Taking PRide in our work

Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

Pre-drinks at Homerton College -
Sarah, Kylie, Beverley & Sara
(Left to right)

For those who keep up to speed with us on Social Media, this post will come as no surprise, as last Thursday we dusted off our log ins for our Twitter accounts to document our evening through a series of tweets - keeping everyone at MARC HQ informed as the evening unfolded. After many discussions over what to wear, we were on our way to this year's CIPRide Awards, which was being held at the lovely venue that is Homerton College, which had a slightly Harry Potter-esque vibe about it - much to the joy of our Marketing Assistant and die-hard HP fan, Sara.

After failing miserably at the dinner entertainment last year, we were back with a vengeance ready to take that quiz by storm. We teamed up with our friends from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who we also sat with last year, and were ready to showcase our improved trivia knowledge. After some quick fire rounds, covering some of our specialty topics of Peppa Pig, trashy celebrities, movies and music, we got stumped at the questions about sport and the Olympics - note to self for next year! After a solid collective performance, we were pipped to the post - but this didn't dampen our mood, as it was finally time for the big event - the awards...

Scooping the Silver

Hurrah! It was great for us to win Silver in the category of Best Low Budget Campaign - for the second year running! Marketing Officer, Kylie had put this award entry together, celebrating the achievements of our marketing work to drive footfall to our open days. The submission showcased some great results, with a 16% increase in footfall against target, and a 24% increase against the previous year. It was such a great achievement to win a Silver, as it was a big category; we were up against six other companies. And it really is testament to the hard work of the team and showcases our ability to be really creative and innovative, especially when budgets are tight.

Best Integrated Campaign

It was time for our second category: Best Integrated Campaign - yet another big category with six companies all vying for the top spot. The Silver winner was announced as Carter Jonas Bradshaws: Your Next Chapter. That's when we all start to feel a little nervous, wondering whether we've done enough to win. I have to admit, I did have doubts - we were in one of the largest categories of the night, but we had also won Gold in this category last year, so all I was thinking was surely not, surely we won't win again? But win we did! Amazing!

Seeing the competition we were up against, and having scooped Gold in the previous year, we were nothing short of delighted to see that we have retained our title for the second consecutive year! A lot of hard word goes into the planning, implementation and evaluation of our Clearing campaign, and to see the results that we were able to generate, and to see that our work is being recognised as the best in the region is no mean feat, and it's great recognition for the team!

Going for Gold

We were really pleased with the campaign results: in an environment which saw our applicants increasingly using external sources (eg The Student Room), our unique page views to our main website still increased by 26%. Call volumes to the clearing line increased by 33%, live chats increased by 27%, with Live Chat offers increasing by 17%. And, the judges were also pleased, and gave us a glowing endorsement:


"A solid and comprehensive campaign based on sound research. It had a focused approach based on smart objectives, with a clearly targeted audience that delivered an exceptional return on investment, using all available channels to achieve the highest impact possible. It turned what can be a stressful time for many students into a positive experience and this entry demonstrates how PR helped the University of Bedfordshire make this happen"

Celebrating our big wins!

Once the awards were over, it was over to the photobooth for some celebratory team pics, and then it was time to hit the dance floor; busting out our best disco moves. 

After a busy few months implementing the 2016 Clearing Campaign, we're already seeing some great results, so fingers crossed we'll have some solid entries for next year's awards!

To round up this week's post, I'll share what was quite possibly my favourite memory of the awards evening...

Highlight of the night: Kylie whipping her hair to Tina Turner, and a group dance to Bewitched! Classic! #PRideATC #PRideAwards

— Sarah De Guzman (@Sarah_Hampton) September 22, 2016

Market Research Cycle Break

So, what’s been going on in the dreamy world of market research over the last few weeks? In truth, I can’t remember,  with Clearing casting a long reach over everything at work and, even more significantly, having just completed a gargantuan bike ride in support of the National Osteoporosis Society, pushing me, my trusty iron and too much luggage from London to Paris. Bon. While I’ve been delivering at work, thought and effort have been equally focussed on training and shopping for bike accessories.

Me in training. I reduced luggage needs for the trip itself, dispensing with need for back up rider.
I also learned to ride rather than carry the bike.

“All very well”, I hear you mutter, “but what’s this cycling got to do with the University of Bedfordshire?” A glib answer might be “nothing whatsoever”. And while this wouldn’t be totally unreasonable, when you think about all the dynamics, arrangements and the potential pitfalls and pratfalls of a middle-aged man with weepy eyes inflicting himself onto the Continent on two under powered wheels, all sorts of considerations come into play. Quite enough, I'd suggest, for an academic study. Here are just a few, with links to courses we undertake here at the Uni:

• ·         Sport and Exercise Science –obviously. I’m no sportsman. No, really. This may or may not have made me a suitable case for probing, measuring and hooking up to all the machines in our School of Sport Science and Physical Activity.
• ·         Nutrition. I usually exist on crisps and rice. Crisps were provided at rest stops on the bike trip, although they looked like a trap and no one seemed to touch them. I should have someone on our Health, Nutrition and Exercise course advise me on what to eat.
• ·         Stuff. You need a bike, right? Yes. And all the gear the organisers tell you about, as well as a load of gizmos you’re sort of expected to know. Like cleats, which literally lock you to your pedals and increase the chances of falling over. Oh, and there are bike computers with more technology than NASA used to send the men up to the Moon (see Computing). All this stuff, designed for cyclists, would surely provide a few serious case studies for our new, fun filled Product Design students.

  

  London to Paris in pumps. They stank and were left in a hotel bin in La Defense

• ·         Computing – I gave up on my own Dickensian bike computer in Kent after it recorded me bombing through country lanes at a ‘risky’ 185.1 mph. I didn’t; I didn’t have cleats. After I disengaged it and blew and rubbed on it a bit, it refused to acknowledge any forward motion on my part, so effectively changed from a ten function bit of kit to a “crap clock”. Serious end cyclists filmed their trip on one gadget and recorded bananas, jelly baby and calorific intakes and outputs on another.
• ·         Marketing –someone’s done some work here, with literally £000s spent on top-spec bikes, the aforementioned cleats and computers, and enough lycra to cover the Eiffel Tower. All that money on all that paraphernalia; someone’s really pulled a fast one……
• ·         Psychology – as this was a group event of about 70 riders and 10 or so in the support team, people watchers would have a field day looking at how different groups and alliances formed over the four days. Huzzah! I was largely aloof and occasionally awkward, although fell in with some lovely people here and there. Most of the wider group seemed on the lovely scale and shared the common goals of raising charity money and powering themselves to France, although some of the more serious racers were, well, a bit serious.
•      Were this epic voyage to be dramatised, it may need some help from our Creative Writing and Media Production experts..... 



Daniel Craig as Market Researcher Andy Kingston in "The Picardy Peddler"

• ·         Event Management – would I do the same ride again? Not sure. I like doing my own thing and am ok with the whole self-sufficiency lark, but the logistics, support and care from the event organisers was absolutely top notch. And with 70 or so people to direct, transfer, feed, care for and pacify, accommodate and steer, an award in Marketing, Tourism and Event Management may have come in handy. We do one here!

So, lots going on. For me, undertaking this ride was quite a rollercoaster. I managed to hit quite a hefty charity target and was humbled by the generosity and support of friends, family, colleagues and even the kindness of occasional strangers. And there’s still time to sponsor me over on my Just Giving page.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Cycling!

A joint effort

Come and see us between 10am and 6pm
on Friday or Saturday

In any given application cycle we always have lots of events. So, I'm going to be out and about a little over the next week. I'm helping out the recruitment team at the MK Job show tomorrow – 10-6 in the mall. It’s important that we put in a joint effort in ensuring a positive message is given about Bedfordshire, but also to ensure we offer support and guidance to people who are considering higher education.

A sneaky peak at our new Open Day webpage

We also have our first 2017 cycle Open Day on Wednesday, and I’ll be supporting the recruitment team then too. There is such a big emphasis put on our Open Day to ensure we give a great experience to everyone who sets foot on campus, and not just the prospective students, but the family, friends, or school teachers who come along too – as they are often key influencers in the decision making process. I’ve also been working with the digital team over the last three weeks to create a new Open Day webpage, to help aid conversation and sign ups to our Open Days. This will be live from 5pm on 21 September, ready for the October Open Day. It will be good to see what impact this has on our conversion, as well as dwell time and bounce rates on our webpage. I think it’s looking really nice – it’s a lot more visual, with more dynamic content and more marketing messages to reflect what Bedfordshire can offer students.

We also have the CIPR Awards on 22nd September, so we’re mulling over what outfit to wear and contemplating winning another two awards – keep your fingers crossed. We’ll be sure to let you know if we win!! Watch this space…

Thanks,
Kylie

Reflecting on my university experience

I recently read an article on Marketing Week questioning whether marketing experts really need a degree in marketing. It's an interesting question - and I'm sure the debate could go on for hours and hours with many pros and cons for each side. However the article did make me reflect on my time at university and how my degree has paved the way for me.

I studied Advertising and Marketing Communications, intrigued by the world of advertising and eager to find out more. Within the first year I knew that advertising wasn't for me and started considering the world of marketing more and more. During my second year of university I was able to choose between a 6 week advertising placement or a year-long marketing placement, due to commence that summer. You can probably guess what one I chose. I worked as a Marketing Assistant for an organisation in the higher education sector, where I got to put my theoretical knowledge into practice and helped to implement marketing campaigns, undertake market research, dabble at design, practice my copy writing skills, and many other tasks.

In my final year at university I also worked as a brand ambassador for a student travel organisation. As part of my role I implemented social media campaigns, was responsible for maintaining a brand presence around the university and helped to boost the brand reputation. Both roles enabled me to experience various aspects within marketing, and enabled me to identify what areas I really enjoyed and some areas that I wasn't as keen on.

Both placements have undoubtedly shaped my career path - and more importantly I wouldn't have been considered for either placement if my degree wasn't of a marketing discipline. The experience I received from these placements helped to enrich my CV - highlighting transferable skills that I had gained such as organisational skills, presentation skills, communication skills and the ability to make it through a working week and return the following Monday!

To anyone starting their university journey I would highly recommend that you seek out the opportunity to gain work experience, whether this be through a placement year or an internship. If you feel that you don't have enough time for such a commitment why not take a look at some of the other activities that we offer at Beds - from volunteering opportunities, to writing for our student magazine, to joining a club or society - there's plenty of options available to fit around your schedule and help to ensure that you get more than a degree.

Hitting the ground running - Clearing, campaign and carbs!

Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

Take your marks. Get set...
Advertise!

Planning for, and implementing, the Clearing Campaign is like getting ready for a race (well, to us anyway). And it requires a certain amount of training and groundwork to see you through. See our handy guide to getting set, and getting through Clearing below...

Preparation
Clearing for many becomes a hot topic of conversation in the run up to A level results day. But for us in Marketing HQ, it's never far from our minds. Planning for the campaign starts almost straight after the previous Clearing Campaign has concluded - that's a whole year before results day! From evaluating performance, to working out ROI, and assessing which channels provided the greatest return. We've even been known to secure our top inventory before we break for Christmas. In to the New Year, and it's all about the creative - running photoshoots, filming videos, writing compelling copy and initial design work, as well as working with Andy, our Market Research Manager to crunch some data and provide us with valuable insight to develop our plan and strategy further.

Future-proofing and predicting
our campaign success

Set your goals
After all of the reports and analysis, and after all of the number crunching and data funnelling we're ready to set some targets. We closely monitor application numbers across the cycle, and how they funnel down to firm and insurance choices. It's then a case of looking at our overall recruitment targets, and digging out the evaluations to look at our cost per leads so we can see how heavy weight the campaign will need to be. Creating our dashboards, and getting on top of the figures and data is a crucial part of any campaign plan - it keeps us focused, and gives us clear direction as to what we're aiming to achieve - and provides real-time insight so we can continually adapt and change what we're doing to ensure that we remain on target once we've gone live.

Carb-load
We all know that before a race begins, it's important to have the correct fuel to boost performance. Over in the Atrium we are no stranger to a snack corner. This week to re-fuel for Clearing, we took a trip to Pizza Express with our fellow Digital and Press team members to get our carb fix.  All in the name of preparing for our big endurance event. Ok, so loading up on doughy treats wont help you through Clearing, but it's great to keep the morale going, and no-one likes to work on an empty stomach!

Racing ahead to secure the top
positions

Stepping up to the line
As part of the Clearing campaign, it's important that we're first past the post. It gets more and more competitive every year, and so all of the meticulous planning comes to the fore as we prepare to go live, and front load our campaign for maximum impact, As results day hits, it becomes a minute by minute and hour by hour observation to ensure that campaign activity is optimised, targeting refined, and budget flexed to make sure that we're leading the way and driving those all important phone calls - but the competition is never far behind and all too ready to crank up the budget to race for the top spot (of Google search that is).

One eye firmly on
the competition at
all times!

Eye up the competition
We continue to be amazed by just how fiercely competitive it's been this year. More and more universities are playing the long game, and are deploying some rather questionable tactics, but there's everything still to play for. Whilst it's been a manic few weeks, the buzz has certainly kept us all on our toes - scanning the environment, media monitoring, and generally keeping a firm eye on the competition to see what opportunities lie out there for some quick wins.

In and amongst the busyness of Clearing, we've remained relatively calm and self-assured; after all, we've got a great campaign in place, and our digital first strategy has really yielded some fantastic results. Each year, and from each and every campaign we're learning so much, and this year we have a solid action plan in place to keep the momentum going.

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Endurance
The most fundamental part to the Clearing campaign by any means, is endurance. A year in the making, it's all hands on deck to ensure the campaign delivers - and it's a great team effort.

Clearing provides many opportunities for many students. It's an opportunity to find a place if they didn't get the grades and were unsuccessful during main cycle. It's also for those students who did far better than they imagined, and presents a great opportunity to upgrade their choice. But most importantly, and interestingly, Clearing (over the last few years), has also become a first entry point for many when deciding if, and where, to go to University. Student's are taking their time, and are investigating their career avenues; resulting in a longer decision making period. And it is down to this reason, that the longevity of our campaign is so crucial. So whilst it may feel as though Clearing has been our hot topic for many months now, we've still got many more weeks to go before we conclude for the 2016 cycle - as we continue to promote the University, our core messaging, and present the many benefits not only of Bedfordshire, but of undertaking a degree qualification.

Looking ahead - for the
multi-tasking marketer

Whilst the campaign is in full flow, we can't help but think ahead to our next campaign. And for the Marketing team, we're already implementing our Annual Campaign - also affectionately referred to as the 'Winter' campaign - which focuses on the key form filling period for our 2017 enquirers. Keep a watch out for future blog posts, as we'll launch into our next race - which is more of a marathon; as we once again play the long game - and plan ahead for September 2017.