Milton Keynes is 50 and we are celebrating

The University of Bedfordshire as a name covers the institutions two largest campuses, based in Bedford and Luton. Beyond Bedfordshire though, are two further campuses in neighbouring Bucks. Aylesbury, dedicated to nursing and Milton Keynes, currently known as University Campus Milton Keynes (UCMK), and this week the ‘new city’ celebrates its 50th birthday, I know what you are thinking, it’s some diva of a place with an inflated self sense of importance that has a birthday, right?

Through partnerships the University of Bedfordshire has had a presence in Milton Keynes (MK) since 2008, and in 2012 opened its very own campus. Although slightly modest in scale, the campus is pioneering higher education in the city where others have failed. Footnote – as a resident of MK I shall be as all Milton Keyners do, referring to the town as a city, despite it never being granted such status.

I quite enjoy my days working from the MK campus, not least because it is just a five minute drive from my house in the east of the city. Taking up residency there in 2008, it has become my home for nearly nine years, and like they say about marmite, I genuinely think you love it or hate it. I hated it. Back in 2008 moving from the hustle and bustle grit of the West Midlands, I came to MK thinking what the hell is there to do?

I had previously been living in Coventry, home of The Specials, its famous Cathedral and CCFC, MK had a football team they stole from Wimbledon and what else? Funny you ask, you did, I know you are wondering. Home of the code breakers at Bletchley Park, Red Bull Racing, PJ Harvey recorded her 2000 album Stories from the Sea in Linford Manor, Greg Rutherford is often in Nandos at the Hub, the likes of David Bowie, Queen and more recently Foo Fighters graced the stage at the National Bowl, the only place to produce WD40, we have the MK Dons, and the list goes on. So it didn’t take long for me to change that hate it, to love it.

From my journey across the eastside to Central MK where UCMK is situated, it isn’t hard not to fall in love with the place for its sheer landscape alone, MK is 40% green space by the way. Driving across the picturesque Willen Lakes, built to balance out excess water from the river Ouzel and prevent the city from flooding, and heading past the iconic Peace Pagoda, a symbol of the progressive 1960’s era the city was planned in. Then along a grid road, the H5 Portway to be precise, which gets me to my destination without too much of the standard city centre jams most commuters experience.

I don’t have to drive around the city though, on a lovely summers day a cycle along five of the 160 miles of redways will get me where I need to be, Santander bikes are also available to hire with MK being the only city outside of London to proactively encourage residents and visitors alike to commute in this way.

It isn’t just the surroundings as to why I love MK though. No it is the lively under current of culture, live music, festivals, arts and community at is happening everyday, and albeit you sometimes have to seek it out, I can assure you it is there for everyone to enjoy. It is also the economy that makes MK so desirable, one of the fastest growing in the UK and contributes more than nine billion a year to the British economy and the recreational activities, such as the SnoZone, where if you like me, can take out three defenseless amateur snowboarders, while pretending to be as useless as a celebrity on Channels 4’s The Jump.

50 years ago MK was a bit of a punt, it is unique with no town planned like it again, and for those who work, live and study here, it offers a way of life we can all take advantage of. So back to what you are thinking, yes, MK does deserve to have an inflated self sense of importance. Happy birthday Milton Keynes, from all of us at the University of Bedfordshire, here is our gift to you.

Insights from the press officer who couldn't stay away

I should probably start by introducing myself. I’m Caroline Jacobi, the Communications Officer here at the University.

I’ve been in the role for around 6 months but this isn’t my first time working at the University. I first joined in 2011 as Communications Administrator. I was a rookie, a journalism graduate who had struggled for a couple of years to find a ‘proper’ job after graduating – I don’t think I was alone in that struggle. Finding a job, especially a job you love, can be tricky.

One of my favourite shots of the Campus Centre

After a stint in the Communications Team, I moved onto pastures new, a couple of them actually, gaining more skills and knowledge with every new role I took on. But my heart stayed with Bedfordshire, so when I got the chance to return, I couldn’t’ say no. So here I am!

So what are the main changes I’ve noticed since returning? Well, the number of people in the team is probably the biggest one. In 2011 there were 5 of us, now there’s only 3. So as you can imagine, it’s never quiet, but we secretly like it that way. I mean, who wants to sit around all day with nothing to do?

Luton itself has also had a bit of a face lift. Being a local girl, it’s great to see that people are really working hard to make Luton better. The amount of investment in the town is also very exciting and it will be interesting to see how these plans become a reality.

Lovely photo of Luton in the sunshine

The media in Luton has changed somewhat too. BBC Three Counties Radio has moved out of their headquarters on Regent Street to new premises in Dunstable, and we’ve sadly lost one of our newspapers, the Luton on Sunday. But there’s plenty going on to keep the Luton News busy!

While there have been changes over the past couple of years, a few things have stayed the same. The MARC department is still full of talented and dedicated people working hard to recruit students, help students apply for courses and marketing what the University does.

The University is still full of teaching staff passionate about their work. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a couple of them but as time goes by, I want to discover even more and really shine a light on the great work that goes on here.

Graduations are my favourite events to cover

And of course, there’s still students. Lots and lots of students! I’ve come across some great stories already about our students doing all sorts of interesting and exciting things. If you want to keep updated with all our news, visit our news page.

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.

Wrapping up for winter

It's a wrap

This time of year tends to be a time of reflection – we’re looking back, evaluating the cycle with the help of UCAS end of year data, which is due this week, and the National Clearing Survey (NCS), which has just been released. We’ve been listening to commentators and thinking about lessons learned.

The consensus is that the undergraduate market is changing and not just because of the increased competition amongst HEIs. Student behaviours are changing too.

Commentators tell us that 49% of our recruitment will be from direct applicants through Feb- Aug and that more students will enter through clearing in 2017-18 than ever before. The NCS tells us that 67% of clearing students hadn’t visited the HEI they chose before they went there, but that 77% had visited the website and, apparently, attendance at open days is falling across the sector.

What’s our lesson? That we can’t rely on past behaviours or be complacent about the recruitment cycle or confirmation and clearing?! This is evidenced in sector wide undergraduate applications for 2017 entry, which are currently 8.6% down and the likelihood that HEIs will experience the submission of 20% of applications just before the January 15th deadline.

It's a rap

We know that we’re operating in a shrinking market with fewer 16-18 year olds in the UK; a situation that is not predicted to improve until 2020. We also know that there are more alternatives to university on offer, such as apprenticeships. A buyers’ market clearly now exists for UG enabling the prospective student to wait until clearing before applying.

So how do we identify and engage our potential students? It’s challenging - we have to engage early, interact and make loyal, so that at the point of decision, the University of Bedfordshire is front of mind and a positive choice. Students need to have heard of us to consider us in clearing; the NCS states that 85% are aware of the institution they enrol at prior to results day.

Top motivations for students are still subject 1st, career 2nd and institution ranking 3rd, but students also want to see and experience student life. They want to know about the community that they could become part of, so the opportunities we have to engage with them have to create emotion and connection.

So in 2017 watch out for more storytelling from students, virtual open days, web chats with academics, web tools to ease decision making, interactive video to select the content that is relevant to the student (mature, international etc.), digital champions and social media across the University, user generated content, more use of alumni, social media engagement not broadcast, softer calls to action that lead and nurture relationships and communications that connect with segmented audiences; parents, mature students, teachers.

Oh to be like the film industry and have a party at the end of every project, but working in marketing we can never really say ‘It’s a wrap’ because relationships are on-going, they evolve, take new forms and provide us with new communication challenges.

It's a rapper

Our shop window needs refitting, it has to look awesome and here is why

For a while now the university website has needed a refresh from its current tired design. As the storefront to what the university has to offer, we’ve questioned whether the current site is reflective of the vibrant, modern culture rooted in Bedfordshire. Awesomeness however is hard to achieve, so let’s talk about some of the challenges we face and how we plan to overcome them.

Is less more? 
Choosing what to display in your window is tricky, I’m assuming it is a little like the poor merchandiser working for John Lewis at Christmas. Faced with hundreds of great products, but what to display, where and how? We are taking the approach of showcasing our key messages, the real need to know and the real conversion points for our users.

Deciding on key messages
Internally we talk about showcasing ‘key messages’, but for us the challenge is how do we get these across to the user in an implicit way? News highlights many of our values and harnesses subject matter around topics such as student experience and investment, in a way that gets it out to the public domain. Dressed as news however this content can often be overlooked, so in order to elevate it we will be presenting the news stories in the same format as any other content on the homepage, but with functionality to make it dynamically pull in those exciting achievements we shout about in press releases.

Driving users away

#bedsmas +University of Bedfordshire 

Convert, convert, convert is the aim, yet so often you work so hard to get the user on to a page you then send them off in another direction. Twitter feeds and Facebook comments were cool, once. They still have their place, but where you want to convert a user, do you want to be the one to turn the user away from the site. My only exception to this is Instagram, sometimes a little visual gratification works wonders in bringing otherwise seemingly dull content alive, but still, this doesn’t have a place on a homepage, unless of course it is a #bedsmas pic of me in a Santa suit.

Don’t put key content below the fold.. 
… was the hard and fast rule, the F shape, the don’t scroll, but times are changing. Look it is nearly 2017 and anything could happen, I mean a celebrity President, a female Prime Minister and talk of a wall, oh wait, actually it could be 1989! Now I’m not going to suggest these rules of the web are dead, but with over 40% of our users accessing our website via mobile, scrolling is the only way to navigate, and the way we write content for a stacking format needs to reflect that.

Search 
The wider topic of search is best left for a blog in itself, but I will say this. In 2017 we will revolutionised the way user’s find what they need on our website, and their journey through the site will be more personal and tailored, like we’ve come along and measured their inside leg. I will keep you in suspense on that one.

Purpose
Staff always want everything on the website, from seeing HR's Tracey in her wedding pictures to student information on how to hand an assignment in. But is this content right for an external, recruitment focused website? From the homepage we will be directing staff to the university’s intranet and current students to their learning resources, getting them off a site that’s content is (or at least should be) irrelevant to them.

Final thoughts
There are so many influences to a web project. You have your core users to think about, the users you don’t want on the site but have a say regardless, and the stakeholders who hold the purse strings. There are so many people having their two pence worth and so many to please, it is a tough old job being the one to get it right. Like being in the shadow cabinet, the jobs really important, but no one really wants to be the one to do it. Although I believe Jeremy Corbyn does have some staff in place now, and like us with our website, has a plan, let’s hope we deliver and our challenges are overcome.

Check back to www.beds.ac.uk before Christmas to see our new shop window, and we’d love to know what you think.

Generation Z; or Generation Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz........?

Hello viewers. Cold enough?

For this week's blog, I thought it would be a good idea to tackle our 'traditional' 18 year old undergrad market and look at the sort of people they are. Millennials, right?

WRONG. That is so last year. We’ve got a new group to understand, reckon with and talk to; the rather less-than-imaginatively-named ‘Generation Z’.

Like me, you may be unimpressed with marketers’ attempts to boil essences, traits and foibles, let alone socio-political characteristics of individuals into one easy to identify, easy to deride and easy to pigeonhole group of people. Or "tribe" (shudder). But it happens, and it’s something some of us need to get to grips with.

Before we look at what makes Generation Z, it might be best to go back. After the post war Baby Boomers, we had Generation X (definitions vary, but tend to hover around those born between the mid 60s and early 80s. Plus Billy Idol).

Wow; your references are BANG UP TO DATE. What was Generation X?

Generation X anyone?

Sulky kids obsessed with MTV, grunge, hip hop and generally being slack. Unforgivable until you consider that many in this group were formed by the Winter of Discontent, reports and/or experience of Northern Ireland paramilitaries and Margaret Thatcher. No wonder they said “whatever” a good deal. They have, however, been responsible for start-ups (hurrah! start-ups!) and prodigiously wolfing down fast food, and thus giving ushering in the age of obesity.

Then we had Millennials, born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s.

Yes! I’ve heard of that. Them, sorry. Tell me more.

Well, they seem to be given a rough time by those categorising them. Millennials come across as narcissistic and entitled and constantly expecting to be told how they’re doing. Usually how well they're doing. They’re pleasure seekers more likely to immerse themselves in subjects that fascinate them over those which might help their careers. They all have mobiles, can’t remain in a job for more than two years before looking elsewhere and live with parents longer.

Pretty grubby, although in those last two cases, the rise of zero hour contracts and property prices puts Millennials on the back foot, no?

Yeh, ok. Enough about the past.

You’re right. Time is money, after all. Let’s look at this whole new generation. Generation Z.

First off, they’re described as being similar to the Millennials (smart guys, these marketers), although there are a few differences. They are variously described, mainly by Americans (i.e. Wiki), in the following ways:

"No one likes me. It's not fair".

• Many are kids of Millennials. Think about that; Millennials are parents, and therefore, in the minds of 18 year olds, aren’t so much groovy hepcats as lumbering dinosaurs. As an example; as far social media platforms go, Facebook is ‘so yesterday’;
• Tarzan and King Kong grew up in the jungle; Gen Zers grew up in the virtual jungle. Everything is available, free and instantly, so there's less need for intermediaries in sourcing and communicating info;
• Tarzan and Kong had their own problems, although Generation Z has grown up surrounded by global, national and in some case parental economic demise, random shootings and war. As a result, it’s thought they will strive to create and surround themselves with stability;
• On the plus side, all this swiping, gaming and information is churning out some pretty smart cookies; Generation Z kids are highly educated, likely to be more entrepreneurial and pragmatic about their money than their antecedents;
• On the even more plus side, Generation Z kids are considered as wanting to make a difference in the world. Just as well, given recent political lurches to the right. And not just a cosy old school tie kind of right, but an absolute snarling bonkers right;
• Some describe Generation Z as 'brand weary' and thus a challenge for marketers;
• And, happily, eight in ten American Gen Zs view a college degree as necessary in achieving career goals. (At least they did, before Trump). As anyone will tell you, the “Special Relationship” means that when America sneezes, in the UK. we all get covered. (At least we did, before Trump).

So, take this on whatever level you like. Even if you’re full of scorn, it’s good to know the thinking when people start bandying the term around. Let’s look forward, too, to the next generation and the attempts to name it, now we’ve sailed past the 26^th letter of the alphabet. Until then, here's something which isn't American, which provides some useful Singaporean context, and for a term with shifting definitions, asserts some disputed elements of Generation Z (e.g. the extremely short attention span and constant need to be surrounded by a multiple number of screens and gadgets).

Staff colleagues - go here for more on market research at the University of Bedfordshire.