A little insight into my week

I can’t quite believe that it’s Friday already – this week has flown by, and what a week it’s been.

Earlier this week some of our media providers came in to present some of the new media platforms that are available. These are always really interesting and informative days as the media providers share some of their market insight with us, as well as their predictions of where the market may be heading. They then present to us some of the new ways available to connect with our audience, to help strengthen the University of Bedfordshire brand awareness and engagement.

The way in which consumers connect with brands continues to change dramatically, and consumers expect more from brands than they once did. Because of this we have been focusing on how we can make our messages more personalised, and some of the options that we were shown will allow us to do exactly that. I don’t think I can say too much more right now, but keep your eyes peeled over Clearing to see what we’ve been up to.

We also had a meeting with our media agency to discuss how our campaign has performed over the last year, and to see what’s in store over Clearing. These meetings provide a good opportunity for us to take the time to reflect on what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what we can do to improve our messaging in the future.

We have a really exciting Clearing campaign planned this year, and we’re excited for you all to see it. One aspect at the heart of all of our campaigns is that we use our own students, rather than models or actors. We believe that this presents a more accurate representation of Bedfordshire, and we try to capture video content as well so that prospective students can hear about our current students experiences. We’ve got our photo-shoots coming up over the next couple of weeks so I’ve been busy contacting our students this week to see if they would like to take part in our campaign, trying to ensure that all subject areas are represented. Although the next couple of weeks will be busy, I always enjoy meeting our students and learning about their Bedfordshire experiences.

I’m not sure I can finish without making a celebratory comment about the sun finally making an appearance this week can I? It’s been a little hot in the office the last few days, but we seem to have found the perfect solution*.

Sara

*Other ice lollies are available from retailers

An update from Bedfordshire’s press office

Being a communications officer with writer’s block can be an absolute nightmare. For my first blog of 2018, I was really struggling to think of something to blog about, which is annoying when you make your living from writing!

So I have decided to fill you in on what I have been doing in recent weeks and write about some of the stories I’ve been working on.

I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely Mental Health Nursing student called Fern, who has been shortlisted for not one, but two awards in this year’s Student Nursing Times Awards, which is a huge achievement.

Congratulations to @uniofbeds student @Fern45075972 who has been shortlisted for two Student Nursing Times Awards! #SNTA @NursingTimes pic.twitter.com/535yfVtf3M

— UoB Press Office (@uobnews) February 27, 2018

While on a placement, Fern did a great deal of work on helping young people in CAMHS services transition into adult services. I worked for a mental health trust in a previous life so I’m very aware of how difficult this transition period can be. It’s fantastic to see that Fern has been a driving force for making things better for her service users.

You can read more about Fern here.

Bedfordshire students seem to be on a roll at the moment when it comes to awards. Students from the TV Production and Media Production courses have been shortlisted for accolades in this year’s Royal Television Society’s (RTS) East Student Awards.

We have had students shortlisted in five categories which is absolutely amazing, and testament to all their hard work, and to the dedication of their tutors. I’ll have everything crossed for 15 March when the students will find out if they have won anything.

If you get a chance, check out the students' work here.

I also got the chance to do something a bit different and go along to watch a live interview with Hollyoaks actor Duayne Boachie. Duayne was studying at the University when he got his big break into acting a few years ago and it was great to see him return and share insight into his career and offer tips and guidance to current students.

I have also been preparing for our graduation ceremonies taking place in March. I always enjoy covering these and this year I’m really keen to find some fantastic student success stories to share with the wider world – watch this space!

At our Luton campus today @Hollyoaks actor and former Beds student @DuayneBoa gave a masterclass to Media Performance students, here's a snippet of his Q&A pic.twitter.com/tKuaqckyW4

— uniofbeds (@uniofbeds) February 14, 2018

How to get media coverage during ‘silly season’

As it turns out, this is my last blog post of 2017. Where has the year gone?!

As some of my fellow PRs will know very well, this time of year is affectionately known as ‘silly season’ – a time of year when journalists far and wide have run out of stories and content.

Journalists take annual leave and leave their newsrooms short-staffed and their websites lacking in news. Anything that pops up in their inboxes is more likely to get their attention now than at any other time of year, simply because they are desperate for content.

So I thought I would pull together a few tips on how press officers in universities (and other organisations for that matter) can take advantage of this time of year to get some publicity.

Be creative

With so little news around, this could be your chance to flag up ideas that might be overshadowed at busier times. A funny story, an inspiring case study, some quirky research – all these things might grab a journo’s attention.

Piggy-back on stuff

There may not be much news around, but as we all know, that can change in a heartbeat. Has an airline gone bust? Pitch out your tourism academics! Specific health issues making the headlines? Dig out your researchers who can offer some words of wisdom. Even if it’s just a line in an article, it’s better than nothing!

Be a journalist’s best friend

A mentor once told me that we as PRs provide a service to journalists, and as such, we should provide the best service we can. If you can’t help a journalist with their enquiry, direct them to someone who can – even if it’s a competitor. There’s nothing in it for you, but the journo will remember the kind gesture and may come to you again in the future with something you can help with.

Get festive

Don’t underestimate the power of a good Christmassy story. Whether you’re fundraising for charity or encouraging colleagues to wear daft festive jumpers, all these are potential news stories, especially if you’ve got good images to go with them.

Pester your SU

Students’ Unions are a brilliant place to find news stories, especially around Christmas. I have found that quite often SUs are rushed off their feet with other things, so if you can give them a helping hand to get some media coverage for their festive events, they’ll love you forever!  

With that said, there’s nothing left for me to do but wish you all a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, full of excellent PR opportunities and lots of media coverage!

The day has finally arrived

Finally the day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. A Level results are out, and Clearing has officially begun! Good luck to anyone and everyone that is getting their results today, our team are on hand and ready to answer any questions that you may have, and hopefully welcome you to the University of Bedfordshire this September!

Whenever I tell people I work at the University they always assume that I get a nice, relaxing break over the summer holidays - it's a common misconception as it's actually one of our busiest periods.

There's a lot of preparation that goes into Clearing, arranging the artwork that you've (hopefully) seen both online and out of home over the last couple of months. It's very exciting to see all of our work come together, and hear those phones ringing today. I was also very excited when I went to the cinema last week and saw our cinema advert!

Our 2018 Postgraduate Prospectus has also been printed this month, so be sure to pick one up at one of our reception desks. We work on the prospectus for several months, so it's always really exciting when we see the final product! But as we finish with one prospectus, we start with another! Can you believe we're already talking about our 2019 Undergraduate Prospectus? Next month I'll be compiling the list of courses, and starting to create a flat plan for the prospectus, as well as starting to write copy for the publication.

I'm also currently working on our Open Day plans. Now that I have taken up the role as Marketing Officer, I am responsible for ensuring the Open Day plans are implemented across all channels, which means liaising with various departments, and working with our external designers to produce our Open Day collateral.

I've also been working on various emails that will be sent to our enquirers over the next couple of months, and working with various departments within the University to find out what's been happening and what's in store! Told you I've been busy! Better get back to it!

Sara

Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes UCAS Exhibition

This week the University of Bedfordshire hosted the annual Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes UCAS Exhibition. The event was held over two days at our Bedford campus and welcomed thousands of students on campus to find out more about the different options available to them in the future. 

It was a great two days. The sun was shining (ok that might be an understatement - it was very hot!) and there was a great atmosphere on campus. As well as representatives from over 150 higher education institutions, there were representatives from the Army, gap year organisations, and information on apprenticeships. 

I was helping out on the University of Bedfordshire stand, talking to students about what they want to do after college and giving them more information on the various courses we offer, the benefits of undertaking a year in industry, and how we can offer them more than a great degree. It was a non-stop couple of days but it was a great opportunity to speak to students, staff from local schools and colleges, and staff from other higher education institutions. 

The event also made the ITV news so if you weren't able to attend the event take a look at the news story here. I make a small cameo (ah!).

I'm also helping out at another UCAS exhibition tomorrow at the University of East London (UEL) where I'll have another opportunity to talk to students about the different opportunities available at the University of Bedfordshire! I'm hoping for an air conditioned room!

Thanks for reading!

Sara

Marketing Assistant

Easter treats!

I hope you all enjoyed the Easter break and ate far too much chocolate! I was resisting but my willpower failed me on Sunday night when a friend and I had a go at baking some Creme Egg brownies! (They were delicious even if I do say so myself!)

But now we're back in the office and raring to go! This morning I've been prepping some open day invite emails, in preparation for our Luton and Bedford,  and Milton Keynes events. Attending an open day is a great way to get a feel for the campus you'll be studying at and gives you the opportunity to speak to both academic and support staff.

We've also been busy working on the PG prospectus for 2018. Draft copy has been sent to our design agency, and we're looking forward to seeing the first proof next week. The prospectuses are one of the bigger projects that I'm involved in, from assisting on photo-shoots, to writing copy and liaising with academics, to proof reading, so I enjoy seeing it all come together.

I've also been working on a report, pulling together stats from e-zines that both myself and Kylie have worked on over the last year, and analysing the results. It's great to see that most of our communications are performing above the sector average, and helps us to identify what content is the most relevant to our audiences.

I've also been filming around the campus lately, working on some videos showcasing the facilities available at Beds. It's been a great opportunity for me to nose around campus and see what our students are getting up to! Take a look at some of our sports facilities, and watch this space for more videos soon!

Meet the team at one of our Open Days

One of our responsibilities within the Marketing department is to work with the Recruitment team to help plan the Open Days throughout the year. Before each season Kylie puts together a plan for the Open Days which includes emails, postcards, and digital screens etc. One of my roles is to help implement the plans, which includes drafting email communications for different audiences, working with designers to produce any printed collateral, and creating digital artwork for our digital screens and LRC screens around campus. 

Yesterday I also got to help out at our Luton Open Day. Helping at the event is a great way for us to gain insight into the events, which we can then use in our marketing materials. It also provides us with the opportunity to talk to some of our student enquirers and applicants, and their friends and families, to find out how they've found the day, and what they're looking to achieve. 

Our Student Ambassadors are also on hand at our Open Days, taking enquirers on campus tours, and showing them where to go for the various talks throughout the day. The Student Ambassadors are great as they're able to answer any questions about what life as a student at Beds is really like, and can provide useful tips about being a student and living in the area.

But the work doesn't stop once the event has finished. After each event we send a further email thanking everyone for coming, as well as an email to anyone who couldn't attend, letting them know about our next Open Day and inviting them to one of our regular campus tours.

You can find out more about our Open Days and campus tours here.

 

If a picture tells a thousand words, what does a video do?

Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

Keeping on top of the latest
information and content trends

My last blog post was focused on the importance of imagery in marketing work. This post follows a similar theme, but this time highlights the value of video content. With online communities on the rise, as well as a real appetite for quick information, marketers have to evolve their content strategies to make sure they are getting their messages out in the most effective way. Video content is fast becoming the future of content marketing. That is, if it already isn't an expectation of many students.

Here in the Marketing team, we've been working on producing a series of location videos to support our 2017 Conversion campaign which launches next week, following on from the January UCAS deadline. As part of our conversion strategy we send out a series of communications to applicants to help them make an informed choice. But this year, we wanted to build on our work further, by telling stories, and through adopting a 'show don't tell' approach to our communications.

On location in MK

Our work has culminated in the production of two new location videos - one for Milton Keynes, and one for Bedford, as well as some social media teaser edits. It's been a big team effort to bring these videos to fruition in quite a tight time frame. There may be more of a desire for video content, but it definitely requires a lot of planning to make sure the creative output is both of a good quality and most importantly, relevant to our audience: from appointing a video production company, setting the briefs, working with the local town Councils, agreeing the film schedules and timings, all the way through to accompanying the film crew on location, and working on the edits, there's a lot of elements to fit into our working day.

Happy Birthday Milton Keynes!

But why the tight time frame, you may say? Good question! And for that, there are two answers. Firstly, our conversion campaign kicks off from next week - it's a key time in the recruitment cycle to deliver key information to encourage applicants to pick up as one of their top two choices (firm or insurance). Secondly, in order to get the best engagement from our location videos, and specifically our Milton Keynes video, we wanted to release the video to coincide with #MK50 - Milton Keynes' 50th birthday anniversary which is taking place on 23 January. And so being able to seed out the content at the optimum time is almost as important as the content itself.

Multi-channel marketing - the recipe
for success

A key part of producing any new content is considering how to get the content out and seen by the right people, and so a seeding strategy is needed. For anyone who is a regular reader of this blog, or indeed an avid social media user you couldn't help but notice our location campaign last year. It was a great success and even landed us in the top 100 University social media league table for the first time – securing a top 50 position. Social Media forms a key part of our seeding strategy, but in order to be successful, a multi-channel approach is needed. In order to realise the video's full potential and to maximise on engagements, we need to make it as easy as possible for our audience to find it and share it..

Taking inspiration from Sean Bean

For many marketers original video content is starting to dominate their strategies, and it's really not difficult to see why. Videos have the potential to go viral, or if done well, can demonstrate their share-ability, meaning our potential students will spend longer viewing our content, visiting our website and interacting with our brand - all important aspects of building up brand advocacy. Keep your eyes posted on our social media channels: Twitter and Facebook over the coming week's to see our big reveal of video content and the first pieces of what we hope to develop into a longer video content strategy.

Location, location, location

Last week I spent two days in Bedford with Spectrecom filming a location video to showcase our Bedford campus and some of the highlights of the town. The weather tried to hold us back on Wednesday so we focused on indoor shots, capturing footage from one of our dance classes, a performing arts class, and our very own SU bar, before heading over to the Harpur Centre to get some shots of the shopping centre.

Luckily for us the rain stopped around lunch time so we ventured outside and got some shots of the market, Bedford Corn Exchange and St. Paul's Church. We were then off once again, first to Priory Park and then to the cinema (to film I promise!).

The sun was out on Thursday so the team got some lovely shots along the Embankment, and, quite surprisingly, I was only asked once what we were doing! We also captured shots of the train station, Silver Street, Bedford Park and Bedford International Athletics Stadium; so a jam-packed couple of days!

The team also spent two days at Milton Keynes (thanks again Jenny and Pete!) capturing footage for a MK location video. We're already excited to see how they're going to look and we can't wait to share both videos with you in a couple of months.

With the video shoots last week and the photography shoots the week before, it's been a busy couple of weeks in the Marketing Department! This week I'm back in the office and working on our 2018 undergraduate prospectus (yes, already!), our applicant newsletters and some open day emails.

I'm also trying to arrange to film some industry talks and master classes, and some student interviews so I'm sure you'll see me around campus sometime soon.

Another week in the Marketing Department

I can't believe it's Friday already (not that I'm complaining of course!). With the bank holiday on Monday this week has flown by!

On Tuesday and Wednesday the University hosted the US festival - a dance festival involving several universities within the UK. The two day event featured workshops from various practitioners within the dance industry as well as performances from the university students involved. On Wednesday I got to visit our Bedford campus to film some of the workshops and performances. It was a great afternoon and I was lucky enough to sit in on some amazing performances. I'll be editing the content next week so look out for when it goes live on the more than a degree site.

Today I'm also going to visit the Art & Design graduate show, Frame. Frame is an exhibition showcasing some of the work by our final year students and I'm quite excited to see what they've produced! The show will be running in the Alexon building until the 15 June so, if you haven't already, why not check it out?

Over the last couple of weeks I've also spent some time focusing on our Postgraduate offering. At the end of this month, we'll be hosting a Postgraduate Open Day so I've been working on some information emails for our second and final year students to let them know about the event. I've also been working with our CRM team and the library team to get some digital signage put up on the plasma screens and LRC screens to further promote the event to our current students. 

And continuing with the PG theme, I've also been working on the PG prospectus for 2017. I've been liaising with various faculties and departments around the University to ensure that all of my sections are correct and up-to-date as well as proof reading copy and selecting images for the prospectus. I'm pretty sure I've said this before but it's coming along very nicely and I can't wait for you all to see it!

A varied few weeks

Over the last week or so I’ve been away from my desk more than usual; helping with photoshoots and filming, and attending media presentations. The last few weeks and been super busy and really varied, from the more creative aspects (photoshoots) to the less creative (proofreading publications). But that’s what I enjoy about marketing, it can be so varied and it keeps you on your toes!

As Sara mentioned last week, we’ve had three days of photoshoots for our clearing and annual campaign. They were hectic but exciting, and we’ve just received the images from the photographer. We’ve been looking through all of the images and choosing the best ones to take forward for our campaign, taking into consideration the different platforms they will be used for. It’s now over to the photographer to work more of his magic and edit the selected pictures. We’re hoping to get these next week so our designers can start working on the visuals and we can start working on the microsite.  

I’ve also been filming student videos for a forthcoming e-zine edition – and as the weather has been so nice, I even took the opportunity to do the filming outside which was great! So I’ll be editing these over the coming weeks as a start to put my e-zines together.

There are also a few publications I’m currently working on:

1. The PG 2017 prospectus – this is at first proof stage, so I’ve been proofing my allocated sections; five sections down, one to go…  

2. The UCAS visitor guide – we’re hosting a UCAS Exhibition in June at our Bedford campus for the third year running and I’m working on the main guide. This is at final proof stage and I’m expecting to send it to print on Tuesday

3. Welcome 2017 guide – each year we produce a welcome guide that we send out to all of our applicants following results day. This gives an overview ahead of students starting with us – how to register as a Beds student online, social events taking place in the first week, finance, student support, campus maps and lots more! I briefed this in to the designer yesterday and first proofs are due wc 16 May

Our UCAS Exhibition guide

We’re also looking ahead to the 2017 cycle – I sent the first enquirer edition of our B4Beds e-zine last month, and we’ve got some email communications going out over the next month or so. This is the part of the year when it can often get confusing as we’re working on the 2016 cycle and the 2017 cycle at the same time. All in a day’s work! 

Speak soon,

K

Out and about on campus

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the Marketing Department to say the least! I've been helping out on our Clearing and Winter campaign photo-shoots, which involves sourcing students to take part, meeting the students on the day, helping with the creative direction of the shoot and interviewing students about their UoB experience. We've got some really great shots, with students from various departments, and I'm excited to see the finished result of our Clearing campaign! A massive thanks to all of the students that took part in the campaign, and to all the staff that helped us source props, or recommended students to us.

I really enjoy getting out and about on the photo-shoots. I find it really interesting working with the photographers as they have such a different way of seeing things. I also really enjoy speaking to students and hearing their thoughts on UoB; it helps to see and understand things from another perspective which can never be a bad thing - especially for someone in Marketing!

On Friday the Marketing Team also got to spend the day over in the Bedford campus, meeting various media suppliers with our Media agency. This is the first time that I've been involved in a day like this since I started at UoB so it was a really great experience for me. Each supplier presented their media offerings to us and explained the different options available and how their offerings have evolved over the last year. For me, it was also a chance to put faces to names that I've been emailing the past year!

I've also been working on our PG campaign over the last few weeks. I've been sending emails to our current students about the benefits of progressing onto postgraduate study and recommending some courses that might appeal to them (and compliment their current studies). I'm also currently working on some materials for the Jubilee Scholarship, which offers UK/EU students the chance to study a Master's for free this September if they receive a first class Honours from us, so keep an eye out for these around the university!

On the subject of PG study, I also filmed Barbara Guinn from the Research Graduate School to find out more about the excellent support they offer students. Keep an eye out for the video on our YouTube channel, it'll be up by the end of the week!

In other news it's officially been over a year since I started at UoB! I can't quite believe how quickly the time has flown by but they do say time flies when you're having fun!

More than a degree

Over the next couple of days hundreds of UoB students will be graduating from university officially, with many leaving the world of university behind and stepping into the world of employment. Kylie and I will be going to meet some of the graduates and interview them about their UoB experience. There's always such a buzz at the graduations and I can't help but remember my own (although I still can't believe mine was four years ago this year!!).

With the job market the way it stands currently, it's so important that graduates can differentiate themselves from other graduates, whether this be with an internship, volunteering, or simply being a member of a club or society. As mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, I've been working on a section of the website called more than a degree, which highlights many of the co-curricular and extra-curricular activities available at Beds. The pages highlight the various ways students can get involved at the university, whether this be writing for the SU's magazine, taking part in the Go Global programme, or learning a language, as well as many other opportunities.

As part of this project I've had the opportunity to meet with some of our students and graduates that have already benefited from taking part in some of these amazing opportunities. Keep your eyes peeled on our website, and across our social media accounts for more information!

What's great about the more than a degree project is that it is still expanding. There's so many fantastic things happening at the university that I'm still learning about all of the different opportunities myself! If you run, or know, of any activity that isn't currently listed on the more than a degree pages please let me know.

A small but mighty team

I think this week’s post will be a quick one from me. You might think it’s the pressure getting to me this week, as we’ve just been nominated for an award for our blog in the UK Blog Awards 2016 (sorry for the not so subtle plug there). But in reality, it's maybe because things are ticking along - there's lot's going on as always; reports, plans, campaigns, conversion activity, meetings, print collateral, emails - OK I'll stop there! But there's not a lot of new things to report as quite often a lot of the work we do is ongoing. We're a small but mighty team!

So, what have I been up to since last time...

I’ve started to update our in-house style guide that I mentioned in my previous blog post. I’ve amended the format a little and added in some things that I think were missing from the previous version, using inconsistencies that I have come across when working on previous printed collateral. I’ll be sense checking it and then liaising with other teams in the department for their feedback – digital, comms, CRM, and the rest of the marketing team – anyone who writes or creates anything external facing for our audiences.

The UCAS convention season is fast approaching, so I’ve been liaising with the recruitment team to ensure we’re armed with collateral for all of the events that we attend around the UK, as well as planning the collateral we’ll need for the UCAS convention that we’re hosting at our Bedford campus on 20-22 June. This will be the third UCAS convention we’ve held on campus and each year the recruitment team are building on the success of the previous year’s event, with each year getting bigger and better. We welcome thousands of students and schools through our doors so it’s a key time for us!

I also helped out at yesterday’s open day – the first time I’ve been able to support the recruitment team during an event. I was working on the CATS registration desk at our Luton campus – scanning people in and giving them a rundown of the day’s events.

Some positive open day feedback

As well as the above, I've been working on different conversion activity – emails, print collateral and so on – this time of year is crucial for us, so we're working on pulling out all the stops. 

And finally, I’ve almost finished two more evaluation reports – the first time I’ve been a head on reports in a wee while.

Speak soon,

K

No rest for the wicked

Some of you would think that now most of the students have finished for the summer our work might start to wind down...well let me assure you, you are very, very wrong! We seem to have entered a very busy (but very exciting) time in the Marketing Department!

This week I've been out of the office for a couple of days helping with the photo shoot for our annual campaign. It's something that I'd never done previously so it was great to meet the photographers, get an idea of how it all works and, most importantly, meet some of the students and graduates that were taking part in the campaign. As cliche as it may sound it was a really great experience for me to meet our students, past and current, and hear their thoughts and find out about some of the amazing things they've been getting up too! I also managed to get a sneak peek at some of the shots we'd taken and they looked great (even if I do say so myself!) so make sure you keep an eye out for them later on in the year!

Graduations have been taking place this week so there's been a lot of smartly dressed students and their families around campus the last few days! On Friday I'll be filming one of the graduations at St. Mary's so I'll have another chance to talk to some of our students and find out about their plans now they've graduated.

We're also sending the final proof of our PG prospectus to the designers this week. I couldn't tell you how many times I've read it but it's really great to see it all come together! I can't believe it's nearly over but there's already talk of the UG 2017 prospectus so I'm sure that'll keep me going!

You may have seen that our Clearing campaign has already started (if you haven't check out our micro-site) so I've been working on a few bits here and there to help Krystle. It's been really good for me as I'm getting to see all the different sections of the annual cycle!

I also helped out with the UCAS convention (I can't believe that was a whole month ago!) at the Bedford campus. This was a really fun day for me as I got to go over to Bedford and see the new Gateway building and speak to members of staff that I wouldn't normally come into contact with regularly. There was a really great atmosphere at the convention and it was nice to meet some potential students. It did however bring back a few memories of when I attended a UCAS convention which made me feel quite old!

I've also been keeping busy outside of work too (I told you there was no rest for the wicked), and a couple of weeks ago I took park in the 10k Race for Life in Stevenage. I only walked it but, as I'm not the fittest of people, it was a big achievement for me! I love doing the Race for Life as there's always a fantastic atmosphere in the air! One of the local radio stations was there to support the event and after crossing the finishing line we asked if they could play Taylor's shake it off so we could celebrate in style (no pun intended...it really did just happen)!

Where have the last two months gone?

I can’t believe that it’s over two months since I started working at the University! When I was writing my first blog post I was only a couple of weeks in and was just finding my feet – just over two months later and it feels like I’ve been here forever (in a good way!)

As promised I’ve been kept really busy with a lot of different tasks which has been a great way for me to get my head around all the different areas the MARC department are involved in. I’ve been writing content for the new PG prospectus, the UCMK prospectus and the new student welcome guide, sourcing images and liaising with various staff members. We’re now in the proofing stages and it feels great to see all of our hard work coming together!

I’ve also filmed a couple of videos which have appeared in the e-zines. It’s been a while since I used video and editing equipment so it felt really good to get back into it!  It was also a nice way for me to meet both staff and students around the university. I’ve got a couple more videos planned this month so don’t forget to smile at the camera if you see me about!

I sent my first edition of PG Life last week which was rather exciting. If any of you read it, I hope you enjoyed it! At the moment I’m beginning to plan the next edition as well as content for a couple of other e-zines for potential students and new starters.

Later this month I’ll be helping out at the Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes UCAS Convention, which is being hosted at our Bedford campus on the 22 and 23 June. I’ve participated in open day events when I was on my placement year but this will be the first UCAS fair that I’ve attended since I went to one when I was in college so I’m looking forward to helping out and seeing what goes on (maybe I’ll grab myself some freebies whilst I’m there too…).

All in all June is looking like an exciting month with prospectus sign-offs, e-zines and UCAS conventions! Not to mention that it’s my birthday this month and I’ll be celebrating it by singing along to Taylor Swift at Hyde Park! And I’m also going to Download festival next weekend! If you’re thinking that Download and Taylor Swift don’t really go together you’re probably right but what’s life without a little diversity eh?! 

All this talk of 'winter' is getting me excited for Christmas!!

Some of our Recruitment Team
and student Ambassadors waiting to greet
PG students on campus  

From recent blog posts, you will certainly be aware that we have now launched our Winter campaign. Winter is definitely the most used word around the MARC office at the moment. The teams have done a great job pulling it all together and the artwork looks really good.

We’re also in the middle of the open day rush. Since my last blog we’ve held a PG open day on 16 October and another UG open day on 18 October at our Bedford campus. Our Bedford event saw 183 prospective students on our campus, not to manetion schools we had in attendence. There is also another UG open day this Saturday (25 October) at our Luton campus. And let’s not forget our November open days too (15 November, Bedford campus and 22 November, Luton campus). Once the November open days have taken place, we have a couple of months before the next events, so we can evaluate the pre-January events, which will influence our planning for the post-January open day events. So far we’ve seen some good sign up numbers , so hopefully this will continue. We currently have 656 student signed up to our event this Saturday.

Photography
As part of the prospectus project, we have our annual photography session this week and next. We have five days of photography booked in total, giving us the opportunity to get new student profiles and photographs of our new and upgraded facilities. As our prospectuses hold a lot of images, it’s really important that we get the images right, to really show off our campuses and reflect what we can offer our students. A picture speaks a thousand words, as they say! Clare spent two days with the photographer this week to get shots of students and video interviews and I will be working with photographers next week to get shots of our facilities and campuses. I’m excited to be art directing the shoots, as it’s the first time I’ve done photography at the University and it will give me the opportunity to meet some more of our academics and students, as well as experiencing some of the facilities that I have not yet seen.

My lovely CIM certificate

My CIM Training

I recently went to London for a one day CIM course on how to write an integrated marketing plan. I was really keen to attend the session as one of my main responsibilities in the team is putting together our open day plans, which this year need to produce a 25% increase in footfall. The day was quite useful, it was a good refresh to some of the things I learnt at university (which seems like forever ago) and also gave me a few things to think about. Now that I have been at Bedfordshire for eight months and I have been writing integrated open day plans for the past five months, it was really good to leave the course feeling reassured that what we do in terms of our planning is really robust, and we really use insight and evaluations from previous events to influence our future plans, which is key to improving. I also got a little certificate at the end of the day, to show I had taken part in the course.

Welcome to Maria

And finally, on behalf of the marketing team, I’d like to give a warm welcome to Maria, our new marketing administrator, who will be working with the team two days a week for the next six weeks. She is a recent University of Bedfordshire PG graduate and we look forward to working with her in the coming weeks!

Speak soon,

K

Hello...I'm New Here

Sophia Meola, Marketing Administrator

Hello Everyone,

I am Sophia, a newly graduated BA (Hons) Business Management student from the University of Bedfordshire itself (Bedford Campus) and newbie member of the MARC department. I graduated a few weeks ago (15th July) with a 2.1 and I couldn’t be happier. To be honest it still feels so surreal to be able to say I am a graduate and I am still in the process of deciding which routes to take after university life, whether going for a master’s degree or finding my dream job. In a nutshell I am your typical girly girl with an entrepreneurial edge. I have an obsession with rose gold and I can’t get enough of red velvet cake (yum)!

I always knew I had a passion for business and here I am today trying to pursue it. I decided to study a Business Management degree because it offered me everything I was interested in learning more about. My Dad has always been in business and has worked his way up to owning his own advertising and marketing company called ‘Big Marketing Ltd’. I guess you could say I am following in my Dad’s footsteps and I would definitely agree with you there. Growing up watching my Dad gave me my own desire to work hard and succeed in everything that I do. Amongst everything else, I also work for my Dad’s company as a ‘Digital Media Assistant’ and have worked on some incredible campaigns recently with Rolls Royce and Lotus Cars. I am such a busy bee these days haha! I bet you are all wondering why I am not working with my Dad’s company full time right?! Well, here’s the thing…as much as I would love to work with my Dad full time I think I would get too comfortable and eventually lose sight of all of the other opportunities that are out there for me. My Dad worked his way up from the bottom and I intend to do so also. 

I tend to ramble a bit so let’s move swiftly on. So, last week I started my new role at the University of Bedfordshire’s MARC department as ‘Marketing Administrator’. Some of you may know that I write the Business Students blog and I found out about the role because of my internship (yay!). Everything happened quite quickly, so here I am today being part of the MARC team until October. My role consists of assisting all areas of the MARC department from the marketing, admissions, recruitment and communications teams. I feel so proud knowing I was given this opportunity so close to graduating university and I think this is a great prospect for someone like me who has an obsession with all things marketing.

As I mentioned above I am currently writing the Business Students blog for the university, if you would like to read my most recent post you can do so my clicking here. Blogging is something that has become a huge part of my life and I couldn’t see myself not doing. I have actually been writing my own personal blog for over 2 years now and I have enjoyed every second of it. I officially started my blog during the first year at university as a creative outlet for myself, so I feel it has been something that has been with me throughout my student life journey. It is your typical girly girl blog which features beauty, fashion and lifestyle posts about everything else I love in life. If you would like to take a peek at that you can do so by clicking here...I am currently going through a blog re-design so please excuse the mess :). Last year I was extremely fortunate and lucky to have been shortlisted in the Cosmopolitan Magazine Blog Awards. It I still something I cannot believe actually happened and since being nominated last year I have been working alongside a London based PR agency and have had the opportunity to collaborate with well-known brands and attend some fabulous events that are mainly based in London. Recently I found out some even more amazing news, I was actually driving home from my MARC interview when I started receiving all of these tweets saying congratulations…I was so confused! I had forgotten that the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2014 shortlist was being released that day so I couldn’t think what it could have been. Eventually, after some investigating I found out I was shortlisted again this year! I never thought in my right mind that I would be here a year later talking about being nominated for a second year in a row and let alone for two awards! To be nominated with a magazine I read regularly feels like a complete dream. To be shortlisted and going to the awards is an achievement in itself; however, if I actually won it would just be the cherry on top...I don’t know what I would do! So here is where I lay out the cheesy ‘pretty please vote more me’ line! I am nominated under ‘Best Established Beauty Blog’ and ‘Best Use of Social Media’ so if you have a spare moment I would really appreciate a little vote. Thank you in advance :)

Now more of the personals are out of the way, let’s get back into talking about my new job role. At the moment I have been given the opportunity to work on numerous different tasks. The first being to update subject guides for the ‘Business, Finance and Tourism’, ‘Law’, ‘English Language and Communication’ and ‘Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations’ courses. It has been great to dive in and find all the information to give the guides a pick me up. Alongside this I have also been given the task of collating prospectus requests from potential students and issuing them prospectuses based on their specific requests. Being an alumnus it has been great to see how everything works behind the scenes. I remember when I received my prospectuses! My most recent task has been to update the photo library, this has involved me scrolling through all images available on the internal server and updating captions, tags and deleting duplicates. This is a great task to jump between everything else…especially if you get a creative mental block. Also, it helps that I am quite an organised person and love to re-organise things!

Amongst all of the above I have also had the opportunity to help out other parts of the department. I attended two graduations last week where I helped distribute leaflets about the Jubilee Scholarship and film students for some video projects. Being in my second week of my new role I think I am slowly but surely settling in more. I attended my first team meeting this week and it was great to hear about all of the projects that are going on at the moment and what is being planned for the future. So far I have really enjoyed working with the team and on the projects I have been assigned. Going straight from a university course into a full time job has been a leap but I feel I have used so many skills that I learnt across my university journey studying my degree. Being on the other side of the table it has really opened my eyes at how much works goes into every little thing…especially the prospectuses and subject guides! I am actually off away on vacation Saturday so I am really looking forward to escaping to some sunshine. Upon my return I will be working on some of the same tasks as above, also volunteering some time at a University of Bedfordshire clearing stand with some of the MARC team and helping with clearing! August is looking pretty good!

Speak to you all soon!

We’re on a roll

A sneak peek at the cover of the PG 2015 prospectus

Last time I blogged I mentioned that the UCMK prospectus had arrived hot off the press and onto the Marketing team’s desks. Well, the good news is, the PG prospectus is almost ready to go to print now too. We’re at the final stage of signing off the Epson proofs, and then it’s going to print next week, and will arrive in office mid-August. Another big project ticked off our to-do-lists. And I’ve got to admit, it’s a relief to have all that work complete. Pulling together such a big publication can be really hard work- it’s worth it when it comes to fruition though.

I also mentioned in my last blog that I was working on two new student guides; the college guide and the nursing guide. I’ve been a busy little bee over the last few weeks and these are also at the last proofing stage and will be ready early August.

My final publication task (for now) is auditing some of our subject guides, ready for September. As part of the auditing process I am looking at five of the guides, making updates and liaising with Heads of Departments to gather further updates. Once these are revised and amends are made, they will be uploaded online. Going forward we will be carrying out focus groups to look at how we can further improve these publications for the audience, and perhaps making some bigger changes for the 2015 subject guides.

What else I’ve been up to

I’ve been out of office quite a lot recently; over at our Bedford and Putteridge Bury campuses filming student graduations and helping to distribute Jubilee Scholarship fliers prior to ceremonies. Seeing graduations always takes me back to my graduation, it’s such a strange time; happy and proud to be finished, but sad to say goodbye to people you have known for three or more years. It’s great seeing all of the graduates and their families around campus looking so happy and proud! Keep an eye out for our graduation photos and videos on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

I’ve also been finishing the undergraduate open day evaluation report (PG one to start next week), putting a content schedule together for the marketing team for our PG Facebook and Twitter pages and working on the July edition of B4Beds; filming and editing videos.

My development

I have recently been looking into my development and have booked myself and my colleague, Clare, onto a print workshop in Northampton in September. A little way away yet, but I’m hoping having more of an understanding of print and paper, and how certain paper stock effects the final look of a printed product will help me going forward in making recommendations to future publications that will not only further enhance the look of our publications, but also be more cost effective to print. 

A new member of the team…

Welcome to Sophia

And finally, welcome to Sophia Meola, our Business student blogger who has recently joined the MARC team for a couple of months in the Marketing Administrator role. She graduated from Bedfordshire last week after studying Business Management (BIG congratulations!) and she has a keen interest in marketing. We’re all excited to have her on board!

Speak to you all soon

K

One down, one to go

Kylie Aldridge, Marketing Officer

So, I’m back from my holiday now and it was great!! I’m feeling refreshed and even have a wee tan, which is unusual for me. Before I went away I managed to get most of my big jobs wrapped up, which means  my first week back was more relaxed than expected (but by no means easy!) because as usual we have lots happening with in our small team.

Hot off the press!

It’s arrived…

My final job before going on holiday was to brief the final amends to the UCMK prospectus ready for print and with the help of my colleagues, Sarah and Clare, who picked up the final print sign off in my absence, the prospectus was sent off to print week commencing 2 June. It arrived on my desk last week, and it looks great- clean and professional, even if I do say so myself, and we've had some good feedback from the wider MARC team. So that was the highlight of my first week back. Just the postgraduate prospectus to finish now, which is still chugging along nicely…

As some leave us, more arrive

As the summer approaches and the University buildings slowly empty, our team still have lots of key focuses. One of which is our new students who will be starting with us in September. As part of the focus on our new students, Sarah is working on our new student guide and I am working on our college and nursing guides. These are important publications for new students and aim to provide valuable information on registration and orientation, next steps of student finance, our Students’ Union and lots more- a full guide to starting with us.

I am also working on evaluations from our recent open days, the June edition of our B4Beds e-zine and editing CRM videos.

UCAS convention at Bedford

As many of you will know, we held the Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes UCAS Convention at our Bedford campus on 23 and 24 June. And I am told from my colleagues around the office that this was a really good (and busy) event, and the sun was out which always helps, especially when you have live bands playing.

Speak to you all soon

K