Step 5: Create and Manage the Communications and Marketing Strategy

As you build your communications and marketing strategy for incremental credentialing, don’t look at it as being “set in stone.” Rather, consider it a guide to your communications and marketing efforts that will be subject to change as you implement it. An effective plan will combine elements of strategic communications and marketing to effectively inform audiences.

Multiple entities must combine to carry out an effective strategy at the state- and institution-wide levels. Considering your various audiences and the channels of delivery selected to reach them, identify which entity will roll out and manage each of the activities in the work plan. In some cases, a state’s public information office may manage the plan, or communications offices within state agencies will be responsible for various features of the plan. At the institution-wide level, a communications office often can help manage the work plan, monitoring the efficacy of various components of the plan and reporting back to institution leadership. These types of feedback loops are important to ensure that the work plan is revised as needed. Where institutions have an Office of Innovation, it may be helpful for that office to work closely with the communications office.