Marketing and Communications Questions

Marketing activities are in scope for PEAK and its approach to common good services. The UR approach to Public Relations and Internal Communications are already largely operating in a common good services approach and no significant change are expected in those areas. As it relates to strengthening the Marcom lead role, its alignment with local Marcom employees and UR on the Twin Cities campus, University Relations Marketing, Public Relations and Internal Communications will be part of our enhanced strategic conversations, outlining work together, and other collaboration.

The primary goal of common good services is to increase the consistency of service quality and to provide more equitable access to specific services for campuses/colleges/units. The common good services should increase UR’s efficiency over time by standardizing support for campuses/colleges/units. This will allow all Marcom functions to benefit from high levels of expertise and services that are scalable, consistent, and more cost effective, rather than needing to duplicate functions within each campus/college/unit.

The common good services will be determined by a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between University Relations (UR) and the campus/college/unit and funded through University cost allocation.

The common good services will be determined through conversations UR will have with the campus/college/unit (CCU) Marcom lead or leadership. The conversation will be centered around how the CCU’s strategic plan goals connect to UR’s goals and MPact 2025. The goals that support each of these plans will drive which Common Good Services are part of the SLA. UR, Account Services will provide a questionnaire to gather this information and additional background from the CCU. The Account Services Team will then set up a meeting with the CCU to discuss the Common Good Services the CCU needs to achieve the Marcom-related strategic plan goals.

Units may continue to hire freelance support for work that is not considered a common good servicesbased on the approved vendor list. In the long-term, common good services provided by UR will ideally decrease the need for freelance support across units, colleges, and campuses.

All work completed by UR will be defined in an annual Service Level Agreement with the individual unit.

UR will support projects that directly:

• Support the campus/college/unit or University strategic goals
• Achieve clear marketing objectives
• Relate to the website development of primary unit/college/campus and related publicly facing center/institute websites

UR will not support secondary or tertiary website development that may be related to departmental, faculty, or administrative matters. In situations requiring additional consideration to determine if a website/webpage is in-scope, UR will employ the RICE prioritization framework (detailed below) and communicate a final decision on inclusion and the rationale behind the decision to the unit in question.

• Reach: Who is the audience of this page? How many views is the page receiving, and from who?
• Impact: What is the page’s purpose? Is it supporting University marketing objectives? 
• Confidence: How confident are we in our analysis of the page? 
• Effort: How much effort does this page take to maintain? Will it be easier for the local unit or for UR to maintain this page?

Current solutions and tools will be reviewed when UR meets with the campuses/colleges/units to determine which are relevant and most helpful for the campuses/colleges/units. UR is continuously looking at new solutions and tools for use by the enterprise that serve the University’s marketing, public relations, and internal communications needs. By providing services more consistently through common good services and shared tools/systems, UR will be able to engage with enterprise system software more efficiently to ensure better support to campuses/colleges/units.

Marcom leads and/or campus/college/unit will be assigned a project manager for their work.

Common good services were designed to support and fulfill specified Marcom needs across the University that may be offered at a larger scale to maximize expertise and enhance efficiency. The common good services provided by UR to campuses/colleges/units will be agreed upon in a Service Level Agreement. If a campus/college/unit feels their needs cannot be met based on common good services, UR leadership will meet with the campus/college/unit to discuss their specific needs and offer alternative solutions. Common good services will continue to evolve over time to meet University and client needs.

Yes. UR’s Marcom team has provided similar services to the Health Sciences colleges and University Services for several years and has been very successful. These new common good services offerings would build on our existing model. In many respects, UR’s Public Relations and Internal Communications teams already offer work with partners in ways that reflect PEAK’s common good services approach. Work in those areas will continue without significant changes.

No, not necessarily. It may mean that aspects of creative development and marketing that are outlined as Common Good Services will move to UR on the Twin Cities campus—if it makes sense and can be accomplished from a different location. Further detail on what work will continue to be completed at the local level vs. by the Common Good Services team will be discussed with campus Marcom Leads in Phase 1 meetings scheduled to begin in early December. It’s important to note that even Common Good Services work, however, will require clear goals and outcomes, strategic input and direction, content expertise, and resource considerations from campus Marcom Leads and communicators. Common Good Services teams will collaborate closely with campuses to meet campus needs.

Marcom Lead

• Has a dotted reporting line to the Vice President of University Relations. 
• Drives strategic planning, initiatives, and priorities for Marketing and Communications across their assigned campus, colleges or unit.
• Ensures accountability and alignment of services in accordance with overall University Relations strategy and vision and in connection with the University’s strategic plan
• Leads and works to strengthen accountability with and among Marcom employees that work within the campus/college/unit the Marcom Lead represents.
• Advises area leaders on marketing and communications strategies and staffing in alignment with University Relations (UR) and University overall vision and strategy.

Local Communicator 

• Typically reports to the Marcom Leads but if not, a local communicator is accountable to the Marcom Lead for aligning work, strategy, branding and other considerations. 
• Performs local services to campuses/colleges/units not considered to be Common Good Services. See table below for more detail.

The main purpose of the Town Hall was to help people understand what it would be like to work for University Relations and what University Relations will be like in the future. It was open to all Marcom staff in Phase 1 campuses/colleges/units because even those who do not realign to a PEAK position will be impacted in some way.

PEAK is not aimed at a reduction in staff. The goal of PEAK is to realign existing staff to the way we will be doing common good services work.

If you are performing work that will be shifting to University Relations, you should work closely with your supervisor and transition team to understand the impact to your position and the options available to you.

PEAK leadership is still working out the details of many scenarios, including this one. While we don't have an answer to this specific situation yet, we will engage with you and your manager to work through these questions as part of our workforce transition process. Our goal is to ensure you are aware of how it will affect you, the timing, and how the process will work prior to any changes taking effect.