YSU Ad push conveys school's quality

Money set aside for the image campaign will not be part of pending budget cuts.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- "You learn something new every day" is the working slogan for a long-term image campaign that Youngstown State University hopes promotes the university's quality and boosts enrollment.
The campaign, featuring snappy radio, television and other advertising, could debut before the end of the year, said Betty Jo Licata, dean of YSU's business school and the head of the image effort.
"We need to be much more aggressive at telling our story, helping people understand the quality of what we offer here," Licata said.
YSU President David Sweet said the 3- to 5-year image campaign is an important part of his top priority -- increasing enrollment.
"Our affordability, I think, is fairly well known," Sweet said. "What I think it not as well known is the quality of our academic programs. That's what we will be focusing on."
Ad agency: The campaign has been in the works for about six months. YSU has paid Marcus Thomas, an advertising and public relations agency headquartered in Cleveland with offices in Austintown, $40,000 to lead the effort, Licata said.
"It was important to bring in a neutral observer that has a specialization in the marketing field to assess how to best position this institution," Sweet said.
In a series of surveys, focus groups and interviews with current YSU students, prospective students, faculty, staff and community members, Marcus Thomas determined that YSU needs to emphasize the university's knowledgeable faculty, quality students and high-quality programs in its marketing, Licata said.
Did you know? In a meeting with YSU trustees last month, Marcus Thomas Vice President Jim Sallish unveiled the slogan "You learn something new every day" and outlined a campaign that would hone in on qualities that most people do not know about YSU. For instance:
U & raquo;YSU's mechanical engineering program has a 100 percent job placement rate.
U & raquo;An English professor's book was named one of the top 10 academic books of the 1990s.
U & raquo;An economics professor recently was named a prestigious Carnegie Scholar.
"It's great stuff; let's not keep it a secret," Sallish told trustees during a presentation that included preliminary ads for the campaign.
"The sum of the parts of YSU are greater than the whole," he added. "You're a hidden treasure."
Implementation: The next step is implementation.
Licata said YSU has $460,000 budgeted for the image campaign and other student recruitment efforts over the next seven months. She said other area universities spend up to $2 million annually.
"We have to get the greatest return on the money we put into this," she said.
YSU trustees meet next week and are expected to raise tuition, dip into university reserves and slice parts of the budget to make up for the loss of nearly $3 million in state funds this year.
More state cuts could be coming next year, but Sweet said money for the image campaign will not be touched.
"I have committed resources in the budget and will continue to commit resources for the implementation phase" of the campaign, he said.
"The precious dollars that we have for this need to be strategically directed," said John Habat, Sweet's special assistant.
Other schools: With private colleges such as Malone and Thiel paying for billboards and other ads in the Youngstown market, Licata said YSU has no choice but to step up its marketing efforts.
"Everyone is getting much more aggressive in student recruitment, she said. "It's a strategy schools are taking and it's not going to let up.
"We need to be out there helping people understand what YSU is all about."