The greek community is implementing a new marketing plan to recruit more students at a time when university admissions are on the decline.

The greek community and Greek Alumni Alliance have been working with Innova Ideas and Services for the past year to revamp their recruitment marketing campaign. An audit of the greek community’s recruitment marketing plan found that the campaign may not be an effective and efficient use of the greek students’ and alumni’s money.

The campaign marketed the greek community through posters and postcards targeted at incoming first-year students.

In the new campaign, the greek alliance and greek community will work together to focus on a wider target audience.

“We just wanted to make sure the students’ money was being put to good use,” said Jennifer Plagman-Gavlin, interim dean of greek affairs.

The results from the audit from Innova found that potential greek members were receiving a lot of information about the greek community, but there was no way of knowing if it was effective in actually making potential members take action.

The audit was used to find out what works and what doesn’t, said Lauren Ellington, Collegiate Panhellenic Council public relations representative.

“If you send out 10,000 pamphlets and they’re not effective at reaching your target audience, it’s a waste of more than $20,000,” Ellington said.

Members were getting the word out about the greek community at Iowa State, but they had no idea if what they were doing actually had any impact on the recipients, said Lawrence Cunningham, account executive at Innova and member of the Iowa State Daily Publication Board.

“They have been pouring money into campaigns that don’t produce measurable results,” Cunningham said. The audit also found that the greek community was not reaching all of their potential target audience.

“In the past, we have really only targeted incoming freshmen. Now we will be targeting transfer students, sophomores and incoming freshmen,” Ellington said.

The Collegiate Panhellenic Council has set the goal of a 6 to 8 percent increase in membership next year. This would be an increase of anywhere from 18 to 24 women.

“It doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you figure in the drop in admissions over the past years, it’s a pretty lofty goal,” Ellington said.

The new recruitment campaign is Web-based and will allow for measurable results, so greek members will know if what they are doing is actually working.

The recruitment campaign targeting incoming freshmen and transfer students will consist of three direct mail postcards. The postcards will be sent to 7,500 incoming students who have accepted admissions to Iowa State. The first was sent Tuesday, and the next two will be sent on Tuesday and March 18.

The greek Web site has been redesigned, and potential members will be able to view a 30-second promo explaining the greek community. The postcard campaign is the first step in the greek community’s recruitment plan.

This spring and next fall they will launch campaigns targeting second semester freshmen, sophomores and the parents of incoming freshmen.