“How To” Marketing Guide

To assist members of the campus community with their marketing and outreach efforts, the Office of Marketing and Communications has compiled a brief process guide.

Steps to Creating Marketing Materials:

1. Clearly define the objective (what are you hoping to accomplish?).
2. Define the target audience. This will mean selecting the group(s) that will be interested in the message. It's very rare that the target audience includes everyone, so be selective when choosing the specific target audience.
3. Connect with the marketing professional assigned to your area. They are a great resource to guide you through the process of developing marketing materials and provide the expertise and technical skills needed to create materials. Working together, you’ll determine which of the next steps will be pursued on your own or will be managed by your marketing professional.
4. Determine graphic design needs for the project. There are several options available to create professionally designed marketing materials.
   1. Work with your marketing professional to create the piece.
   2. Insert photos and text into University-approved branded templates. The Office of Marketing and Communications has created several templates to meet a variety of needs.
   3. Work with your marketing professional to use Canva to create your own materials. Official ISU templates, colors, logos, and fonts are available using an ISU-linked Canva account. Canva access is provided by completing the online request form.  
   4. Submit a request for help with graphic design for your materials. Review the process for submitting a graphic design work request to see if your project fits the scope of work for the university graphic designer.   
5. Determine the photos needed to support your marketing materials. You may already have photo assets to use in your project. If not, there are several options available for obtaining photos.
   1. Browse Idaho State’s Photo Archives to find photos that will work for your project. You can download photos for free. The photo download password is bengalroar2020.
   2. Check with the marketing professional for your area to see if they have photo assets that fit your project.
   3. Submit a request for photo services. Be sure to view the scope of work for the University photographer to see if your project fits.
   4. Arrange for a photo shoot or hire an external photographer.
6. Proofread your marketing materials. Double-check, triple-check, and check the content again. It’s always good to ask 2-3 pairs of eyes to review the project to make sure typos aren’t missed. 
7. Submit your project to be reviewed and approved.  

Planning Your Project Timeline

Creating strong marketing materials is a process that requires careful planning. As you look through the steps in the “How To” Marketing Guide, make sure to allow ample time for each step that applies to your project. While we can provide materials and support for marketing projects, it’s very difficult, and unfortunately likely impossible, to accommodate a project with a short timeline. A good rule of thumb when determining the time needed to create marketing materials is to begin three weeks before you want the materials produced if you already have photos; allow four to six weeks if you need to schedule a photographer.