Everyday's a school day

Happy New Year everyone!

As I've been tasked with the first blog post of the year, I'd like to start how I always start, with a little inspiration for us all. 

I know a lot of people set resolutions around this time, so let me add another to your list...try and learn something new.

Learning at work

• Everyone can teach you something. Yes we're all constantly learning things as we work, but have you ever consciously made the effort to talk to someone who has a different skill set to you and learn something from them? I cannot recommend it enough. If your work roles cross over in any way or you need their help with a task, ask to sit beside them while they do it, instead of just getting them to do it without you. You'll learn a little of their job, they might learn a little of yours, and KAPOW! You're a smidgen smarter than you were at the start of the day. 
• Knowledge has no hierarchy. I must confess, I really struggle with people who aren't willing to learn new things just because it might be coming from a person that they deem to be 'below' them. Maybe in age, in position, in experience, but does it actually matter? Knowledge is knowledge, no matter who it's coming from. We all have our areas of expertise, and if someone's willing to share theirs with you, take it! Likewise, if you're doing the teaching, remember to be patient and unassuming. Skills shared within a team will only make you more able as a whole, so there's no point in trying to catch people out! 
• Be more curious. I'm fully aware that this isn't always possible (due to time constraints and workload etc) but I'd encourage you to try and do more than just 'learn'. For example, I recently had some training in Google Analytics (thanks Pete!) so that I can go in and have a look at the media inventory we have running across digital platforms. Now I could have just logged in, got the data I needed and called it a day. Instead, I committed an hour to looking through as much of the site as I could manage, filtering data in and out, looking for nuances and shortcuts, experimenting with data that didn't even really concern me- just so I could know as much about it as possible. Now I can make observations of my own, plus I can keep up with others when they're talking about it, which is always a plus! Essentially what I'm saying is...don't just take what you need from something new and move on. Try and study and experiment with it if you can, you'll only benefit from doing so. 

Learning at home

• It's only a waste of time if you let it be. I appreciate we're all busy and spending time learning something new might seem like time wasted, so why not learn something that could help you at work? If there are any programs/activities it would benefit you to have a grasp on for your job, why not have a go at home? No one watching, no one to point out mistakes, it's kind of the perfect scenario. 
• Develop your interests. Be selfish and learn something that's only worthwhile for you! It's your time after all. I know that natural talent can come into play in these sorts of things, but I truly believe that you can achieve almost anything through learning. Want to be a photographer? Okay so you might not have an eye for framing like a professional might have, but get yourself a good camera, learn all of it's settings by heart, watch some YouTube tutorials about lighting and leading lines, and I know you'll have some pretty good photos to show for it all at the end. Or want to be a singer? If you can hold a tune (that's the natural talent part!), you can teach your voice to be more supple and reach higher/lower notes. Plus you could always try to learn some harmonies (again, YouTube is great if you can't read music), because quite frankly, I've never heard of someone NOT being impressed by a harmony. And boom! Now you've gotten even better at something you already love! Winning. 
• Brain training. Even if you don't have anything you're interested in or want to develop, you can still learn. Why not try to memorize all the countries in Europe? Or the American states? They're bound to come up in a pub quiz at some point! Learning in any capacity, I think, is good for you. You're constantly exercising your brain and it's capabilities, plus learning can train the mind to be more receptive and creative. That's all good stuff, right? 

So there you are. A little inspiration for your 2019! And if you ever decide to learn something new and need a little help or support, let me know, I'm always looking for something else to dive into! 

Until next time.

Over and out. 

Catching up and "clearing out"

Sorry, we've been busy. 


Hence no blog entries of late. No one has time. No one can find time. Those that do find time write in silly, short sentences.

Clearing does that. It's been tough going for the sector, although it feels like people are keeping institutional cards close to institutional chests. See what they make of it in The Guardian. For me, this piece has a ring of truth to it and for my money, and for what it's worth, the newly formed Office for Students need to start pulling their collective finger out and start acting on behalf of the students and work out exactly which sector behaviours benefit who exactly.

For what it's worth, I would suggest that much in this and recent cycles has been dictated by market forces. Applicants haven't been taken on a journey so much as frogmarched and bombarded by skillfully crafted, expensive marketing, unconditional offers and daft incentives.

Still, the world continues to spin like a drunk on a fairground ride and day follows night follows day. Clearing will soon be over and I'm off on holiday next week. It's going to be great. I've got my reading all sorted. If you're interested, I'll report back on that.

Putting the finishing touches to this year's holiday reading list 

In the mean time, here's what's going on in Marketing and Communications:

• We're looking at the Clearing "reject by default" date and hoping it might throw up some last gasp opportunities;
• There are a few communications pieces pending, although attention has dropped off;
• We're full pelt on our Annual Campaign now and looking to bolster and pump out our support and STEM messages, deciding where and where not to place our ads;
• Open days are being pushed;
• Market research - I've just completed updating projections for our new STEM courses and working through providing data for colleagues preparing for Periodic Reviews. (If you're interested, here's the sort of thing I can help with). I'm going to try and get some more invites out for the applicant surveys. We'll see how that goes - I'm off on Friday as well as next week
• This blog; there's some loose talk about 'killing it' and/or replacing it with a podcast. Podcast indeed;
• I've sold out and accidentally caused a staff room to appear and somehow be squeezed into the PG Centre.

Anyway, that's all from me. If anyone's off to see Dylan Moran in St Albans on Thursday, I'll see you there. Dylan Moran seems a level headed chap.

Reflecting on the past and looking to the future

Next month I will be celebrating my third anniversary of working within the Marketing department at the University of Bedfordshire. Although at times it doesn’t feel like I’ve been here that long, upon reflection it’s been a busy three years! In that time there’s been a desk move, a few changes to the team, and a change in my job title, and that’s just me getting started! I’ve also worked on five prospectuses, written countless e-zines, and interviewed several of our students and staff for video content and case studies. The team have also won various awards from Heist and CIPR (shameless plug - sorry!).

Whenever people ask me what I love about my job I always answer with the diversity of the role. The great thing about working in a Marketing role is that no two days are ever the same – some days I’m writing copy for our marketing materials, other days I’m briefing our designers on our artwork. You may also find me roaming around campus taking photos and video footage, or even helping the Recruitment team at our Open Days and other recruitment events. There are of course tasks that are more regular, such as promoting our Open Days, or writing content for our monthly e-zines, but other tasks, such as organising photo-shoots, or having the opportunity to sit on tender briefings may only take place once a year. 

The other great thing about my role is that, due to the nature of the marketing industry and the higher education sector, my role is ever changing. Because of this I’m always learning , whether this be through

attending higher education forums, or through in-house training. When I started this role I had limited experience with Photoshop, and though I’m far from an expert, I’ve developed my knowledge throughout my time here. Over the next few months I will be furthering my knowledge of the Adobe package by learning how to properly use InDesign, which will help me when I’m creating various promotional materials within my role. I’m excited to develop my skills in this area and will hopefully be able to share some of my work with you soon!

Sara

New year, same you. Just better.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you had a great time celebrating! 

I feel there's a level of expectation about the first blog post of the year, so I hope I won't disappoint! It IS going to have a 'new year's resolution' type of message, but one I hope you won't find cliché.

I've never read a 'self-help' book in all of my life, however I asked for a book for Christmas called 'How to be a BAWSE' by Lilly Singh. What's a Bawse, I hear you ask? Well it's like a boss, but better. It's when you're not just surviving life, you're conquering it. Lilly is a YouTuber I watch (am I showing my age yet?) and her motivation and drive for business, work and life always astounds me, so I thought I'd give her book a go. 

Yada yada yada, long story short...it's amazing. It's essentially all the little arguments and discussions you have with yourself written down. With solutions. I'm a fair way through the 50 chapters, but these are two of my favourite points so far, and I hope they'll be helpful to you too.

1) Schedule time for inspiration.

I'm not entirely sure who reads this blog, but I'll go with a wide assumption that most of you are working. When you have a job - a day in, day out, 9-5, doing similar things over and over kind of job - updating and re-vamping can be the last things on your mind. Well here I am, giving you permission to schedule time for inspiration so that you can change that. 

You're a web designer? Spend 15 minutes searching for your favourite websites. What do you like about them, is there anything you could replicate within your work?  
You're an architect? Watch a TED talk on how architecture can transform urban spaces. It might give you some structural ideas you've never thought of before. Boom. Inspiration. 
Script-writer? Go on Netflix and watch a genre you're not usually interested in. The story-line or characterisation you see might help you create a play that's unique and different to anything you've ever created. And there you have it. Inspiration = motivation to do better. 

We try to do it here in the Marketing team too sometimes. Recently Pete (Digital Marketing Manager) gave a presentation on some of the best digital marketing campaigns out at the minute, and we picked our favourites and thought about how we could use some of the methods in our own marketing. I'm not sure about the others, but I left the room feeling like we could make some legitimate changes to better our work. Don't treat inspiration as an after-thought, schedule time for it. Otherwise creativity dies. 

2) Don't keep doing the same things, and expecting a different outcome.

I have to learn this lesson the hard way pretty regularly, both at work and in my personal life. Most recently, I have been working on a series of emails promoting our February course starts. We (my manager David and I) sent out a first wave in mid November and they performed pretty well. We then needed to send a reminder email out in December. We tweaked the design a little and cut down the text, but the messaging was the same. And guess what? They tanked. I looked at the reports and just thought, why am I surprised? I did the same thing but expected a different outcome. I'm aware there were also external factors at work, like timing and the fact that it was a second email, but even so. I should have known better. 

So please, write it on a post-it note and put it somewhere you can see it. Because you're not going to get fitter if you always take the escalator and not the stairs. And you're definitely not going to learn anything or find a new hobby if you don't audition for a choir, join a gym, or watch a YouTube tutorial on how to learn HTML code. (Okay that one's specific to me, but you get what I mean). 

I'm hoping that was more of a motivational speech than a boring lecture, and that it also brought you up to speed with some of the things we've been doing in the marketing team as well. 

So remember...new year, same you. Just better. 

Until next time. Over and out. 

Marketing for Gen Z, by a Millennial

One thing has become very apparent to me over the last few years, and that is that I’m what the analysts and psychologists call a ‘millennial’. As well as this, I’ve learnt that being a ‘millennial’ means that pretty much everyone in the world hates us. Parents hate us because they think we're privileged and rude and we don't care enough about our elders to look after them as they grow old. Companies hate us because there's no rhyme or reason to our spending habits, social media usage or where we can be found in the market. Teachers hate us because they claim we've 'never been told no' and they can't deal with our attitude problems. Essentially, as a generation, I’m well aware that we’re not really liked or appreciated by anyone.

Bit sombre to start a jolly marketing blog post with huh? But that’s just how I feel. I being me, Ellie, the new Marketing Assistant by the way. Nice to meet you! I swear I’m not always this dark and full of self-loathing – I’m actually probably the loudest person in a room at any given time. I also have an undying love for bright coloured lipsticks, stationery and any kind of mint chocolate. I imagine you’ll be able to spot me from a mile away. I’m newly graduated from Bournemouth University with a Media and Communications degree so I’ve dabbled in pretty much every sector under the media/marketing sun. I also did a placement year with the Walt Disney Company that people tell me to mention a lot when I’m speaking about myself. (All jokes aside, as well as having a very large name, the very large company taught me almost everything I know about working hard and efficiently. And having fun, see above!). And now I’m working here and ranting at you about millennial issues!

What I think I’m trying to explain is that being a ‘millennial’ or a ‘Gen Z’ - which most of our target market are - is not something to resent. They’re not aliens and they don’t hate everything, they just want to be intelligently targeted. Their whole worlds are consumed by media (some by choice, some not) and they’re just muddling through, trying to decide what’s important, what’s genuine and what inspires them. I would know.

What it means is that we (UoB) have scope to do newer things now more than ever before. Embrace the ‘young people’ for what they are and move on. Including me! I don’t know whether it’s because I’m new and determined to prove myself or just because I know how much of an impact the MARC team can have on a student’s experience, but I’m the closest thing we’ve got to a ‘millennial/Gen Z’ right now. PLEASE USE ME! Whether it’s a communication that sounds a bit corporate or a design feature that needs updating, there’s a strong chance I might be able to give you an idea of what might work for our audience. It wasn’t so long ago that I was going through the uni application process myself.

So yeah. There’s my mini introduction and a rant about how everyone hates millennial’s but targeting them isn’t so hard after all! If you’ve got any questions and/or areas of contention, please come and have a chat. I genuinely love what I’ve studied and what I now have a career in (how bizarre, right!?) so I’m always happy to talk about it.

Until next time. Over and out. 

(This picture's for you Andy and David, isn't this what you're always telling me?!)

There's always more than one reason to celebrate

Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

Trying to wrap everything up
is no small task!

It feels like an age since my last blog post, and now it's finally come around to 'my turn', it's already somehow become my last one - at least for a while anyway. That's right, because, in a matter of weeks (4 to be precise) I'll be taking some time away from Marketing HQ to have a baby. So, for my first, and last post in a while, I've got quite a bit of ground to cover - so please excuse the slightly self indulgent theme this week, but I wanted to take the time to reflect on the many great initiatives going live, and there's also been quite a few causes for us to celebrate recently which I wanted to share with you...

Video content strategy
For any regular readers of this blog, I'm sure you'll have come across me talking at lengths about the need for good quality video content. And that's exactly what we've been investing in this cycle. Following on from the launch of our Milton Keynes and Bedford location videos earlier in the year, we've been working really hard over the last nine months (yes it really does take that long to produce great content!) to implement my video content strategy - which is basically, a more focused and strategic way to generate, and seed out meaningful content to support recruitment (or at least I hope!).

Take a look at our big brand 'Hero' content

After enlisting the help of Clearhead Media, our School of Performing Arts, and two current dance and acting students - Harry and Donatella, we were all set to bring the strategy and our unique marketing proposition to life!

I'm really proud of the videos - if you haven't yet seen them, be sure to give them a watch - and keep a look out in August at a cinema near you, as we go live with our national campaign - and a particularly rare but exciting opportunity to get our brand 'out there'.

10 year work anniversary

That's a whole 1/3 of my life!

Not only have we been celebrating seeing nine months of hard work finally come to fruition, with the launch of the video strategy and the clearing campaign, but I've been celebrating my very own personal landmark moment this month - after reaching my 10 year work anniversary. As I start to slowly but surely 'wind down' and begin the most epic of hand overs to the team, it's been great to reflect on just how much I've accomplished during my time at Beds, and just how far we've come as a team since I started way back in 2007.

Heist Awards
And if that wasn't enough of a reason to celebrate, I was more than delighted to see that we'd been short-listed for not one but two Heist Awards this year! Now I have definitely mentioned these awards countless times over the years within this blog; after all, it's the 'Oscars of the HE Marketing world' where the creme de la creme are nationally recognised - and so it's always something we aspire to achieve. Beverley and I worked really hard on two entries this year: Best Undergraduate Student Recruitment Initiative, and Marketing Team of the Year - very much focused on my marketing mantra and narrative of being small but mighty. And all the hard work definitely paid off!

The Silver for The Best Undergraduate Student Recruitment goes to BOTH @lborouniversity and @uniofbeds!! Well done all!! #Heist2017

— Heist Awards (@heistawards) July 13, 2017

Celebrating our big win on stage

To be short-listed was flattering enough, but to actually scoop a Silver in one of the most competitive categories of the night for our 2016 Clearing campaign was a completely out of this world experience; beating off some seriously stiff competition from the sector.

The comments from the judges: ''The University of Bedfordshire team should be praised for their hardworking approach to a challenging situation in an increasingly competitive market. They should be immensely proud of the significant successes that have been achieved by this campaign.''

We made the nom's list - woo!

CIPRide Awards
To really top off our week, we've just found out today that we have been short-listed for another two awards - this time it's the CIPRide Awards within the Anglia, Thames and Chiltern region. We've made the short-list for Best Integrated Campaign, and Best Education Communications Campaign for our sterling work on Clearing last year - and not wanting to be greedy, but I do secretly hope that we win - we've been the current Gold title holders for Best Integrated Campaign for the last two years - so the hat trick really would be the icing in the cake. And our Communications team are also bouncing around the office after scooping two short-lists themselves - Best Low Budget Campaign, and Outstanding In-house PR Team. We have taken the Pride awards by storm in our bid to showcase our work as sector leading - so keep everything crossed for us as we await the big awards dinner in September.

A big pat on the back for the @uniofbeds Marketing team who've been short-listed for two @CIPR_Awards - time to celebrate 🤩🎉 #PRideAwards

— Sarah De Guzman (@Sarah_Hampton) July 21, 2017

It's not goodbye, it's see you soon!

If in doubt, email
marketinginfo@beds.ac.uk

I'll be spending the last few weeks beavering away; trying to implement as much of the campaign work as possible, to alleviate the pressure of the team once I've gone - after all, it's no easy task to drive the clearing campaign forward, and to keep all the other plates spinning. So please bear with the team over the coming weeks and months! We are indeed small. We are indeed mighty, but we also only have a finite number of hours in the day :-)

There's lots of exciting initiatives still to come as the team launches into the 2018 annual campaign, and they start work on the 2019 suite of prospectuses - so stay tuned for more details on this in the not too distant future. I'll be keeping a look out for all this exciting work going live myself and can't wait to see the next phase of creative ideas coming to the fore.

Really guys - check the folder!

And for my team members reading this - if in doubt, if in despair, just refer to the nice big black folder I've put together - it really is all in there! Promise!

Please sir, can we have some more?

Usually, this blog is unapologetic and upbeat.
After all, we are “Marketing and Communications”. We grin, smell great and look amazing. If Hollywood was casting University of Beds: The Movie, we’d be the precocious cheeryleadery people buoying people on from the side lines. Or the Scooby Doo gang (Market Research Manager to left in the pic).

But at this time of year, we’re 'in it together' with every other University department, cowering behind plans for tenders and drawing board projects, anxiously waiting for news of budgets. The omens don’t look rosy.

I don’t think I’m going to like this blog. Make me feel all fuzzy.

Most of you who have managed budgets in the past will probably go misty eyed remembering your favourite. For some, it will have been their first allocated spend; for many, it will be the highest they’ve had. Either way, the likelihood is that this was a tidy sum; enough to support existing projects with the potential to engage innovative suppliers in order to improve them and to consider which of a number of options to innovate.

Not so long ago, university Marketing budgets were the stuff of sectorial legend, with at least one reputable commentator regaling universities, every year, with a round robin freedom of information request asking for marketing spend. The resultant information was then laboriously, tediously league tabled, reported and used to berate institutions whose spend was seen as excessive.

Taking the lid off

Recruitment drives have gone a bit

 “Dick Dastardly” over the last few years.

Since then, we’ve had the Coalition and are now being roughed about as a result of the current Government’s obsession with opening up the market. On the surface, the student number removal cap is all very jolly for choice, but puts pressure on those higher tariff HEIs who want to expand, mid tariff institutions to keep attracting mid tariff students and lower tariff institutions to hang on in there and survive. Oh, and enquirers and applicants, whose heads must be whirling more than ever with the expansion, not only of HE and the introduction of absolutely-reputable-honest-Gov private providers, but also with all this racket between unis and the choices being hurled at them and encouragement to look at alternatives to the traditional three year UG route. With all to play for, everyone’s shouting to make themselves heard.

As a result of marketisation, the sector spends more money on more sophisticated advertising. Which would be fine, although advisors and collaborative initiatives explaining and encouraging young people to consider their post school options appear to have suffered as a result. Universities used to in collaborative, avuncular fashion with fellow institutions encouraging people find their right path and aim higher; now the emphasis is on

SHOUTING ABOUT COMING TO OUR UNIVERSITY,
BECAUSE WE’RE 3% HIGHER IN THE NSS,
HAVE ROBOTS IN OUR EXPENSIVE TV ADS
AND ARE BETTER THAN THAT LOT DOWN THE ROAD.

How our budgets aren't done

You’ve just said there’s ££££s for marketing, and yet…..

That’s right. The sector is spending far more money beautifying and shouting. All quite tacky. MARC, you’d think, would be rolling in resource. We're often told, by those who should know, that this is the case. It's not though; it's really, really NOT.

While we’re spending chunks on  advertising and online presence, these chunks are being cut, diced, sliced, removed and spread more and more thinly as more and more initiatives are introduced – think apprenticeships, think STEM. MARC teams and budgets have shrunk. We have fewer (i.e. no) freebies to hook people in to chat at UCAS fairs, are sending odd people to these fairs (trust me, the Market Research Manager talking up a Fashion course is a 'lose-lose'), the prospectus paper is thinner and yet there's so much happening in the sector and in the institution, that we're expected to do and react to more and more. Recent excellent news about TEF and the hope for other good news in the next few months have the potential to be great, but put daft pressure on the Communications team.

We’ve moved from squeezing more bangs from the same buck, to letting bucks go. A recent example is the renaming of our Video Content Strategy Part One to the admittedly snappier Video Content Strategy. A shame; parts two and three were the advice and help content to support conversions (crucial some may say to a marketing strategy). Something, too, to help enquirers feel more informed about their immediate future, rather than a hard sell. Notice a theme anyone?

"You never give me your money;
you only give me your funny budgets
And in the process of negotiation
They get cut - Ooo-oo!"
Macca, 1969

Still, we survive and continue to play our part as best we can, in raising our institutional profile, listening to and attracting enquirers, applicants and students. Yes, more budget and more support would be nice, if only to clean, spruce up or ideally leave The Atrium, where the heating’s feral, the downstairs furniture looks like it’s been in a fight and there are almost as many fridges as there are people. Air con? Bust. And the lights go off on a regular basis. I’d assumed Facilities colleagues weren’t putting 50p in the meter, but have been told they automatically shut off when they’re not needed. (The lights that is, not our Facilities colleagues).

Next week, something a little more cheery. Honest. In the meantime, here are some examples of friendly info films from around our sites. Includes many of last year’s models and possibly a bit ‘gappy’, but here for your perusal.

PLUS, the 'go to' 1970s pop song celebrating money that's not either The Abba or Pink Floyds. Check out the harmonica one minute in; give that man an honorary degree!

Market Research movie star

Oddie - mentioned later

The other day I was filmed delivering a lecture.

Not for some cheeky straight to web piece; not even for the small screen. This was full widescreen, cinematic, IMAX threatening celluloid. Or broadcast quality Betamax or something.

For one afternoon, I was a Business School lecturer. I know nothing about Business but wasn’t hurled off the set, so my ‘acting’ – by definition - was a storming success. I was pleased to get the gig, too. This was a chance to leave the surveys and spreadsheets behind and wave my arms around while warbling and waffling about ‘what an entrepreneur is’ and what SWOT stands for (you learn something new every day folks <ahem>).

My evident success stands in contrasts to my screen cv leading up to that point:

• man crossing road in unreleased film which certainly involved my old flat mate, Ched, and possibly one of the Coppolas (but not FF or S)
• one of a three bother team on Bill Oddie’s History Hunt which, thankfully, hasn’t surfaced on the internet (I’ve looked so you don’t have to)
• man on bike in indie film ‘playing the festivals’ (it’s called The Same Circles and is very good)

'Me crossing road' footage from first film mentioned above

The theatre is not my first love.

My two stage appearances were forgettable and came more years ago than I care to imagine

• Police detective with designs on the school caretaker in a Slip End Lower class-written musical theatre production about a vampire, who rather dominated proceedings with some outrageous overacting;
• ‘Old Man’ in Upper School production of Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan. Or ‘Good Woman’ as it was. My painfully boyish looks and mountains of talc alienated the bejesus out of an audience of tense, bored parents wondering why the hell they weren’t watching Gilbert and Sullivan.

Village ways

Acting as a Business lecturer allowed me to step out of the day to day while keeping both feet in it. There was a nightmarish quality in apparently holding an audience in the palm of my hand, telling them that “in order to run your own business, you need to start a business”. Over and over again. So many times, in fact, that I started wondering if I hadn’t unearthed some hidden wisdom and shouldn’t nip off somewhere and write a self-help book.

I hope and assume our real Business lecturers do a better job.

On set with Clearhead

Was being on a film set what I expected?

No. Though we were cued in with the word ‘ACTION!’ Plus, I learned that ‘kino’ is not only French for cinema, but also one of those big ‘sun bed on a tripod’ type lights and exchanged some terrific cross-generation ‘bants’ with my joint lead, Harry, who as an acting student, looked more comfortable than I did about our fictitious student/teacher relationship. Presumably, these exchanges will make the outtake reel.

I was impressed, too, with the assured organisation and management of the process– kudos both to our Marketing team and Clearhead.

Of course, my secret hope is that I’ll get picked up, not by the CMA, but by David Puttnam or someone. I’m not a betting man, but reckon on a 40% chance of being on the arty channels within the year. Two at a push. Anyone in the business note; I will not do reality, soaps or shopping channels.

Perhaps next year, when I’ve moved into BAFTA contention, you too could be in our cinema ads. Get in touch with the Marketing team; we’d love to hear from you.

That applies to a guest spot writing on this blog too – if you want to join our illustrious writers and have something to say about Marketing and Communications at the University of Bedfordshire, let us know by clicking here. Otherwise, please favour us with a comment below, in the comments box. We'd love to hear from you.

Prospectus, and panels and pitches; oh my!

Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager


Whilst a large element of my role can be desk bound - crunching numbers, planning campaigns, writing evaluations, and putting my organisation hat on to drive initiatives forward, one of the bits of my role that I happen to love the most are the chances to be 'creative'. So it's no surprise to read that this week was Prospectus pitch week. Hurrah!  

Searching for the perfect agency
to partner with.

We've been running a tender to appoint a creative agency to work alongside us on the latest publications for 2019 (2019 already, you say!). So after getting through all the paperwork, questionnaires, budgets and admin, we're at the bit I love best - the creative presentations. It's great to meet different agencies, breathe new life into our work, and ensure we're future proofing our designs, our brand and our proposition to drive recruitment for the coming years (so no pressure then?).

It's always a crammed packed day of back-to-back presentations - but it definitely gets the creative juices flowing across the team. Colleagues from the Recruitment team, and International office joined us, to ensure we had key stakeholder views taken into account, and it made for a fun day for everyone (or at least I hope). We're still deliberating over which agency to work with, and so after we've totaled all the scores I'm sure we'll be able to share with you who we've selected, and some exclusive sneak peaks as to how the visuals could be developing for our future recruitment campaigns. Stay tuned!

Can you ever be too organised?

As the chair of the panel, it's my job to lead the day, keep us on time, and to drive the questioning to ensure we get all of the information we need from each of the agencies to make a good, informed decision. (This is where my organisational hat comes into play again). After all, it's not just a pretty design and nice prospectus cover that we're looking for. A key part of producing the prospectus is all about the processes and structures in place (boring! I hear you say). Ok, so perhaps not the most exciting part of the pitches, but for me, whose produced more than 20 Bedfordshire prospectuses I know a thing or two about the logistical nightmare that can be the prospectus, and if you don't have the right people, processes and infrastructure in place to deliver your publication the whole thing can be absolute torture to deliver. Don't get me wrong, creative is definitely important, but my key driver is making sure we have a company who can deliver on the creative - there's nothing worse than having high hopes for your publication, and half way in, finding out the end result is far from your grasp.

The team (left to right: Sara,
Beverley, Kylie and Sarah).

In other news, we've sadly said farewell to Kylie, our Marketing Officer this week. She's left the team this week for pastures new - and is relocating back up north to Newcastle University. We're all really sad to see her go, after three years as part of the team. For those of you who have worked with Kylie, I'm sure you'll agree she's been an instrumental colleague in running our open day campaigns. We wish her all the best, and am sure we'll still see her round on the university circuit in the not too distant future.

But to cheer us all up, and stop us feeling all sorry for ourselves as our marketing team of three has dwindled to a team of just two, we were absolutely delighted to find out just now, that we've been short-listed for not one, but two, Heist awards - for Best Undergraduate Student Recruitment Initiative, and Best Marketing Team of the Year! Now Heist had been keeping us on our toes, and fully in suspense as to when the big reveal would be, and it certainly didn't disappoint. It's been some much needed excitement in the office as we can reflect on our achievements, and celebrate our successes - small we may be, but mighty and effective we are! Usually, we've just entered submissions for our work, but this year I decided this was the year to celebrate us as a team - and boy am I surprised to see we've been short-listed. To have been short-listed for team of the year is a massive coup, and a particular career high for me on a personal note. For our regular readers, you'll often see me banging on about awards, and how much we love them - but it's a big boost for the team, and a lovely end to the week!

Absolutely thrilled to see we've been shortlisted for 2 @heistawards. The @uniofbeds team are celebrating in the office as we speak 😜😬

— Sarah De Guzman (@Sarah_Hampton) May 19, 2017

Springing into action

Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

The January UCAS deadline date may now be a thing of the past, and Clearing still remains some way off, but life for the Beds Marketer hasn't quiet quietened down yet. Far from it actually! This so-called 'in-between' period, is a critical part of our recruitment cycle - where simply driving applications and pushing 'apply now' messaging isn't enough.

Conversion is key

Between January and June, we're working on a campaign known as Conversion - where the focus is firmly placed on nurturing leads. We do this through sending out a series of tailored, personalised and bespoke communications to our applicants and offer holders at key times over the Spring months to keep them engaged, as we support their decision making and guide them through the next stages of the recruitment funnel. There's a lot of content curating that goes on in the team - so you may see us out and about on campus quite a lot as we showcase the student experience, our fantastic facilities, and provide a lot of functional information that helps inform and influence.

A treat to get out of the office

On top of the day-to-day marketing work, March presents a nice treat for the team, as we get to get out and about even more than usual, as we get involved in graduations.

I'd like to say that a lot of planning goes into this, but we just embrace the mayhem. We've discovered over the years that to get the most from the events (from a marketing perspective anyway), you have to get right into the very heart of it - so no pre-planning and scheduling of interviews. We're there as they come out of the church, are diving out of the way of all the hat throwing, and are capturing those very real, raw and genuine emotions of celebration.

A really nice, warm and fuzzy part
of our jobs :-)

Graduations are a really nice thing to be part of. Yes it can be chaotic on campus, with swarms of excited graduates trying to get their gowns, get their pictures taken and make it in to the Church on time, but for us, it's really rewarding to see the ultimate 'end goal' - our students achieving their dreams, as proud family and friends look on. It's also a time for us to have a touch point with our outgoing students, and to hear their experiences, their stories, and share their words of wisdom; after all they are the people who have lived and breathed the Bedfordshire experience over the last few years, so who better to speak to and hear from?

Award season has sprung

Not only is it a busy time in the recruitment cycle, and a busy and bustling time to be on campus as we see our students graduate and celebrate their success, but it's also the start of award season (did I mention the word busy enough here?). And that means many an hour spent dusting out the evaluations, reflecting on our metrics and performance, and crunching data in our best efforts to cobble together a solid entry or two! Beverley and I have spent a good few hours devising our award entries over the last few weeks - after all, these things take a big commitment to carve out the perfect submission. The Heist awards are notoriously difficult, and there's always a lot of fierce competition amongst the creme-de-la-creme of the HE world all vying for those coveted marketing accolades; and so to stand out from the other university big boys, we have to really know our data, be able to evidence our success, and convey a compelling story about what we've achieved.

Hurrah! That's our 2nd award submission done and dusted, and entered for the @heistawards. Go #TeamBeds #heist2017 #marketingteamoftheyear pic.twitter.com/vpQxoiFHoU

— Sarah De Guzman (@Sarah_Hampton) March 16, 2017

This year we've entered our Clearing 2016 campaign for the Best Undergraduate Student Recruitment Initiative, and we've also had a go at entering Marketing Team of the Year. We've never entered a team award before, but we've implemented some great projects and strategic initiatives over the last 12 months, which in turn have yielded some great results, and so we've decided that this is the year to share the story of the Beds HE Marketer. Wish us luck! We'll keep you posted on the short-list in the coming months, but for those of you who, like us, are well into awards season, take a look at the work you've done and see whether you have what it takes to enter - check out my previous blog post on writing award entries, and assessing whether you've got the evidence base to lead you to success.

What's in an award?

Beverley Hoare, Deputy Director of MARC

Why do we bother to enter awards?  It’s a lot of time and effort for potentially nothing, isn’t it?

Gearing up for awards season

Well the Marcomms team have been busy submitting entries for a range of marketing and communications awards with HEIST, CIPR and IoIC, so I guess they think there’s a point, but here’s a few thoughts from me on why I think they are important.

A win or making a shortlist is a pat on the back - recognition from our peers that we are achieving the highest, most innovative standard of work.

We can learn from others who are showcasing their own best practice – they set the bar and we try to raise it.

We gain clarity about our achievements and what we had to do to make them happen.  The looking back exercise, pouring over data and evaluating ourselves is critical for future performance; the award submission provides the focus and motivation to make us reflect.

Busy cobbling together this years' @heistawards entry for @uniofbeds. Nothing beats an afternoon of number crunching data 🤓💼📊📝 #heist2017

— Sarah De Guzman (@Sarah_Hampton) February 22, 2017

It helps us to network; awards ceremonies are some of very few opportunities to get out of the University, share experiences with others and cement relationships with peers.

We can dress up and celebrate our achievements together, as a team – being nominated has a contagious effect on our mood.

Our @Beds Newsletter has been short-listed

I can say that all this effort has given us a pretty good run of award winning over the last 5 years, but wins at HEIST have alluded us recently.  So we’ve tried even harder and submitted a more solid entry this time.

I’m delighted that in the latest run of awards we have been shortlisted by the IoIC for our staff newsletter ‘A new lease of life for staff news’.  Jenny and Caroline will be attending the ceremony in York later this month and will hopefully come back with a piece of crystal for the bulging trophy cabinet. Watch this space…

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.