A Public Relations Campaign: Zaytuna College
Abstract
Zayatuna College is a small liberal arts institution in California. The college was founded in 2008 and was accredited the first Muslim undergraduate university in the US. Zayatuna College is a non-profit institution, thus it fully depends on the students tuition fees and financial supports from other interested organizations to run its programs. The college was started as a necessity to create Islamic Learning centers for the Muslim-American people. It foresees establishing a lasting higher learning institution to prepare and educate morally committed intellectuals, professionals, and spiritual leaders. The institution is facing a great challenge of low students’ enrollment rate. Thus this public relations strategic plan is designed with an aim of spreading the name of Zayatuna College in the US to entice parents and students to increase enrollment rates. The paper includes the executive summary, problem/issue statement, situation analysis, strategy statement, objectives, key messages, and the tactics used to reach the target group. Also, the campaign budget and timeline is included in the paper.
Keywords: Zayatuna College, key messages, target public.
Executive Summary
Zayatuna College is a non-for-profit private liberal arts university situated in Berkeley, California. The school was founded By Hamza Yusuf, Hatem Bazian, and Zaid Shakir in 2008 and became the first accredited Muslim undergraduate university in the US (Song, 2015). Zaytuna College pursues to integrate the significance of humanities and liberal arts into a curriculum of traditional Islamic education. In the 2014/2015 academic year, the college had approximately 50 undergraduate students, most of whom resided on the campus. Zaytuna University offers one primary, in Islamic Theology and Law, with many other courses ranging from American literature and history to Islamic jurisprudence and Arabic grammar. Also, the college conducts a comprehensive Arabic language course during the summer.
Zayatuna College, a non-profit institution, depends on finances it obtains from student fees to run its programs. But the number of students the college is enrolling annually is too low. Therefore, the college is facing the challenge of raising revenues and finances to run its programs effectively. Nonetheless, Zayatuna College depends on grants from governmental organizations, NGOs, and other bodies to help them raise finances to run the institution (Corman, 2010). Thus, this public relation aims to attract support from other organizations and governmental bodies to facilitate learning in Zayatuna College.
Besides, Zayatuna College was founded from the necessity to create Islamic Learning centers for the Muslim-American people. It foresees establishing a lasting higher learning institution to prepare and educate morally committed intellectuals, professionals, and spiritual leaders (Corman, 2010). Zayatuna college intends to train professionals to be fully grounded in the Islamic intellectual tradition and familiar with critical ideas and cultural currents influencing contemporary society. The institution is equipped with tutors who can authoritatively interpret Islamic scriptures and teach Caucasian students in the light of the cultural context that the Muslims lives in. The college has been considered as an institution to bridge the gap between the Muslim World and America. Therefore, this public relations strategic plan will help popularize the university to the American population, thus attracting more students to the college.
Introduction and Problem/Issue Statement
Zayatuna College is a not-for-profit institution that trains people on the traditional Islamic cultures. It is a small college that was founded 11 years ago. Only a few people in the US know about the college. As a result, the college only enrols less than a thousand students annually. The research conducted on how the university was represented in the media portrayed that there is not much information about the university on the media. That show how the collage is poorly represented in the media. Poor presentation of Zayatuna collage in the media and lack of information concerning the university to the majority of the US inhabitants calls for this PR strategic plan to help popularize the institution. Also, there is a great need to advertise the college to the public to attract organizations and other individuals to financially support the institution. Through this public relations plan, the college will be properly introduced to the American community and the entire world, thus attracting more learners to the institution.
Situation Analysis
As mentioned above in the executive summary chapter, Zayatuna College is a small institution that offers a strong experience for liberal arts academics. The college offers one major, five professional schools, and other interdisciplinary curriculum needs. The institution is also planning to start master’s programs to continue the process of education. Currently, there are approximately 600 students enrolled in the college (Kashani, 2016). The majority of the students are foreigners from Arabic lands. Just a few are from California and the US at large.
Zayatuna College is growing significantly and becoming more popular. The institution is interested in creating more awareness and interest in their college in California and other parts of other parts of United States (Spannaus & Razavian, 2018). Thus, this PR plan is developed to disseminate the college’s name to different parts of the US and the world. Zayatuna college is constantly enhancing its academics, the lives of its students, and community service. Even though the college is poorly represented in the media, our research has shown that the college is positively portrayed in the media. Parents and students from the US would be interested in the school if they knew more about the opportunities of Zayatuna University. This campaign will create awareness and increase interest in the Zayatuna college, further enhancing student enrolment from California and America at large.
Content analysis was conducted to gain an insight into how the Zayatuna college is represented in the media. The analysis involved a comprehensive search on the magazine and newspapers to find articles about Zayatuna college. Magazines and newspapers were given priority due to their credibility and ability to reach many people or target populations. These media was also used because they disseminate newsworthy information. Zayatuna college library database was used as the primary source for finding the relevant articles. The university library was used due to its credibility and the variety of databases to search. The databases used to find the articles were Academic Search Premier, Lexis Nexis, and News bank. Only six articles published in the US were found from these sources. In some cases, the same article came up on multiple databases. The search term used was Zayatuna University. A broader search term was not used during the search because the university is a small liberal arts institution situated in one of the smallest states in the nation. Therefore, there is less national news coverage that covers Zayatuna University. From the search, it was clear that less has been written about Zayatuna College, calling for a need to write more on the institution to spread its name.
Strategy Statement
The purpose of this public relations plan is to enhance students’ enrollment into the college. Therefore, the first strategy will be to interview high school students in order to determine how the college can be promoted and awareness created for students in the other parts of the country. In these interviews, the majors and opportunities of the college will be highlighted so that the programs can be suggested to the interested students (Syauki, 2021). In the tactic, the attractive face of the college will be shown because the location is one of the factors attracting students to the colleges and universities.
Besides, another strategy is finding the most effective and efficient way of reaching students and their parents (target audience). The college will use familiar and easily updated media forms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) to reach its target population (Ardianti et al., 2017). The media forms selected are easy to use, and students are conversant with them. Therefore, they will get information on the college frequently and in a timely manner. Besides, the college needs to continue concentrating on the admission statistics and standards about the institution and uphold a positive representation of the university to the public through the media. Thus, the institution will set its objectives and goals and clearly define its target public.
Goals and Objectives
Goal
The goal of this public relations strategic plan is to increase the enrollment of students to Zayatuna College from the West Coast regions in the academic year 2022/2023. The aim is to specifically reach students attending different private high schools within California and America at large. We chose to specifically reach private high schools because their parents are more likely to pay the required yearly tuition fee at Zayatuna College. There is a high possibility of the parents taking their children to private schools in college search for their children. Therefore, the parent will be interested in a post-secondary school promising direct involvement with its students.
Objectives
The objectives of this strategic plan are grouped into three main categories; informational, attitudinal, and behavioural.
Informational
1. To inform approximately 900 parents with at least 90,000 dollars annual income whose children attends private schools within California and even the entire country about Zayatuna College by February 2022.
2. To inform about 2,500 students attending various private high schools within the country about Zayatuna College by February 2022.
Behavioural
1. To have 150 secondary students within the country apply to Zayatuna Collage By May 2022.
2. To have 120 parents of students from different high schools, particularly private schools within the country, visit the Zayatuna College admission office and website for more information concerning their children’s undergraduate learning at Zayatuna Colle by April 2022.
Attitudinal
1. To enhance positive feelings regarding Zayatuna College to 400 parents with at least 90,000 dollars annual income, whose children attends various high schools within the country by March 2022.
2. To enhance positive feelings regarding Zayatuna College to approximately 709 students learning in different high schools within the country by March 2022.
Key Messages
Different messages will be used when reaching parents, students, or both. The following messages will be used to entice students; we may be small, but we have everything needed for your learning. The grass is greener on the other side of the nation. Are you looking for your next big opportunity? Zayatuna College is the best place to search for it. Our institution is one of the best, with highly qualified tutors and trainers.
Besides, when targeting parents alone, the following messages will be used; sizable class ensuring one-on-one interaction between the student and the tutor. The professors of Zayatuna College care about the learners, and it has a student to faculty ratio of 12:1. Finally, when targeting both students and parents, the following messages will be used; smooth sail to success; Zayatuna College the bridge to success. We are the Rhode the experience of your study abroad – with favourable cost. From the Pacific Ocean to Ocean State.
Target Public
The primary target public will be parents from various high schools, particularly private schools. Parents have a greater effect on the type of college or university that should be attended by their children. Thus, our public relations strategic plan will target parents of different high schools in Coastal areas of California. Great emphasis will be given t parents with children in different private high schools in the region. The selected region has an average family income that aligns with the institution’s public relations plan. Therefore, the parents from the selected region will be able to afford tuition fees at Zayatuna College.
Besides, the annual income of the targeted parents is essential to our campaign. Zayatuna College is an expensive institution to apply to. A 90000 dollar annual income would be enough and will make our target group more specific. Also, the parents of the students within California are needed to have enough income to cater for their children’s transport and accommodation costs. Thus, our campaign targets parents with specific annual incomes who can afford fees at Zayatuna College.
Furthermore, the secondary target public of our campaign is the students. Millions of students always look for and apply to universities and colleges every year. Some students prefer local colleges, while others branch out and search for colleges across the country. Our campaign will target high schools from the entire country, with California State given much emphasis. It will be easy to find students interested in learning in our college because California is one of the largest states in the US with diverse races and cultures. Already, there are many students enrolled in the institution who are residing in California. Therefore, our campaign will use testimonials of these learners to entice and attract other students.
Communication Pathways and Tools (Tactics)
The guidance counsellors have a greater influence on the lives of college applicants. The chances of West Coast applicants at Zayatuna College will be increased by upholding a positive relationship with the students’ counsellors. Word of mouth and face to face conversation will be the most effective communication tool (Stead et al., 2019). When the guidance counsellors are provided with positive news concerning our institution, they will spread this information to their students, achieving our plan’s primary goal. Different tactics will be employed to reach the targeted group. The first one will involve the use of phone calls. Will create a phone relationship with guidance counsellors of the targeted high schools (John, Lamme, & L’Etang, 2014). We will establish weekly or monthly phone calls updating them on the new and undergraduate application deadlines and process. Also, we will establish a newsletter communication with the counsellors. The college newsletter will be frequently sent to the guidance counsellor at the targeted high schools. They will then disseminate these newsletters to their students to enable them to know what is going on in our institution. Finally, we will make use of electronic communication systems. We will use electronic social media platforms such as emails, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and other media relations such as Radio and TVs to reach our target group.
Budget and Implementation Timetable
Budget
Item Description Price
Billboards On freeways of Southern California for a month $ 5,000
Transit bus advertisements Ads will be introduced on buses going to different parts f the nation for one month $ 3,500
Facebook advertisement One month $ 1,500
Advertisements on school gates One month $ 2,000
Flyers Handed to students (2,500 flyers) $ 436.28
News release Different radio stations Free
Total $ 12,436.26
Timeline
Dates Description
January 2022
3rd January Beginning of the campaign
5th Jan Send a press release to radio stations
10th Jan Initiate contact with guidance counsellors
28th Jan Send another press release to radio stations
February
1st Feb Upload Zayatuna virtual tour and video PSA onto the institution website.
10th Feb Post advertisements on billboards and transit buses.
Evaluation
To evaluate how our set objectives have been met, we will determine the number of information pathways used to inform our target group of our institution. We will determine the number of times the information about our college is aired on the radio stations. We will determine the total number of flyers produced and distributed to the target students and parents. The exact number of brochures produced will be determined. The total number of social media followers will be determined. Then the number of clicks on the advertisements from Facebook and YouTube will be determined to assess how the campaign’s objectives have been met. Besides, the total number of individuals exposed to our campaign messages can be determined by audience attendance. The total number of parents and students approaching the college table will be determined. Therefore, the measurement of production and measurement of exposure will help evaluate the success of the campaign.
References
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Corman, J. (2010. Zaytuna College, First Muslim College In U.S., Opens In California. Huffington Post online.
John III, B. S., Lamme, M. O., & L’Etang, J. (Eds.). (2014). Pathways to public relations: histories of practice and profession. Routledge.
Kashani, M. (2014). Seekers of sacred knowledge: Zaytuna College and the education of American Muslims (Doctoral dissertation).
Song, J. (2015). “Muslim college gains accreditation”. Los Angeles Times.
Spannaus, N., & Razavian, C. P. (2018). Zaytuna College and the Construction of an American Muslim Identity. Evolving debates in the West, 39-71.
Stead, M., Angus, K., Langley, T., Katikireddi, S. V., Hinds, K., Hilton, S., … & Bauld, L. (2019). Mass media to communicate public health messages in six health topic areas: a systematic review and other reviews of the evidence. Public Health Research.
Syauki, L. (2021). Principal’s Public Relation Strategy to Increase Society Belief. AL-ISHLAH: Jurnal Pendidikan, 13(2), 1419-1424.
