Guidelines for Project Planning

The following guidelines are intended to help you estimate the required minimum lead time involved for various types of projects. Please be aware that these lead times are only estimates—your project will be considered in relation to other projects and priorities. To help us plan and prioritize, please initiate your projects as soon as you know about them, often months in advance.

OMC Project request guidelines

Cornell College News Center Story—Minimum two weeks advance notice

Key info:

• Contact person(s)

• Event date (if applicable)

• Short description

• Location (on or off campus, in particular)

• Provide a photo or photo idea to go with the story

• Interest in additional media coverage (Yes/no)

Media Relations/Press Release—Minimum two weeks advance notice

Key Info:

• Contact person(s)

• Event date/launch date if applicable

• Potential interview subject (Who will do interviews with interested media?)

• Short description

• Why is this story going to a appeal to local/national media?

Major News Feature/Press Coverage—Timeline dependent on content, minimum two months

Key Info:

• Magazine or news agency to pitch

• Contact person(s)

• Event date/launch date (if applicable)

• Short description

• Why is this story going to appeal to local/national media?

Social Media Coverage—Minimum one week advance notice

Key Info:

• Event date/time

• Short description

• Contact person(s)

• Are there photo opportunities? (if no, provide a photo)

Video Production—Minimum four weeks advance notice

Key Info:

• Contact information

• Talent for video (Who will speak on camera?)

• Short description

• Goals for video placement (Where will this video be used? What is its purpose?)

Website—Varies by project but a minimum of two weeks for minor updates up to several months for major updates, depending on OMC’s project calendar.

Know what your intended purpose is for your website project and put together a tentative content plan based off of the questions below. Then, submit your content plan to marketing for review.

• Who is your primary audience (prospective students/parents, current students, faculty or staff, alumni, community)?

• Who is your primary content writer? (Who updates your web content?)

• How often does your primary content writer review your pages for accuracy?

• Do you have web quality photos for your pages? Or will you need help getting photos? (See photo coverage below for more information on photos.)

• What is the goal of each proposed page?

• What are you willing to prune from your existing web content that has grown stale or is no longer relevant to your audience?

Cornell Report—three to six months advance notice. Note that the college magazine comes out three times a year, has an extended production schedule, and limited space. Its audience is primarily alumni and donors, and also includes current parents, faculty, and staff.

Key Info:

• Provide a short story description

• Provide a photo or photo idea to go with the story

• Why should this story appear in the magazine?

Photo Coverage—Minimum two weeks notice, preferably share info as soon as event date is finalized so that we can schedule a photographer.

Key Info:

• Date, time, and location of event  

• Expected duration of photography at the event (Is the first 15 minutes enough or do we need to stay to the end?)

• Contact person(s)

• Goals of photography–How will it be used, what is the must-have ‘shot list’

• Budget for photography–Do you have budget to pay for a professional photographer? How much?

Please note that quality, and quantity of photos will be determined by staff/student photographer availability if there is no budget to hire a professional photographer.

Marketing Materials & Initiatives—Varies by project

OMC is available to consult on new marketing initiatives for your projects and can help you identify the necessary resources and methodology for setting up a project. Depending on your timeline, that may include suggesting an outside resource if OMC doesn’t have the capacity to complete your request when desired.  To plan ahead:

• Brainstorming help: minimum one week notice if calendars align

• Creation of a new marketing campaign or materials—start at least 3 months before materials are needed. Consult with OMC earlier if materials must be created in-house to see how it fits into our project calendar.

• Updating existing materials that OMC created for you (text/graphics/photos) if you have identified updates and provided images—minimum two weeks advance notice.

• Updating existing materials that OMC created for you (text/graphics/photos) if you need OMC assistance—minimum four weeks advance notice.

• Note that printing through the Mail and Service Center requires three business days advance notice for projects up to 500 pieces. (If specialty paper is needed, add one week to order.) Projects over 500 pieces will require additional scheduling time.

• If printing large quantities with an outside vendor, build 10 business days into your project plan for printing.

Getting started

marketing@cornellcollege.edu and a member of the marketing team will contact you to follow up on your request.