Welcome to the Marketing team...

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

Welcome aboard!

A very big welcome to the Marketing team, and yes, I'm talking to you! Everyone is a marketeer, or a part-time one at the very least. Aside from the day job, if you give talks in schools or colleges, man a stand at a UCAS fair, meet and greet students at an open day, or speak in any way to our enquirers and applicants, you're part of the team!

Why do I say that? Well, not only have I been covering this topic in some depth in the latest round of my CIM Diploma studies, but it's actually very true. Each and every single one of us will engage and interact with a potential student at some point along the recruitment journey, and each and every single interaction counts and goes someway to making an impact on a student's decision as to whether to study at Bedfordshire. Therefore, whether we like it or not, we are all marketeers, selling the university experience; selling a brand. So, welcome aboard!

So, what have we all been up to recently I hear you ask. Our conversion activities are in full swing, as we approach the next set of UCAS deadlines, and our Open Day season has now come to a close, so it's number crunch time for the team as we plough through the reams of stats and data to evaluate our activity and determine just how successful and effective our work has been. We'll be sure to share some highlights with you once this important work is complete. And whilst our heads are still firmly placed in 2015 recruitment (with the infamous Clearing campaign already well underway), we've taken some exciting steps to strategically pull all of our 2016 enquirer activity forward by a whopping six months, so we can start the enquirer conversion process much earlier in the cycle. We're well on our way, and have already sent out a number of exciting communications; it's been really positive to see 2016 enquirers already taking the time to visit us on campus, as early as April.

Pit stop by the beach in
sunny Bournemouth

We've also been out en-masse, supporting the recruitment team during one of their busy periods, as we travel the country to attend a series of UCAS events. Kylie has recently attended the London and Leicester events, whilst I made my way back to my former university in Bournemouth to man the Dorset UCAS event (and managed to make a quick pit stop for fish and chips by the beach while I was there - yay!), and Krystle will soon he heading up north to Livepool for three days. So, it's a busy time for the team as we juggle two intakes of students, but it's definitely a great experience to get away from the desk for a while and to speak to real students about real queries they have about Higher Education. Not to mention it's very rewarding when they tell you how helpful you've been after regurgitating our best marketing USPs to provide excitement surrounding our courses.  It's always great to make the most of the UCAS events, and spy on competitors as well, as we pose as students (just about!) to observe their exhibition stands, and marketing materials that they're handing out. I think our stand and materials looked amazing, but then I may be slightly biased. ;-)

That's all from me this time. I'll share some more thoughts, insight, and learnings from my course in my next post, as I will have had plenty of time to digest all of the notes and slides by then I'm sure. Until then!