The end of the financial year offers institutions the perfect opportunity to separate themselves from the pack through a focussed allocation of excess funds. As the 31 July approaches for UK universities, any budget surpluses need to be spent, and marketing departments would do well to think mindfully about using these additional funds to ensure better returns on investment at this pivotal time in the academic cycle. Finding out what activities your academic staff and current students are up to, and how these endeavours might fit into your recruitment strategy can boost your brand with target audiences at this important time of year.

Even before Covid-19 swept across the world,  Whilst the recruitment landscape (and indeed the fabric of the university itself) has changed drastically since Covid’s onset, the same challenges still haunt student recruitment: how can institutions make their university brand stand out from the pack amongst an increasingly competitive market? How can universities convince students to study and spend, thus ensuring a return on money invested? If anything, these questions have become more complicated as the educational space moves into ever-expanding digital realms, leaving prospective students wondering what they are getting for their money at a typical bricks-and-mortar institution. On the other hand, how can this digital space of increased connectivity be best utilised to expand the reach of your academics’ research, thus boosting the reputation of your institution? Through a strategic and targeted allocation of resources – focussed on publicising the activity of your academics and students to external audiences – you can ensure a maximum return on investment (and reputation) from your surplus.

The late spring and early summer months see campuses being emptied of students and academic staff as formal teaching ends. Meanwhile, assessment work and research periods ramp up. Though a visual survey might render this period as one of diminished activity, in reality, this is when both students and academic staff are doing important work. If savvy enough, marketing departments can harness this period of increased creativity to best pinpoint and sell their institution’s brand in tandem with summer recruitment activities to ensure student enrolments come autumn, and an increased institutional reputation in the long term.

Members of academic staff travel around the world to get stuck into research activities, deliver keynote addresses and sit on conference panels. Extra end-of-year funds could be funnelled to encourage and enable these activities, which can then be used to lift the research profile of the institution: a big draw for prospective students. Ensure teams know where their academics are researching, studying and visiting and capitalise upon this work to show what your staff (and your brand) do best. Use this knowledge centrally to create social media campaigns that go beyond the generic: these exciting career milestones for members of academic staff can boost your reach and engagement with other academics worldwide. Additionally, gather data to target advertisements to prospective students in areas where lectures are taking place: can they sit in on the panel in their home city or country? One more prospective student then gets a taste and feel for your institution.

Current students are busy writing publishable material and preparing for creative, groundbreaking degree shows. Instead of blindly signing over any surplus budget toward additional online advertising that doesn’t tell your audience anything new about the institution, explore how this money can help create engaging digital assets that really stand out. Tap into the work current students are doing to show prospective students what they will really undertake during their studies. Ask your students if you can not only promote their work but the university itself through specialised social media posts using these assets. Gather these new resources for your socials and refreshed website features, if so. Again – look at what’s happening under the hood to best understand the innate talent within the institution, and use this as your brand’s selling point.

With a firm grip on current work being done by staff and students, marketing departments can use these events as tie-ins to push summer recruitment activity and publicise academic research. The strategic use of these assets to create recruitment and publicity campaigns for the institution will deliver maximum results through data-led insights, if the budget surplus is spent wisely.

Students and academics often research at the cutting-edge of current events, with local and global issues in mind. Use surplus spend to profile potential students to gain a real understanding of the issues, media and mediums that most resonate with their values; tailor your assets and messages accordingly. If data shows that publicising via social media is most impactful, use your new material for campaigns that engage. Equally, put money behind finding out which audiences are best targeted by your academic staff and their research output, keeping in mind that the themes of conferences and keynotes often dictate the direction of this research. Understand how current events – from climate change, to sustainability, refugee movement and more – form the research being produced within your institution and put money behind understanding the audiences who will best engage with this work.

Any budget surplus, whether large or small, will be efficiently spent gathering data-driven insights that lend a better understanding of the cultural and generational contexts that resonate with your audience. With this information in hand, pair the creative work of your people with a strategy for maximum return through an approach that truly understands its audience and how they are best engaged.

The strategic insights discussed  – of your students’ creative work, of academic research and expertise, and of understanding the audiences most likely to engage with these assets – offer valuable ideas toward building your brand’s reputation. Spending surplus money at the end of the financial year on exploring these insights through harnessing and analysing impactful data capitalises upon a time of creative output for maximum gain. If you target and tailor to the right people with the right assets at the right time, you’re set to reap the rewards of your investment.

By showing audiences what your institution and its people are really about, opinions about the university can be shaped in real time, adapting and reacting to local and global issues alongside your student and staff output. With topics, themes, values and missions cemented in the minds of your stakeholders, a dynamic brand can emerge that is agile to the changing contexts in which education finds itself. Using surplus spend gives further opportunity for your brand to demonstrate its long-term, lasting purpose all while building a brand reputation that is unique in a rapidly changing world.

If you’re interested in exploring what your audiences and stakeholders think of your brand, and are wondering how best to maximise your budget and brand strategy, get in touch with us here at The Brand Education. We offer thought leadership and workshops and we’re always excited to hear from you.