For anyone who wasn’t at our Spring 2019 Postgraduate Marketing Conference in London, I've put together a short overview covering the breadth of topics from our fantastic speakers. Hope to see you at the next one in London on 12 May 2020.
Clare and Emily talked us through this award-winning campaign for the Department of Education that strove to elevate the status of teaching, and harnessed the power of national strategy at a local level. They delved into the value of pre-campaign research to truly understand what messaging is required to reach the right audience, the communication channels used and why, as well as the impact so far.
Emma covered how the breadth of starting points and diversity of provision makes the decision-making process challenging for prospective PG students, which is exactly why the Office for Students is developing a strategy for Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG). The OfS intends to work with institutions to learn from best practice, plug information gaps and make current information provision clearer – watch this space.
Leeds Beckett sought to double the number of PhD students within a five-year period, with no additional budget. Charlotte explained how she is well on her way to achieving that target with a 20% increase on PhD student enrolment so far – through innovative internal and external PR campaigns, and a real focus on user needs and experience.
Dave and Emily reasoned that HE is the perfect match for podcasting; suggesting institutions use it to showcase specific expertise, take a deep dive into a particular subject, show off their campus atmosphere, or tap into careers and alumni experiences. Whilst that makes it sound simple, they also cautioned against wading in without a plan, or an exit strategy, and to definitely not expect podcasting to make your institution famous overnight!
Scholarships are a familiar recruitment strategy, but one with wasted potential; institutions can easily find themselves running the same old schemes with limited return on an often-substantial investment. Tom talked through how he revamped the scholarship offer at Northumbria and got creative with its promotion. The result was a 10% increase in conversions equating to an additional £1.2 million income for the university.
Miranda put everyone in the room on the spot with a quick fire (thankfully multiple-choice) quiz which gave great insight into the international postgraduate student cohort in the UK. This provided a refreshing break in the conference format, whilst encouraging attendees to reflect on their assumptions about international student recruitment and audiences.
Alex defined Gen Z as savvy, hyper-informed consumers seeking immersive digital experiences, personalisation, and interactions that matter. His presentation explained just how important it is to build trust with this prospective audience through using a multi-layered approach to communications strategy to get the ‘stamp of approval’ from the next generation of postgraduates.