Adding another string to our bow

I mentioned in my last blog that the [traditional] marketing team have been dipping our toe into the digital world a little more; briefing Google search and display activity as well as promoted social media.

Well, this week we’ve taken it a little bit further and had some digital training on actually implementing the activity. On Monday (at 9am!!) we had a 1.5 hour training session on setting up Google search and display ads in Google Analytics. It was a really good session and Sarah and I have since had a go at setting up our own ads. We’ve started off with a smaller campaign while we get to grips with everything – and it may have taken us way longer than the average digital marketer to set up two ads each – but we did it. We definitely felt a self of accomplishment afterwards and in our daily report we’ve already seen small numbers coming through to the website from our ads, which we got a little too excited about perhaps.

It’s really good, as marketers, to be able to add to our skillset and not only understand digital aspects of marketing, but be able to actually implement and amend them ourselves too. Next week we’ll be setting up the remainder of the campaign and having further training sessions on monitoring and tweaking on-going campaigns and setting up promoted social media posts.

I think as a team we’re really excited about being able to do more digital marketing, and help our currently small digital marketing team – there’s no I in team!

Another day, another photography shoot

I also directed another photography shoot last week, this time for our 2017 prospectus front covers. We took pictures of different groups of students in different locations/settings around our Luton campus. 

It was a busy day, but we got some great pictures. We’re now working with our design agency to choose the best photos for each version of our prospectus.

Some of our lovely students taking
part in our photography shoot

Content is king

This week I've had the opportunity to attend the Postgraduate Marketing Forum in Manchester. It was my first time attending one of these forums and, as I've heard lots of good things about them, I was very excited. The theme of the day was content and tracking - as even the name caused debate I knew that I was in for an interesting day!

Content comes in all shapes and sizes, to your traditional printed collateral to a social media post - content can be anything that we produce. But what about things that we're not responsible for - a tweet or blog post by someone outside of the university? Well, it's still about us, it could affect the decision of a potential student - and therefore it still counts as content - just content that's a little bit harder to control!

One of the guest speakers was from a copy writing agency and he presented us with this picture, a scene from the movie The Incredibles. He suggested that many universities often describe their facilities and their key features in the same way, raising the issue that if everyone is saying the same thing in the same way, is anyone really standing out?

It's an interesting challenge that the higher education sector is faced with - students tend to want to know about the same things: location, facilities, accommodation, teaching, research, careers etc. - so it's understandable that universities are talking about similar things. And it's not just as easy as just finding something that's different - it has to fit the context - it has to be right for that particular situation, for that particular audience. 

It was an interesting concept, one of many throughout the day, and I've certainly come away with many thoughts and ideas to explore. 

What's in a name? Weird and wonderful course titles

Not so long ago, it seemed quite the thing to criticise and even ridicule certain universities for offering so-called “Mickey Mouse” degrees. These courses came from a variety of disciplines and bore little resemblance to those which were doubtless considered more ‘academic’. Classics, Latin, or Archaeology always managed to miss the cut, which must have come as a huge relief for institutions with Medieval lawns and huge resources. But still, the notion of studying the media or sport seemed one small step from chaos, anarchy and the very end of time.

Golf hats

Don't get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with studying Classics, Latin or Archaeology. These are important subjects, although detailed knowledge of Ovid, pots, old ruins or sieges aren't the most obvious tools for dealing with business, psychology or a life in PR. And they wouldn’t help too much in, say managing a golf club. At this point, I should mention that all I know about golf is that involves weird clothing, sticks, balls and holes. So, if I’m not up to the job, who should we turn to? Perhaps someone with a golf management degree?

Football Studies?
John Still, master tactician

In a not-entirely unrelated sphere, Football Studies is also a minority interest subject. Or is it? Football Studies doesn’t involve people pretending to be pundits and trotting out lame cliché after lame cliché. Like it or not, and for better or worse, football is big business these days. Or, more accurately, football is a huge, corporatised juggernaut, the study of which might involve looking at sports, nutrition, development, business, media, finance, hospitality, sociology, psychology …. The list goes on. Football Studies course managers

may also be looking to add Criminology elements to their offer, given the recent shock revelations and investigations around the less-than-squeaky clean operations of the international game.

A few years ago, The Telegraph compiled a top ten “unusual degrees” list, which ranged from institutions such as South Bank and Liverpool Hope, to Plumpton College and UCL. The subjects tellingly included degrees with a very specific vocational and almost artisanal flavour (Baking Technology Management or

Brewing and Distilling) to those with clear roots in anthropology (Viking Studies) or those looking at a specific cultural phenomenon with a view to a wider academic discipline (The Beatles, Popular Music and Society).

Klingon??!!

Still, if these, or Surf Science don’t float your boat – and yes that is surf as in the waves not the web - our friends over the Pond have, not too surprisingly, an even more diverse range of courses for consideration. Last year, QS put a list together of degrees which would make most people’s eyes and mouths start watering – it would seem there really are opportunities to study Harry Potter, Klingon, the tv show Lost, zombies, the joy of garbage, the history of the pig in America and – perhaps most alluring – the science of superheroes.

Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything

By Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

So much data, and so little time
to write awards...

As the 2015 September recruitment cycle officially comes to a close, it's time for us marketers to bury our heads in the mountains of metrics that we've put in place, on our usual quest to evaluate our performance and effectiveness, to demonstrate ROI, and to churn out those all important reports which provide valuable insight to inform our future work. Whilst on the one hand it's quite an intense aspect to our roles, with many an hour spent crunching numbers, and getting bogged down in the data wondering why I didn't pay more attention in maths classes at school, I quite like ploughing through the reams of insight and analysis to do a round up - it's always nice to see our contribution, and to assess our highlights and successes (as well as identifying what we can do better, which is a constant learning curve and central to all that we do). But as many of our regular readers will know, I'm also guilty of writing reports for dual purposes. That's right, I'm a cereal award-writer, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!

Who needs sleep when you
can write awards!

Since I started writing awards in 2013, we've gone on to win eight awards, with two award wins and a Heist short-list in this year alone, which we're mightily proud of. Winning, and even being short-listed for these coveted awards is a massive coup for the team, and I'll be the first to admit that it's nice to see the office adorned in our achievements. Not only is it a great big pat on the back and morale booster, but it's great to be recognised by our peers and the wider sector, as being the best in the region, or nationally at what we do.

And so, with all of the report writing that's going on at the moment, we'll soon be able to see if we have some pieces to enter early next year, when awards season for us typically kicks off. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some helpful hints and tips on writing a winning award entry, should you choose to give it a go for yourself in the new year...

Before you start

Look beyond the marketing hype
- do the facts speak for
themselves?

First things first, before you do anything you should assess your goals and ask yourself these questions:

• Why I am doing this?
• What do I want to get out of it?

Writing awards is a lot of work, so make sure it's worth your while. In other words, be brutal. Is your initiative really good enough? Remove the bias, and look at the facts. Does it stand out, and do you have the evidence and hard facts to back up your claims?

Getting started

Be individual - sometimes small
or niche can win big

So once you're certain of what you're setting out to do, it's time to search through the different awards, and scour the categories to see what's on offer, and where you think you might be able to contribute and make a submission. It's always worth noting the deadlines at this point, to make sure all your award writing won't be in vain. Once you've selected the categories it's time to write that entry!

Tip: Really consider your category and who you may also be going up against. Whilst we all want to win big, sometimes the niche categories make for an interesting and successful submission. And whilst we fully believe our initiative is amazing, you never know what, or who, you're up against.

Writing that award winning entry
So it's time to write that entry. Anyone can write and submit entries, but to secure the short-list, it requires time, effort and dedication.

1. Research previous winners - and take a look at their entries - most winner's entries are hosted online, and can provide a great resource when looking at format, and the level of detail needed
2. Really look at the entry criteria - and the questions that you're being asked. Stick to the point at all times, and keep the entry focused on fully evidencing the success and ROI of the work
3. Keep it concise - brief and to the point. Most awards have strict word counts, and so you have to make every sentence and every word count - cut the waffle
4. Keep it simple - whilst it's important to include the relevant lingo and jargon in the entry to showcase your expert knowledge, remember who your reader is - they may or may not be a specialist in that particular area, and they have many to read! Keep it simple and understandable - after all, if they don't get your point, you won't get the marks
5. Be bespoke - tailor the information to what is being asked, and the specific category - especially if you're entering the same initiative for multiple awards. A simple copy and paste job will not do
6. Make it pretty - spend sometime on the layout, and devise the sections so that they correspond with the criteria and questions being asked, to make it easy for the judge to give you marks. But make sure you know the restrictions on including graphs and images (in most cases you can place these in an appendices if these are allowed). 
7. Make it stand out - showcasing new initiatives, or novel ways of working and achieving your objectives provides a great way to catch the judges attention. Think our Clearing Flash mob from the 2014 Clearing campaign. Different is interesting. But only include it if it's relevant and you have a point to make.
8. Make it personable - in some entries they ask why you should win. Whilst the stats are great here to evidence this, don't shy away from adding a personal narrative. If it's relevant, talk about the people involved and play on the emotive aspects. Celebrating real people and real achievements is great, and adds a bit of personality to the entry.

Failing to plan, is planning to fail

But most of all. It's important to allocate time to this. Balancing writing award entries alongside the day job is a challenging task. Conducting research and analysis to collate the evidence is time consuming but a crucial aspect, as without the evidence it's just an opinion piece. And carefully constructing an entry to satisfy the criteria takes focus and determination. So be prepared to put in the hours if you take it on. But if you secure the short-list it's always a nice rewarding feeling.

Tip: Carefully select your award categories and make sure that the stats stack up. After all, no matter how proud of the work you are, if you've spend ages pulling an entry together which has weak evidence, you won't get very far. It's important to remember quality over quantity.

What to do if successful
After submitting, make a note of the short-list confirmation date - after all that hard work, you want to make sure you know if you made the cut!

If you've made it to the short-list, here's what you do next:

• Shout about it - it's great news, why wouldn't you? But get in touch with the press team and give them all the details
• Get your seats booked - for the coveted 'do, and get planning what to wear (check if the 'do has a theme or dress code)
• Befriend twitter - especially on awards night. Many awards have their own twitter handle and hashtag and encourage you to tweet throughout the evening - great for fun and profile raising 
• Talk to us - keep the MARC department (and the press team) informed of the evenings events - whether it was a win, or not! Being short-listed in itself is an amazing achievement
• Make space - in the office to proudly display your winners or finalist certificates and awards

Writing awards has many rewards, and I'm not just talking about the certificate if you win. Quite often, we're so busy with our day-to-day work that taking the time to truly reflect on our achievements and performance passes us by. Being able to see success, and just how well a piece of work or an initiative has performed is great. So if you do write award entries and go on to win, great! But remember, it's not just about the winning.