So, your institution has taken the biggest step: signing up for The BIG Guide Online. Now it’s time to let students and staff know about the resources and features that you have made available to them. Below you will find marketing tools and strategies to help you achieve maximum visibility. After all, the more students, faculty and alumni who can benefit from The BIG Guide Online, the better!

• PHASE ONE: Launch (Planning & Initial Marketing)
• PHASE TWO: Maintaining Momentum
• PHASE THREE: Special Projects

PHASE ONE: Launch (Planning & Initial Marketing)

1. Link to The BIG Guide Online from your institution’s Web site
   Career Services, Study Abroad and International program Web sites are the best places to market free access to The BIG Guide Online. Download suggested logos and recommended text to make your linking life easier.
2. Identify school administrators
   School adminsitrators will have access to extra menus when logged in to The BIG Guide Online. With Standard Access, administrators will be able to modify the My School page; if your school has Premium Access, administrators will be able to modify the My School page; retrieve usage statistics; allow alumni (who do not have a school email address) to access The BIG Guide Online; and appoint other staff as administrators for The BIG Guide Online.
3. Identify marketing representives
   This is a core group of people who will devise the marketing plan and help promote tha availabiltiy of The BIG Guide to students. Choose marketing coordinators from Career Services, Study Abroad, International Students and other international offices or departments focused on promoting global career skills on campus. Once marketing coordinators have been appointed, supply with their contact information. These coordinators will then receive all the latest up-dates related to the site.
4. Design a marketing plan
   Use the tools and projects provided on this page (along with your creativity) to create a clear marketing plan aimed at letting members of your school community know that they have free access to The BIG Guide Online.
5. Encourage staff to view our video tutorials (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION)
   The more informed the student advisors at your school are, the more informed your students will be. Encourage your student advisors to view our series of 15 short video tutorials. Use the Reader Tracking Sheet to organize a group training session for staff or students. We have broken up our videos into short segments (most are 3-4 minutes long) which makes them quicker to load and allows for follow-up discussions and review after each segment. (NOTE: To see these videos, you must first sign into the site, and then choose “Help” in the main(purple) menu bar.) For more detailed information see How to organize a staff training session. 
6. Email students, faculty and student advisors (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION)
   Email is one of the best ways to pass along important information to members of the school community, especially at the beginning of the academic year. The more faculty and staff who know about free access to The BIG Guide Online, the more students they can pass it on to. See suggested audience-specific email message. Encourage staff (career center, study abroad and faculty) to register as users for The BIG Guide Online. NOTE: Premium Subscribers can see which staff have registered as users. To access this list, log into the site, go to the “My Guide” menu, choose “My School Network” (left hand menu) and use the “Keyword” search-feature to search for “staff.” You will then see those who have self-identified themselves as “staff” in The BIG Guide Online registration process.
7. Partner with others to promote The BIG Guide Online (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION)
   Both the Career Center and the Study Abroad offices should be involved in promoting The BIG Guide to students. Both departments can create links on their respective Web sites and train staff (especially student advisors) on how to use the online guide. Others who may be involved include: the International Student Office, the Alumni Office, International Relations Office, department heads and faculty teaching international courses. 
8. Publish a press release
   Make it official! Publish a press release announcing free access to The BIG Guide Online. See the official press release.
9. Essential check list for marketing The BIG Guide to students
   Audit your marketing efforts with this one page check list of sure-fire ideas to increase student registrations to The BIG Guide Online.

PHASE TWO: Maintaining Momentum

1. Visit our media page for more downloads
   If you want to add some extra color and zip to your online links, press releases or marketing materials, visit www.workingoverseas.com/media for access to more logos and images of Jean-Marc Hachey, author of The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas.
2. Promote The BIG Guide Online link: The www.workingoverseas.com/register URL and your school’s direct URL (e.g. www.workingoverseas.com/nyu) is the number one call to action for students to use The BIG Guide Online. Post either of these links on message boards and on pages of your school's Web site, create and hand out flyers, ask professors to promote The BIG Guide registration – and advertize the link everywhere!
3. Poster, Poster, Poster!
   Catch students on their way to class, in cafeterias, in libraries or even at the gym. Posters are a great, simple way to spread the word. We have created a series of easy-to-use formats for you to download. Print and post them, or attach them to emails.
   • ¼ Page (Word version)
   • ½ Page (Word version for Premium subscribers only)
   • Full Page (Word version)
   • Full Page (PDF version)
4. Mail a poster to each faculty/department for posting on their bulletin boards (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION)
   Design a BIG Guide poster at the start or each school year, have it printed in full color and then mail it with a cover letter to each faculty/department asking them to post this on their bulletin board. (Note that snail mail is more successful than e-mail to encourage faculties to post this on their bulletin boards). Here is a sample poster from one of our clients who found this strategy to be effective.
5. Leave Quick Guides in public waiting areas
   Print out multiple copies of your favorite Quick Guides and leave them for students to peruse in your Career Services, Study Abroad or International Department lobbies. This is easy, fast and the footer at the bottom of each Quick Guide lets students know how to register for free access. Maximize the marketing value by placing The BIG Guide posters mentioned above on the reverse side of the Quick Guide. Premium Access subscribers have access to all 28+ guides from the Tools area of The BIG Guide Online. Although Standard Access subscribers cannot view the 28+ Quick Guides available in the Premium Access Tools section, four of our most popular Quick Guides have been made available for public use. These guides, linked below, can be printed and photocopied without restriction.  
   • 10 Easy Ways for Freshman to Build International Skills
   • Your International IQ 
   • 24 Ways To Help You Go International 
   • Debunking the Myths About How Young Professionals Find International Jobs    
6. Cross-promotion with other international events on campus (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION)
   Consider “piggy-backing” on all your upcoming international events to market the availability of The BIG Guide Online to your students by advertizing the URL for your school's The BIG Guide Online registration page. Cross-promote with International Education Week (annually in November), International Development Week (annually in February in Canada), career fairs, internship or volunteer abroad fairs, study abroad fairs, workshops on international careers or volunteer opportunities abroad? Work with the organizers of these events to insert a footer on all their advertising to encourage students to access The BIG Guide Online registration page. International events have the same mandate as The BIG Guide (i.e. helping students build global career skills), so if an international event is taking place on campus, be sure to take advantage of the cross-promotion potential.
   
   Use one of the suggested tag lines below in the footer of any type of announcement:
   
   • Email announcements:  Insert the tag line inside the body of your e-mail or as a footnote.
   • Event posters: Insert the tag line in the poster’s footer.
   • Web site announcements: Insert a footnote saying, “If you are interested in this event, you may also be interested in..."
   • Quick Guides: Distribute one of our Quick Guides during an international event and use the reverse side of the Quick Guide page to direct students to register for The BIG Guide Online at www.workingoverseas.com/nyu  [Note: this URL is used as an example. You will replace “nyu” with your school domain name to provide members of your school community with quick access to The BIG Guide Online registration page].
   • TAG LINE (Alternative One): DEVELOP YOUR GLOBAL CAREER SKILLS: Students interested in building their international credentials are encouraged to activate their free subscriptions to The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas ONLINE at www.workingoverseas.com/nyu.”
   • TAG LINE (Alternative Two): GO ABROAD TO STUDY, TRAVEL, VOLUNTEER, TEACH, INTERN or WORK and develop your global career skills. Students are encouraged to activate their free subscriptions to The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas ONLINE at www.workingoverseas.com/nyu. This service paid for by New York University Career Center, University Library, and Peggy and Marc Spiegel Center for Global and International Programs.
   • TAG LINE (Alternative Three): Students are encouraged to sign up for free access to The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas ONLINE at www.workingoverseas.com/nyu. This service paid for by New York University Career Center, University Library, and Peggy and Marc Spiegel Center for Global and International Programs.
7. Twitter this message to your followers: Many college departments are asking their student to follow them on Twitter. If you are doing so, share any one of the following suggested messages. Twitter allows a maximum of 140 spaces per message. The suggested "tweets" below have been written with this in mind. Each "tweet" should allow you sufficient space to customize slightly.
   • ALTERNATIVE ONE: NYU students, access BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas for free at www.workingoverseas.com/nyu (97 spaces)
   • ALTERNATIVE TWO: FIND HELP to study intern volunteer travel work ABROAD -The BIG Guide to Living & Working Overseas www.workingoverseas.com/nyu (127 spaces)
8. Send a text message to your contact list: If your department is using text messaging to reach students, consider sending one of the following sample text messages to your contact list.
   • ALTERNATIVE ONE: Go ABROAD to study, intern, volunteer, travel or work with help from The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas. NYU students can register for free access at www.workingoverseas.com/nyu
   • ALTERNATIVE TWO: FIND HELP to GO ABROAD (study, intern, volunteer, travel or work) from The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas. NYU students can register for free access at www.workingoverseas.com/nyu
9. Keep tabs of your school’s usage stats (Premium Access subscribers only)
   It's easy to find out how many students have registered for The BIG Guide Online. Your school's total will always be listed at the top of the My School Network page, found under the My Guide menu. Consider tracking usage before and after your information seminars, email campaigns or international events, or at the end of each month. You can also request your school's historical usage statistics; we maintain records of each school's monthly usage stats.  If you would like to perform a detailed analysis of your users, see instructions on how to download a detailed users report.

PHASE THREE: Special Projects

1. Maximize your use of Quick Guides
   Have student advisors, staff or student ambassadors distribute Quick Guides at any international events. Also, consider placing live links to one or more Quick Guides in your email signature block, or placing free live links to Quick Guides on your institution’s Web site. Add printed copies of Quick Guides to frosh week orientation packages, use them during pre-departure orientation for students going abroad, during re-entry orientation, or when an international student has just arrived on campus. These guides are the best, fastest and most important method of marketing free access to The BIG Guide Online.
2. Recruit interns / student ambassadors
   Students are always keen to volunteer. Perhaps at your school there are students who have already been abroad, or are eager to take the plunge – why not recruit a few of them as ambassadors to promote student registration to The BIG Guide Online? These students could poster the campus, make presentations about how to use the resource, or make announcements in world issues and/or international studies classes to spread the word on the ground, student-to-student.
3. Create new seminars, using The BIG Guide as your main tool
   Once staff and student advisors have viewed our video tutorials, they’ll be comfortable using The BIG Guide Online. Why not conduct a short seminar for students – either about going abroad, or about how to use The BIG Guide? Make use of our printed Quick Guides to design courses on Skills for Succeeding Overeas, Internships, Re-Entry Shock, Teaching English Abroad, or any number of related topics.
4. Invite author Jean-Marc Hachey to speak at your school to help increase student interest
   Schools that subscribe to College Site Access to The BIG Guide Online benefit from special pricing for Jean-Marc’s on-campus seminars. He can present up to three seminars geared towards motivating students to go abroad and increasing student registrations. Jean-Marc’s seminars are a great way to help build momentum about the importance of building global career credentials while still in school. See the College Seminar page for more details.
5. Offer The BIG Guide books as door prizes!         
   For just $150, including shipping, we are now offering 10 copies of The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas to schools registered for College Site Access to The BIG Guide Online. Promote free access to the online version is by giving away The BIG Guide book as a door prize at an event or meeting of an international club. After the prize-winner has been drawn, non-winning students can be reminded via email that they have free access to The BIG Guide Online. For ordering information, email .
6. Use the My School area to promote the My Student Network feature of The BIG Guide Online (Premium Access Subscribers only)
   Encourage students to make use of the My Student Network feature of The BIG Guide Online. Student networking is a chance to help your school build a community of like-minded individuals interested in gaining global experience. Imagine the value of a first-year engineering student who wants to go abroad connecting with a third-year who just arrived home after a study abroad experience. There are countless ways in which student connections can prove beneficial. Have internationally-focused staff fill out their profiles first.
7. Hold an International IQ Quiz event (Premium Access Subscribers only)
   Set up a bank of computers during an international event on campus and have students register for The BIG Guide Online and then complete one of the many International IQ quizzes. Offer prizes or print out scores.
8. Publish articles, info and Quick Guide excerpts in school papers
   Use the suggested press release, get a student to write a review, or publish an excerpt from one of your favorite Quick Guides as a way of spreading the word in print! (Please note that all printed Quick Guide excerpts must include the following phrase: “This excerpt printed with permission of ©The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas by Jean-Marc Hachey. All rights reserved.”)
9. Work with faculty and deans: Encourage professors teaching international subjects to encourage their entire classes to register for The BIG Guide Online and to complete the International IQ quizzes (see My Inventory of International Skills).
10. Celebrate student writers by promoting the Reader Contributions feature of The BIG Guide Online
    Students who go abroad have stories to share with other reader, and they can easily do so by using the Reader Contributions feature. Hold a special event (e.g. essay contest) to promote student writers who are abroad or have just returned. Work with the Study Abroad or International Students' office. See suggested announcement message which can be posted in the My School area.
11. Insert Bookmarks inside the book versions of The BIG Guide located in campus libraries
    If you have The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas book in your libraries (main library, Career Center library, Study Abroad library), insert a bookmark inside The BIG Guide book to inform students that they can register and access The BIG Guide Online. Use the following sentence: “ABC College students have free access to The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas ONLINE by registering at www.workingoverseas.com/register.” (Note: you can use your school's domain name instead of "register" such as www.workingoverseas.com/nyu.)
12. Print small poster-cards with The BIG Guide Online registration information  (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION)
    Create a small poster-card (like a business card) with The BIG Guide registration instructions that can be printed and handed out at events or placed in the waiting areas or common areas of student advising offices. See our sample Word document which you can edit (don't forget to change the registration link to match your school's BIG Guide registration page). A number of schools have had good success with this marketing strategy.
13. Invite alumni to access The BIG Guide Online
    If your alumni have school email addresses, they are free to access The BIG Guide Online in the same way as your students and staff.  If your school is a Premium Access subscriber, and your alumni do NOT have school email addresses, alumni can be given access to The BIG Guide Online by a staff person at your school (most likely someone in the Alumni office). These instructions show you how.
14. Consortium pricing discounts
    We welcome consortium members to save on the annual subscription fee for College Site Access to The BIG Guide Online. Save 40% when more than 40% of the member schools sign up. Save 25% when 20% to 40% of members sign up. With these savings, your school will have more funds available to coach and train students on how to build their international credentials.