Share these talks and lectures with your colleagues
Invite colleaguesCase study
Delivering an engaging college marketing strategy in a highly competitive sector
Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing,
1
(3),
287-293
(2016)
Abstract
The college has been on a rollercoaster journey, and marketing has very much been a part of the transformation. The key to creating an effective marketing strategy is to be creative in your approach — even if you do not have the best news to shout about, what positive nuggets can you translate into a campaign? City of Wolverhampton College’s marketing strategy worked because of the top-down support from senior management and the highly motivated and dedicated marketing team that implemented it and delivered the results. Translate the strategy into do-able action plans with objectives so that everyone involved is accountable, and continually evaluate what is happening so that plans can be adapted to ensure objectives are achieved. A strategy should be the document that you make the ‘to do’ lists from, not, as is so often the case, a document that gets written and then stored away until it needs updating.
Keywords: cultural change; branding; FE college; marketing; Ofsted
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Emma Evans is head of marketing at City of Wolverhampton College. She is a creative problem solver and strategic thinker with over 14 years of experience in the further education (FE) sector. Over the course of her career, Emma has seen the FE landscape change and she has witnessed how an organisation’s inability and resistance to change impacts its effectiveness to deliver results, but, likewise, how change management and an understanding of marketing at the top level can bring about amazing results. Emma has created successful multichannel recruitment campaigns, managed skills events that attract hundreds of young people, and got a foot in the door of schools never engaged with previously, but ultimately she delivers results that lead to increased applications. Her experience spans the complete marketing mix, but, crucially, Emma has experience of using creativity to rebuild relationships with stakeholders to bring about a change in perception to secure the college as the first choice, not last resort. Emma and her team recently scooped four awards at the College Marketing Network FE First Awards, including Gold for Team of the Year, and have also been awarded Team of the Year 2016 at the college’s annual awards celebration.
