3 minute read
Communicating with our Stakeholders
Meet Cleo Devaney,
It’s an exciting time to work in Marketing and Student recruitment as we transition into the new technological university (TU). For the marketing side, it presents challenges but also great opportunities. Each of our institutes will be working collaboratively on the new brand and positioning ensuring it is reflective of our own unique offering and resonates with our student population. There is a wealth of positive sentiment towards the introduction of a TU in our region, from industry, guidance counsellors, parents and educators. With Sligo becoming a university town, this will help attract and retain talent and encourage future generations to invest and remain in the north-west region.
With a strong background in digital marketing, I joined the IT Sligo Marketing department initially focusing on marketing the suite of Online Learning programmes. This included the development and rollout of a new brand and nationwide marketing campaigns to help raise the profile of IT Sligo Online Learning in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Since then, I have progressed to the role of Marketing and Student recruitment manager, working with a team of 6 dedicated marketing professionals, who can turn their hand to anything! We work across graphic design, publications, social media marketing, events management, school engagement and much more.
We focus on building and maintaining relationships both internally and externally with key stakeholders, such as guidance counsellors, parents and post-primary educators. We also stay connected with industry partners to ensure our course offering meets the skills demand in our region. From academic programme videos and virtual school visits to live virtual open day events, our reach has now expanded, as evidenced by a 32% increase in CAO applicants in 2021.
We also work closely with our current students and have a dedicated student ambassador programme, encouraging students to be advocates of the IT Sligo educational experience. This year, we are offering our ambassadors the opportunity to earn a digital badge, in recognition of their contribution to marketing and student recruitment.
Meet Karen Smyth,
Marketing Officer, GMIT
The new technological university (TU) will offer huge choice to students in terms of courses, campuses, and professional and progression opportunities. We want students to feel part of the new TU from day one, and I am looking forward to working with my colleagues in LYIT and IT Sligo to create a meaningful brand that will capture the hearts and minds of our students and stakeholders in the region and beyond.
The GMIT Marketing function covers the marketing of five very individual campuses, so no two days are the same.
Over the last few years, our marketing activity has become more concentrated on digital activity as we focus on reaching prospective students, parents, teachers, and stakeholders on our social media platforms and online. When we started, we had one social media platform with 1.5K followers. Now we work across six platforms, with over 70K followers.
What I have learned in my 13 year career in GMIT is that marketing is not just about delivering a message, it is about embracing very diverse ideas, comments, and views, and bringing people together. The development of the digital platforms has enabled us to develop precise messaging tailored to our various audiences. It has also impacted the culture within GMIT as we engage with our peers online, and more staff become part of our online marketing community.
We were thrilled to learn that GMIT has been awarded The Sunday Times Institute of Technology of the Year 2022 award. It is an achievement the entire institute can be immensely proud of after such a challenging couple of years with Covid.
From a marketing perspective, we are heading into 2022 with plans to become a new technological university, while celebrating our win as Institute of Technology of the Year 2022 and GMIT’s Golden Jubilee. This will give us lots of opportunities to connect with our students and graduates throughout the year and reach new audiences nationally and internationally. As a marketeer, it doesn’t get much more exciting than that.
