Do Influencers #AD's actually work?

Personally, I find it really difficult to write about things I don't have an opinion on. This week I think people expected me to talk about the clearing campaign photography we've had done, but honestly... I don't have anything groundbreaking to say about it. Yes it was busy and slightly chaotic, but the experience was great and the photos are looking amazing, and exactly what we'll need to pull off our new idea. So what more is there to say? Job done. I will treat you to a couple of BTS shots though, just so you feel included in the mayhem...

What I wanted to talk about instead is something that us 'marketeers' hear about a lot... and that's digital influencers. Basically, asking people who have a lot of followers in the digital space to promote your products/services to their audiences. While we've been choosing the inventory for our clearing campaign, social influencers has been a topic of conversation, and today I wanted to look into it in a bit more detail. 

1) Is it actually effective?

If you look at the stats, yes it works. A lot of media agencies will tell you it's the only truly effective way to market to students or Gen Z nowadays. In fact, Activate by Bloglovin's research has found that 67% of marketers think influencer marketing campaigns helped them reach a more targeted audience, which leads to better overall results. And why wouldn't it? To the younger audience it's essentially like being recommended a product or service from a friend, and what could be more convincing than that? 

2) When DOES it work?

Let me preface this with... I watch a lot of YouTube. And I've seen my fair share of influencer ads. From personal experience (and I imagine it to be the same amongst some), sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. The best brand work I've seen through digital creators has definitely always been the longer campaigns. If I see a creator post one #ad for a brand and then never speak about them again, I'm not believing a word they're saying. But when influencers and brands have lasting relationships it has more value to the audience. Plus it's got to be a partnership that makes sense. (I cannot emphasise this enough). 

For example: Liza Koshy works out everyday, and posts Instagram stories/Snapchats about it regularly. Liza Koshy also happens to have 15 million subscribers and 15.6 million Instagram followers. So Nike approached her. Makes sense, right? A match made in heaven. And then this happened. 20 MILLION VIEWS?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I actually enjoyed sitting through what was essentially 8 minutes of advertising! As well as that, she created her own pair of shoes with Nike, plus they got her to host a whole bunch of panel events with athletes - both of which built value and trust with her audience. But credit where credit due, the advert only worked because it was still 100% Liza. Full of puns, double entendre, physical comedy, and most importantly... complete transparency. 

3) When does it NOT work?

When influencers promote something that you wouldn't associate them with. Or when it's forced, sounds rehearsed, or when the creator hasn't been organic. Just today I saw a vlogger promoting the DVD release of Maze Runner: The Death Cure on his channel and on Instagram. But I never saw him go and see the film in the first place, plus I've been watching him for a year and I've never even seen him set foot in a movie theatre, so why am I going to trust him to recommend me this? So fake! Yeah I watch YouTube, but I'm not dumb. (Wait, was that an oxymoron?). 

Wrong partnerships are the curse of the digital space. It would be like us asking a creator who attends another university to make a sponsored video about us. Who on earth is going to believe that? Getting your target audience to listen doesn't work if you don't have the right thing to say. 

So there you have it. A little insight into how I think marketing with digital influencers works and how it doesn't. Something for us definitely to think about, as it seems that's where a lot of marketing is headed in the future. If you have any thoughts then let me know, YouTube is easily one of my favourite topics of conversation! 

Until next time. Over and out. 

Tips for using a professional Twitter account

Like many people I have a Twitter account that I use for work purposes. I generally tweet about what I’m up to at work, what stories and projects I’m working on and just general gubbins about my working life in the press office at the University of Bedfordshire.

I’m not a Twitter by any means – most of what I know I've learnt on the job and through trial and error. But if you’re thinking about setting up your own Twitter account for work and are not sure where to start, here are a few tips to get you going:

Think before you post

Let’s start at the beginning. Before you post anything, ask yourself this question – would I want my mum to see this? Or, more importantly, my boss? If the answer is no, it might be better not to post it

Ask yourself what you want out of Twitter

I post the occasional photo of my dog, because who wouldn’t want to see this gorgeous face(by the way that’s Bowen, he’s a six-year-old GSD cross and the love of my life).

After a mental Monday, a cuddle with this beautiful boy is just what I need ❤️ pic.twitter.com/F0IgtlqBrA

— Caroline Jacobi (@CJacobi16) January 8, 2018

Saying that, I rarely mention anything outside my working life. It’s worth thinking about what you want to get out of using Twitter in a professional capacity.

Do you want to link up with journalists? Or connect with fellow PR professionals. Most of these people will be interested in news about your organisation, but not so interested in photos of your boozy night outs. It might be an idea to have two accounts, one for work, one for outside work, just so there’s no cross-over.

Use it or lose it

I see so many accounts that are never used. My heart sinks when I see an account for a department in the University, and then I see that nothing has gone out from it since 2015. They just sit in cyberspace looking empty and sad. Get into the habit of tweeting at least once a day.

Don’t be afraid of images and tag, tag away!

Not only do photos increase engagement by up to 300%, they have a nifty function where you can tag other accounts into your tweet, rather than using up your precious word count with Twitter handles. Tagging also increases engagement and will help you get noticed. Hashtags have the same effect, though too many can be a bit much - two of three is a good number.

Ignore the trolls

Tempting as it is to get into a Twitter row with an idiot with too much time on their hands – don’t do it. Trolls thrive on attention and you just end up stoking the fire if you engage with them.

A wise person once said (probably on a social media platform somewhere): “Arguing with a Twitter troll is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good you are at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock over the pieces, crap on the board and strut around like it’s won.”

Just ignore it, and if it gets really nasty, block them and report them to Twitter and let them deal with it.

If you’re interested, my Twitter handle is @CJacobi16 – feel free to pop over and have a look.

I don't want you to photoshop yourself. Your landscapes, however...

This blog post is kind of a two for the price of one situation. Essentially, I went to New York last week and want to talk about it (a thousand apologies to my colleagues who have heard about it non-stop for the whole week, I swear this will be the last thing). But I also want to make it work-related, so I’m going to tie it in with my role as a member of our newly formed Social Media Team. Therefore, drum roll please…

Tips and tricks for editing Instagram pictures

For the first time in my life I actually have a decent camera (the Canon G7X mark ii for those who care), so have been making extra effort to improve my photography and editing skills. I'm by no means an expert - I only started teaching myself four days ago - but this is what I’ve learnt so far.

Photoshop tricks

1) TIMES SQUARE, NY. As I've said in the title, I really don't encourage 'photoshopping' yourself in any way. However, I do think that sometimes it's allowed. For example, in the picture below I actually had chocolate on my face *rolls eyes*, but it was a really nice picture other than that, so I figured it was excusable. If you have a similar situation, I suggest the Spot Healing Brush or the Clone Stamp tools on Photoshop - which are really useful for getting pieces of fluff off your clothing or just smartening up chocolately faces. Be warned though - they are both 'blurring' tools, so if you use them over a large surface area, people will be able to tell. 

ORIGINAL

EDITED

2) FINANCIAL DISTRICT, LOWER MANHATTAN, NY. If by accident, like me, you've taken a picture at a really nice time of day - dawn or dusk or during a sunset, for example - it can be nice to enhance that. In the image below a couple of useful techniques have been used. First, to straighten out buildings or other subjects, copy a new layer of your image. Then Ctrl T (Transform) and right click and choose Distort. Then you're free to drag the corners/sides of your image to make them straighter. Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights helps to make any buildings or structures stand out, and Ctrl L will bring up a levels menu that can also brighten or darken any shapes (clouds included!). And lastly, to brighten up skies, you can go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter, which gives you loads of options to bring out different saturations of colours, to make them really stand out! 

ORIGINAL

EDITED

Image editing apps

If you don't have access to Photoshop or just can't be bothered to spend that much time on your pictures, there are some pretty good editing apps available nowadays that can improve your images just as easily. Here are some I've found. 

1) BROOKLYN BRIDGE, LOOKING BACK ON MANHATTAN, NY. I used an app called Photofox to edit this picture, which I've found is great if you want to give the illusion that your pictures have been taken on old-fashioned camera reel (like the Olympus Penn or OM-1). If colour distortion and fade is your thing, then this is the app for you! It's free and has a wide range of light overlays that can give your images that vintage feel. See below!

ORIGINAL

EDITED

2) CENTRAL PARK, NY. This is probably my favourite photo editing app to use at the minute, and it's called VSCO (although ColorStory comes in at a close second, check both out). It's no different to the filters that Instagram supply you with, other than it has a whole lot more editing options beyond that, and more colour gradients. The app is free and so are a selection of filters, but for more advanced options you do have to pay unfortunately! I like to use it to brighten my pictures and for landscapes, to give them a rustic feel.

ORIGINAL

EDITED

So I hope that helps (and simultaneously lets you know what an amazing time I had in the 'big apple'). I use these techniques on my personal Instagram account, but I don't see why I, and the rest of the team, can't start using them on the University Instagram to make our pictures stand out. So get downloading, social team! 

Hope this is useful, and I'd love to see if anyone tries any of these photo editing options in their own work, so please let me know! 

Until next time. Over and out. 

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.

The Dean's View; a lay person's view on the importance of 'twitterisation'

This week; a guest spot. Huge thanks to Sally Bentley, Executive Dean of Education and Sport & Health and Social Sciences, who shares her insight into social media

I suspect that neither most of my faculty executive, nor the vast majority of my portfolio leaders across HSS and E&S have ever been on Twitter. We don’t really understand it - being of the email generation - and most of us haven’t even got a Facebook account let alone those other social media apps that we hear about. Indeed we are rather proud to be able to use the word app without putting inverted commas around it in an embarrassed way.

That said we know it's important and so we listen when anyone briefs us (as happened at Senior Leaders' Team last year) and we try to get ourselves better informed (inviting Claudia to present to Faculty Executive Group on a couple of occasions). We write actions into plans and monitor their progress – noting that not much has changed and doing a bit of mea culpa along the way. We appoint staff to lead on School Twitter accounts and exhort everyone to share stories.

So far so good, and let’s not mock the progress we’ve made, but we’ve plateaued and this blog is to explore the blockage. The slight fly in the ointment is it is written from the perspective of naïve ignorance, but that’s never stopped me before so here goes. 

Some accounts are thriving and have for a while now – the School of Sport Science and Physical Activity (SSPA) for example. Why is that: perhaps the subject is more photogenic and the activities of broader appeal?  I’m convinced about the former but not the latter. Do the staff have a younger demographic? Or is it just about Claudia’s personal/professional connections with the sports staff that gets people participating? I suspect a bit of both.

Other accounts have stalled – Education exists but isn’t flying high. Why not? In Education Studies key members of staff have left or are off on leave. Then there is Teacher Education (TE) which of course is a Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) and they get special exemption don’t they because PSRBs are different. Or are they? Do the rest even tweet at all?  So what else is the problem … Are the stories less tweetable?

Maybe that tells us something about the engaging outward facing nature of the subject area and the interesting activities embedded in the curriculum. Are these staff less well-connected, less out-and-about? If any of the above that would be disappointing. Okay so let’s speak the unspeakable - is the subject more ‘boring’? Surely that can’t be the case; what would get you more worked up, your kid failing at school or your sport team playing on Sunday? Are we being lazy – there are plenty of stories to be had out there aren’t there? For example, why aren’t we tweeting this week on ‘parents’ being marked on the support they give their child? Scary thought! Can we piggy back a tweet on every local or national news story about education?   

So we’ve managed to get some stories to our twitter leads, how well do we do with them?  Sport’s got it cracked. It has pictures and friends and networks that bounce things around. They’ve got it easy, you might say, there’s a culture that’s alive and kicking.

And Education? We only need to be better than our competitors in Education – not in sport. So let’s be canny. Almost any picture of children or adults learning, talking in groups, reading, writing, playing, running, jumping, looking happy, looking worried, thinking etc can represent any story, so how hard can it be to take pictures that don’t infringe personal identity but provide us with a bank of pictures that ostensibly represent the topic in question? Or can we send text messages to staff every week asking for their photo of the week and award a decent prize for the one that produces the best 3 in a month?

Next barrier: ‘I don’t have any networks on Twitter’ who will re-tweet my stories. How can we help people? Here I’m too ignorant to even suggest anything, but you will know a way. Should we be tweeting on other people’s accounts? Is there a list of good blogs that we can point staff at? Can we link up with our students in some ways?

And then there’s this funny little creature the # ! Okay, I confess, I just had to search my keyboard to find the little blighter. I know he’s important, and yes, for me, he’s a he, but I never know what to do with him when I’ve found him, just that it was important. Over to you, I’ve found him, what shall I do with him?

So Claudia and the central team continue to browse the world of tweets and trying to cajole us to take our first steps in the world of twitter, while most of us prefer the safety of crawling on all fours. The good news is that we all learn to walk sooner or later.

If you are interested in contributing to this blog and telling your own University of Bedfordshire Marketing story, please let us know.

Reflecting on my university experience

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Adding another string to our bow

I mentioned in my last blog that the [traditional] marketing team have been dipping our toe into the digital world a little more; briefing Google search and display activity as well as promoted social media.

Well, this week we’ve taken it a little bit further and had some digital training on actually implementing the activity. On Monday (at 9am!!) we had a 1.5 hour training session on setting up Google search and display ads in Google Analytics. It was a really good session and Sarah and I have since had a go at setting up our own ads. We’ve started off with a smaller campaign while we get to grips with everything – and it may have taken us way longer than the average digital marketer to set up two ads each – but we did it. We definitely felt a self of accomplishment afterwards and in our daily report we’ve already seen small numbers coming through to the website from our ads, which we got a little too excited about perhaps.

It’s really good, as marketers, to be able to add to our skillset and not only understand digital aspects of marketing, but be able to actually implement and amend them ourselves too. Next week we’ll be setting up the remainder of the campaign and having further training sessions on monitoring and tweaking on-going campaigns and setting up promoted social media posts.

I think as a team we’re really excited about being able to do more digital marketing, and help our currently small digital marketing team – there’s no I in team!

Another day, another photography shoot

I also directed another photography shoot last week, this time for our 2017 prospectus front covers. We took pictures of different groups of students in different locations/settings around our Luton campus. 

It was a busy day, but we got some great pictures. We’re now working with our design agency to choose the best photos for each version of our prospectus.

Some of our lovely students taking
part in our photography shoot

Becoming the digital marketer

So, we all know how important digital marketing in these days, and I’m slowly dipping my toes in the water and getting to grips with more digital activity. Not necessarily the implementation, but more the briefing process – putting targeted Google and promoted social media briefs together for different aspects of the annual campaign.

As we like to be as targeted as possible using analysis from previous campaigns, there are a lot of ideas and thoughts to get down as coherently as possible; search ads, display ads, re-targeting, mobile ads, promoted social media posts. And then there's targeting, reaching new audiences, which subjects get more traction in which areas of the UK, different visuals for different subjects or locations, key words, affiliate websites, hidden landing pages…the list seems endless.  

I’ve got to admit it was daunting pulling together the first large brief, but I’ve just recently finished this and it’s now up and running. So, I’m now working on the next. Now here comes the issue; when we’re targeting some similar subjects in different campaigns how do we ensure we don’t compete with ourselves for the likes of key words or affiliate websites? And so it starts again; targeting, reaching new audiences, which subjects get more traction in which areas of the UK, different visuals for different subject or locations, key words, affiliate websites, hidden landing pages…the list seems endless.  Have I said that already?!

Although all of this has been a lot to get my head around, I am feeling excited that it’s giving me the opportunity to broaden my knowledge in terms of the digital aspects of marketing, which is great for my own development. Keep your eyes peeled for some analysis on my first large Google campaign...

Fruits of our labour
As Sara mentioned last week, we directed some photo shoots earlier this month and I thought I’d share a couple of images below as we’ve now had these back from the photographers we worked with. I'm looking forward to seeing these in our 2017 publications. We’ve still got one more shoot to do mid-November for the prospectus cover, and that’s photography done for 2016. Well that’s all from me this week and I’ve got a nice day off tomorrow! :)
Speak soon,
K

Students in our Go Global Cafe

New library at our UCMK campus

One of our business, Luton campus

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

Multi-channel, Multi-tasking Marketers - The Digital Frontier

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

We 'do' digital

In true 'the Fast show' style: This week I have mostly... been in training sessions and agency meetings. Sounds fun right? Well, with current changes taking place within the department, and being part of a team who are always keen to expand our repertoire and skills set, we've taken it upon ourselves to shadow other colleagues and enhance our knowledge, particularly in the digital arena. The need to be fully integrated, and shift the weighting of our campaigns towards a stronger digital focus, means that it's becoming more and more important for us marketers to have a firm understanding of the many digital platforms available to support us in campaign planning and implementation. And so, to help us on our merry way, we've been working closely with the digital team this week, to grasp a firmer understanding of Google advertising and analytics, as well as getting some handy hints, tips and techniques to engage with our audiences through social media. It's all very exciting, and so we look forward to sharing some learnings and insight as we get more involved in upcoming campaigns, on the digital front.

Taking PRide in our work -
 to gain regional recognition

In between all of the meetings, training sessions and Marketing tasks, I've still somehow managed to squeeze in two more award entries - there's just so many exciting things going on at the moment and so it's hard to resist. This week, we've submitted two entries to the CIPRide Awards for the Thames and Chiltern region, in the categories of best Integrated Campaign (for our 2014 Clearing campaign), and best Low Budget Campaign (for the September 2014 Open day campaign, where we almost doubled the footfall compared to the previous year). The short-list is out in mid-July. It's always great to showcase the effectiveness of the work undertaken within Marketing, and it's great for the team to be able to see the results of their hard work; especially after Kylie wrote an 87 page report on Open Day insight. So it's always nice when we're able to use the wealth of data, insight and analysis to further bolster the reputation and credibility of the team through bench-marking against our fellow industry peers.

Delighted to see @uniofbeds have been shortlisted for Best Student Recruitment campaign at the @heistawards - yay! pic.twitter.com/DRxYcuht5U

— Sarah Hampton (@Sarah_Hampton) May 15, 2015

Making a PR splash - with
our Clearing flash mob

In order news, I was absolutely over the moon to see that we had been short-listed for Best Student Recruitment Campaign at this year's Heist awards. The award entry, which was wonderfully written by Krystle Hall (Campaign Officer), showcases the very best from the 2014 Clearing campaign; from our community events and recruitment roadshow, to a range of wide spanning activity which made up a fully integrated, multi-channel approach - it's all in there. And don't forget the University's very own flash mob which took place in the Mall Luton. It's quite a large short-list, but we're going to keep everything crossed that we scoop the big win at these coveted awards. The ceremony dinner is on the 9th July, so stay tuned or keep an eye on twitter @uniofbeds to watch the evening's events unfold.

Finally, as we come to the end of the week, it becomes time to bid farewell to some more MARC colleagues. Lauren Hague (Digital Marketing Officer) and Mick Hart (Publications Officer) are leaving the University this week; Lauren is leaving us to pursue new challenges in the digital marketing arena, whilst Mick is retiring after serving almost 19 years as part of the team. We wish them all the best for their future endeavours, and look forward to sending them off in the traditional MARC way. It's going to be a quiet office, come Monday!

Is all publicity good publicity?

Recently I have been focusing on the social media for the Business School, generating content for the School’s Facebook and Twitter accounts (don’t forget to like and follow ;). 

As part of the daily research activity I stumbled upon the responses to the Protein World’s “Are You Beach Body Ready” campaign reactions. There were a number of incidents where people have made their own corrections to the ads found on London Underground, making the hash tag #eachbodysready popular across social media networks.

At first I was very excited, motivated and inspired to see such movement against people’s beliefs as I thought it shows “people power,” gives a voice to the audience and empowers the community. People argued that the adverts promote an unhealthy body image, and a petition against the campaign has collected over 40,000 sign-ups. 

Later I read that “despite the negative response to the adverts, sales of the company’s products had increased”, and I thought isn’t this buzz actually helping the publicity of the company and its products? I guess that it might be true that any publicity is good publicity. 

According to Stanford Business (2011), “Negative publicity can increase sales when a product or company is relatively unknown simply because it stimulates product awareness” (Protein World was formed in 2012 so it is relatively new). Even now to write this article I am looking for more information about the company, so that proves the point above. 

How the response is handled is another topic. Protein World has not been that diplomatic in their social media responses, which probably created even more buzz about the brand. Who knows, it might turn against them later. 

So there are 2 main points for me in this story:

1. The power of the society, and community empowerment; I am impressed how many people have jumped on the #eachbodysready campaign and supported the message of being comfortable in your own skin, no matter how you look.
2. If you are a new organisation, do not get put down by some negative publicity as in reality, it actually might be positive for your brand.