Located in northern California,
Diablo Valley College is part of the Contra Costa Community College District. Chrisanne Knox, DVC’s marketing director, wanted to highlight the school’s outstanding career and technical programs, which attract students from the greater Bay Area and beyond.
Last year the California Legislature approved a $200 million dollar annual reoccurring investment to expand and improve career and technical programs, providing a significant boost to schools like DVC. However, today’s prospective students spend more hours researching their options than any previous generation.
Knox realized that Diablo Valley College still had to do more to get the word out about everything the school has to offer.
Knox was familiar with CareerFocus because Los Medanos, a sister-college in the district, has produced their own issue for several years to provide timely and relevant information about career and technical programs.
Using our software Los Medanos would simultaneously publish CareerFocus in print and online, and then promote sharable content on social media. The strategy was paying off and the school was seeing results.
Inspired by their success, Knox wanted to adopt a similar model.
Inspired by their success, Knox wanted to adopt a similar model.
She came to Aperture Content Marketing with a vision for a magazine that would spotlight many of Diablo Valley College’s certificate programs, and feature commentary from students, faculty and area employers.
All she needed was the right tools and marketing content to make it happen quickly and affordably.
Knox liked the idea of a print magazine because it’s such an effective way to reach the demographic DVC is targeting.
Even Gen Z students, who check their smartphones every three minutes on average, still rely on other sources for long-form content. And, reaching digitally disadvantaged, low-income homes requires a traditional print marketing strategy.
Jennifer Finetti was tasked with making Knox’s marketing strategy a reality and creating DVC’s first issue of CareerFocus.
Putting together custom articles didn’t take Finetti long. Because our content is made to be tailored, Finetti found it easy to adapt. She explains that “In most cases, I used the opening paragraphs and then revamped the balance.” The resulting custom content was perfectly pitched to DVC’s community.
Finetti also wanted to use the new issue of CareerFocus magazine to upend the negative gender stereotypes about certain degrees. A certification in welding or nursing shouldn’t be consider gender exclusive.
She selected the article “Break the Mold – Choose a Career Based on Passion, Not Gender” to showcase men and women succeeding in non-traditional careers. Finetti says that encouraging students to develop their talents, regardless of gender, is something “that I feel strongly about, and so does DVC.”
Finetti and Knox’s passion for equality ended up quite literally paying off. Diablo Valley College’s issue of CareerFocus was covered by Perkins grants. “Promoting non-traditional programs financially satisfies Perkins grants,” Finetti explains, and so they were able to use their grant money to cover their marketing costs.
This meant that the marketing department was able to make the most of their dollars and also of Aperture’s services.
Aperture Content Marketing couldn’t be more pleased to be a part of Diablo Valley College’s continued success. After their outstanding first issue, we can’t wait to see what they do with future editions of CareerFocus.
Read Diablo Valley College’s first issue of CareerFocus here.
