial Valley as well as the Colleges of Sciences, Engineering and Health and Human Services. 
• The editorial style guide, SDSU’s specific writing guide, was reintroduced and is now publicly accessible. In addition to a major overall, the style guide now includes guidance related to inclusive language and is regularly updated.  

“The refreshed SDSU brand pays homage to the university’s rich history while looking ahead to its vibrant future. It now represents all of SDSU’s locations and campuses, and offers a platform to consistently tell our unique and powerful story,” said Megan Newton, senior director of brand marketing and digital media in StratComm. 

Also, for example, about 150 campus users currently rely on Salesforce for email, e-newsletters, event marketing campaigns and other needs – all supported by StratComm’s DigiTeam – up from 70 users in 2020. Centralized adoption of the tool, under a contract managed by StratComm, is saving each unit an average of $12,000 annually. 

“In centralizing and eliminating redundancy for email and marketing automation systems on campus, we are able to better understand our user’s preferences, and deliver more targeted and personalized emails,” said Krista Nielsen, senior director of digital communications and analytics, who oversees the DigiTeam. “This effort allows communicators to reduce the number of emails sent to campus audiences, alleviating email fatigue and increasing the impact of campus messages.”

The success of the men’s basketball team in 2023 resulted in global attention to SDSU, inclusive of coverage focused on Aztecs basketball, university research, student features and other university coverage. (SDSU)Driving national and international visibility and support  

To further explain both the importance and value of this work and the strategic plan activities completed thus far, Everett-Haynes drew attention to the success of the men’s basketball team in 2023, which resulted in global attention to SDSU. 

Through a number of web, editorial, social media and media relations-related efforts led by Athletics and StratComm, SDSU enjoyed daily news coverage throughout the state and nation, and regular international coverage leading up to and after the championship game. The men’s basketball team also drew positive recognition from Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom, the San Diego Padres, Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show, among many others. 

For a four-week period that spanned March 2023 and April 2023, to include the final championship game, StratComm documented 400,000 visitors to SDSU.edu, a 17.2% year-over-year increase for a total of more than 3.8 million SDSU.edu pageviews. StratComm also implemented a Google search strategy to drive traffic to high-visibility websites, also resulting in record levels of views on the Admissions page and NewsCenter, the centralized location for all campus news. 

All told, StratComm recorded an estimated $402 million in publicity value for the amount of media coverage the university enjoyed over a four-week period, inclusive of coverage focused on the men’s basketball team, university research, student features and other university coverage. 

“Often, highly visible communications have led to faculty being invited to share their research more broadly, students being considered for positions, the university seeing enhanced investments and donors choosing to give,” Everett-Haynes said. “It is often true that the value and impact of communications professionals is hidden, but their work is vital to the success of our organization.”