The art of branding and marketing college media

Shorthorn marketing team: two members of the marketing team, Javeria Arshad and Matt Weseman handing out copies of The Shorthorn on campus. (Photo: Adam Drew)

There’s an art to many aspects of marketing

By Debra Chandler Landis

Students at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, didn’t seem as engaged—or interested—in The Pulse, a student-run media hub comprised  of a website, magazine, yearbook and radio station as the student journalists wanted to see.

Pulse branding literally can fly through the air.

Copies of the magazine, published three times a semester, remained on racks. The website, regularly updated with new content, wasn’t generating the anticipated conversations. Response to freebies with The Pulse logo was lackluster.

Something needed to change, Pulse staffers said, and adviser Ed Arke encouraged them to see what they could do.

The students embarked on a rebranding and marketing campaign in spring 2018 that found them designing a new logo, overhauling The Pulse website, and creating new Pulse posters and brochures that were in place when fall 2018 classes started.

The work is paying off. Continue reading “The art of branding and marketing college media”