Lauren,
In a sense your graduates are living breathing commercials. We use our alumni website both to gather and share their success stories. There is incredible power in a 'story'. We gather those stories and then use them on Alumni Success Story Posters, in our marketing materials, in an Alumni Success Story Book that is displayed in our school lobbies, to share with potential employers, etc. There are many avenues for getting these stories out into your community. The website is a great avenue for this.
June Gudeman
Also, we have close ties to one of our major news networks right next to our campus. They are constantly having segiments on the news about our school and what technical colleges can offer. I would love to have some of our alumni go on the morning show to discuss how they have benefitted from their time here with us to help encourage people of all ages to realize dreams can always be fulfilled when you have a support system in place to help you reach your goals. And that is exactly what our school and alumni can help provide.
I am very fortunate to have close connections to our marketing department. They have already shown interest in helping me set up an alumni website. Our school already does so much marketing through television, radio ads, billboards, and even the local chamber of commerce. We have local business provide testimonials as to how our graduates have been working in as employees, but I would really like to get more of our alumni out there and talking. After reading much of the courses literature, I realize the true importance of our alumni and helping them see their value in our school. Without them we wouldn't be here, and with them we will be able to help retention, placement, and even our enrollment. I am excited to get started with this new journey of creating and developing an Alumni Association. This course has been greatly beneficial for ideas and solutions.
Coryne,
You are exactly right.
I agree. Involvement in the community (ie: charity fundraisers) will certainly put a spotlight on your institution in a way typical marketing advertising can't touch. Involving our students while they're in school and then inviting alumni to return to participate sets up a pattern of service.
June Gudeman
The public relations that I would seek are from local industry in the area of our campuses. Any fundraising we can do for local charities will also broaden our communty involvement. I would like to see involvement with the different board of chambers in each city as well as community leagues in each division of the cities. The more we let people know who we are and what we offer can only be beneficial to not only our school but our graduates and soon to be graduates.
Kelley,
Our graduates are really 'living' advertisements for our institution in that they represent who we are. Look for opportunities to tap into that by gathering alumni success stories and then think about creative ways to share those in your community.
June Gudeman
Many of our past graduates provide employment opportunities for our current students. I envision utilizing our past grads, board members and business contacts to provide the buy-in for our alumni.
Positive reputation in the community regarding our graduates: their skills, work ethic and commitment. This should lead to higher placement rates.
Camille,
Getting involved in the community and fundraising event is a great way to get your 'name' out inn the public eye in a positive light.
Great ideas!
June Gudeman
We can do more work with the community. Many people are unaware of the school and this will help us ten fold!
We have been in the past to local events such as high school fairs and marathons but I want to expand.
Lets see what this year and the follwing can bring.
Lisa,
Alumni success stories can be of great benefit to an institution. They are very powerful and can be creatively used at your institution.
June Gudeman
I think having an Alumni Association will be great benefit for our organization. It will open more public relationships with our students and their employer. I also want our graduation to share their successful story about our school and it can help our enrollment increase due to this referral.
Tawny,
Sound like you have some good ideas on keeping the positive momentum. I really believe one of the best ways to use your graduates to get recognition for your school is to share their success stories. Everyone loves a good story and stories can send a VERY powerful message about your school!
June Gudeman
By creating happier alumni and ensuring we are giving are alumni as much as we give our students will only better help creating a happy finished product. We want to continue their amazing experience after they complete school with us so they will have that positive outcome in their mind and refer all those they come in contact with. Normally the bad cases or not so great things stick with someone over the good things. We need to ensure they only have good memories of our college and that they will support everything that we do as a college.
Michael,
Remember our graduates are walking, breathing advertisements for our institution. Do you best to tap into that.
June Gudeman
This is a simple response, the better connected we are with our alumni, the possibility of higher enrollment for our instiution. With a good working alumni association in place, we could host dinners much like a highschool reunion and bring back the "old timers", this could create a good name for our institution thereby possibly brining in more enrollment.
Christine,
Perfect! Our graduates are walking, breathing advertisements for our schools. Our challenge is setting up systems to make those communications between grads, employers, prospective employees/students easy.
June Gudeman
I need more job opportunities! that is my goal. thank you for your help.
Already, we have a strong referral system with our graduates and prospective employers. Most of our job placement is created by an alumni working for the company looking to hire. I get many calls regularly looking for employees because of experience with a past student. Our school's reputation is driven by our graduates making great impressions on employers to where they will contact us for more prospective applicants. I hope that I can continue to build on this communication for future benefits for everyone involved.
Ruth,
Could you explain with more detail what you are thinking about?
June Gudeman
