In March, Neuman University Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Melissa Paone joined AKCG Vice President Adam Dvorin for a presentation, How a University Finds and Tells Untold Student Stories to Support Recruitment.
Neumann is an AKCG client.
Melissa and Adam presented at CUPRAP’s annual development conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. CUPRAP is an organization of nearly 350 members from 100 institutions who work in higher education public relations, media relations and marketing.
During the program, the duo shared lessons learned through leveraging broad institutional messages in the fabric of student stories.
Although the media landscape has changed, Melissa and Adam pointed out, earned media offers reach and credibility that can’t be attained through platforms such as paid advertising or social media communications efforts.
As a case study, Melissa and Adam shared lessons learned from their biggest collective success to date – a story about a group of Neumann students who share on-campus housing with sisters from the Order of St. Francis of Philadelphia.
Thanks to the work of the Neumann-AKCG team, the story broke as a front page story in the Wall Street Journal. Additional outlets later picked it up, including CBS Evening News, the Washington Post, Scripps TV and more.
In all, approximately 155 separate pieces of coverage of the Convent story ran, resulting in the university gaining exposure in 26 new geographic markets.
“We gained recognition from people who hadn’t ever heard of Neumann University,” Adam said.
“It was a great experience to share these insights in front of an audience of peers,” Melissa said. “From the questions we received – and the discussions that took place in the room – it was clear that universities can really benefit from a strong earned media effort of mission-focused pitches based on student successes and achievements.”
