This semester has been one of the most difficult yet for me, but I believe this PR Campaign has truly allowed me to learn so much about the PR world that I knew little to nothing about before. When this project was first introduced, I had no clue how we were going to develop this campaign, and as we get closer and closer to the finish line, it is falling into place nicely.
Downtown Knowledge Market pictured above.
KEy elements to our campaign
Objectives
Our first campaign objective is to drive awareness of the Downtown Knowledge Market amongst GVSU students by gaining at least 250 new followers across social media platforms by April 2026.
The second objective is to increase awareness of the Downtown Knowledge Market amongst GVSU students by 15% by April 2026.
Creating these objectives was more difficult than I thought. It felt obvious that no one knew what the Downtown Knowledge Market was, and that it needed a social media presence to connect with our generation, but turning that into objectives proved tricky. Ensuring that we had all the right aspects was something I was not familiar with. We had to strategize for a reasonable number of followers and a realistic time frame to measure. Another part we had to strategize on was how to raise awareness of the downtown knowledge market.
Strategies
The first strategy is to create compelling, shareable content on Instagram.
The second strategy is to partner with reputable social media channels, specifically Grand Valley’s Instagram account.
The third strategy is to develop exciting and interactive in-person activation at the Downtown Knowledge Market.
The fourth strategy is to partner with GVSU professors who teach on the downtown campus.
Coming up with the ideas for our strategies was not hard, but delegating them to the right objective was somewhat tricky. Since our goals are similar, the line between what strategies are tied to it was confusing at first. After talking as a group and understanding one another, this process became easy.
Tactics
Tactic one is to have the social media intern create Instagram reels from a student’s perspective to prepare students who are nervous about a walk-through tour of what to expect.
Tactic two is to create a giveaway where students must follow, like, and comment on the Downtown Knowledge Market’s Instagram. (pictured below)
Tactic three is receiving a shoutout on the Grand Valley Instagram page to reach students who are unfamiliar with the program and encourage them to follow and learn more.
Tactic four is an Instagram story “takeover” in which a knowledge market consultant would share a day in my life as a consultant, so viewers could see both sides of the knowledge market and, hopefully, reduce the anxiety people feel when seeking help.
Tactic five is to post flyers throughout buildings on the downtown campus to spread awareness. (see below one example)
Tactic six is to create a grand re-opening press release.
Tactic seven is to encourage professors to encourage students to go to the Downtown Knowledge Market for extra credit.
Tactic eight is to do in-class presentations about the services offered at the Downtown Knowledge Market.
Coming up with these tactics was not difficult. We implemented some things that already happen on campus for other resources, specifically in-class presentations and professors requiring or granting extra credit for students who attend specific resources/events. The logistics of reaching out to Grand Valley on Instagram or the giveaway regulations were complex, but with assistance from our professors and team, we have strengthened our campaign.
Unique approach
One unique aspect of our campaign is that we want to work with Grand Valley to create internship positions for students like us to focus on Instagram, since when we met with our client, she said she was too busy to focus on social media, which is reasonable. This unique aspect will allow students to gain experience at Grand Valley and understand how to connect with students their age.
Audience Insights
The target audience for this campaign is Grand Valley students with classes downtown, including graduate students. As students get closer to finishing their undergrad classes for specific majors, they are downtown, and those classes are more challenging. Not many know that they have resources on their campus, so we are changing that.
ANTICIPATED Success
A primary reason our campaign will be successful is that we approached it with a realistic mindset. We did not try to do everything under the sun, but what would be best for our client. We also put ourselves in the shoes of our target audience, thinking about what would help us. Using information that we learned from the textbook was helpful, especially the questions to ask ourselves, “Which platform fits your style? and “Which platform can help you achieve your goals (Agozzino & Ward, 2025)?” Also, the surveys and focus groups we conducted helped solidify this campaign. Only 13% of our survey participants knew that a Downtown Knowledge Market location exists. Discovering this information made us feel like anything we do on campus will help strengthen the awareness of this excellent resource.
Potential Challenges
A potential challenge our campaign may face is Grand Valley approving the creation of internship opportunities for the Downtown Knowledge Market’s Instagram. We do not know how open the university is about creating more internships, so it is something we have to consider. The University of Puget Sound offers some insightful tips on developing internships. Therefore, if there are any concerns, we will have information to back up why the Downtown Knowledge Market needs interns. All the knowledge from what kind of internship to defining it (Internship FAQ, 2025). Overall, we hope the university will accommodate the needs of social media internships.
Another potential challenge is ensuring our budget is appropriate for our client. I have never created a budget for someone else, so I found the beginning steps confusing. If we mess up our budget by the slightest amount, it could mess up our campaign entirely. Ensuring that we have backup plans and allocate our budget correctly is what we are striving for. Forbes gave us good insights on what to do, such as “To create a successful PR budget, align theoretical ideas with real-world applications and always keep your objectives in mind (Forbes).”
Future recommendations
Our team’s next steps for implementing this campaign are to monitor in-person engagement rates at the Downtown Knowledge Market and social media visibility. We do this by tracking how posts are performing and when people interact the most. Once again, our team believes creating social media interns for the Downtown Knowledge Market would be extremely helpful, and we hope they will consider it.
An idea we did not explore that we wish we had was ensuring that both Knowledge Market locations are recognized in the same light. Yes, the website mentions the downtown location, but there is little to no information or pictures of the downtown knowledge market on the site. Ultimately, ensuring that both places are marketed clearly would be beneficial. Since we are only focusing on the Downtown location, we did not want to include this in our campaign.
Final Thoughts
Overall, reflecting on how much I have grown in the PR world this semester through this campaign, I am accomplished. I have learned the ins and outs of what it takes to run an outstanding campaign, from the wording to the slide shows; it is incredible. Also, knowing that everything we see in a normal person’s eyes typically has some PR strategy behind it is fantastic. I no longer look at commercials as in “wow that was amazing” but instead “wow that strategy is so clever, I never thought of that.”
This project has prepared me for the PR world’s mentality. Thankfully, our professor is blunt about it, and I love that. She made sure we understood the environment and the steps we would work through, since most of the class was creating a PR campaign for the first time.
Rylee Turner's Blog 
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