Some conferences are great for inspiration; to go away with ideas still resonating and crystallizing. Others are loftier still, where speakers point to visions of the future and ruminate on where we are headed and why. We love these conferences, and the buzz and insight they generate.
Adworld, however, is one we never miss. Adworld is about being able to take great ideas and put them into practice the very same day, and that's why we go. Here are the practical things we learned at Adworld's October 2021 conference, and why we love them.
The talk started by differentiating between obscurity and gold. If your business is in obscurity (nobody really knows you yet), then you have to act differently from businesses who are gold (household names that everyone recognizes).
When you are in the obscurity side of your business, you need to focus firstly on Sales. That means:
When you are on the gold side of your business, you are more free to focus on the brand:
Have you ever seen Apple saying “Click now before this amazing offer disappears"? Nope, but you have certainly seen them focus on building their tribe through a sense of belonging, almost as if it was a religion.
They didn't call it the meat hook. We were just trying to get your attention, and sorry it was so gross. But there is a hook, and there is meat. Let us explain.
The Hook, as you'll have guessed, is there to get attention. Let's use the Explainer Testimonial Ad (ETA) as an example, as this is something we use a lot in education. With this ad type, you are using testimonials, to explain the benefits of your programs.
Right off the bat, the first couple of sentences should be direct pitches that capture the attention of a prospective student who might want to study with you. This hook really explains what your course or institution offers that makes it different from the rest. Short, sweet, specific.
Then comes the meat (or plant-based alternative). Here is where your testimonials come in, but they should be authentic, and anything obviously scripted or manicured will just ring false. Gen Z and Alpha can see that right away.
That said, the testimonial should ideally mention your institution name/course several times, so that the positive associations between the experience and the place are tight. The review should also address common doubts, and shying away from these will also cause prospective students to just disengage. What are you trying to hide? The best thing about making sure these testimonials are as authentic as possible is that prospective students will really empathise with the speaker, and connection is way more valuable than "engagement".
By the time you reach the Call To Action, the work is already done. Using stilted language, explicitly covering prepared talking points rather than highlighting experiences, not addressing doubts, hiring actors for testimonials (yes, people actually still do that) are all yesterdays' news. Make it true, raw, and authentic.
Five seconds is really what we need to aim at, in a world where screenagers are already oversaturated with content, and our brains have started to filter out anything that is obviously an advert (Do people still use pop-ups? Why?!).
No matter your product, service or niche, we are all in the attention business, and it's not easy. The talk we attended was really focused on this, laying out a 3-step formula to get attention, then hold onto it. It goes like this:
You might be looking at this and thinking that (1) is a bit obvious and a bit thin. Well, there's more. By being intentional about the language we use, we can really make an impact, and this is not about "clickbait", but about captivating attention with something real and substantial on the other side of the click.
We can use words or phrases here, depending on what we want to convey. For novelty, we can use words like only, revolutionary, never seen before or game changing. Empathy could be conveyed with words like, or or we can help.
For FOMO try join over 10000 people. Who else wants to... or everyone is talking about. Or, that strong connector of challenging or confirming people's beliefs, you could use you already know, It’s proven that, fact or most people know. By always thinking about the emotion or feeling we want to connect with, we can be much more conscious in segmenting our choice of words and phrases. Try it!
In all the talks we went to, we were really encouraged to hear so much more talk of integrity, truth and authenticity running through the presentations and discussions at the edges. Marketing at its heart is pure creativity, communication and innovation, but it should always be purposeful and positive too and a bit of playfulness couldn't hurt.
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Most of you in K-12 will have heard of Learnlife. Founded in 2017, they have already made waves in the world of education, in their mission to totally transform the way we support young people to find their purpose, or ikigai, in life. In just a few short years, they have grown rapidly, expanding through partnerships internationally, and ensuring that there are personalised and flexible opportunities to learn anywhere at any time through the Barcelona Nature Hub, Urban Hub, one of their global partner hubs or even learn from home.
Here, learners do not "belong" to one space or another, but can move between and among them, so that the space and context are fluid, as determined by the passions and personal objectives of each learner.
We wanted to see examples of the physical space, where such a revolutionary approach had taken root, and spread outwards through community, alliance and partnership. So we headed firstly for where it all began, the first Urban Hub in Barcelona.
Learnlife Urban Hubs are a living, breathing part of the urban landscape around them. The Barcelona hub is in Enric Granados; a lovely street in Barcelona and one of very few pedestrianised options in this part of town. Surrounded by cafés and restaurants, and with a long smooth slight downhill slope for all the many skateboards, cycles and scooters that carry the learners and learning guides to the front door.
The reception is always manned, and it instantly feels very secure as we are allowed to enter, and welcomed with a big smile. On the left as we come in are the "chiringuitos" or beach huts; small separated spaces where 1 to 4 people can sit comfortably and chat, work on a project, or just get some quiet escape.
There is a lot of colour in Learnlife; always something to draw the eye. There is learning in every space, and a feeling of fluidity, as the purpose of each room is unknown until the learners themselves decide. Words and mantras, touches of fun and creativity, every single thing is there for a purpose, but it feels open and uncontrived at the same time.
We don't always feel like sitting, standing, moving, staying static. Sometimes we want small, quiet spaces to retreat into, and at other times we want to be with friends, chatting, creating, mediating and discovering. And sometimes we just want to nap.
Learnlife has taken the full spectrum of learning expression into its design, and made sure that learners never feel hemmed in by a lack of options. The neat rows of chairs or noisy circles in single rooms that dictate the place and pace of learning in traditional schools are a million miles away.
As we walk around, we see Learning Guides are dotted around the space, some tapping away at the laptop in a chiringuito, some meeting with colleagues in the open forum at centre, some working with learners in a studio, or a large airy room where the walls are whiteboards, some filled with yesterday's learning, and some blank with the promise of tomorrow.
The handwriting is varied; and it is clear that the whiteboard is not just for the learning guide. From the decor to the diagrams on walls, learners have been fully present in all of this. This is their space, after all. Learners are actively collaborating in one space, or quietly reflecting in another.
We see one young man lost in the sound of his guitar in the soundproof music studio, and are approached by a small group of learners who made a delicious dessert in the kitchen studio, and have calculated a reasonable selling price of 1 euro per portion to recoup costs. We fork out and fork in, and realise we got a bargain as the taste emerges.
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Having loved our time in the Urban Hub (though we didn't manage to take a nap), we were invited to see the site of the new Eco Hub Learnlife is building in Castelldefells, just a short-distance outside the city of Barcelona.
Learnlife has made learning in nature a foundational pillar of its approach, and so it was exciting to see the latest development in this philosophy. This new site is not far from one of Learnlife's Nature Hubs in Gava, where their young learners can be "immersed in their natural environment and learn from it." This Eco Hub in Castelldefells, however, is a more community-facing project.
On a stunning plot of land just yards from the sea, the construction of grade-A energy efficient eco buildings is unfolding quickly. As Sol, the Learnspace Architect, takes us around the site, workers arrive with tiles and sinks, planks and ducts, and Sol directs them to the right location without missing a step.
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Though the structures are the focus of attention right now, it is the outdoor space itself that is the key component. Sol explains that learners, and visitors will be able to garden, learn about permaculture, grow their own food, learn among nature and share it all with others in the community as partnership projects develop.
Whether Learnlife learners are here visiting from ay of the Urban Hubs, Nature Hubs or their own home learning environments, whether it's local schools dropping by or community groups swinging in to learn about sustainability or really anything else you can imagine, this is a place where learning grows.
The local community is excited. As we are there, people stop to ask when it will all be ready, and Sol is ready with a smile and words of welcome. Learnlife has always said that community is a learning environment just like any other, and this space makes good on that sentiment.
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Visiting Learnlife was really inspiring for us because they actually walk the talk. Everything they believe about a purposeful, personal learning paradigm (and we agree) runs through every aspect of their approach and their physical and virtual spaces. One thing we commented on as a team over and over again was how we wish we had been given the opportunity to learn like this.
We headed back to the city via the Learnlife Nature Hub in Gava, and saw the young learners picnicking in circles in the forest; happy, smiling, curious. Two young girls approached us to say hello and ask if we would like to join them, and we very nearly did.
But we had to go back to our own world, working to do what we can to ensure that movements and organizations like this can thrive and spread, so that everyone one day can learn like this. This is the reason geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy) works only with organizations which align with our own values and sense of purpose. As a marketing consultancy, we understand our responsibility in the types of institutions we amplify and elevate, and so we are proud to work alongside Learnlife.
Thank you Learnlife for a wonderful experience, and a reminder that things can change, if only we follow what we know to be right.
Campus orientation sessions where students were bombarded with information just were not working well. Similarly, attempting to build a sense of student community prior to enrolment and arrival, was something HE institutions struggled with. Join us in this #NEOchat with Declan Sweeney to learn how Campus Connect addressed the issue with the student experience firmly in mind, and how it has impacted retention, engagement and community building on and offline.
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Working remotely is in the geNEOus DNA, since day one. Many of you out there might find this challenging, and most have been forced to work remotely during the Covid-19 Pandemic. At geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy), we chose to be remote first, and that pushes us to truly cherish the moments when we get together.
Communication, efficient workflow processes, ideation and isolation can all factor in as challenging aspects of remote working; not to mention the time difference. However, at geNEOus, we work from the US, Spain, Colombia, Scotland, Italy and Uruguay, so there's always someone in a handy time zone for quick answers and an everlasting support, with healthy boundaries in place.
While we think we have got our systems pretty much down and running smoothly, there is one thing that we had to attend to. As geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy) grew in the last couple of years, we had new team members who had never actually met in person. Say what you will about remote working, but there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction now and again to really build a sense of community and shared purpose.
So, last week, the geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy) team met in Barcelona. Here's what happened.
Meeting some of our clients in person in Barcelona was such a joy. To get to know the people and personalities behind the name and the professionalism is just something vital for strong and enduring relationships. We have come to know some of the key people we work with very well through working remotely, so to finally meet in person was worth every bit of effort in making this trip happen.
We were able to visit the campuses, see some of the new developments our clients are working on, and meet some of their learners. There is something about connecting yourself with the physical space, that just cannot be done online. When we are building new paid media campaigns, or writing copy, to be able to visualize the learning spaces we represent and the people who populate them just helps enormously.
Internally as a team, we were also able to work all together for the first time in person, building on the strong relationships and communication styles that have been embedded in team geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy) since its inception. The team may well be growing each and every year, but the spirit and soul of what NEO is, remains consistent.
All of the stuff above is really enhanced by meeting in person, but living and eating together is a bonding experience you just don't get remotely. Beneath the team dynamics we had come to know by working online, there were sub dynamics we knew nothing about.
At the dinner table, it became clear that sharing food was the way we were going to eat, but that Mark, Sara and Ashley were ready with forks in hand when it arrived; determined to mark their territory. Sole would not even look at mains before heading to the desserts page, and Alejandra would jump straight to selecting a good wine to accompany the full culinary experience.
To have hours and hours to talk together reveals a lot. Sara (who is Polish), is more Colombian than Alejandra or Ashley (who are Colombian). Sole's take on life is consistently hilarious, and she is one of a kind. Ashley has a heart of gold, and Mark makes terrible jokes, then laughs at them himself. Alejandra, who started all of this, refers to the team as her "family" and she's right.
Eating and working together itself is team building, but sometimes we need to open things up a bit. Towards the end of the week we had a "real talk" session over breakfast where we discussed questions such as what made us passionate, and where we felt we could contribute. This lead in to deeper discussions of our own personal stories, our vulnerabilities, and the gratitude we had for each other. We did not have to build rafts on the river or drive 4x4 cars in the forest or whatever else comes to mind in these team building sessions. Simply sitting down and making space for each other was enough.
Team building sessions are not always helpful. Sometimes, in our experience, they can miss the mark and try too hard. With our team, it felt easy. Sara joined the team a mere two weeks ago, and both Mark and Ashley in the last year, but it felt light.
The load lightened, we then tried an escape room challenge, which genuinely revealed a lot about how we interact together. Sole and Ashley quickly revealed strengths in tasks related to numbers and systems, so Sara and Mark were able to step back and move other tasks forward, or to make suggestions on strategy, while Alejandra was facilitating the whole activity. No yelling was heard, and the collaborative experience was fully on point.
We are back home again, and even "home" can be a fluid concept for some of our team who move around from place to place, but the core is stronger now. With just a week to touch base and connect, make space to learn about each other, we feel stronger and ready to work remotely again.
We decided that the "real talk" session had to become a thing, and every two weeks we will meet online to hold that space open to listen and share. We also talked so much about the things we had all studied and learned, that we are implementing a bi-weekly lifelong learning session to share new insights with each other.
Wherever the road ahead leads, we know that the geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy) team is strong.
Working remotely is in the geNEOus DNA, since day one. Many of you out there might find this challenging, and most have been forced to work remotely during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
What does an education futurist have to say about the future of education? Not what you might expect. Join us on a broad-ranging exploration of the way a generalist connects the dots to sketch a roadmap for the next generation.
Why do we go to school, college or university? No, really, we are asking. What comes to mind? The idea of "education" is something we might just assume everyone is on the same page about at a fundamental level, but are we really clear on this?
If we start with elementary school, we might come up with things like the fact that we need to learn functional skills like literacy and numeracy, to learn to socialise with peers and basic life skills like time management.
At High School, we are preparing for the world of work, and refining what it is we want to do next, whether it's going into the workforce or studying some more. Many answers about the need for Further and Higher Education will likely focus on "getting ahead" or giving graduates that edge or specialist knowledge they need to land a job.
Already, you might be coming up with many more ideas about the purpose of education, but is the system designed to support the things you are thinking about? Is your institution even clear about it, and communicating this to its stakeholders? Do we talk about these big ideas often enough in education institutions?
We're not offering up answers here, just questions. In the next staff meeting, working group, strategy planner, training day etc., before digging into all the nuts and bolts of how your institution operates, why not make some space to air the five big questions? You may be surprised at where the discussion leads.
We're starting with the toughest one. Whether you are in marketing, administration, teaching or whatever other element of education, how often have you asked yourself this question? What is it we are actually trying to do?
In discussing this with colleagues, we guarantee that the breadth of answers might surprise you. We probably all agree around broad principles of functionalism; that is to say, that education should prepare learners for the things they need to be able to do as functioning, participatory members of society.
The trouble is, that it all depends on who is calling the shots. After the politicians, business leaders and policymakers decide what society needs, we sculpt education to ensure that learners can fulfill those functions. Functionalism prepared learners to participate in society in a way that we think is acceptable.
Learners get sorted into levels and classes, institutions and grades, stratified according to how well we think they can perform those functions.
Functionalism is often used as a way of creating "social cohesion"; teaching children to respect rules, toe the line, respect their country and its institutions. This can cross into homogenizing identities, and creating spaces where people feel like they need to act, speak or even look a certain way to "belong".
But let's step back from the complexity of that argument and make it simple. What is it we are trying to do here? Are we trying to help learners become the best versions of themselves, or the prime iteration of whom we think they should be? Are we trying to get them ready for the workforce, and if so, how? Are we teaching learners to obey and follow, or are we supporting them to question and grow?
At K-12 level, this will be an interesting one! Culturally, there is likely to be a lot of variation too, as we separate the role of educator and parent in some areas and combine it in others. Where do the lines end, and where do they blur?
We need to make sure learning environments are safe and can be accessed by all, but beyond that, what is our duty of care? Do we take on too much in education, as we assume responsibility for moral and social education, health and wellbeing, or is this something we can only create the right conditions for learning, and the rest really is the responsibility of the individual?
Where do our responsibilities begin, and where do they end?
Ask pretty much any teacher or educator to describe their role, and the idea of preparing learners for the future will likely figure in there somewhere. The question is, what is the future to you? What do you think it will actually be like, and what is this based on?
Are we in danger of preparing learners for a world we can't actually grasp? To what extent is our idea of the future based on our own past and present? Or are we instead trying to focus on helping them acquire the skills they might need to meet whatever happens to be around the next corner?
In this question, you might find that there are feelings of real uncertainty about the future among your colleagues, and so how do you actually support learners to flourish and be confident in a world that makes you feel that way?
Again, we encourage you to really reflect on this. The skills that have been useful to you in your own life may or may not have been developed in formal education, but we should really think about what they are and whether we actually help others develop them.
In an uncertain future, what do learners need? What about new technologies- they know how to use them (better than most of us Boomers, X's and Y'S) but are they resilient in filtering information, avoiding being manipulated and all the rest of it? What about climate change? Are we supporting learners to feel empowered to make change, or are we being poor examples ourselves? Are we actually in the ring with them?
And adaptability? The skills that support this, from critical thinking to creativity- are we all ready ourselves to support learners to develop them? Have we developed them, or do we need to do some exploring and growing of our own?
This will be a good one! It comes last for a reason. Only by having answered the first four can we really turn to this. You might focus on the campus or school, facilities and groups, governance and opportunities, or you might go broader yet.
Does this environment have four walls, or can learning happen anywhere? What role does "place" actually play in a great learning experience, and what might be better learned in the forest or the factory than at a desk or laptop?
And who is in there? What and who from the community can come into your learning environment, and how does this enrich the experience? How do learners feel about being there, and why might they be engaged?
What things do we need, and what are nice-to-have's? When and how can they access it, and how "controlled" is this?
Though we tried not to suggest answers, the framing of our questions are likely giving away the fact that we want to broaden out this discussion and be a part of it. Education is changing and we are changing. Change is pretty much the only thing that is constant in life, and so we have chosen to embrace it. We hope this discussion prompts, whether you reflect on them yourself and/or discuss them with colleagues, have opened up some new ideas, and given you a window into how other around you think.
We think the discussion should keep rolling. geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy) is an education marketing consultancy, but one which understands that by supporting institutions that align with our own values, we can help the good ones grow. We take that responsibility seriously.
Each week we will be here with our #geNEOuschats videos and podcasts, our articles and our ideas around the approach, marketing, values, purpose, innovations, ideas and future of education. We hope you will continue to join us, and we would love to hear your views or ideas, so do reach out and get in touch.
Today we are joined by Michael Iacovazzi-Pau, a specialist in Diversity and Inclusion Empowerment, and founder of Kalyana Yoga. We will be discussing the work he does in DEI, where the challenges are, where the impact can be made, and reflecting on what education might learn from his work and insights.
Does diversity figure in your 2022 strategy? We're not talking about diversification of focus on key markets, to make sure you're not overly reliant on recruiting students from China, for example. Nor are we talking about just setting stats for racial, sexual or gender diversity in recruitment., and then considering it a job done when the targets are hit.
We have written before about how diversity without inclusion is just superficial and achieves little of any note. The UN Sustainable Development Goals are clear- broad access to education means broad access to opportunity. In a fair and just society, education that simply reinforces existing privilege must be consigned to history.
This is not easy, and it doesn't only plague high-income countries. The issues at play are complex, and we could go in any number of directions, from anti-racism education, accepting a broader range of entry criteria, scholarships, community outreach programs and the rest.
We are going to take it as a given that we all understand why diversity and equity of access to education is essential in a just world. We are going to assume that it is obvious, that when some among us are excluded from opportunity through everything from historical injustice to present day bias, we lose the opportunity to belong to a world where everyone can contribute the best versions of themselves to the higher purposes of a more conscious and sustainable society.
For those of us in the world of education, thinking about how best to support this vision at an institutional level and to do our bit to make things better, here are a few ideas to get us started.
A prospective student is the first in their family to go to college. Their family lacks the generational wealth others have been able to accrue, and they live in a country in which further education is not free. Your institution awards her a scholarship, or a preferential loan which can be deferred for many years, and that is a good thing. But what about the experience ahead? You have opened the door, but what happens when she walks through and into the culture, content, curriculum and career outcomes?
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Academia for centuries has been run by old, white men. Generally with beards. That may not quite be the case today (there are fewer beards), but the lens through which academia views the world has not quite caught up. For BIPOC learners, for example, we must imagine sitting in a lecture of engineering, history or maths and seeing nothing of their own story in the telling, nor anyone who looks like them held up as the ideal.
In K-12 education, Wales has made the teaching of Black History mandatory in every school from 2022. Scotland has embedded LGBT issues, history and identity across its whole curriculum. Movements to showcase diversity in the world of STEAM have meant more young people might see a scientist or architect who looks and lives like they do. There are good things happening, but not enough.
You see, hitting those recruitment stats is not enough. When our learners arrive on day one, they must feel as though they belong. Armed with a curriculum that truly reflects the history, society and diversity of our world, those targets will have substance. Know that the content and approach of your programs means that no student is automatically disadvantaged by teaching practices or curricula, and you are on the right track.
The hidden curriculum is unwritten. This is not the learning outcomes and the course content. These are the values, assumptions, beliefs and biases that impact the learning experience and potentially shape the way our learners think and see the world.
This is no small thing. The traditionally liberal world of the university academic is ripe for denial. "I'm not racist!" we hear them say. "I have no biases" they affirm. Because as intelligent, educated people, bias is surely impossible right? Racism and misogyny, homophobia and prejudice are all things for "other people", and the divide is plain and clearly defined.
No, of course not. We are all products of our own experiences, and the world in which we all grew up is grossly unfair. White privilege, and the male voice echo throughout our language, our literature, our history, our economy and the residues of what we see today.
When the civil rights act passed, when ant-discrimination laws came into effect, when wheelchair access to public buildings was made mandatory; though of course these were monumental events, only the most obvious, visible and superficial end of inequity and injustice was addressed.
Yes these meant that a more diverse selection of people could access education, it did not mean that access was equitable, or that it would meet their needs or understand their story when they got there. Opening the door is only one of many steps in truly supporting someone to walk through it.
The rest remained hidden to many, but painfully visible to those who lived the experience and became conscious from a young age that the color of their skin or the way they expressed gender or sexuality had some kind of influence on their lives, and even more so when such areas intersected.
We have a unique responsibility in education to be the voice and critic of society in simultaneous form. That means getting down from the ivory tower and asking ourselves always- how can we be better? The courage and humility to explore our own identity beliefs, cultural assumptions and unconscious biases is something we can all do in various forms.
Anti-racism and diversity education is a must for all of us in education. From the recruiter to the marketer, the campus administrator to the curriculum writer, the teacher to the student. It is not a workshop, or a half day training with free sandwiches. It is a journey of unlearning, deep reflection and uncomfortable honesty. We owe it to the world to do better, always.
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The biggest pitfall of all of this is assuming we have all the answers. In building diversity into institutional strategies and operations, we must understand that this is a fluid situation. To make room for growth, we must create space for the voices of those we serve. A feedback form asking "how are we doing on diversity" just ain't cutting it.
Share the voices of diverse learners in your marketing. Create opportunities to share different interpretations of content and experience in the classroom, and on campus. Broaden the credentials we ask for in accessing our institutions, and understand that not everyone can be defined by their life so far. Opportunity is kinetic - find new ways for an applicant to show us their motivation and potential, and to be supported in doing so.
We will be covering this issue in more depth as we find cases and examples of good practice, but there is so much support out there. In anti-racist teaching and curriculum design, we have sites for K12 schools. For further and higher education, we have a great overview of embedding anti-racism in the curriculum and teaching practice from Brown University.
In improving diversity and inclusion through recruitment practices, we have some good examples from the University of Edinburgh and King's College of London.
If you are working in this area, we would love to talk to you in one of our #geNEOuschats to share your insights with our wider community. Please, do reach out!
For those who missed our session at the EAIE 2021 Community Exchange, here are our 5 tips to bring bold change to a new world of education marketing and recruitment.
This year's EAIE Community Exchange was such a great event. After such a tumultuous period, it felt like the dust had actually started to settle on all of these changes and shakeups in our sector. The community exchange was a great time to come together and share ideas on how to move forward again. Which changes to embrace, and which to eliminate, which structures and approaches to disrupt and which to ditch.
In the spirit of this event, and its tagline Bolder, Braver, Go!, we delivered our own session "Marketing and recruitment in 2022: five things to try". geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy)'s Alejandra Otero, Mats Engblom from University of Helsinki, and Ilaria Bossi of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, delivered the talk together, and focused on a message of trying something different.
As Mats said in the opening segment, the world is changing fast, and we don't want to stagnate. He recommends building in a bit of budget each year to try something new, and for those colleagues of ours who could not be with us, here are five things that we can all try for 2022.
geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy)'s Alejandra Otero started with the point that the traditional funnel no longer describes the most effective process of student recruitment. The old descending model, with lots of leads at the start, and ending with a few at the end, is not a very sustainable model. This is not a production line we are talking about, and students today are also looking for an experience rather than a "service".
Instead, we should look more at is as a flywheel, which is driven around by sharing the voice of our institution and building the experience. Yes we still gain awareness through branding and emotional engagement. Yes in the consideration phase we still really need to have clear information on the offer but, as Ilaria added later, this middle section is very messy. There is so much information that it can disorient students and trap them in an endless loop of exploring and evaluating before making a decision.
This is where admissions really need to be present and focused on lead nurturing and conversion, where the FOMO is real and where we need to support prospective students and be diligent on following up, with effective use of our CRM.
When a prospective student comes on board and enrolls, the funnel ends, but the flywheel does not. This is a long-term relationship. If you stop making an effort the moment your partner agrees to marry you, it can only end in divorce.
Building loyalty, supporting ambassadors and evangelists, facilitating experience sharing, forming an experience, with academics and marketing working together to ensure that things are the best they can be, and there are outlets to share the experience in authentic, peer generated content and diverse channels. And all of this, of course, captured in a bespoke and extended CRM journey that can be used to tweak and improve year-on-year.
At the risk of banging this drum too often, Gen Alpha is different. Passive adverts are just noise to a new generation who is growing up facing screens, and are not attracted by the typical adverts for institutions that disappear into the blur of a scrolling finger.
Gen Alpha are not passengers, but protagonists. They really want to engage, and if you want to reach them, then gamifying your online content is worth a shot. They want to be the protagonist not passenger. Alejandra used the example of KFC's gamified ads on Facebook Instant Experiences, which increased sales by 106%.
The technique they used could be applied to any course or institution. Users are attracted to a simple game, where they can unlock rewards, claim prizes like tuition discounts or enrollment bonuses, or keep playing to try for more. Prospective students are not going to enroll in an institution they don't believe is authentic or has their best interests at heart, just because of a game. The rest of your offer has to be clear and well-thought-out, and the CTA effective.
They will, however, notice you and engage with you, which is one of the steepest challenges today. Why not give gamification a try?
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Now you're paying attention right? Why did geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy) just change numbers to letters? Have they just given up on coherence altogether?
That is called pattern interruption, and it is a powerful tool. The brain loves predictability, because that means safety. When things conform to predicted behavior, the brain goes into autopilot, until something changes, and it heightens its state of alertness.
Pattern interruption can be done in written content, such as our very crude example there. This is not "interruption marketing" which is definitely not a good thing, as Seth Godin emphatically told us back in 2008. No, this is just putting a new twist on the familiar to make something stand out. This could be as simple as unexpectedly switching camera angles or music volume in a video, or designing your Instagram image to make it look like your subject's hands are extending outside the frame. Simple things that make you take notice in a more conscious way.
The Triple Vertical technique is also great for WOW! Instead of having one single advert on, for example, Instagram stories, try segmenting it into three distinct but related parts. The top part could be an attention grabber and summary of what you are offering, an explanatory video in the middle, and a call to action at the end. Visually rich, drawing the eye down, with a reason to investigate.
Tracking all of this engagement, however, is going to get a little trickier. As Alejandra put it, "bye bye cookie monster". The Facebook attribution window has changed from 28 days to 7, so we lose a whole lot of data in tracking our leads. To top that off, Google has responded to political pressure and is moving towards more privacy on the web with no cookies from 2022. This means users should be tracked in anonymous clusters instead for behavioral insights, and that will require a relearning of some basic rules of the game. If you want WO, you'll also need to know how so do reach out if you need support.
This all sounds a big Genghis, but Ilaria really speaks from experience on this topic. The question of when you should outsource in marketing and recruitment is a big one. However, Ilaria had some great advice for us on how to divide up your tasks, and find where outsourcing could really add value. It has been a steep learning curve this year, and in times like these, delegating and outsourcing can be a way to stay ahead.
Organic searches rarely find universities. Put in "masters in Milan" into Google and your first results will likely be an education portal. Partnering with portals is therefore one of the most obvious and important steps in outsourcing some of your marketing, along with the more traditional agents in various countries of interest.
In such partnerships, however, there are complexities. How do you choose one? They have to be strong in your specific context, e.g with proven results in promoting medicine degrees, or in a particular market like India.
Ilaria recommends having a deep conversation to really understand the validity and value of what the portal, agent or marketing consultancy is offering. This might seem time-consuming, but is worthwhile to improve budget allocation. For example, different countries use social media differently, so even established channels need specialized local knowledge.
You also get great data back from these providers, which can be funneled back into your overall strategy to make sure it is coherent across all areas of visibility. Students want authenticity and engagement these days, but you also need to know if your message is achieving these things.
It is for this reason, that we recommend optimizing collaboration with outsource partners. Establish a code of conduct, check with providers if communications are smooth enough and whether they are getting the right data from you, and providing the right data in return.
We need to stay open and flexible. Things will not go back to how they were before, and the sooner we accept that, the better we can adapt and make the most of it. We will most likely find ourselves in a hybrid situation where some recruitment is offline, but the vast majority is online, such as in Mats' context at the University of Helsinki.
This is not only due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but to changing behavior and new generations of digital natives. As Ilaria put it, "We don't lead the game. We go where students need us to be". This extends to focusing on whole new sets of skills. As Mats reminds us, we can try new things without throwing the marketing budget at it, and Alejandra reminded the listeners that using WhatsApp to communicate with leads, and generating an organic TikTok audience were two "no brainers" that don't break the bank.
We hope that you will try at least one of these things, and remember that there is a community around us to share and support as we adapt and rise to new challenges.
The European Association for International Education has perfectly judged the mood in our sector, and brought it to life as the theme of this year's Community Exchange: "Bolder. Braver. Go!"
Whether you work in marketing, recruitment, administration, teaching and learning, or any other aspect of education, there is a shared sense that the time is ripe for change, but that we need a common sense of shared purpose and direction to direct our energies to.
That is why we are so excited about this year (even if it's on a remote basis). We not only get to come together with experts, friends, colleagues, mentors and innovators, but we also get to ask the big questions about where we are all headed and what needs to be done.
We picked our talks carefully; making sure we maximize the opportunity to learn and share as much as we can before we press the "GO!" button. Here are our top picks for the event.
geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy) taking a back seat? Not a chance. In fact, we started off this event by delivering a session, called "Marketing and recruitment in 2022: five things to try" with Mats Engblom and Ilaria Bossi. We did not pull any punches in this one, going with the conference theme and encouraging our colleagues to try something new, and really reach for bold changes. We will give you the full rundown of these ideas next week.
From there, it's on to "Spotlight on: marketing, recruitment and admissions" which really looks at telling the story of an institution in creative ways, and will connect really well with the talk "Alumni Relations presents: A university’s story: appealing to alumni and friends". We talked in our own session about the power of "evangelists" to spread the word about what an institution means to them, and we know how powerful this can be when it unfolds as a narrative or story.
The talk entitled "Spotlight on: stakeholder engagement" will take this one final step further. We are so glad to see so much attention given to engaging people in what we do and what is on offer, rather than beating people with the blunt instrument of raw marketing. If we truly believe in what we do, then let's get rid of the monologue and start a dialogue instead.
Alejandra of (geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy), and Mats (University of Helsinki), also deliver another talk in this event, entitled "Transitioning to Generation Alpha: Are you ready?". When we talk about engagement, we need to truly understand that the students who are now approaching our institutions are about to change, and knowing what is important to them will be critical factors in authentic engagement.
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Working with partner institutions in different countries means really having to understand the context in which they operate. International education has its own drivers and complexities, but the domestic background to the institutions we work with are vitally important.
When we begin work with a new partner in a country we have never worked in before, we always make time to stay up to date with developments there, that might affect priorities, or reveal new opportunities. That's why the EAIE's "What's new in...?" series of talks are just so helpful! Everything from changing laws on education and social mobility, innovations, visa issues, ERASMUS, strategic shifts; you name it, it's covered. Despite our own experience, we still learned a lot. What a great thing it is to have the information you really need condensed into a short session and beautifully communicated.
Above the national contexts, sessions such as "Strategy and Management presents: Navigating multiple demands and forces" and "New trends affecting our field of work" dive into all of the supranational forces that impact our sector, from labour shortages and climate change to AI and the pandemic itself. And if you misread the sub heading as "supernatural specializations" and got excited, who you gonna call?
At the end of the event, we all get to come together for a lively discussion on "Managing internationalization in a post-COVID world". As we in education should know, knowledge is best retained when it is tested, explored, applied and co-constructed, and there is nothing like a good old-fashioned discussion to do that.
This might sound like an overblown statement, but it really is where we are right now. We really are seeing so much more focus now on how education can show true leadership in the world by being a force for positive change,
One way we can do this is to equip learners not only with the knowledge they need, but with the skills for an uncertain future "Skills for a brave new world" asks some bold questions about how we are supposed to help learners upskill for jobs none of us even know about yet.
Another way we can do this is to broaden access. Our society will be no better if so many among us remain excluded from education. Digital strategies are one way to broaden access, for those who simply cannot attend synchronous on-site classes. The talk "Are hybrid learning environments the future of education?" addresses this, and the "Spotlight on: equity and inclusion" examines DEI in education and how digital strategies play a part in this.
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Our favorite thing! There are other talks we haven't mentioned yet, from how to get tuition fees right, to the very important "Avoiding virtual burnout: engagement, motivation and mental health in a digital world" and several more! We cannot wait to share them with you here on our blog, or in person. What is important is that we keep sharing, learning together life-long and life-wide. To our colleagues out there- be bold, be brave and go!
Our reasons for our careers drifting into education marketing may not be yours, and we would love to know. What attracts people to this sector, and what type of people does it attract? Why? What kind of people do we want and need in this sector to make it grow in the right direction?
So here we go. With no solid research beyond our own experiences and imagination, and a little twist of humor, we are going to turn a classic marketing exercise in on itself. Who are some of the personas that we can find in this sector, and what is their motivation?
Jenny is 30. She did her degree in business studies at la Universidad de Santa Inventada, and struck up a friendship with the campus administration team. Jenny was well-liked by her classmates, but also respected by the academic team as someone with a level head and an empathetic ear. Jenny was a natural on the student council, and organized events and feedback sessions while she wrote her thesis on Universal Storytelling Narratives in Experiential Marketing. Jenny never aimed to be a marketer, but loved breaking down adverts for their creative structures, and dissecting the psychology of communication.
The sharp-eyed Head of Admissions drafted in Jenny to become a student ambassador. Accompanying the admissions team to fairs and events, and welcoming prospective students on campus, Jenny drifted from student to staff without even realizing it. Now, as Community Manager, Jenny is a natural at embodying the institutional brand, though she doesn't quite know how 8 years have passed so quickly.
She is starting to feel a little hemmed in creatively, and is looking for opportunities to grow. She worries that she's let herself get boxed in, and nobody seems to notice.
Yes, sales man. We are going for the classic 1980s Hollywood stereotype here. You walk into a car dealership to use their bathroom, and emerge with a slightly-damaged SUV and a 5-day warranty, and it's all because of this guy. Joaquin literally sold second hand cars and did quite well at it, until a little trouble with the tax office forced the dealership to close.
One advert for Sales Manager in a private international K-12 school later, and Joaquin ditched the SUV's for IB's before the interviewing panel had managed to get the smell of cologne out of the room. Joaquin likes results, and he gets them. They're not always the right results to be fair; when the academic team complain that Joaquin invents pass rates and graduate employment stats, or the parents complain that the "state-of-the-art science lab" Joaquin promised their daughter turned out to be still just a blueprint on the architect's desk. He wears aviator sunglasses to business meetings, and nobody wants to tell him that it's not that sunny outside.
Values aren't Joaquin's thing. The Academic team aren't really his thing either. Joaquin is Joaquin's thing.
Seth studied everything. Digital marketing, paid media, psychology, CRM, the lot. He uses the word "leverage" a lot and his real name is actually Alistair (he quotes Godin so much, that his colleagues just refuse to use his real name any more). Seth reads The PIE daily, and has a Pie chart for everything. Seth looks at analytics the way Neo looks at the matrix, and no, that is not where we got our name.
Seth loves everything about marketing. The new course launch, the rebrand, the focus groups, the big data and the small potatoes (with more Pie). Seth is in this sector for the long run, and though he currently works in education marketing, it could just as easily be marketing fashion or furniture. Something, however, keeps him here. He did leave for 3 months to help rebrand an online florist and tighten up their CRM, but he came back to education, muttering something about purpose. Or maybe it was pie.
Seth gets annoyed when people say that marketers "create needs", and "manipulate" people. If you call him "salesy", you might see the death-seth look on his face, and you'll know it's time to run.
Gen Z does use the word "hack" a lot, and Alicia is no different. Alicia is a natural. She hasn't "formally" studied marketing, but has done a collection of online courses, run her own e-commerce upcycling business and generally figured things out for herself. School bored her, and she wants to make it better for others.
To hack education, Alicia has inserted herself into a cutting edge, progressive university, which believes that the future of education is not going to be filled with lectures and dusty rooms, but hands-on experiential learning, debate, inquiry and technology. She got the job by sending the HR manager a great cover letter, no CV, and a teabag. There was a post-it note inside that said, "have some herbal tea while you absorb just how awesome I am". The job was hers.
Alicia believes that if education looked like this, she would have stuck around in school a little longer. She has done some of the courses on offer, and when she recruits new students for this place, she really means what she says. Gen Z are looking for purpose, and the only challenge here is for the institution- how to convince her to stick around when she could do anything she wanted.
Alicia is 50% annoyed that the university doesn't have a TikTok account and 50% relieved because its "too obvious".
That is a question we ask ourselves as we grow. At geNEOus (formerly NEO Academy), we are not only conscious of the institutions we choose to work for, but the people that work with us. They need to have Alicia's sense of purpose, and her passion. We don't really care if she doesn't have Seth's training, but his love for the creative craft of marketing is an asset. Joaquin...well...results are always great, but not like this. Let's just leave Joaquin in the 1980s shall we? And Jenny. We love Jenny, but we have a responsibility to her too. Being hemmed in on one "role" just doesn't sound good to any of us. The world of education is too diverse for that, and so much in marketing and recruitment overlaps.
And how about you? Why did you get into this, and what keeps you here? If you are looking to connect with a team who love the creativity of education marketing, but want to do it to help the institutions we actually believe in, then we are here. If you find yourself with too many Joaquin's around, and working for an "agency" that drip feeds services to clients and treats common knowledge like high-value industry secrets, then look us up. We are always growing, but not too fast, and always with our feet on the ground. If any of this resonates with you, we'd love to know that you're out there, even if it is just to say hi.
