Communication and Marketing Programmes

The Communication and Marketing programme entails the following:

Positions and Core Messages

The Division assists with the positioning of the institution through developing appropriate strategies and plans targeting stakeholders, as well as developing and disseminating institutional positioning statements and core messages.

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

The stakeholder engagement and communication programme is intended to:

-          Ensure systematic and consistent engagement and communication with stakeholders 

-          Ensure greater understanding and appreciation of activities and programmes of the university

-          Enhance relations and partnerships with key stakeholders

-          Ensure active support and commitment to university activities and programme

Media Engagement and Communication

The media engagement objectives are to:

-          Enhance media image and institutional reputation

-          Enhance stakeholder perceptions through the media

-          Manage media and stakeholder issues and contain negative coverage

Issues Management

The issues management objectives are to:

-          Manage issues in order to avoid and contain negative impacts on the institution

-          Engage the issues with a view of communicating a Rhodes position and perspective

Visual Communication and Marketing

The Visual Communication and Marketing programme is about ensuring that the positioning of the institution as a university of choice for targeted stakeholders such as students, staff, and research and funding partners, informs the direction and content of the visual communication and marketing programme.

This means the overall visual communication and marketing proposition and execution that is inclusive of corporate identity and signage, branding, promotions and promotional material, advertising, institutional memorabilia and historical artefacts, must not only be aligned and consistent, but must be directed to serve the overall institutional positioning and strategic objectives.

Visual Communication and Marketing at Rhodes is essentially about building and maintaining the Rhodes “brand” and encouraging association and student take up. Essential elements for this exercise are about:

-          Enhancing signage and institutional identity, their design and consistent application, the way they project the ethos of the university and the way they talk to key stakeholders;

-          Ensuring clarity of promise and delivering on the promise

-          Delivering a unique and differentiated value proposition

-          Meeting an unmet need, and meeting stakeholder needs

-          Communicating the provision of unrivalled experience

-          Ensuring consistency of brand application and brand messages

Internal Stakeholder Communication and Engagement

The university has more than 9000 internal stakeholders to engage and communicate with. This alone makes the internal stakeholder communication and engagement function as important as the external stakeholder focused functions if not more. It is important to recognise that without a sufficiently mobilised and motivated student body and staff, success with external stakeholder communication and engagement programmes will become more difficult to realise.

Historically, formal internal communication activities consisted of Rhodos, Internet / Intranet (in a limited way), emails (including toplist, eventlist and studentlist), posters and forums. This is undoubtedly insufficient. The Division is working on developing and implementing a more comprehensive and strategic internal stakeholder communication and engagement programme aimed at:

-          Engendering understanding and support for the strategic and operational objectives, and key university programmes and activities;

-          Engendering understanding of the challenges the university is facing and what’s been done to overcome them;

-          Enabling dialogue, conversations and engagement to take place; and

-          Acknowledging and celebrating the successes and achievements of the university, staff and students.

Website and Digital Communication

The web and digital communications platforms that have the advantage of speed and cost effectiveness have become essential communications and marketing tools critical for effective and efficient stakeholder communication and engagement. To enable this, the institutional web and digital communications services are being restructured and repositioned. Additionally, the Division has developed a web and digital communications strategy, currently being implemented, in consultation with various university stakeholders.

The Web and Digital Communication programme entail the following:

Internet

-          Acquisition, deployment and management of an advanced Content Management System appropriate for university environments.

-          Redesign and enhancement of the Rhodes institution, division and department websites in accordance with and in pursuit of institutional strategy, and to ensure attraction and retention of users, ease of use and functional.

Intranet

-          Design and launch of a Rhodes intranet platform and services to enable effective internal and staff communication, staff and student transactions such as procuring services, booking facilities and accessing a range of self-service offerings.

Mobile Communications

-          Development and design of mobile communication tools for use particularly by the student communication, and to enable and enhance communications and engagement with them.

General

-          Enhancing the sites by launching a range of electronic and digital services and applications such e-publications, virtual tour, Google maps, and You Tube video service,

-          Tracking and evaluating use and information consumption patterns and trends, and performance of the internet and intranet sites.