MARKETING: THE BEST OF US

Sometimes it's nice to stop and smell the roses, so this week we want to focus on the great marketing going on across K-State Research and Extension. Below are just a few of our favorites:

-Sedgwick County 4-H is an excellent example of the impact of consistency, with their consistent look-and- feel on banners, handouts, and other materials.

-Shawnee County sends out picture-postcards with quick tidbits about what they've been doing, and their Impact Annual Report is short and makes good points. This is just the tip of the iceberg on their marketing efforts.

-Cowley County's Website continues to provide excellent content in an attractive layout.

-Deb Sellers's work on "Sage Wisdom" materials continue to leads the industry, with a comprehensive Website, and additional audience-targeted materials in 2008. It's not so much the tactics she implements, but more the strategy she puts behind them.

-Jana Beckman's field days, press releases, special winter meetings, and quarterly reports are great examples of a small shop partnering with many others (on and off- campus groups) to get projects done and communicate impact information.

-Stacie Minson does an excellent job keeping residents in mind. She develops targeted fact sheets, advertisements, comprehensive Website, great signage, and much more in her watershed efforts.

-The newsletter design templates that are being produced through Distribution in the Dept of Communications have provided great quality, consistent looks to many county and district newsletters.

-The Event-in-a-Box project, spear-headed by Nancy Peterson, has helped with many events throughout the state. Possibly the top outcome of that particular project is the real estate style signs that are now staked across the state.

-Johnson County's horticulture program continues to be a leading source of horticulture information in Johnson County and beyond. Especially noteworthy is their stable presence in the KC Star.

And let's not forget Bourbon County's brochure, Meadowlark District's introductory display, and Labette County's Web sites.

We Know there are more great marketing examples in our state. Please, tell us about them. Click "coment" below and brag about yourself or your peers.

MARKETING: THE BEST OF US

Marketing: The Best of our Peers

This week, I will be attending an Association for Communications Excellence conference, where I have the chance to talk with my peers at other land-grant institution. With that in mind, let me share with you some of the great things going on across the system, nationwide:

-eXtension. Can we really talk about marketing Extension without listing eXtension? If you haven’t already, visit the site (www.extension.org.) See what all the fuss is about.

-UNL’s Lancaster County (Lancaster.unl.edu/4h). Their Egg Cam drives users to their site from around the world, especially during hatching time. And while the Web visitors are there, they can learn more about the 4-H program in Nebraska.

-Extension en Espanol (http://extensionenespanol.net/). This site is not only a great resource for existing Spanish materials, it also serves as a quality-control checkpoint for Spanish Extension materials nationwide.

Let us know what else you've seen. Add your own "best of" list by clicking "comments" below, or contact me at lsleicht@ksu.edu.

Marketing: The Best of our Peers

Great marketing find: brochure holder

If you are looking for a portable brochure holder, consider this one:

http://www.displays2go.com/product.asp?ID=7342

It rolls up into a 3-inch by 24-inch cylindrical bag, and is easy to carry. It has a steel base and is stable once it is set up. It has eight pockets that will hold 9-inch by 12-inch documents.

We bought three of these for use at the State Fair, 3i show and other similar events. They cost less than $40 from the vendor listed above, and seem to be good quality. They are a little challenging to set up, so you do want two people to help with that. Otherwise, we're excited about this find.

If you would like to see a sample before you purchase it, we have them standing in our offices in Umberger Hall. Just contact Pat Melgares (melgares@ksu.edu) or Linda Sleichter (lsleicht@ksu.edu) to schedule a time to check it out.

Great marketing find: brochure holder