The Challenge:
Located in a metropolitan area with 11 colleges and universities, MSU Denver faces stiff competition for students. With an enrollment of 17,500 students, the school’s administrators wanted to reach more prospective and current students and strengthen its brand as an affordable alternative for first-generation students, especially students of color, as well as working parents and veterans. In doing so, the school also wanted to strengthen its connections with faculty and staff, and to increase recognition in the local media market. Traditional public relations had not worked.
The Work:
In 2016, Ragan Consulting Group began working with MSU Denver and has completed several projects since then. We began with a content and channel analysis, an assessment of the editorial structure and an examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the skills of the comms team. Then, we developed a new editorial process and newsroom structure for the school’s internal and external communications based on the assessment results. We revamped internal communications, notably their internal newsletter for students, faculty and staff. Next, we helped them plan, create and launch their brand journalism platform, RED, and create a newsroom structure to support it. The comms team now focuses on news its audiences want to know. Since then, we have provided refresher workshops and virtual editing under our Build Better Writers program.
The Results:
While the enrollments at many urban public universities haven’t recovered since the pandemic, MSU Denver’s student population is beginning to rebound. University administrators partly attribute the resilience to the school’s brand journalism site, which is the centerpiece of the school’s communications strategy. Video producers, social media strategists, media relations specialists and writers now have a stronger grasp of the fundamentals of writing and storytelling. Readership metrics have increased. Meanwhile, news media placements have grown overall by 90% since the implementation of the news site.