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! Don't forget the goal, empower your students with "Global Career Skills."

• 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
   Getting started is easy! You only need to set up one link on your website so that students can register to access The BIG Guide Online (example of link for New Your University (NYU): www.workingoverseas.com/nyu). Career services, study abroad and international program Web sites are the best places to post links for encouraging free-student-access to The BIG Guide Online. Download suggested logos and recommended text for making your link enticing.
2. Design a marketing plan and review our "Essential Check List"
   Use the tools and projects provided on this page (along with your creativity) to create a marketing plan aimed at letting members of your school community know that they have free access to The BIG Guide Online.  Audit and focus your marketing efforts with our one page Essential Check List of sure-fire ideas to increase student registrations to The BIG Guide Online while promoting the value of global career skills to your students. 
3. Identify staff to help you promote global career skills
   There are a number of people on campus who have an interest in promoting global career skills. See our list of suggestions along with ideas on how you might engage with them.
4. Attend staff training webinars every Wednesday this SUMMER (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION) NEW July, 2010
   This summer (Wednesdays from July 14 to September 2), we are providing enhanced training and orientation opportunities, helping your staff to familiarize or re-familiarize themselves with The BIG Guide to Living and Working Overseas ONLINE. These opportunities are provided for new staff, for those who may not have had an opportunity to participate in training or simply those who want a refresher. In addition, we are offering a webinar specifically geared towards those advisors who are interested in promoting The BIG Guide Online and global career skills to their students. Find out more and register now for one or both webinars: (1) Exploring The BIG Guide Online and (2) Marketing The BIG Guide Online and promoting global career skills.
   Organize alternative staff training with our video training tutorials: 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 located in the Help section of our web site (NOTE: To see these videos, you must first sign into the site, and then choose “Help” in the main (purple) menu bar.) We have broken up our videos into short segments (most are 3-4 minutes long) which make them quicker to load and allows for follow-up discussions and review after each segment.  For more detailed information see How to organize a staff training session. Use the Reader Tracking Sheet to organize a group training session for staff or students and see the last page for a training plan outline.
5. 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.
6. Publish a press release
   Make it official! Publish a press release announcing free access to The BIG Guide Online. See the official press release.

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! (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION)
   Catch students on their way to class, in cafeterias, in libraries or even at the gym. Posters are a simple way to spread the word about the importance of global career skills and free access to The BIG Guide Online. We have created a sample poster which is easy to modify (the poster will load up in MS Word): English Poster; French Poster.
   The three ideas below are effective and easy to implement. 
   • POSTER IN LOBBIES: Design a BIG Guide poster and post it permanently in the lobbies of the Career Office, Study Abroad Office, International Students Office and other locations on campus.
   • POSTER ON BULLETIN BOARDS IN EACH FACULTY: At the start of each school year, have the poster 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.
   • POSTER ON FLIP SIDE OF QUICK GUIDES: When distribution the Quick Guides below, print The BIG Guide poster on the reverse side to encourage students to register for their free BIG Guide subscription.
4. 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. (Consider printing the poster above on the flip 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 or set up as a link on your website.  
   • 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    
5. 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.
6. 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)
7. 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
8. 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. SEMINAR: My Global Career Skills (EDITOR'S TOP RECOMMENDATION) 
   (Premium Access Subscribers only)
   Present our two-part SEMINAR My Global Career Skills to your students; PART ONE: A 30-minute pre-recorded WEBINAR by Jean-Marc Hachey (you can also book a live webinar with a Q&A session); PART TWO: An hour-long WORKSHOP run by a facilitator at your school and making use of our online quizzes (see views in Power Point slides My Inventory of International Skills). We have a detailed Project Manual to help you present on four subject areas: (1) My International Experience (our most popular subject), (2) My International Jobs and Internships, (3) My International IQ, (4) My Political, Economic and Geographic Knowledge. Call our client support staff for a personal consultation about delivering these seminars at your school 1-416-925-0479. NEW April, 2010!
4. 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 Overseas, Internships, Re-Entry Shock, Teaching English Abroad, or any number of related topics.
5. 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.
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.