Collegiate Coaching Diversity Pledge
Menu
Powered by

Telling Your Department’s Story With SDSU’s Ayo Taylor-Dixon

Guest Ayo Taylor-Dixon, San Diego State
23:26 min watch

Summary

San Diego State Deputy AD for Strategic Communications and Brand Advancement Ayo Taylor-Dixon sits down with ADU’s Tai M. Brown at the 2024 NACDA Convention to offer insight into the use of storytelling to advance a department’s goals and position a program for success. Taylor-Dixon breaks down his process for evaluating a department’s existing reputation and advantages, using a blend of “art and science” to pair anecdotal preferences and feelings with statistics from social media, email marketing and ticket sales to develop a strategic plan for communications, marketing and brand advancement efforts. Taylor-Dixon also dives into the “Aztec Fast” tagline that organically grew from a line in new Head Football Coach Sean Lewis’ introductory press conference and the importance of using viral moments as pivot points within a department’s long-term story – one that he and his team are “writing everyday.”

The conversation is indexed below for efficient viewing (click the time stamp to jump to a specific question/topic).

  • - What does your title mean?
  • - Talk to me about telling the story of San Diego State, via all the different vehicles you just mentioned - how do you even approach that?
  • - Is there an aspect of researching how the story was being told before you got there, what the various audiences are, and then coming up with a plan to make everything better?
  • - Is there a formal process for gathering the data?
  • - Tell me about how you process all of this information.
  • - How do you take the next step of deciding what's important?
  • - You're six months into this roll so you probably haven't processed enough information to create a strategic plan - but you also can't wait too long because the story has to be told.
  • - The story has yet to be written, so you can only set up the table of contents and maybe the first chapter... you've got to stay in the moment.
  • - So new Head Football Coach Sean Lewis said that on a whim?
  • - Talk to me about maintaining existing audiences while also expanding your reach in a competitive market.
  • - What is your process for involving people in telling the story of San Diego State?
  • - Is there a formal way for people to provide feedback to you from email marketing campaigns?
  • - Tell me about the internal creative mindset within the department.
  • - How do you evaluate yourself early on without getting too tripped up on "Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing here"?

Video
Taking A First Mover Approach To Rev Share With VCU’s Ed McLaughlin
Video
From The Mailroom To The Big Chair With Western Michigan’s Dan Bartholomae
Video
Approaching Higher Ed With A Business Mindset With Lindenwood’s Dr. John R. Porter