When Carroll Community College in Maryland launched development of its next four-year strategic plan, the leadership team wasn’t thinking about just KPIs and goal statements. They were thinking about trust. Visibility. Inclusivity. And what it would look like to build a plan not just for the community but with it.
As a result, when Carroll conducted a community survey, it received input from 1,455 survey respondents, including feedback from 777 community members who were neither students nor employees. That’s 53% of total participants.
For a rural college with about 300 full-time staff, this level of participation wasn’t just a win in numbers, but it reshaped how the institution thinks about collaboration, relevance and communication.
“We wanted a strategic plan rooted in real voices, and we wanted those voices to be representative of our entire community,” said Carroll President Rosalie Mince. “Our marketing and communications team helped us make that happen.”
This article is part of a monthly series provided by the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR), an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges.
Here’s how Carroll’s team did it, plus some lessons it learned along the way.
1. Start with the message: Why should they care?
Strategic planning often feels abstract to those outside leadership circles. Carroll’s approach was to lead with relevance, emphasizing how public input could help shape the college’s future in real, tangible ways.
Rather than simply posting a link and hoping for clicks, the college created two short videos to deliver the message in a way that felt accessible and engaging:
- Boardroom is a skit about what happens when decisions are made without input.
- Apples and Oranges is a playful analogy explaining the idea of “If you don’t tell us you like apples, you might just get oranges.”
These videos, produced by the college’s strategic marketing and brand management department, used humor and simplicity to bridge the gap between institutional planning and public impact. Mince took on a highly visible role, appearing in the videos, attending meetings and modeling a tone of openness and humility.
“The more transparent we were, the more participation we saw,” she said. “Leadership visibility made a difference. I got so much positive feedback about those videos.”
2. Diversify communication channels.
Like a smart investment strategy, Carroll didn’t put all its outreach “stock” in one channel. Instead, it launched a coordinated, multi-platform campaign that included:
- Internal emails and announcements to faculty, staff and students
- External emails to alumni, donors and community stakeholders
- Social media videos and Instagram reels
- In-person outreach at meetings and events
- Print ads in the local newspaper
- Frequent website updates
- Daily giveaways to maintain momentum
Every message was consistent and tailored to its audience and platform.
From the beginning, the strategic planning committee worked closely with marketing, said Michelle Kloss, vice president for effectiveness, integrity and accountability and committee chair.
“That partnership enhanced our ability to generate broad participation,” she said, as evidenced by the survey’s high level of response.
3. Make it fun (and frequent) for students.
Reaching students presented a different challenge – most aren’t scrolling social media hoping to provide feedback on institutional priorities. So Carroll provided content that was both entertaining and persistent. The marketing team posted daily during the survey window using humor, trending sounds, student language and giveaways.
Reels alone received over 292,000 views.
This daily cadence built trust, created familiarity and reminded students that their input mattered.
4. Giveaways work for everyone.
Incentives are often discussed in the context of student engagement, but Carroll extended this idea further. Prize drawings were open to faculty, staff and community members.
These weren’t seen as bribes but thank yous, small moments of appreciation that helped spark participation across all groups.
What other colleges can learn.
For college presidents preparing for their next strategic plan, Carroll’s experience offers a model for meaningful, measurable engagement at a time when trust and public connection are more important than ever.
- Involve marketing from day one. They bring audience insights and strategic messaging.
- Lead with relevance. Connect participation to impact.
- Make it a movement. Use multiple channels to build momentum.
- Center the president’s voice. Leadership visibility fosters credibility.
- Close the loop. Show participants that their input shaped the result.
Carroll’s strategy proves that marketing and planning aren’t separate, and projects are strongest when the two are aligned.
