Content is king

This week I've had the opportunity to attend the Postgraduate Marketing Forum in Manchester. It was my first time attending one of these forums and, as I've heard lots of good things about them, I was very excited. The theme of the day was content and tracking - as even the name caused debate I knew that I was in for an interesting day!

Content comes in all shapes and sizes, to your traditional printed collateral to a social media post - content can be anything that we produce. But what about things that we're not responsible for - a tweet or blog post by someone outside of the university? Well, it's still about us, it could affect the decision of a potential student - and therefore it still counts as content - just content that's a little bit harder to control!

One of the guest speakers was from a copy writing agency and he presented us with this picture, a scene from the movie The Incredibles. He suggested that many universities often describe their facilities and their key features in the same way, raising the issue that if everyone is saying the same thing in the same way, is anyone really standing out?

It's an interesting challenge that the higher education sector is faced with - students tend to want to know about the same things: location, facilities, accommodation, teaching, research, careers etc. - so it's understandable that universities are talking about similar things. And it's not just as easy as just finding something that's different - it has to fit the context - it has to be right for that particular situation, for that particular audience. 

It was an interesting concept, one of many throughout the day, and I've certainly come away with many thoughts and ideas to explore. 

What's in a name? Weird and wonderful course titles

Not so long ago, it seemed quite the thing to criticise and even ridicule certain universities for offering so-called “Mickey Mouse” degrees. These courses came from a variety of disciplines and bore little resemblance to those which were doubtless considered more ‘academic’. Classics, Latin, or Archaeology always managed to miss the cut, which must have come as a huge relief for institutions with Medieval lawns and huge resources. But still, the notion of studying the media or sport seemed one small step from chaos, anarchy and the very end of time.

Golf hats

Don't get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with studying Classics, Latin or Archaeology. These are important subjects, although detailed knowledge of Ovid, pots, old ruins or sieges aren't the most obvious tools for dealing with business, psychology or a life in PR. And they wouldn’t help too much in, say managing a golf club. At this point, I should mention that all I know about golf is that involves weird clothing, sticks, balls and holes. So, if I’m not up to the job, who should we turn to? Perhaps someone with a golf management degree?

Football Studies?
John Still, master tactician

In a not-entirely unrelated sphere, Football Studies is also a minority interest subject. Or is it? Football Studies doesn’t involve people pretending to be pundits and trotting out lame cliché after lame cliché. Like it or not, and for better or worse, football is big business these days. Or, more accurately, football is a huge, corporatised juggernaut, the study of which might involve looking at sports, nutrition, development, business, media, finance, hospitality, sociology, psychology …. The list goes on. Football Studies course managers

may also be looking to add Criminology elements to their offer, given the recent shock revelations and investigations around the less-than-squeaky clean operations of the international game.

A few years ago, The Telegraph compiled a top ten “unusual degrees” list, which ranged from institutions such as South Bank and Liverpool Hope, to Plumpton College and UCL. The subjects tellingly included degrees with a very specific vocational and almost artisanal flavour (Baking Technology Management or

Brewing and Distilling) to those with clear roots in anthropology (Viking Studies) or those looking at a specific cultural phenomenon with a view to a wider academic discipline (The Beatles, Popular Music and Society).

Klingon??!!

Still, if these, or Surf Science don’t float your boat – and yes that is surf as in the waves not the web - our friends over the Pond have, not too surprisingly, an even more diverse range of courses for consideration. Last year, QS put a list together of degrees which would make most people’s eyes and mouths start watering – it would seem there really are opportunities to study Harry Potter, Klingon, the tv show Lost, zombies, the joy of garbage, the history of the pig in America and – perhaps most alluring – the science of superheroes.

Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything

By Sarah De Guzman, Marketing Manager

So much data, and so little time
to write awards...

As the 2015 September recruitment cycle officially comes to a close, it's time for us marketers to bury our heads in the mountains of metrics that we've put in place, on our usual quest to evaluate our performance and effectiveness, to demonstrate ROI, and to churn out those all important reports which provide valuable insight to inform our future work. Whilst on the one hand it's quite an intense aspect to our roles, with many an hour spent crunching numbers, and getting bogged down in the data wondering why I didn't pay more attention in maths classes at school, I quite like ploughing through the reams of insight and analysis to do a round up - it's always nice to see our contribution, and to assess our highlights and successes (as well as identifying what we can do better, which is a constant learning curve and central to all that we do). But as many of our regular readers will know, I'm also guilty of writing reports for dual purposes. That's right, I'm a cereal award-writer, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!

Who needs sleep when you
can write awards!

Since I started writing awards in 2013, we've gone on to win eight awards, with two award wins and a Heist short-list in this year alone, which we're mightily proud of. Winning, and even being short-listed for these coveted awards is a massive coup for the team, and I'll be the first to admit that it's nice to see the office adorned in our achievements. Not only is it a great big pat on the back and morale booster, but it's great to be recognised by our peers and the wider sector, as being the best in the region, or nationally at what we do.

And so, with all of the report writing that's going on at the moment, we'll soon be able to see if we have some pieces to enter early next year, when awards season for us typically kicks off. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some helpful hints and tips on writing a winning award entry, should you choose to give it a go for yourself in the new year...

Before you start

Look beyond the marketing hype
- do the facts speak for
themselves?

First things first, before you do anything you should assess your goals and ask yourself these questions:

• Why I am doing this?
• What do I want to get out of it?

Writing awards is a lot of work, so make sure it's worth your while. In other words, be brutal. Is your initiative really good enough? Remove the bias, and look at the facts. Does it stand out, and do you have the evidence and hard facts to back up your claims?

Getting started

Be individual - sometimes small
or niche can win big

So once you're certain of what you're setting out to do, it's time to search through the different awards, and scour the categories to see what's on offer, and where you think you might be able to contribute and make a submission. It's always worth noting the deadlines at this point, to make sure all your award writing won't be in vain. Once you've selected the categories it's time to write that entry!

Tip: Really consider your category and who you may also be going up against. Whilst we all want to win big, sometimes the niche categories make for an interesting and successful submission. And whilst we fully believe our initiative is amazing, you never know what, or who, you're up against.

Writing that award winning entry
So it's time to write that entry. Anyone can write and submit entries, but to secure the short-list, it requires time, effort and dedication.

1. Research previous winners - and take a look at their entries - most winner's entries are hosted online, and can provide a great resource when looking at format, and the level of detail needed
2. Really look at the entry criteria - and the questions that you're being asked. Stick to the point at all times, and keep the entry focused on fully evidencing the success and ROI of the work
3. Keep it concise - brief and to the point. Most awards have strict word counts, and so you have to make every sentence and every word count - cut the waffle
4. Keep it simple - whilst it's important to include the relevant lingo and jargon in the entry to showcase your expert knowledge, remember who your reader is - they may or may not be a specialist in that particular area, and they have many to read! Keep it simple and understandable - after all, if they don't get your point, you won't get the marks
5. Be bespoke - tailor the information to what is being asked, and the specific category - especially if you're entering the same initiative for multiple awards. A simple copy and paste job will not do
6. Make it pretty - spend sometime on the layout, and devise the sections so that they correspond with the criteria and questions being asked, to make it easy for the judge to give you marks. But make sure you know the restrictions on including graphs and images (in most cases you can place these in an appendices if these are allowed). 
7. Make it stand out - showcasing new initiatives, or novel ways of working and achieving your objectives provides a great way to catch the judges attention. Think our Clearing Flash mob from the 2014 Clearing campaign. Different is interesting. But only include it if it's relevant and you have a point to make.
8. Make it personable - in some entries they ask why you should win. Whilst the stats are great here to evidence this, don't shy away from adding a personal narrative. If it's relevant, talk about the people involved and play on the emotive aspects. Celebrating real people and real achievements is great, and adds a bit of personality to the entry.

Failing to plan, is planning to fail

But most of all. It's important to allocate time to this. Balancing writing award entries alongside the day job is a challenging task. Conducting research and analysis to collate the evidence is time consuming but a crucial aspect, as without the evidence it's just an opinion piece. And carefully constructing an entry to satisfy the criteria takes focus and determination. So be prepared to put in the hours if you take it on. But if you secure the short-list it's always a nice rewarding feeling.

Tip: Carefully select your award categories and make sure that the stats stack up. After all, no matter how proud of the work you are, if you've spend ages pulling an entry together which has weak evidence, you won't get very far. It's important to remember quality over quantity.

What to do if successful
After submitting, make a note of the short-list confirmation date - after all that hard work, you want to make sure you know if you made the cut!

If you've made it to the short-list, here's what you do next:

• Shout about it - it's great news, why wouldn't you? But get in touch with the press team and give them all the details
• Get your seats booked - for the coveted 'do, and get planning what to wear (check if the 'do has a theme or dress code)
• Befriend twitter - especially on awards night. Many awards have their own twitter handle and hashtag and encourage you to tweet throughout the evening - great for fun and profile raising 
• Talk to us - keep the MARC department (and the press team) informed of the evenings events - whether it was a win, or not! Being short-listed in itself is an amazing achievement
• Make space - in the office to proudly display your winners or finalist certificates and awards

Writing awards has many rewards, and I'm not just talking about the certificate if you win. Quite often, we're so busy with our day-to-day work that taking the time to truly reflect on our achievements and performance passes us by. Being able to see success, and just how well a piece of work or an initiative has performed is great. So if you do write award entries and go on to win, great! But remember, it's not just about the winning.

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

Lights, camera, action!

Over the last couple of weeks, Kylie and I have spent a few days out and about at the different campuses with photographers for the 2016/2017 prospectuses. We've got some great images from the photo shoots and I'm really excited for everyone to see them once the prospectuses are published.

I was mainly working on profile shots, taking photos of individual students and filming them talking about their university experience. I really love this aspect as it gives me the chance to meet some of our students and hear their thoughts and opinions on their course and the university (although I spoke to one student about the Go Global programme and it's set off the travel bug - help!). 

Much to our surprise, the weather was on our side yesterday so we managed to get some really nice profile shots and group shots outside too! As much as I hate the cold this time of year brings, I do love the colours of Autumn!

It was really interesting to work with the photographers as they have such an intricate way of seeing things. I also got to act as the photographers assistant a couple of times and hold some of the lighting equipment - although knowing the price of the equipment made that a little scary!

We've also started writing and collating copy for the 2016/2017 UG prospectus. This is my first time working on the UG prospectus so it's really exciting for me to be involved in every aspect of the project.

A big thank you to all of the students that got involved with the photo shoots! And to anyone wondering how/if they can be involved in our next shoot, please drop me an email.

That's all from me for now,

Sara

Culture - a Luton thing?

Funny things have happened on campus over the last few weeks. Stands, pagodas, stalls, marquees, student ambassadors and freshers’ angels have sprouted where before, there was a distinct lack of stands, pagodas, stalls, marquees, student ambassadors or freshers’ angels. The last week of September and first week of October saw the beginning of the new academic year and soaring campus energy levels which have since been ever so slightly jaded by a downturn in the weather and an upturn in beach parties and other luridly themed student nights.

A warm welcome should continue to be extended, not only to the University of Bedfordshire, but also to Luton. Or Bedford. Or Milton Keynes, or Aylesbury, Barnfield, Arthur Mellows, Majan or wherever else University students are. Wherever you’re studying, welcome.

Those arriving at Luton – our biggest campus – may be wondering what they’ve let themselves in for. Yes, we have state of the art buildings, but Luton – the town - often makes the news for the wrong reasons and has been the butt of many stand ups sitcoms, adverts and novelty hit parade smashes. Like this. Or this. The town has been an easy target over the years, but its folk always bounce back.

Luton's Bear Jazz and Blues club

From a student’s point of view, part of Luton’s appeal may be that it’s on London’s doorstep with fast trains linking town to capital in less than half an hour. That’s less than half an hour assuming there are no weekend engineering works or staff shortages and assuming, too, that travel is undertaken in a southerly direction. It would take a deluded or strange fellow to suggest Luton is London’s equal, but outside the Uni, the town boasts a vibrant jazz club, art centre, as well as a range of clubs, museums, galleries, sport and – according to a few  – “by far the greatest (football) team the world has ever seen”. Gems may be hard to uncover, but for precisely this reason, they’re more rewarding when you do find them.

Here are a few choice facts about Luton you may or may not be familiar with and which you might want to bandy about if and when the need arises:

•  The aforementioned Luton Town was the first club in the South of England to turn fully professional in 1891;
•  Peripatetic Polish literary giant Joseph Conrad lived, for a while, just outside Luton (in a building which still stands and is visible from the southern side of the airport runway);
• Luton Hoo is hugely popular as a film location and has been used in films and programmes including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Call the Midwife, War Horse, Gosford Park and A Shot in the Dark (the last of which features cinema’s greatest Billiards scene ever);
• When it was completed in the early 1970s, The Mall was – very briefly – the largest covered shopping centre in Europe;

  

  The Mall in the 1970s looking like The Mall in 2015

• Music and musical acts associated with Luton include flute wielding folk rockers Jethro Tull, goth punk pioneers UK Decay and best-forgotten potato-like 80s soul pop sensation Paul Young;
• Luton has had more than one castle built within the town's limits in the Middle Ages, with the silver line on the pavement running into the main entrance of the Campus Centre showing where the moat of one of these castles ran;
• The M1 was officially “inaugurated” in Luton in 1953;
• Luton's town hall was built in the 1930s after the original structure was burned down in the Peace Day Riots of 1919.

So, for all those who run Luton down; no, we don’t have Bedford’s history, Milton Keynes; shopping, St Albans’ money or those cosy, quaint English Chiltern village greens and whatnot. That said, they’re all pretty close, and for the curious and those looking for opportunity and a chance to carve a niche, make a mark and all that good stuff, Luton really isn’t such a bad prospect.

We’re still beaming with PRide

So, I mentioned in my blog a few weeks ago that we were shortlisted for two CIPRide awards. Well I’m super excited to say we won both – Gold for best integrated campaign for our 2014 Clearing campaign, and Silver for best low budget campaign for our 2014 September open day campaign . The team were really pleased, but the dilemma now is where to put them in the office; our cabinet is getting pretty full, which is a nice problem to have.

We're winners!

The awards were held at Homerton College in Cambridge this year and it was a lovely venue; the buildings were great, and the room that held the awards ceremony was really grand. The food was also really nice, so all in all a good night. I attended the awards for the first time last year, and Sarah has attended previous CIPRide awards, but it was the first time for Sara and Charlotte.

Accepting our Gold Award

The event started with some welcome drinks, before we sat down for a hearty three course dinner; Goats cheese and golden beetroot salad to start, Honey roasted duck breast and veg for main, and finished off with chocolate fondant and caramel ice cream, which was delicious- I could eat it all again now!

After the dinner (and a couple of glasses of wine) it was time for a quiz and then the awards ceremony. As our categories and the finalists shortlisted were read out I could feel the tension from the team, it’s great to be shortlisted but after all of our hard work, and because we’re quite competitive, we really wanted to come away with something. And we did, which was fantastic!

Accepting our Silver Award

The event had great use of social media too – there was a photo booth which allowed you to upload images straight onto Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and they were also shown around the room on various screens throughout the night, which was great. I’ve shared some pictures of the team throughout this blog, but you can see all of the pictures here.

Hopefully, we can enter and win more awards as the year goes on. The 2015 September open day campaign generated some good numbers again this year, so watch this space…

As Sarah mentioned last week, we are now down to a team of three, so winning the awards was great for the team morale. And as we continue through this cycle, we will continue to be targeted in our approach to campaigns and hopefully continue to yield some great results for the University. Throughout the year, the marketing team try to enter numerous awards, by numerous awarding bodies, as it’s not only great for the team to have our hard work recognised, but it’s also good to showcase the work that we’re doing.

Speak soon,
K

Celebrating our wins in the photo booth!