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SG Marketing Center
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SG Marketing Center: Put your SG in the spotlight. Do great things. Then make students know.
A bored student slouched in a blue armchair, scrolling on her phone

Do Students Even Know That Your SG Exists?

Your SG busts it all year. So many hours, late nights. But then lots of students still say:

“What does our Student Government even do?”

Frankly, most don't have a clue about the problems you've solved, services SG provided, money SG allocated, changes you've helped make, or opportunities SG created.

So tell them!

And don't think a post on Instagram will cut it.

How good is your SG at marketing?

Do students know what you've accomplished? Do they recognize your SG? Do they know what you do for them?

Take the Publicity & Marketing Quiz (opens in a new tab)

PUBLICITY ISN'T JUST GLITZ & GLAMOUR

A muddy pig in a tuxedo, bow tie and gold sparkle top hat

You Can't Market Nothing.

Try to dress a pig for a party.

If your SG isn't doing much that students care about, better graphics, more posts, a new logo, or another T-shirt won't make them suddenly notice.

It's so much easier to market something worth marketing.

Solve a problem. Improve something. Help students. Create a useful service. Fix something that's broken. Accomplish something students wanted.

Do Real Stuff First.

Then tell everybody about it.

Do Real Stuff What Can Your SG Really Accomplish?

What's worth bragging about? Not everything deserves the spotlight. Your SG might do quite a bit. Let's be honest: students aren't going to care. At least about most of it. New officers? No. New constitution? No. You can, and should, post it. But not many students will notice. What are the accomplishments, services, victories, programs, and changes that give students a real reason to notice SG? Left: an Instagram post announcing the new 2026-27 Student Government officers with 23 likes. Who cares? Their friends. Their parents. Maybe a few SG people. Most students scroll right past it. Right: an Instagram post announcing the library is now open until 2 A.M. with 486 likes. Now that's something. It affects students. It solves a problem. They have a reason to care.
No more once and done. A post isn't a marketing plan. One accomplishment, the library now open until 2 A.M., radiating out to eight ways of reaching students: social media, website, email, campus media, student organizations, yard signs, posters, and word of mouth. The buttons below link to 50 PR ideas, creative marketing ideas, speaking out, and posters.

PLAN IT

No More Winging It.

A plan. Is. Needed. Sounds boring, but anything great has a detailed, well-thought-out plan. Before you design the graphic, order the banner, or draft the social media post:

WHAT?

What are we promoting?

Is this actually something students care about?

WHO?

Who are we trying to reach?

Everybody isn't always the audience.

WHY?

Why should they care?

What's in it for them?

ACTION?

What do we want them to do?

Know something? Attend? Vote? Apply? Participate?

MESSAGE?

What are we saying?

Can you explain it in a 30-second elevator speech?

WHERE?

Where will they see it?

Online? Around campus? In campus media?

HOW OFTEN?

How many different ways will they see it?

One post isn't enough.

WHO OWNS IT?

Who's responsible?

Someone has to own the "campaign" (PR lingo).

DID IT WORK?

What happened?

Don't just count posts. Did students respond?

Build your plan

Create a Marketing Plan Effective Marketing = Right Mentality Marketing When They Don't Care

So much work. So little help. One person? No way. Every SG has a Publicity VP, Communications Director, Marketing Director. And too often, that's the entire marketing department. One lonely, overworked person. And that student is brand-new to SG (and maybe to college) and has never promoted anything, ever. You expect them to run social media, design graphics, take photos, make videos, hang posters, update the Website, promote events, work with campus media. Just do it. That's a lot to dump on one student. Pictured: an exhausted student asleep on a desk at 3:00 a.m. beside a tipped coffee cup, a stack of papers and a laptop.

STOP DOING IT ALONE

Every Good Production Has a Crew.

CREW CREDIT 01

Marketing & Advertising Classes

Ask a marketing or advertising professor to take on your SG as a real client.

Give the class the SG marketing challenge. Let student teams develop competing strategies and present their ideas.

Offer a prize for the best marketing plan.

CREW CREDIT 02

Faculty Experts

Professors who teach marketing, advertising, public relations, communications, journalism, graphic design. Ask them.

Major companies don't expect one employee to figure out all of their advertising. Why should your SG?

CREW CREDIT 03

Interns

Students usually can get academic credit while doing real work for SG. Instead of paying, they get real-world experience and pick up some credits for helping out.

Just figure out the requirements through each academic department chair.

CREW CREDIT 04

Student Clubs

Is there a marketing, advertising, PR, communications, journalism, or design club on your campus?

Give them a real project. They get experience. Your SG gets their expertise.

CREW CREDIT 05

Work-Study Students

Student employees may be able to help with recurring marketing and publicity work. They don't have a background in marketing, but they can do a lot of the "old school" marketing: yard signs, bulletin boards, banners, flyers, chalking.

CREW CREDIT 06

Publicity Crew

SG has a committee for everything. How about marketing? Use senators and representatives to pitch in. We need people. The marketing director can't do it alone.

Get Marketing Help

WHERE ARE YOUR STUDENTS?

Meet Them Where They Are.

On Their Phones

  • Social media
  • Email
  • Video
  • Your SG Website
  • Campus apps and platforms

Around Campus

  • Posters
  • Flyers
  • Banners
  • Yard signs
  • Table signs
  • Tabling
  • Events
  • Displays

Through Other People

  • Campus media
  • Student orgs
  • Residence halls
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Campus Depts
  • Classrooms
  • Your members
  • Word of mouth

OLD SCHOOL IS NOT OBSOLETE.

Campus scene promoting the library now open until 2 A.M. with SG made it happen on a bulletin board poster, table tent, T-shirts, buttons, a large banner, yard sign, sidewalk chalk and a door hanger. Labels along the bottom: posters (bulletin boards), flyers (under wipers), table tents, banners, yard signs, chalking, shirts and buttons, door hangers.

Don't Dump an Idea If It's Not Digital.

A big banner that thousands of students walk by every day.

A poster.

Yard signs. Sidewalk chalk. Flyers.

All of these work. So can standing in the middle of campus and actually talking with students. They're your constituents!

Use Social Networks Use Your SG Website Don't Forget Posters Speak Out! Creative Marketing Ideas

LOOK LIKE YOU BELONG

Will Anyone Know It's SG?

The same SG logo and colors on a phone screen, a website, a street-pole banner, a backpack, a T-shirt, a yard sign, a table tent and a water bottle.

Your SG logo must become instantly recognizable to everyone on campus. Just like Coke or Pepsi or Apple or Amazon. McDonald's and Disney.

You're obviously a much smaller organization. But learn from the big boys: use your logo everywhere. Use the same colors and style consistently.

Every poster, social post, flyer, and Website must clearly be from your SG. Then students might remember.

Use Your SG Logo See SG Logo & Identity Samples

NEED SOME INSPIRATION?

Steal Some Good Ideas.

Borrow an idea. Improve it. Adapt it.

Promos Social Media Logos & Identity Newsletters/Reports Media/PR Programs & Services

Looking for something else?

Annual Reports Awards Campus Posting Policies Contests General Publicity Mottos Office Photos Photos Retreats Scholarships State of the SGA Student Forums Suggestion Boxes Surveys

NEED MORE HELP?

Do Great Things.

Then Make Students Know.