About Us                  Services                     Clients                    Resources                  Home

"We had worked hard to create a strong brand identity and to make sure our print and electronic publications were consistent, strong, and focused on marketing to our target audiences. We were winning awards for our work from CASE, NCMPR and Admissions Marketing, and yet.... We decided to bring in Sandra Golden & Associates to do a marketing audit and a college-wide two-day workshop. Bringing in consultants who are experts in community colleges, who understand what our college is and what it is not, gave our faculty and staff a sense of being heard while they were learning some new concepts. Now more people on campus are aware of our work, aware of the reasons behind marketing decisions, and, most important, actively involved in promoting the college in their own roles in. Sandy helped us move the campus conversation to a new level." Susan Kostick, VP, College Relations and Advancement, Edmonds Community College, Washington

"Sandy provided us a wonderful structure for collaboration across institutional boundaries to develop an integrated enrollment development marketing effort." Dr. L. Richard Haney, Vice President, Student Development and Dean, Dr. Suzanne Beal, Vice President, Academic Affairs and Dean, Frederick Community College, Maryland

Recent Clientele ...
And What They Say About Us

• Aims Community College, Colorado
• Alabama Community College System
• Alamo Community College District, Texas
• Alexandria Technical College, Minnesota
• Alvin Community College, Texas
• American Association of Women in Community Colleges
• Anne Arundel Community College, Maryland
• Anoka Technical College, Minnesota
• Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges
• Ashland Community College, Kentucky
• Austin Community College, Texas
• Baltimore City Community College, Maryland
• Baton Rouge Community College, Louisiana
• Berkshire Community College, Massachusetts
• Brazosport College, Texas
• California Community Colleges - Workforce Leaders Institute
• California Community Colleges - Central Region Workforce
• Cape Cod Community College, Massachusetts
• Cedar Valley College, Texas
• Central Florida Community College
• Central Community College, Nebraska
• Central Oregon Community College
• Century College, Minnesota
• Chandler-Gilbert Community College
• Chesapeake College, Maryland
• Clackamas Community College, Oregon
• Cleveland State Community College, Tennessee
• The College Board
• College of DuPage, Illinois
• College of the Mainland, Texas
• Community College of Baltimore County, Maryland
• Community College of Beaver County, Pennsylvania
• Community College of Florida at Jacksonville
• Community Colleges of Spokane, Washington
• Contra Costa Community College District, California
• Council for the Advancement and Support of Education
• Dallas County Community College District, Texas
• Daytona Beach Community College, Florida
• Dona Ana Branch Community College, New Mexico
• Edmonds Community College, Washington
• El Centro College, Texas
• El Paso Community College, Texas
• Erie Community College, New York
• Florida Association of Community Colleges
• Frederick Community College, Maryland
• Galveston College, Texas
• Gateway Technical College, Wisconsin
• Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education
• Georgia Perimeter College
• Gloucester County College, New Jersey
• Green River Community College, Washington
• Gulf Coast Community College, Florida
• Gulf Coast Consortium, Texas
• Harford Community College, Maryland
• Heartland Community College, Illinois
• Hennepin Technical College, Minnesota
• Holyoke Community College, Massachusetts
• Houston Community College, Texas
• Jefferson Community College, New York
• Joliet Junior College, Illinois
• Kenai Peninsula College, Alaska
• Keyano College, Alberta, Canada
• Lee College, Texas
• Louisiana Community & Technical College System
• Luzerne County Community College, Pennsylvania
• Madison Area Technical College, Wisconsin
• Maine Technical College System
• Maricopa County Community College District, Arizona
• Metropolitan Community College, Missouri
• Modesto Junior College, California
• Monroe Community College, New York
• Montcalm Community College, Michigan
• Mount Wachusett Community College, Massachusetts
• Mt. Hood Community College, Oregon
• Mt. San Jacinto College, California
• National Council for Marketing & Public Relations
• Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture
• North Carolina Community Colleges
• North Harris Montgomery Community College District, Texas
• Northern Arizona University
• Northern Maine Technical College
• Ocean County College, New Jersey
• Ohio Continuing Higher Education Association
• The Ohio State University at Marion
• Pennsylvania Highlands Community College
• Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges
• Peralta Community College District, California
• Phoenix College, Arizona
• Pine Technical College, Minnesota
• Portland Community College, Oregon
• Riverland Community College, Minnesota
• Riverside Community College, California
• San Bernardino Valley College, California
• Skagit Valley College, Washington
• San Jacinto College District, Texas
• Southwest Texas Junior College
• Southwest Virginia Community College
• State Fair Community College, Missouri
• Tarrant County College, Texas
• Texas Association for Institutional Research
• Tri-County Technical College, South Carolina
• The University of Akron - Wayne College, Ohio
• The University of Cincinnati - Clermont College, Ohio
• USA Group/Noel Levitz
• Victoria College, Texas
• Virginia Western Community College
• Villa Maria College of Buffalo, New York
• Virginia Community College System
• Western Nebraska Community College
• Western Nevada Community College
• Wharton County Junior College, Texas
• Wor-Wic Community College, Maryland
• Yavapai College, Arizona




Our Clients Tell Our Success Story

• Our marketing experience with Sandy and Larry Golden has provided terrific results for the college. In addition to the obvious success demonstrated by our 10% enrollment increase, after experiencing two years of flat enrollment numbers, the longer lasting impact is that the institution has adopted a marketing culture. We now have active college-wide committees continually developing, implementing and assessing marketing action plans. As an institution we already had a culture of assessment, but through the consultation services of Sandy and Larry, we learned how marketing and assessment are linked and this helped everyone understand the significance of our marketing venture and broadened the focus from enrollment numbers exclusively to service outcomes as well."
  Ray Hoy, President
  Wor-Wic Community College, Maryland
  


• Sandra Golden & Associates conducted a complete assessment of MWCC’s marketing efforts and then helped to spearhead a college-wide, integrated marketing planning process at MWCC. SGA was easy to work with, responsive, and very well-received by the college community. Through their work with MWCC, faculty and staff began to see marketing as “everyone’s job,” not just the job of the marketing department. Their assessments and marketing planning assistance brought MWCC’s marketing initiatives to the next level. As a direct result of SGA’s work with us, MWCC has conducted a complete rebranding campaign and instituted a yearly marketing planning process. During the 06-07 academic year, MWCC served the largest credit and noncredit student body in its history - 10,124 - representing a one-year increase of 13-percent.
  Daniel Asquino, President
  Mount Wachusetts Community College, Massachusettes
  


• Sandy is a nationally respected expert in marketing for community colleges. Her seminars and on-campus programs help colleges organize an effective marketing team and send participants back to their campuses with knowledge and enthusiasm for the tasks at hand. Her work with our state system provided us with a marketing/PR vision and a plan of concrete steps for action.
  Dr. Walter Bumphus, Professor, University of Texas, Community College Leadership Program,
  Former President, Louisiana Community and Technical College System



• "Sandra and Larry did a complete audit of our marketing cycle -- as a result, we formed a Strategic Enrollment Management Committee that has completely revamped our 'applied-to-admitted-to-enrolled' process. The promotional materials audit was a real eye-opener for us. After working with Sandra, we implemented a "family look" for all our publications and advertising. She studied our marketing budget and made some great suggestions for how to make the best use of our limited funds. She alsora helped us to refine our distinctive "pride points" -- we now make it a point to promote those points in our marketing and outreach."
  Rebecca Eidson
  Director of PR and Communications
  Tri-County Technical College, South Carolina



• Several people have asked me, "What's happening at MSJC," because of a 24% increase in summer enrollment and nearly a 9% gain this fall. I can't take all credit, but we did make some changes in marketing strategy that was a contributing factor: we conducted a letter campaign to students who were enrolled previously but dropped or stopped out; we beefed up advertising using student testimonials, we became more customer service oriented.
     What really made a difference, in my opinion, was getting an enrollment management subcommittee together, consisting of Instruction, Student Services, Outreach, Counseling and Marketing-- five of us who attended a one-day Sandra Golden workshop over a year ago in Long Beach. Since then, we have expanded to a 20-member group, bought into the Golden and Associate research study (focus groups and telephone survey) and workshop, and we are working together making Marketing Action Plans as never before. If this sounds like pitch for Sandra Golden, it probably is, because she was able to reinforce the things I have been saying for years and getting almost nowhere.
  Bill Marchese, Director, Public Information and Marketing
  Mt. San Jacinto College, California
  


• Our marketing office was in disarray. Administration recognized the need to begin a new strategic marketing plan with solid research. Sandy and Larry Golden came on campus for intense, two-day focus groups followed by market research of our community college's service area.
  Their work set the course for a new plan, a new brand and a focused effort. The results confirmed some things we already knew, but gave us a few surprises which showed us a new path on which to follow.
  As a new marketing director, I appreciated the consistent contact and follow-up through emails and phone calls. I felt like Sandy and Larry truly took the time to get to know our rural community college and gave us wonderful suggestions. I always felt like I could conact them to ask questions, even after the research had been completed. Their experience with two-year college marketing was top-notch. They see so many situations across the entire country that they can truly show real-life examples and help you with suggestions for whatever level of planning you are at or crisis you are in.
  They really took the time to understand our college and meet our needs.
  Shari Rosso, College Relations Director,
  Western Nebraska Community College
  


• Cape Cod Community College has just finished its first full year after Sandy and Lary's work, helping us identify core themes among our audiences, building and empowering a campus-wide team, and setting clear goals and directions for each college area. We continue to see excellent enrollment with strong growth in the key "traditional age" market segment and, equally as important, in retention, where communication strategies combined with consistent, timely message delivery clearly is making a difference.
  Michael Gross, Director of College Communications,
  Cape Cod Community College
  


• We have found our consultants, Sandra Golden & Associates, to be helpful and effective in working with our group to implement more effective practices.
  We have six teams of people each focused on particular topics (curricular issues and class scheduling, research and data, recruitment, retention, marketing and promotions, student/customer service) and they will continue their work this coming year. There were a number of parts in the process, among the more helpful to us were the community perceptions survey, the focus groups with many constituent groups such as high school students including those who did not choose CGCC, and the workshops at the college which mobilized large numbers of employees into working teams to start making changes. Even after delivering the various research reports and the gap analysis, facilitating the workshops (including a special one with division chairs and faculty), and finalizing their work with us, they have continued to monitor our progress and send back encouraging notes to our staff.
  Maria Hesse, President,
  Chandler-Gilbert Community College
  


• Thanks for your help while in Uvalde helping us devise a marketing plan. Thanks to your suggestions and guidance, we now have a new logo; our brochures, web site and other publications have a new "family" look; and our schedule has become our number one marketing piece….
  Being a one-man department, I can't thank you enough for continually driving home the point that marketing should be a part of the job description of every employee at Southwest Texas Junior College. … Since you worked with us, our fall enrollment has risen from 3,723 to 5,277, an increase of nearly 42% in 3 years. Also, we had an 18.5% increase in contact hours. Our percentage increase was the second highest of the 50 community college districts in the state. Overall, the state increase was 4.4%.
  Because of our increase in contact hours, it looks like we will receive an additional $2.9 million from the state over the next two years, a 23.1% increase. Thanks again for all your help in getting SWTJC headed in the right direction.
  Willie Edwards, Public Information Officer,
  Southwest Texas Junior College
  
  


• Friday after the workshop people stayed later than anyone ever does on a Friday evening. They were all a-buzz about the ideas that they came up with during the workshop. There was a great deal of excitement. Thanks for the great job getting us on track. Their enthusiasm is boundless!
  Dr. Ray Hoy, President,
  Wor-Wic Community College, Maryland



• It is my opinion that a lot of companies fail ... because they don't procure or they don't heed the direction or the advice that good research provides them. Golden & Associates, Inc. provided invaluable research, insights, and recommendations to Anoka Technical College. We chose to act on those recommendations to the extent that we had the capability ... Through a creative agency we developed/designed a new brand "look" and tagline. We planned and implemented an aggressive promotional, advertising, and public relations campaign. The additional benefit of a motivational, campus-wide marketing workshop (conducted by Golden & Associates) helped communicate to the majority of the staff and faculty the meaning, the importance, and their influence to the success of our marketing/enrollment/ retention activities. (Don't forget the power of your staff and faculty. An internal communications and promotional plan is also very important.) I am very pleased with the results of our branding campaign that coincided with our enrollment management campaign. It was all based on solid research; for that, I have Sandra Golden & Associates to thank.
  Catherine Doucette, Marketing & Communications Director,
  Anoka Technical College, Minnesota
  


• Your recent visits for the marketing audit and follow-up workshop have enlivened our campus community, increasing enthusiasm and energies. Prior to your visit, many believed marketing was the responsibility of one office; as a result of your presentations, everyone on campus realizes they have a part in this important ongoing campus-wide activity. Thanks for sharing your expertise and directing us toward marketing success.
  Dr. Jon Larson, President,
  Ocean County College, New Jersey
  


• Sandy is one of the most captivating, real world marketers I have ever known. Her energetic presentation style will make you want to rush back to your campus and use the principles of her workshop. On a scale of 1 to 10, this workshop is a 12!
  Roger Barrentine, Director of Public Relations,
  Jefferson College, Missouri



• Your expertise, efficiency and sheer energy were the keys to an extremely successful research study and marketing workshop, and the seedlings for a full-grown, collegewide marketing effort.
  Conducting a baseline research study of students, former students and the general public prior to the marketing workshop allowed us to create valid assumptions about marketing needs and solutions. Armed with hard data, we could more accurately target our markets with meaningful marketing strategies. And, we will have an updated self-portrait against which to measure our efforts.
  Utilizing the same professionals for both the research study and the marketing workshop afforded a number of benefits ---you were able to tailor the workshop to our college's specific programs and populations, and you were able to provide greater expertise about our audiences and their needs.
  Anne Hansen, Director of Information and Marketing Services,
  Western Nevada Community College



• Sandy provided us a wonderful structure for collaboration across institutional boundaries to develop an integrated enrollment development marketing effort.
  Dr. L. Richard Haney, Vice President, Student Development and Dean,
  Dr. Suzanne Beal, Vice President, Academic Affairs and Dean,
  Frederick Community College, Maryland



• I can't begin to tell you all the positive feedback I have received regarding your morning presentation on "Integrated Marketing" and your afternoon session on "Target Program Marketing." Retreat participants were truly impressed by the amount of research you did about BCCC beforehand and how you were able to integrate your knowledge of our marketing efforts into your talks. "She really knows her stuff" and "she really did her homework" were comments I heard repeatedly...... Faculty members in particular have told me how they appreciated your citing of specific, concrete examples of best practices rather than talking in more vague, general terms. "She gave me some really good ideas that I can use right away" was also a common comment.
  Karen Adams Smedley, Executive Director of Marketing,
  Baltimore City Community College, Maryland



• Our college workshop with Sandy brought together faculty, staff and administration to gain a common understanding for new marketing approaches. She helped us create an enthusiastic team ready to move on the ideas generated in the workshop.
  Mary DeLuca, Senior Director for Public Relations,
  Community College of Baltimore County, Maryland



• I was a neophyte going in and came out with skills and knowledge I didn't think were possible to obtain in a one-day workshop.
  Yasmin Delahoussaye, Vice President, Student Services,
  Los Angeles Valley College, California