How small university marketing communications teams can make a big impact

The higher education sector has experienced significant challenges that have influenced resourcing and, in many cases, left teams uncertain over the past few years. So, how can we maintain the high standards we set ourselves with limited budget and resources?

While the answer isn’t a secret, achieving it is far from easy. London Metropolitan University’s marketing communications team has a fraction of the headcount usually required to promote brand awareness, generate quality leads and convert them into student applications. However, by leaning into the principles of impact and efficiency, we have strived to make smarter decisions and prioritise campaigns and initiatives that speak to the university’s strategic plan.

The team’s work raises awareness of the university’s social mission, research and impact, supports student and staff well-being and success, drives growth and diversification through student recruitment and supports the institution’s financial stability. 

The blueprints of success are simple: all campaigns and activities must be realistic and focus on what works, leaving behind what doesn’t. Testing and measurement are key to generating high-quality campaigns and positive outcomes.

Here are some tips for generating meaningful campaigns and speaking the right language for your audiences.

Benchmark successful brand campaigns

It sounds simple, but focusing on what works and leading with your best foot forward should be central to a marketing communications team’s strategy. Our brand identity is all about authenticity. From this concept, The Real London campaign was born.

Our team was tired of seeing inauthentic, manufactured corporate campaigns elsewhere and didn’t feel this approach aligned with our university’s values. We understood that our audience comprises real people, and a large percentage of incoming students don’t fit the usual 18-24 demographic. That means there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to reaching prospective students at our institution.

Designing a campaign that puts people into context, tells their story and highlights the lifestyle and benefits a degree programme at the university can offer has meant that people can better resonate with our mission of enabling social mobility and an exciting future through the power of education. 

If a campaign generates impressive results, benchmark it. Revisit annually and ensure a drumbeat of activity throughout the year that audiences can recognise and begin to associate with your brand. Brand awareness is always a tricky thing to quantify but there are ways of measuring the success of brand activity that can provide valuable insight, such as internal and external surveys, tracking share of voice online, sentiment analysis and monitoring social media comments. These metrics give a good indication of how your brand is perceived and what should be adapted.

Determine key storylines that align with brand identity

Marketing and communications practices are about telling stories that resonate with audiences and align with a brand’s identity. Our university values social mobility, equality, diversity and removing socio-economic barriers to learning. Employees share the belief that everyone deserves a chance to invest in the transformative power of education, irrespective of their circumstances.

With that in mind, selecting authentic themes and topics to “own” across marketing and comms channels is the most effective way to build trust with your audiences. This can involve pitching stories proactively to journalists to control your narrative, as well as other specific marketing tactics such as newsletter outreach and email campaigns using owned channels, such as social media and blogs. When operating in mostly low- or no-cost environments, focusing on achieving brand growth while driving cost efficiencies takes priority.

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Data analysis to guide decision-making

Reporting and measurement are essential principles that must guide your strategy. Relying on outdated processes or doing things “because that’s how we’ve always done it” is ineffective in the current sector landscape. A good way of ensuring that resources are directed efficiently is to track, measure and report back on results. Reflecting on what performs well and what doesn’t seems like a time-intensive task, but it’s a high-value activity. 

Recruiting your alumni

Who could know better what works for reaching students and prospective students than recently graduated alumni? Engaging with them is something our team has understood to be an integral part of its recruitment strategy.

Independent of university-wide employability initiatives, we have cemented our commitment to graduate outcomes by introducing three entry-level roles and appointing exceptional graduates into all of them. We now have graduates in coordinator, officer and managerial positions, with 38 per cent of the team being alumni, up from 23 per cent a year ago. Aaron Patel, one of The Real London campaign’s featured interviewees, is now a member of the team. His image has been used across all of our institution’s marketing campaigns and collateral, earning him celebrity status here at the university. This coincides with his huge enthusiasm for learning – he has made a big impact.

Graduates are the closest to our campaigns and they are often the source of seriously creative ideas and fresh perspectives. To stay relevant, hire the next generation. 

Looking ahead

We rarely have control of the sector landscape, but it’s time to take the power back into our own hands and work well with what we’ve got. Our institution recognises the importance of ensuring staff feel valued and happy because happy people produce powerful work. Marketing and communications strategies must be authentic and truthful to achieve the best results. 

It’s important to celebrate successes and focus on the positives without disregarding areas for improvement. Universities would do well to stay true to their values and use marketing communications as the mouthpiece for celebrating the little things.

Ellie Campbell is a communications manager and Kate Stanbury is the head of marketing at London Metropolitan University. 

London Metropolitan University is shortlisted for Outstanding Marketing/Communications Team of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards 2024 #THEAwards. A full list of shortlisted candidates can be found here.

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