Audience & University Initiatives

CU Boulder has four main initiatives designed to help achieve our business goals: reputation and advancement; recruitment; retention; and strategic events. Each initiative addresses different primary and secondary audiences, which affects the communication tools we can use to meet the initiative’s goals. Learn how to tailor your campaigns, communications and content assets based on the overlying initiative and included audiences.

University Initiatives

CU Boulder’s main initiatives include:

  1. Reputation and Advancement: Enhance, strengthen and uphold the public perception of CU Boulder, driving high-impact fundraising and engagement results.
  2. Recruitment: Enroll highly qualified, intellectually curious and actively involved students who have demonstrated high levels of maturity and personal integrity as well as a commitment to serving their communities.
  3. Retention: Support all students who join our campus through to graduation, helping them complete their degrees.
  4. Strategic Events: Develop and execute high-quality programming that amplifies CU Boulder as a premier public research university.
CU Boulder’s Defined Audiences
Primary Audiences

CU Boulder’s primary audiences are our engaged audiences. The primary audiences create our university community and brand experience. Our primary audiences include:

  • Current learners
  • Current employees
  • Alumni
  • Current donors
  • Current industry partners
  • Current supporters
Secondary Audiences

CU Boulder’s secondary audiences are the audiences with whom we desire engagement. They interact with CU Boulder and can influence our university today and in the future. Our secondary audiences include:

  • Prospective learners
  • Prospective employees
  • Prospective donors
  • Prospective industry partners
  • Prospective supporters
  • Government officials
  • Media
  • Peer institutions
Audiences and University Initiatives

The reputation and advancement initiative addresses a mix of primary and secondary audiences, including current and prospective learners, employees, donors, industry partners and supporters, alumni, government officials, media and peer institutions.

The recruitment initiative focuses on secondary audiences only, especially prospective undergraduate and graduate students, and prospective employees.

The retention initiative is for all defined primary audiences and no secondary audiences.

The strategic events initiative focuses on the same mix of primary and secondary audiences as reputation and advancement: current and prospective learners, employees, donors, industry partners and supporters, alumni, government officials, media, and peer institutions.

How to Use Communication Tools in Your Campaigns