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.