{"id":446,"date":"2020-03-31T11:36:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T10:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/?p=446"},"modified":"2020-03-31T12:09:25","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T11:09:25","slug":"an-update-on-student-recruitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/2020\/03\/31\/an-update-on-student-recruitment\/","title":{"rendered":"An update on student recruitment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before coronavirus hit, we were making good inroads into the University\u2019s approach to marketing, and the initial signs for undergraduate Home recruitment were looking good, including better performance than competitors and an increase in firm acceptances. Plans and campaigns were in place; we were on a relatively good trajectory.<\/p>\n

We have now obviously had to review things, change our thinking and put in place a wide range of mitigating actions. It\u2019s not particularly straightforward – nor easy – but we are making good progress. Below is a summary of where we are, under our two main aims: ensuring the \u2018arrival\u2019 of 2020 students and recruiting to 2021.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We are moving from a \u2018push\u2019 strategy to a \u2018pull\u2019 strategy<\/strong>. This will see us signposting to information so that individuals can personalise their own journey, deciding (with clear direction) how, when and how much they want to engage. This means we are sensate to what\u2019s going on in their lives, which will be different for all.<\/li>\n
  2. We are flipping from a \u2018Think Global, Act Local\u2019 approach to a \u2018Think Local, Act Global\u2019 strategy<\/strong>. This will bring consistency to marketing activity and ensure that all applicants have a positive and similar experience.<\/li>\n
  3. Applicant Day Mitigation<\/strong> \u2013 a range of activities are in place to mitigate the cancellation of applicant days, including virtual events, webinars, live Instagram and email comms. We are also creating a suite of videos that showcase the University, which will also be used for future recruitment.<\/li>\n
  4. Conversion Comms<\/strong> \u2013 we paused conversion comms planned up to 4 May as they formed part of the old \u2018push\u2019 strategy, plus this was superseded with emails providing reassurance and information around the exam situation. We will shortly resume, but the tone and content will be more appropriate to what\u2019s taking place, with more directing to where to find content \u2013 again focusing on the \u2018pull\u2019 rather than the \u2018push\u2019.<\/li>\n
  5. Late Applicants Campaign<\/strong> \u2013 this was paused given it was unlikely that applying to university was going to be anyone\u2019s top priority over the past fortnight. However, we will be restarting soon, supported by a new data capture form across the course pages and other appropriate areas of the site.<\/li>\n
  6. Clearing <\/strong>\u2013 with no traditional Clearing we are having to reassess our approach. Our current thinking is a \u2018front of mind\u2019 campaign during June and July with a focus on both 2020 and 2021 recruitment \u2013 however, this may change as we find out more about how predicted grades will be given.<\/li>\n
  7. Open Days<\/strong> \u2013 we are working on the assumption that there will not be a July Open Day so have paused the campaign that was about to go live. Instead, we are looking moving to a virtual experience on a set day. While it\u2019s early days for this, we\u2019re on track to have a virtual open day experience delivered in June using filming finished just before the lockdown.<\/li>\n
  8. Out of Home <\/strong>\u2013 With everyone now inside, we’ve moved our \u2018out of home\u2019 campaign to support the open days to later in the year, free of charge<\/li>\n
  9. We are working on a revised approach to UG to PG <\/strong>for our current students. We are also revisiting the PGT external campaign including the creative direction and messaging.<\/li>\n
  10. We are plugged into a 500+ student panel<\/strong> that is helping shape our thinking and understanding of where our UG target audience is at. And we are thinking about some future scoping research to look at how this impacts on what tomorrow\u2019s students will want to study.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Alongside this, we had already moved to a \u2018digital-first\u2019 strategy which is now being ramped up further. This includes widening the appeal of an App we\u2019ve developed aimed at improving conversion (in the app store very soon.)<\/p>\n

    Our plans are by nature fluid, ensuring we can respond to changes and adapt quickly. I am supported by both a fantastic team and amazing colleagues across the University, without which none of this would be possible.<\/p>\n

    Simone Davies\u00a0|\u00a0Interim Director of Marketing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Before coronavirus hit, we were making good inroads into the University\u2019s approach to marketing, and the initial signs for undergraduate Home recruitment were looking good, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66536,"featured_media":393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[174403],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/executive-group\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}