UCAS Exhibitions and Open Days

So last week we hosted the UCAS higher education exhibition at our Bedford campus. For anyone that hasn’t heard of this event before, it’s our biggest recruitment event in the year. Located at our Bedford campus, we host many other universities and higher education institutions on campus, and are visited by approximately 10,000 students from schools and colleges within the region.

This year I was one of the staff working on the University of Bedfordshire stand. Over the course of two days I spoke to many students about the various courses that we offer, provided information about our accommodation and transport links, and was asked by a couple of students what was the best thing about Bedfordshire (to which I replied “Go Global – I wish my university offered something like that when I was a student!).

There were a couple of questions however that have really stuck with me.

What exactly am I meant to be doing here?

Excellent question! Stupidly I assume every year (well, this is the third year I’ve worked at the UCAS exhibition), that students will come into the exhibition with a plan of action, but not all students know exactly what they want to do at this point – I certainly didn’t. So for those students who don’t know what, or where, they want to study, or even if they want to go to university, it’s a chance to attend subject talks, which will give you an insight into what you may learn from a degree in that area, and where it could lead you. It also gives you a chance to speak to universities and find out a little more about them. Even if you’re not sure what you want to study at this point you may be able to find out what universities offer placement years, internships, scholarships, and opportunities to work abroad, to name just a few, which may influence your final decision.

I don’t need to attend an Open Day now do I?

At the exhibition I invited many students to come along to our next Open Day and a couple asked why they needed to, if they’d spoken to us at the fair – another excellent question! Although the UCAS exhibition is a great way to gather information, you will probably end up speaking to many universities and institutions, and you may feel like you have been overloaded with information. I would recommend using the UCAS exhibitions as a starting point – speak to as many universities as possible and, from this, choose your favourite universities and book to attend an Open Day at those institutions.

At an Open Day you’ll be able to take a tour of the campus, which will help you to really get a feel for the university. You’ll also be able to meet current students and hear about their experiences, and find out exactly what that university offers in terms of extra-curricular activities, career support, internship opportunities and facilities etc.

At the exhibitions the stands are typically run by someone from the Recruitment team. At an Open Day you’ll have the opportunity to speak to academics from your chosen department – the people that you’ll be dealing with on a day-to-day basis if you chose to study at that institution – and they’ll be able to talk in detail about your subject and how it is taught at that institution.

And finally, I can't talk about Open Days and UCAS exhibitions without talking about the freebies! Most institutions will at least have some free pens which you can stock up on. And if you do attend our UCAS exhibition next year make sure you grab your friends and visit our photobooth. 

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

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

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.

 

Developing my skills

With any career it’s important to develop and learn new things. So over the last few months I’ve been looking at projects I can get involved in to help my own development.

The first project I’ve been working on is managing the print tender for the 2018 prospectuses. Don’t worry – you haven’t nodded off and missed Christmas! As you’ll know by now, we’re always working way ahead in marketing. I sourced potential suppliers (it was also open to any other suppliers who wanted to put themselves forward for the job), updated the tender documents, worked on a questionnaire for the suppliers, and evaluated the pricing and questionnaire in order to select the company who will print our 2018 publications. I’ve now selected the company we’ll be working with and they even suggested an alternative paper stock which will make us a little cost saving! The next step is to meet with the company to discuss ways of working, new paper stock, timings etc.

I’m also looking to appoint people as part of the University’s graduate development scheme and student internship scheme. These schemes allow us to take on a recent graduate or intern to work in the team for a short period of time (usually 4-6 weeks) to gain valuable work experience. So I’ll be helping to choose the applicants for the department and managing them once they are here. I’m keen to lead on this project and gain more experience in managing people. So far I’m collating a list of appropriate projects they could work on and drafting up job specs.

Some current jobs...

The team have recently started work on the undergraduate 2018 prospectus – working with the design agency on the design concepts and progressing the look and feel from the current prospectus, agreeing production schedules and sourcing photography opportunities for photoshoots next month. I’m now looking to agree the definitive course list – our course offering – for the 2018 cycle and updating course copy from the current prospectus in line with any course modifications.

And as we’re well into the winter Open Day season now, as well as working on implementing the campaign plans, I’ve started my rolling evaluation report, in the hope that if I keep on top of this after each event, when it comes to the end of the season I can wrap it up quite quickly ready for the Spring season starting in the new year.

And less work related…

I’m off to Australia on 19th October for three weeks, to visit family. I’m really looking forward to some winter sun and seeing my sister, brother-in-law and niece and nephew for the first time in almost three years!! And obviously having almost four weeks away from the office isn’t bad either. So I’ve been planning ahead over the last week or so and trying to get a head start on my projects so the team just need to send things out on my behalf while I’m not around.

Be gentle with Sarah and Sara while I’m away…enjoying the sun…and the beach…and the coral reef.

Speak soon,
K

On your marks, set, go…

It’s seemed rather quiet around the office for the last two weeks, not on the work front, but in actual bodies around the office. I think everyone had the same idea – take holiday before the beast that is Clearing begins!

It’s been a little hectic for those of us who haven’t had any holiday (I’m not bitter, I promise. But if it wasn’t for a three week holiday in Australia in October, I may be – 11 weeks and counting!!)

Gearing up for Clearing like...

I often find that around Clearing the vibe in the office is a little different, not in a bad way, just different. As the Clearing start date approaches you can almost feel everyone gearing up like at the start line of a race; ‘brace yourself’, ‘stay focused’, ‘keep calm’, ‘you’ve planned and prepared well for this’…*BANG*…and we’re off…Taking calls, offering guidance and advice, checking off qualifications and making offers. And whilst our dedicated Admissions team and other trained volunteers are doing that, the marketing team are monitoring and amending campaign activity daily, to ensure we have the most impact. It’s a busy ole time!

And by the time we’re done with Clearing, we’re all usually ready for another holiday…oh…Australia in October you say…

In other news, I think I’ve completed the quickest evaluation report ever (43 pages of lovely stats and useful insight), which is a personal achievement in itself. And I’ve made a good start on the Winter season (September-December) Open Day plans. I’m just finishing the budget allocation and then I will be looking at the Open Day collateral. We’re going to be working on bringing it together a little more, as we’ve added things into the plans over the last year or so, it’s meant that some of the collateral doesn’t quite flow, so I’m going to work on ensuring it has a more consistent and well thought-out approach as we approach the 2017 cycle; which let’s face it, is marketing 101!


All of the welcome packs that I was working on last time are now ready too, with the last of the deliveries coming in today. Another thing ticked off the list.Although I have just taken on some new jobs, so I best get off!
Speak soon,
K

Why every HE marketer should own more than one hat

Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

From the woolly to the wacky variety, I've never really been a big fan of hats. No matter where I look or what I try I just can't seem to make it work for me. It's either the wrong size, or style, or in most cases the wrong price. Whatever the reason, it's always something extra to carry! But over the years I've had a change of heart, and have warmed up to the idea of an extra accessory, both literally and figuratively speaking.

Up until a few months ago, the marketing team pretty much took care of itself. We wrote and actioned our plans, we produced publications, and we worked towards our own objectives and corporate priorities. However, the scope of our role is always changing, and never more so than now. And that's why owning more than one hat becomes all the more important, whether you like the look or not!

Take a look below to see just how many hats a HE Marketer needs:

Everyday Flat Cap - business
as usual

The first hat of the day is the Flat Cap, otherwise known as the everyday hat - a must-have staple for any marketer. This is the run-of-the-mill, day-to-day operations that forms the back bone of any team and its output. From processing prospectus requests and crunching data, to formulating briefs and campaign plans, to monitoring budgets and platform performance, the daily role of a university marketer is a varied beast. Our day-to-day roles involve rolling out and implementing a series of marketing plans and initiatives, optimising and modifying existing work, whilst planning for, and working on, 3 consecutive recruitment cycles at any one time. Did I also mention juggling skills are essential?

Creative hat - brimming full of
inspiration and ideas

Without any doubt, a marketer will always need a Creative Hat. Whether it's conducting photoshoots to get that impactful image, writing dynamic copy to hook in the reader, or conjuring up new ways to reach an audience and appeal to their interests, there's always an element of creativity involved in a marketers day job. After recently writing a creative brief, I've spent some time meeting with three design agencies over the course of the last week, to discuss their artwork interpretations, and to shape the look and feel of our impending campaigns: Clearing and 2017 Annual. We've also just launched our 2017 Undergraduate prospectus, which has been 5 months in the making, and another creative outlet to showcase our points of differentiation, and market positioning. It's also been great to see that my More than a degree brain child has manifested itself as a brand-new section of the website, courtesy of our Marketing Assistant, Sara. Again, it presents another creative outlet to market the University and present a niche against our competitors.

Safari explorer hat at the ready - on an
Open Day discovery

A quick change of costume and it's on to the Safari Explorer Hat for us. Over the last few weeks the Marketing team has been working hard to promote Open Days as the perfect opportunity to discover more about university and student life, to both applicants and late enquirers alike. But we haven't just been supporting on the marketing frontier. It was all hands on deck recently, as we helped set up for the big event over at our Luton campus (and I gave the team, and our Head of Recruitment a master-class in the art of table origami aka folding the corners nicely, much to their amusement). We also manned the open day registration desks and were chatting with, what we hope to be the newest crop of students come September, and getting them to sign in, whilst talking them through the wealth of shiny new publications and information we had on hand. It was great to see all of the marketing materials that we produce being used and so warmly received.

Future-thinking - a digital shift

Back in the office, and there's another switch to be made. This time, we've got our Digital Hat on to complete the task in hand. Over the last few months the team has been undergoing a series of (very) early Monday morning training sessions to up-skill in the digital arena. We've been adding another string to our bow, progressing on from being a 'traditional' marketing team, and predominantly print-led. This has seen us leading on the implementation of Google Search, Display and Re-targeting, as well as driving forward the text, artworking and targeting for paid Social Media content.

Whilst all the extra work makes for a busy day, with us sometimes having to wear all hats at once, it definitely adds even more variety to our roles and makes us even more versatile and knowledgeable about our craft. We're well on our way to making the move from a traditional team to multi-tasking, multi-function and multi-platform marketers.

To make it in marketing you have to be able to adapt with the times and move within a constantly changing environment. For us, if something isn't changing, we're wondering why it's still standing still and why we're getting left behind. For us this has meant diversifying our skills and our remit to ensure optimum performance and results, even it if it has affected our head wear, or in my case, the previous lack there of.

Another exciting week in the Marketing Department!

It's been an exciting week in the Marketing Department as we've officially signed off the 2017 UG prospectus and UG mini prospectus for print! A lot of work goes into the prospectuses including design briefs, photography, liaising with academics and much more, so it's really great to see it all come together. I know I've said it before but I can't wait for you all to see it!

In my previous post I mentioned that I was working on a project called "more than a degree". I've been out and about around campus over the last couple of weeks meeting students and staff across various projects including the Law Clinic, the Sports Therapy Clinic and the Students' Union. There's so much happening at UoB that people may not know about and I've found it really interesting to actually have the chance to speak to some of the people involved in certain projects and hear about their passions, and how these extra-curricular activities are influencing their studies, and, in some cases, providing them with experience for their future careers. The "more than a degree" section should be live on the website in a couple of weeks so keep your eyes peeled! 

As part of a the "more than a degree" project I went to watch one of the industry talks at the School of Art & Design. The talk was by graphic designer, Jonathan Barnbrook, (who happens to have grown up in Luton!), whose work includes various projects with the late, legendary David Bowie, and Banksy's Dismaland. The talk was really interesting and gave the students some great insight into what life in industry may be like!

Some of you may have heard that from September 2016 PG students will be entitled to student loans to help support their studies. I'm very excited for this as it provides an opportunity for more students to further their studies and their passions. If you want to find out a little more about the PG loans you can watch our video here.

I've also been helping Kylie with the Open Day plans, sending emails to our applicants and enquirers to let them know about our February Open Day. Open Days are a great way for potential students (and their families) to come along and experience what life at Beds may be like and to take a tour of our campus and accommodation. They're also a good way to find out a bit more about our courses and even meet current students. 

Happy New Year from the Marketing Team

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a great break - I realised yesterday that I didn't have a single mince pie this year (well last year) so my year has started full of regrets!

We've been back at work three days now and in that time we've received the second proof of our 2017 Undergraduate Prospectus. It's looking really good and I'm excited for you all to see it. The last couple of days I've been proof reading my sections and contacting various departments across the university to finalise a few things. The first proof of the Mini Undergraduate Prospectus is also due next week. This is my first time working on the UG prospectus so I'm enjoying seeing everything come together.

Just before the Christmas break I was working on the Welcome Guide for our February and March starters. This was completed on my first day back and can now be found online.

This year I'm going to be working on a project called "More than a degree". I'm going to be gathering content for the website about extra curricular activities at the university such as RadioLab, Get Into Sport, industry talks, PAL and much more. I'm really excited to get started on this so keep an eye out for some exciting new content coming your way soon!

Kylie has been busy preparing the UG and PG open day plans so I will be supporting her in implementing these. For me this usually means sending out some emails to our enquirers, and creating the open day notices that you may have seen around the university on the digital screens.

I'm also working on a few small projects including creating some ads for the upcoming UCAS events and updating some of our online profiles.

We’re beaming with PRide

We're shortlisted for two PRide awards

So I’m excited to tell you we’ve been shortlisted for two PRide awards this year; one for best integrated campaign and one for best low budget campaign. The low budget campaign award entry is for our September open day campaign which I created and implemented so it’s really nice that my efforts have resulted in an award entry for the team. And of course my marketing colleagues, as well as other MARC teams, did help me implement the plans so I can’t take all of the credit. The team are really pleased and we have our fingers crossed that we can walk away with another award to add to the two PRide awards we won last year. The ‘do is on 1^st October, so we’ll be sure to let you know the outcome. I attended the awards ceremony last year, which was my first since working at the University, and it was a really fun night. Last year there was a welcome drink and canapés before the awards ceremony, but this year it’s a sit down 3 course meal followed by the awards ceremony, so I’m looking forward to attending again. It’s great to be shortlisted and it’s a nice night for the team to relax and revel in some of our successes, even if we don’t come away with an award.

Open day season is back

I can’t believe I’m saying this (or typing it!) but open days are back. Doesn’t time just fly when you’re…busy!

Our next open day is on 23 September; I have my plan at the ready and its full steam ahead. I’ve actually planned the full winter season of open days, so all activity up until December, which is a little scary!

So far I’ve created a web banner and I’m currently working with one of our freelance designers to create two external banners. The activity will start next week, so you’ll start to see our open day messaging appear on our homepage, social media and other platforms as we work our way through the plans.

Helping with recruitment collateral

I’ve also been helping out with recruitment support; I’ve created clearing posters, with more to follow in the next week, and I’m updating our school and college liaison guide. The guide has had a few big changes this year, so I’ve spent quite a lot of time on this, but it’s looking really nice and I’m ahead of schedule which I always like!

Evaluations

An old favourite and something I always mention- evaluations. I finished my first open day report for the 2015 cycle ‘enquirer’ events (which was used as a basis for the PRide awards entry, as it identified the success of the September open day in particular). I’m now working on a similar report for the 2015 cycle ‘applicant’ events. Let’s see if I can identify another award opportunity. 

Decisions....decisions...

And finally, outside of work its wedding season…

It’s just dawned on me that I have three weddings to attend in the next seven weeks- crikey!! The first is up North and I’m bridesmaid for an old friend so I’m super excited. The other two are local, and again I’m looking forward to celebrating those as well. I’ll try not to make my next blog about weddings.

Speak soon,

K

Welcome to the Marketing team...

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

Welcome aboard!

A very big welcome to the Marketing team, and yes, I'm talking to you! Everyone is a marketeer, or a part-time one at the very least. Aside from the day job, if you give talks in schools or colleges, man a stand at a UCAS fair, meet and greet students at an open day, or speak in any way to our enquirers and applicants, you're part of the team!

Why do I say that? Well, not only have I been covering this topic in some depth in the latest round of my CIM Diploma studies, but it's actually very true. Each and every single one of us will engage and interact with a potential student at some point along the recruitment journey, and each and every single interaction counts and goes someway to making an impact on a student's decision as to whether to study at Bedfordshire. Therefore, whether we like it or not, we are all marketeers, selling the university experience; selling a brand. So, welcome aboard!

So, what have we all been up to recently I hear you ask. Our conversion activities are in full swing, as we approach the next set of UCAS deadlines, and our Open Day season has now come to a close, so it's number crunch time for the team as we plough through the reams of stats and data to evaluate our activity and determine just how successful and effective our work has been. We'll be sure to share some highlights with you once this important work is complete. And whilst our heads are still firmly placed in 2015 recruitment (with the infamous Clearing campaign already well underway), we've taken some exciting steps to strategically pull all of our 2016 enquirer activity forward by a whopping six months, so we can start the enquirer conversion process much earlier in the cycle. We're well on our way, and have already sent out a number of exciting communications; it's been really positive to see 2016 enquirers already taking the time to visit us on campus, as early as April.

Pit stop by the beach in
sunny Bournemouth

We've also been out en-masse, supporting the recruitment team during one of their busy periods, as we travel the country to attend a series of UCAS events. Kylie has recently attended the London and Leicester events, whilst I made my way back to my former university in Bournemouth to man the Dorset UCAS event (and managed to make a quick pit stop for fish and chips by the beach while I was there - yay!), and Krystle will soon he heading up north to Livepool for three days. So, it's a busy time for the team as we juggle two intakes of students, but it's definitely a great experience to get away from the desk for a while and to speak to real students about real queries they have about Higher Education. Not to mention it's very rewarding when they tell you how helpful you've been after regurgitating our best marketing USPs to provide excitement surrounding our courses.  It's always great to make the most of the UCAS events, and spy on competitors as well, as we pose as students (just about!) to observe their exhibition stands, and marketing materials that they're handing out. I think our stand and materials looked amazing, but then I may be slightly biased. ;-)

That's all from me this time. I'll share some more thoughts, insight, and learnings from my course in my next post, as I will have had plenty of time to digest all of the notes and slides by then I'm sure. Until then!

If only I had Carol Vorderman’s maths skills

My head hurts...

You guessed it from the title; I’m still working on my backlog of open day evaluations. I’m over half way through the full enquirers open day report, which covers the June, October, November and December open days. If only I was born with the maths skills of Carol Vorderman, my head would probably be hurting less. We get some great insight from the evaluations though, so it’s of course worth it to enable us move our plans forward and improve with every open day campaign.

What’s scary is that we’re smack bang in the middle of our second round of open days; February, March and April. So whilst evaluating previous open day campaigns, I’m implementing others.

The start of our February open day

The UG February open day was successful with 327 students on campus at Luton and 133 at Bedford. And when you include the parents and friends who accompany the students, that’s a whole lotta people on campus!

I’m in to the second week of the March open day plans now; Google and digital media activity is up and running, emails and postcards are being worked on and social media posts up.
The numbers for the March open day are looking healthy too!

I’m also planning for the May postgraduate open day, with some initial activity taking place ahead of the campaign starting and research and brainstorming of some new initiatives and actions which will hopefully increase the success of our campaign once it’s up and running.

So besides open day activity, I'm forward planning the editorial lists for our advice communications and monthly e-zines to applicants so we can start to plan in videos and content we may need to source before each edition.

And lastly I’m gearing up to start work on the next round of publications; the UCAS convention brochure and other collateral that we feel we may need, the 2016 UCMK prospectus, the 2016 PG prospectus, and the new student guide for September 2015, which will all be starting imminently.

Hopefully next time I blog I’ve got another two evaluations complete (it good to set targets!)

Speak soon,

K

Bye bye sunshine, hello real world!

Dressed up in the Cuban sunshine!

I’m fresh back from Cuba and back into the swing of things after a few days back at the office. The holiday was great- I attended a lovely family wedding and met lots of people from around the world; Scotland, Prague, Canada. It really was a fab holiday! Here’s a little picture taken just before the wedding...

As I’ve not been here since my last blog post, this one is going to be pretty short.

My priorities for the next couple of weeks are implementing the remainder of the activities from the UG February open day plan, including creating and sending emails, posting on social media, working with the CRM team on conversion and reminder communications and finishing open day brochure inserts for the students who come along to see us on the day.

I‘m also working hard on my backlog of open day evaluation reports; looking at activity performance to ensure we are putting together well thought out plans which provide good ROI. This will then feed in to my next open day campaign plans for future events. We love a good evaluation report here!

A newbie on my list is working with the recruitment team on new marketing collateral for forthcoming HE and UCAS fairs. I’m going to be creating a large banner for the team to use when they are travelling around the country talking to our prospective students. I’m also working on a UCAS convention brochure for the summer.

A sneak peek at our prospectus cover

And, while I’ve been away Sarah has been busy signing off the undergraduate 2016 prospectus; so all that’s left to do is sign off the book proof when we receive it from the printers at the end of the week. The undergraduate 2016 mini guide is also signed off- Sarah has been a busy bee- nothing new there!

So, I should really finish with a big ‘thank you’ to Sarah for picking up some of my work while I was away!!

Speak soon,

K