Content to drive results: how to resonate with your audience and smash your goals on a limited budget
Dave Musson (he/him), Skills Developer at University of Warwick
In a world where budgets are consistently being squeezed and the competition for students’ attentions continues to grow and become more difficult to bag a share of, the idea of building and launching an effective communications campaign for a new internal initiative can seem daunting – especially if you’re not part of a central communications/marketing team, don’t have dedicated communications budget or resources, or even if you’re early in your communications/marketing/content career. However, it isn’t as scary as it might seem.
In this session, Dave Musson walks you through the communications campaign he created to launch the Warwick Award, the University of Warwick’s skills award, that helped his team beat their registration targets by 500% in one term – despite having no dedicated communications budget and Dave himself being part-time and having other responsibilities as part of his role.
Takeaways:
Communicating a new initiative in a way that cuts through the noise of a busy campus
Maximising the existing communications channels you already have rather than the budget you maybe don’t
Using emails and in-person events to keep students hooked once they’re through the door
Bio
Dave Musson is a familiar face in the Higher Education communications community. He previously led on social media at the University of Warwick, where he also co-chaired the CASE Europe Social Media Conference in 2016 and 2017, and presented at the CASE Europe Annual Conference (CEAC) in 2015.
He then moved to Natives where he created and ran The Native - a hub of written and podcast content aimed at higher education marketers - and continued to speak at sector conferences, including the 2018 editions of ContentEd and CEAC, before a stint leading on content and marketing for The Ambassador Platform, where more presentations, podcasts and blog posts followed.
In Autumn 2021, Dave returned to Warwick as part of the brand-new team behind the Warwick Award, where he is a skills developer helping shape the award’s programme and is the Award's communications and marketing lead.
Outside of work Dave listens to and plays loud guitar music, writes scary stories, occasionally hosts podcasts, runs a YouTube channel dedicated to the works of Stephen King, and generally clings on for dear life on the rollercoaster that is being a parent to two pre-school children.
