One of the main marketing activities QUT Guild, Queensland University of Technology‘s Student Union does on campus are brand activation stalls, which are run during Orientation week events, market day and other campus events throughout the year to engage with new and returning students.
As a Marketing Coordinator, I was highly involved in the design, planning and implementation of these stalls. Our team used these events as an opportunity to increase brand awareness and student participation, build our email list, while making improvements to the implementation of the event and adjusting its value proposition to appeal to a wider audience. Here’s how we did it:
Project goals
- Build awareness of the union on campus via brand activation stalls
- Build our email list during these events
- Establish an effective funnel system to increase student engagement
Measures of Success
- An increase in the number of subscribers on our mailing list
- An increase in social media followers
- An increase in student participation at university events
Challenges and Limitations
Firstly, the union can only offer its services to enrolled QUT students as they are funded by student fees. Secondly, the union operates independently of the university. Which means that:
- Getting sign-ups and building our CRM is heavily dependent on the university’s internal communications or brand activations and events on campus.
- There are very few spots on campus where we can display physical, printed advertising due to strict advertising policies at the university.
- Typical strategies such as online advertising and social media marketing are limited as the union’s offerings are member-exclusive and only available to currently enrolled QUT students.
An overview of qUT Guild’s Student Engagement funnel
Orientation and Market Day are key touch-points in raising awareness and visibility of the union on campus. It is during this time when we have the most students on campus (first years especially) and our goal is to make a lasting first impression on as many students as possible so that they stay connected with the union throughout their time at the university.
Some things we needed to address
- Based on a student engagement survey conducted with over 600 students on campus, we identified that the majority of students have interacted with or seen the brand on campus during orientation week, but were unaware of what the organisation does or how to access our services. This indicates that the union’s brand messaging and offerings are unclear to students.
- In previous years, the union would hand out branded merchandise to promote awareness of the brand and its services. We have found that while this may lead to an increase in brand awareness and social media followers, it does not lead directly to email sign-ups. Based on a cross-examination of email and social media campaigns I found that email campaigns are more effective in leading to conversions (online event registrations and appointment bookings in this case). Therefore we needed to prioritise email sign-ups in our marketing strategy.
- Involvement in student unionism has been on a decline. The absence of students on campus during COVID and the increase in remote learning has made it even harder to re-establish an active sense of community among students on campus.
- The concept of a union may be new to many students who haven’t entered the workforce yet. Most people know of trade unions. The value of a student union may not mean much to the average student on campus. Why should they need to join a union? Their main goal here is to graduate and get a job.
Strategy & Implementation
1. Clear and consistent brand messaging
Truth be told, it would be a lot easier if QUT Guild was named QUT Union. But it is what it is… In consultation with the team, we decided to include a tagline “Your Student Union” alongside the logo on event banners, social media channels, the website and all other marketing material. It’s direct and easy to intepret.
We also made sure to include a summary of the services offered at the union on pull up banners, flyers and on pages inside the student diaries that we would be handing out.
Following COVID, the use of QR codes was off the charts! We included a QR code on all marketing material at our stalls so students could easily scan and sign up to the union’s mailing list.
2. Redesigning the look and feel of the stall to have a BIG visual impact
In the sea of students and stalls, we wanted to really stand out from the crowd. The union’s colour palette and designs were revised to feature the primary brand colour on all signage, marquees, pull up banners, tablecloths and merchandise. Everyone involved in the stalls were given a bright teal shirt to wear. It’s bold, it’s brash, it might clash with your skintone, but hey, it works.
3. Adjusting the brand’s value proposition
We needed to adjust the brand’s value proposition to appeal to more students. Not all students may be activists or leaders wanting to make a change or get involved in student politics. However, most students need work experience, and volunteering at the Guild is a great way to add a little extra something to their CV, make friends at uni and help the newcomers get oriented.
We sent out an email campaign introducing a new Event Volunteer Program, asking students to send in their EOIs to help us run the stalls, be student representatives and advocates for the union during Welcome week events.
4. Providing an incentive for students to sign up to our mailing list
Instead of handing out freebies to everyone hoping they would give us a follow, we handed them out as a reward in return for signing-up to the mailing list or following our socials. Because, nothing in life is really free lol.
Results
We have found on-campus brand activation to be very effective in getting students to sign-up to our mailing list or follow us on social media. Take a look at the results:
Overall, a data-informed approach to planning and strategy has led to a great improvement in brand awareness and engagement. What surprised me most is the overwhelming student response and interest shown in the Event Volunteer Program. We could not offer everyone a spot for the orientation stalls. Those who did not get to participate in the current round were added to a volunteer mailing list to be contacted again for future union initiatives.
Read the next case study: QUT Guild’s Email Marketing Strategy