Marketing

Our class had to prepare our own marketing proposals to be reviewed by our client. She ended up choosing the following proposal:

To market this event, we will use a multi-tiered event with promotional pushes exactly 1 month before the event, 2 weeks before the event, 1 week before the event, 5 days, 3 days, and the day before the event. This will allow the idea to be fresh in the minds of the undecided students we are recruiting to come. The marketing will be most intense in the week of the event, with a hard push in the days before because of the forgetfulness of most students, and in effort to keep the event fresh in the minds.

We will use the $95 dollars of funds allocated in this budget to purchase a promotional package from Grand Valley State University. This package will include 3 hours of design time, as well as 91 posters, 400 pluggers, a 1-week ad in the Laker Hub prior to the event and campus postings. Additionally, we will create flyers to post around the campus. We believe this is the best use of the money.

To further push the event, we will have a committee that travels across Allendale and speaks to classes briefly who are majority undecided Freshman and Sophomores. We will also be present in both Kirkhof and Kleiner for two days to pass out pluggers, and table our event. The on campus, in person marketing will be beneficial to both inform and remind, as well as answer any questions about the event.

Social media will be a major aspect of our marketing plan, and this will come from both personal and professional accounts. We will be in contact with Grand Valley to have the flyers be posted on GV and HTM accounts through various forms like TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We will also be posting the flyer on the Facebook pages “GVSU C/O 2025 and 2026”, because these pages contain many undecided students.

There will also be posted yard signs in front of the building with information about the event these will post 2 days prior to the event. Group of students will be at bus stations handing out information and talking about the event to students at the bus stop.

This proposal included a poster that would be used on social media and would be printed to hang up in busy areas on campus, and smaller versions were passed out to students. The original poster was edited by our class to make it more appealing and inclusive. Here is the original poster and the final product:

The budget for the marketing committee was $95. They were originally going to buy a promotions package from Grand Valley's promotional office, but they ended up choosing other ways to spend their money. They bought posters to hang around campus, yard signs to display during the event, small fliers to hand out to students, and a digital banner on Grand Valley's website for one week. Their total spending came to $87.84.

The marketing committee was also able to get some free advertising by taking advantage of the hospitality and tourism management's social media pages. They were allowed to post information and reminders of the event.