Challenge
After former alumni of the programme Sport, Management and Business; Jabbo Smulders was approached by the alumni team from the HvA, he soon called Marking for support with the launch of the new Alumni Network. We jumped at the chance to step in at the beginning to help define the name, branding elements and overall strategic (communication) plan to activate alumni and facilitate networking!
Research & Strategy
Activating and ensuring alumni were aware of the new initiative was key. To ensure we didn’t end up in spam boxes or provide an overload on information that would scare people off, we decided on the motto: quality over quantity.
We needed to build trust among alumni who were being presented with new information. We carefully curated a communication strategy to inform alumni about the activated Alumni Network focusing on existing communication channels and optimizing them.
We brought new energy into the inactive LinkedIn group, we rebranded the email flows on the HvA’s CMS systems (Pardot and Microsoft Dynamics), created a tailored whatsapp group to broadcast messages and we informed students at their graduation ceremony with an enticing event aftermovie.
Events
To activate the network, we organised different events and get togethers at external locations. Starting small, we focused on quality, building trust among alumni. We then proceeded to engage more and more former sport studies students ending up with over 120 alumni at some events!
It was all about exceeding expectations and ensuring (young) professionals experienced the added value.
Content Creation
Content is king! Having the right content elevates the visual identity if it is in line with the brand identity and used in the right places. Based on the channels we were able to use we created high quality content that matched our promises; quality over quantity.
By creating aftermovies for each event we were able to engage different audiences. Alumni that showed up could enjoy the nostalgia and alumni who weren't present, saw what they had missed, encouraging them to sign up to the next event. We also created a video to present at the graduation ceremony for the new alumni to create excitement and awareness.
