More speed, less haste!

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

Plate spinning - a busy time for
the HE Marketer

Well where did that week just go? It's been an incredibly busy week over here at Marketing HQ.

Not only have we been busying ourselves with the post 15 January communications to our applicants, but we've been implementing our open day campaign; readying ourselves for open day season which kicks off next week for both UG and PG, and helping the recruitment team with marketing collateral to support their events and upcoming UCAS fairs, which seem to be briefed in en masse at the moment.

One man band - the multi-
tasking Marketers

But the biggy for this week, most definitely has to be the fact that we're in the final stages of both our main UG 2016 prospectus, and the mini guide. 'So what?' I hear you say. All in a days work you may think. Well, that may be the case if I wasn't trying to do all of the above, and then some, by myself, on top of my day job. As mentioned in previous posts, our Marketing Assistant Clare left just before Christmas to embark on an adventure as she travels along the west coast of America. And Kylie, our Marketing Officer, is also away at the moment, holidaying in the tropical destination of Cuba, which means that we're a little depleted at the moment and for a few more weeks still to come. It certainly makes the days go by very quickly considering the volume of work I've been ploughing through lately, and a big nod has to go to Krystle who has been great in holding down all of the campaigns which we're running at the moment.

New recruits joining the team
shortly

In between all of the madness and mayhem, we've been able to get our new Marketing Assistant vacancy advertised (hurrah!), and so we'll keep you posted on how the interviews go towards the end of February, and we should hopefully be welcoming a new member to the team very shortly. I've also taken part in a number of interesting discussions, as the Marketing team is set to expand once more - we're also currently advertising for two Faculty Marketing Assistants who will hopefully be joining us within a matter of weeks. I couldn't be happier. These new roles will present a much needed resource and link to the Faculties, and will really cement our focus on collaborative working across the organisation. I'm particularly excited, as the two new post holders will be heavily focused on content generation - and so if you've been reading this blog recently, you'll see that one of my main priorities and favourite buzz words at the moment is content marketing, and it will be great for us to further enhance the work of the team by demonstrating value through producing and sharing engaging and dynamic content. So I can't wait for all of these exciting team developments to start taking shape.

Off to a flying start

Well, it’s my first blog of 2015 and we’re mega busy in the office. I feel like we’ve had a flying start to the year so far- I’m feeling really productive! We’re at the second proof stage of the undergraduate 2016 prospectus- it’s looking really nice, but there are still a few things to sort before the print deadline in early February! And we’re also at the first proof stage of the undergraduate 2016 mini guide, which will be signed off around the same time as the main prospectus.

PG open day artwork

On top of that, I’m half way through implementing the PG open day plans for February- two weeks to go. And I’ve also developed an open day plan for our UG open day in February, in line with the pre-clearing campaign that Krystle is busy working on. 

UG open day artwork

As part of the UG open day campaign I will be reworking the open day brochures, so I’ve been working with recruitment to try and finalise how these will look and the correct information to include. We’ll send these out by email to all registrants prior to the events taking place.

I’ve also started work on the January e-zine edition, which will be the first applicant edition following the 15 January UCAS deadline, so the messages will have a slightly different focus; informing applicants about life on campus, our student bloggers, accommodation and lot’s more! We’ve recently had two new email templates designed too, so I’m getting used to the new layout as I build the email.

I was also busy at the beginning of the month sending out email communications to enquirers during the build-up to the 15 January UCAS deadline, offering advice on lifestyle and what’s next after submitting an application. We like to provide applicants with as much information as possible to help them through their journey.

I’ve also finished my first open day evaluation report of this cycle; only another four to go to play catch up. Lots of number crunching coming my way I think!

Get me there now...!

Well, that’s all from me for this month. But I’ve got to finish my blog on a totally none-work-related subject by letting you all know that I’m jetting off to Cuba for two weeks on Wednesday (‘Off to a flying start’- get it now?!).

Speak soon, K

2015, let’s do this thing

Krystle Hall, Campaign Officer

A belated happy new year to you all! I have emerged from my festivity coma and remembered my name, profession and passwords so 2015, let’s do this thing.

As Sarah mentioned in the previous post we had our first ‘meet the suppliers day’ on Wednesday. It was a great opportunity to peruse the latest products, approaches and gain fresh market insight. With Clearing Campaign planning looming it was great to emerge from the day feeling clued up and inspired.

Speaking of Clearing, I have plunged into evaluating the activity that we ran in 2014 and what a beast of a campaign it was. We rolled out a plethora of platforms over a 4 month period that had the whole MARC department breaking out in a sweat. I’m currently wading through all the data and analysing what was most effective and what wasn’t. We put detailed and robust tracking in place so I have a wealth of data to play with. I will share my findings with you in due course. That was my first ever campaign at the University, I can hardly believe that I am about to begin planning it again; how time flies when you’re having fun.  

So what else is happening…Well, now that we have a Radio LaB logo finalised, I am working with our designer to produce a set of brand guidelines and will be looking to put together a plan to push out the brand imminently.

With the launch of our new Paramedic Science course comes some shiny new artwork produced by our very own Graeme Stenhouse. Feast your eyes on these beauties:

We did a lot of market research in preparation for the Aylesbury campaign to drill down to exact profiling, geo-targeting and appropriate platforms etc. which resulted in 2 bespoke plans. We are running a range of advertising including radio, print and extensive digital search and display. We also have a range of advertorials published in the local press throughout January. I got to interview the new Paramedic Science course co-ordinator, Mark Cutler, which was great. He is really passionate about his subject and is excited to begin the new course in March with a dynamic approach.  I also interviewed a couple of our students, Catherine Jelly, who is studying Adult Nursing and Giles Loch, who is studying Mental Health Nursing. Both students are currently on placement and it was really interesting to hear how they got into their respective fields, their practical experiences and their future aspirations. I think what came across most was the high level of support and guidance that they had received from their tutors which is always wonderful to hear.  

My top priority at the moment is Pre-Clearing. I have been working with our new design agency Fabrik on the artwork which has reached completion. It’s now a case of production and delivery. We are all about invention and innovation in MARC; with cutting edge market intelligence at the forefront and the Pre-Clearing plan is no exception. There has been a real seismic shift in our approach to campaigns towards digital platforms. We have a large range of inventory on external education sites, as well as, a strong outdoor presence in Luton, Milton Keynes, Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead. Look out for the new campaign artwork winging its way to you soon.

Anyway, I better get back to it but type to you soon,

Krystle

Marketing, Media and Emerging Trends for 2015

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

Being able to monitor trends is a key part to any marketers role, as this is fundamentally the best way in which we can stay ahead of the competition. Now that we're well and truly back into the swing of things after the xmas break, I thought I'd start off our blog this year with a series of tips on what to watch out for in 2015 from the Marketing department. So, this post is more of a focus on our own emerging trends for 2015 if you like: take a look...

Content is king

1). Content is king
Marketers are being called upon to place less of a focus on the hard marketing sell, and more emphasis on providing information and useful content to support potential students in their decision making. And whilst this is an emerging theme across the sector as a whole, we're already one step ahead as we continue to develop our content marketing strategies here in the Marketing department. For 2015, we're building on last year's introduction of a variety of new initiatives, which all focused on one thing: providing relevant and useful content which our customer really wants, so that they can better engage with, and buy in to, the Bedfordshire brand.

As we approach the Conversion stage to the recruitment cycle, we'll be implementing a number of key communications such as themed emails, the B4Beds Undergraduate e-zine, and our CRM personalised web portal, in order to share a wide variety of rich content with our applicants.

Peer-to-peer and user
generated content

2). Offering value through content marketing
Building on the above, as the demand for non-university generated content increases, we'll be shortly rolling out Student Bloggers for 2015. This year we have even expanded on the number of bloggers we have, to generate even more subject specific content which is written by our very own current students. We're really excited as we continue to build up the peer-to-peer content which focuses on real experiences of real Bedfordshire students.

This idea of offering value through our marketing, also translates over to our PG recruitment too. Last year saw the pilot of 'PG Tips' in our monthly, award-winning Postgraduate e-zine. These short videos act as a mini lecture series, and are loosely modeled on MOOCs (Massive open online courses ie free online classes) which some other universities have dabbled in, in order to reach and engage with an audience in a more meaningful way.

Moving towards mobile 

3). Welcome to the mobile age
Through our many post campaign evaluations and live campaign reporting, the one thing that was clear from 2014, was the major shift towards mobile usage from our prospective students. And that's why we've been working with the Digital Marketing team to produce and launch a brand new set of email templates for 2015. These new templates are all optimised for mobile use, making our marketing messages more easily readable across the vast array of media devises currently available. The new templates will be in use from 15 January onwards, so keep a look out for our new professional, and 'snazzy' looking templates, coming to an inbox near you!

Keeping one eye on the competition

4). It's all about who you know
Last, but certainly not least, we'll be continuing to work with our Media Planning and Buying Agency to meet different suppliers and HE advertisers so we are fully clued up and get the latest on the latest technologies and marketing products currently out there. We'll be hosting our very first set of meet the supplier days later this month, where the wider MARC department is able to meet the key players, movers and shakers in the HE advertising industry, and they share their insight on changing consumer behaviour, what works, and most importantly, what our competitors are up to!

Stay tuned throughout the year, as we keep you posted on the many initiatives that we'll be rolling out over the coming months. We'll be keeping you posted on what's worked particularly well, and what developments and insight there is from our university neighbours.