After beginning the silent phase of its Campaign for College and Community, Nazareth College needed a marketing communications plan for its public phase — a seven-year campaign to raise funds for capital projects and its endowment. Its target audience included regional philanthropists, foundations and corporations with whom the college hadn’t yet established relationships.
High-touch and emotional messages in print, web and video — along with a supporting image advertising campaign — connected this audience with the Nazareth College development staff before close relationships were formed with them.
Challenges
- Develop a messaging platform for the campaign’s public phase.
- Prove the impact of fundraising to a primary audience not familiar with the college’s work.
Results
GOAL SURPASSED
$51 million raised, surpassing the $45 million campaign goal, to fund the renovation of the Arts Center, the construction of Peckham Hall, the expansion of the Wellness and Rehabilitation Institute and the enrichment of the endowment.
improved Position
Positioned Nazareth as Rochester’s premier educator of health care and education professionals.
AWARDS
The capital campaign and website captured top awards from CASE, eduStyle and UCDA.
CAMPAIGN FOR COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY MICROSITE AND MATERIALS
What Zehno did
- Marketing communications planning: Messaging platform, audience distribution plan.
- Capital campaign: Campaign theme and identity, campaign microsite with high-impact videos and live webcam of renovation/construction progress, and print, interactive and social media tools.
- And more.
Tips for your team
- Use an image advertising campaign to build awareness for the college in advance of cultivating prospects.
- Skip the splash. Create a case statement that’s concise and powerful, but not too glitzy.
- Make your videos do double duty. The clips for the campaign microsite also ran as TV ads to build the college’s brand.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
Zehno can help you move the needle. Read more about our development campaign services.