One evening recently a thought popped into my head: What would happen if I gave creative control over a university brand and content project to AI-tools like ChatGPT and DALL·E 2?

Within an hour or two I had somehow become the unlikely founder of a new university:

The University of Anywhere.

When I talk about a brand strategy, what do you expect that to include?

For years now I’ve grappled with understanding where brand strategy ends and content strategy begins. As a content strategist I’ve had to retrofit more brand strategies and brand visions than I care to count. Brand strategies are rarely fit for purpose to meaningfully bridge the intention of the brand vision with the actual reality of the lived experience of that brand and everything in between.

As we reach the end of a creative and busy year, I’ve asked the team to think ahead to what their dream projects would look like for 2023.

Accessible documents are an important part of creating an inclusive approach to content. This post covers the basics of creating accessible documents, including some quick tips and resources for easy implementation.

Being accessible on social media just makes sense.

Accessible content is good for everyone. When you consider ways to ensure that people can adequately access and understand your content, everyone is more likely to access and understand it. It’s simple really. This post touches on some of the core elements of accessible practice on social media.

Heard a colleague complain that ‘students don’t read their emails?’ Email communications can easily be done badly, resulting in overwhelm and disengagement from students.

Yet research suggests that most students prefer to get information from their institution via email. Email is one of the most effective tools we have to communicate with students and drive action.

But to be effective, it has to be done strategically

Defining what makes a university distinct from others can be quite tricky. There’s not a lot of reputational space in which to play - so if we’re starting to think we’re the same as everyone else, how do we really make our university feel different?

Aren’t we just full of announcements recently!

We’re expanding our team once again with a fantastic new Head of Content and Experience Design; Andrew Twist. Andrew is a strong presence in HE, spending 8 years at the University of Sheffield and recently taking on an interim role as Head of Digital Communications at the University of Leeds.

As is our tradition, we asked Andrew a few questions. :)

A 10 minute training video to show you the power of using Airtable as a content and editorial calendar.

We are super stoked to announce that our new Content and experience designer, Cat Prill is starting with PJC today! Cat (She/They) comes to us from Lancaster University as a Campaigns Officer, as someone who has personally worked with Cat before… I for one, cannot wait to work together again!

We asked Cat to answer a few questions for you to get to know them a bit better. :)

I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve heard, “But our budget is too small for that!”

Resource can be a constant struggle in education. We’re so committed to delivering the best experience for our students that sometimes our efforts and finances are focused elsewhere. Yet for those students, from recruitment to graduation and beyond, content design and strategy are fundamental assets that need to work. And when you’re working with a limited budget, it’s easy to become frustrated.

But a small budget doesn’t have to mean mediocre work.

I spoke with Pickle Jar Communications CEO & Leader Tracy Playle about her experiences - and asked for her advice on delivering quality while considering a small budget.

It’s official: Results Day is over!

Universities across the UK have put in hours of hard work to help students through what can be an incredibly difficult and important time of their lives.

We wanted to celebrate some of the best content from across the sector - and why it works so well.

Last week, thousands of students found out which universities they were heading to - and the majority of the UK education sector has been focused on helping some of them find places through Clearing. Now, they’re moving on to the next big milestone: arriving at university.

At its heart though, your content needs to see this as an extension of the application process. Your students’ experience doesn’t start now. It began months ago.

Every education marketer that I have ever worked with truly wants to be able to create impactful campaigns. And yet few of those campaigns really ever rock the world. So, what is the disconnect that has it be this way? And how can we bridge it so that we can really pioneer cutting-edge marketing approaches in the education sector?

‘What influenced your decision to study at your chosen university?’

Ask a bunch of students and you’ll hear them recount personal stories about why they chose to study at their university: it was the interesting course content, the reputation of the university, or the good feeling they got at the Open Day.

University marketing teams often conduct focus groups and surveys as we seek to understand what drives students’ decision making. We use these insights to inform the content and campaigns we create. So far, so normal.

But research suggests these decision-making stories may be just that, stories. Our judgments can be influenced by a messy set of factors beyond our conscious awareness.

In my experience of working in higher education, communication between departments and central teams is always an issue. It’s certainly not the case for all institutions, and if your relationship with departments is fantastic, keep it up! You might start to think, “Oh but they aren’t speaking to me, they’re making it hard”. I’m going to break your bubble here and say it’s very, very rare to be fully one-sided. Are you really making an effort? Probably not. 

“We want to be seen as bold and pioneering, but we want to follow other people already doing it and be extra cautious about what we do.”

It’s a common occurrence that we see with clients over the years, the desire to be bold but not actually behaving in line with their brand strategy and organisational vision. This blog talks about our new BCE model which will help your team overcome these problems, and helps to create the best experience for your audience.

It’s 2022 and the summer graduation ceremony is back without government COVID restrictions. For higher education teams, this might be the biggest year you’ve had yet if you’re holding postponed pandemic ceremonies. Or you might be thinking about how to make this year bigger and better than anything you’ve done before.

So here’s the A to Z of creating content at graduations to show your newest alumni how amazing you know they are.

Clearing is one of the busiest times of year for (almost) any UK university - and it can seem overwhelming.

So we’re here to help. Take a look at our top five tips to make the most of Clearing 2022.