Building a high-performing, agency-style marketing team at Hartpury University – and exceeding undergraduate targets each year.
- ClientHartpury University
- SectorHigher education
- ChannelsDigital and print advertising, website, publications, PR, social media, CRM
- TimeframeFour and a half years
- AwardsThree HEIST awards
My team and I won three HEIST awards during my time at Hartpury, for events marketing and the Coming to Hartpury campaign.
The challenge
When I joined Hartpury as Head of Marketing, Communications and Student Recruitment, the marketing team was a small group of four, mainly handling day-to-day requests such as letters and signage.
The university had ambitious recruitment and research goals, and marketing had the potential to play a much bigger part in achieving them. The team needed to move from responding to requests to giving strategic advice, with the skills and channels to deliver results.
What I did
1. Built a high-performing team
Working with my director, I developed the team from four people to almost 25 skilled professionals over four and a half years.
2. Created an agency-style culture
We set out to shape an ‘agency-style’ environment. The team came to be consulted strategically, rather than directed, about the right marketing and media solutions to meet corporate recruitment and research goals.
3. Shifted to digital and content
Together, the team drove forward a digital and content-focused marketing communications strategy.
4. Campaigned across the whole funnel
We delivered targeted projects and thematic campaigns across the full conversion funnel, achieving significant growth across our marketing channels.
The results
We exceeded undergraduate targets each year, on a marketing budget of around £300,000 a year across the university and college, with around £200,000 of that for the university.
average annual return on marketing investment, including tuition fees and commercial income
undergraduate applicants in 2021, a record 2,615
postgraduate applications in 2021, the highest growth on record
Undergraduate tuition fees alone delivered a 14x return. Commercial income from accommodation, the restaurant and the bar makes up around 30% of total income.
Undergraduate applications grew by around 20% in 2020/21, while sector and competitor growth stayed below 10.4%. Over four years, undergraduate enrolments rose 18%, with 421 extra students.
Our marketing channels performed strongly across the university and college:
- Digital advertising conversions up 1,020% in a year, with cost per conversion down from £32.21 to £10.16
- Website traffic up 29% in 2020/21, to 704,879 users and 4.25m page views
- More than 780,000 social media engagements in 12 months, with more than 50,000 combined followers
- Annual media coverage value up from £5.8m in 2018/19 to £8.64m in 2020/21
- Email open rates of 38% for lead campaigns and around 85% for the Coming to Hartpury campaign
