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Marketing and recruitment: promoting your courses

The Home Marketing and Recruitment team in External Relations works with Schools to increase recruitment to their programmes. By planning and managing the recruitment process throughout the year, the Home Marketing team is able to support each School with meeting recruitment targets.

Birkbeck’s media agency

  • All Birkbeck advertising media is purchased via the College’s media agency – SMRS. The agency is appointed via a formal tender process and is contracted to manage the purchase and placement of all Birkbeck advertising. This includes all press and online advertising (including Google ‘pay-per-click’ advertising).

School/department recruitment planning meetings

  • The Home Marketing team meets Schools to develop an effective student recruitment and conversion plan, which supports the delivery of meeting School recruitment targets. If you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss your recruitment needs, please contact the Schools marketing team.

Advertising

  • Advertising is a good way of raising awareness about a course or school to a particular target market. However, it is a relatively expensive method of promotion and works most effectively when performed in conjunction with other methods of promotion and as part of a well-planned and well-executed campaign.
    • The Home Marketing team will liaise with Birkbeck's media agency who will research appropriate media options and provide a draft media plan based on the budget set by the School
    • The media plan will be reviewed with the School, and is subject to approval by the School prior to implementation
    • Copy for adverts will then be agreed between the School and the Home Marketing team. The template used and the content of the advert will depend upon what level of study is being advertised. The Home Marketing team can advise on copywriting to maximise the effectiveness of your advertising.

Market research

  • Corporate marketing is informed by extensive research into Birkbeck’s student body and the higher education context in London. The data gathered enables us to segment our target markets and develop integrated, but more targeted campaigns, using messages and media channels that are appropriate for Birkbeck’s different audiences.
  • To find out more about market research, please contact the Market research officer.

Newsletters

  • Newsletters: College-level newsletters, segmented by level of study, are sent to all applicants and enquirers by External Relations in June of each year using targeted messaging to encourage conversion. These newsletters provide a wide overview of key events and news at Birkbeck that is tailored for each distribution group.
  • School/Department e-newsletters: School/Department e-newsletters can be used to go into more detail to maintain interest, encourage engagement and participation in School events. E-newsletter can include information such as:
    • school-related news
    • student case studies
    • research highlights
    • information about School Open Days/Evenings
    • student achievements
    • key events
  • When requesting a School/Department e-newsletter, it is important to consider that distribution lists can take up to two weeks to source from both the BSIS and Alumni teams, so it is best to allow as much notice as possible if wanting to produce one.
  • Contact the Home marketing team for more advice and information.

Pay-per-click advertising

  • If you've ever entered a search term into Google and got a list of results, then you are probably already familiar with pay-per-click advertising.
  • Also known as 'sponsored links', on Google results pages, pay-per-click advertising is returned as a list of links at the top and bottom of the search results, and it is one of the ways Google and other search engines on the Web get money from advertisers. It is a way of ensuring your ad appears when users enter search terms that you have entered into your campaign.
  • Pay-per-click advertising is an extremely cost-effective and targeted method of getting potential students to see your advert on the Web. And, with more than 70% of Birkbeck students starting their research on courses using the Web, it's becoming increasingly common for Birkbeck schools to employ this technique in their arsenal of marketing approaches.
  • Contact the Home marketing team for more advice and information.