Posts Tagged ‘Need’
7 Things You Need To Know About Marketing And Pr-Ing To Students
Posted by Parkzone Corsair in Memory on December 3rd, 2010
1. Don’t make assumptions
It is easy to pigeonhole the UK Student population following years of stereotyping and spoofing via modern media. The common assumption is that a typical student:
* is aged eighteen and straight out of school
* follows a distinctly “grunge” dress code
* is lazy and sponges off the government
* follows a strict diet of canned-goods on toast
* binge-consumes copious amounts of alcohol on a regular basis
* spends all their spare time in pubs and clubs However, whilst there will be some students who commit to this list religiously, not all students are the same, and their interests, hobbies and lifestyles as individuals differ tremendously, and these common presumptions are often inaccurate.
For example:
* With regards to age, not all students go into higher education straight out of school. For example, students over the age of thirty make up a third of the student body at Oxford Brookes University alone (http://www.brookes.ac.uk/facts/mature_students). Understandably, there is a huge leap between what appeals to a teenager compared to that of a person in their thirties. Therefore, promotion which involves free entry to clubs or free booze might not be of interest to the slightly more wizened scholar.
* Fashion seems to be high on the agenda nowadays for modern students. The days of getting away with being as scruffy as possible are entering their final death rattle, with websites like ASOS proving popular with young people, and student discount offered at retailers like New Look. So, promotion via platforms which largely attract the “grunge” crowd, such as music festivals, might not have the impact you’d expect.
* It is a myth that students are spongers. Every UK citizen is entitled to three years-worth of student funding via the Student Loans Company. That money is there for the taking if you are climbing the education ladder, but it isn’t much in the grand scheme of things and, if you live away from home to study, doesn’t stretch very far. Most students are forced to hold down a part-time job alongside studying full-time – quite a feat considering the amount of coursework required of them, and the tight deadlines which must be met. Therefore, students are not always lazy, and they do have money to spend, but they will want it to stretch as far as possible, because they work hard for the little they have.
* Most of the money students accrue will be spent on food. Most discussion forums suggest that an average student spends around £25-£30 per-week on groceries. That’s £100-£120 per month, which is a lot when you have to pay rent, utilities, and buy books for study. Therefore, promotion incorporating discounted supermarket shopping would reach a wide student audience.
* Alcohol consumption amongst students is high, and most universities boast pub and club facilities with subsidized bar pricing. Going back to the issue of age, this will not appeal to all students, as mature students may feel that part of their lives has been done to death. Socially, students spend a lot of their time at the computer, in the library, at the cinema, or shopping – just as much, if not more, than being in a pub or a club. The best approach is to fully research the age range you are playing to, and create ideas which people of all ages will find alluring. Bear in mind student habits and routines based on fact and not assumption, and you will be ten steps ahead of the competition.
2. Fresher’s Fairs and freebies
A great way for students to get familiar with your brand is the Fresher’s Fair. Held on-campus during the week that students register with their university, these events often have rows and rows of stalls and stands, set up by local businesses who wish to capitalise on the population of students new to the area at that time of year.
Often, students will be given a bag to fill with the many flyers, business cards, vouchers and freebies that these companies are eager to hand out. Flyers and leaflets are light and easy to carry, and a student at an event like this will find these easy to slip into their carrier bag of goodies.
However, what the students really look for are stalls which are giving away free items, such as sweets, sample groceries, and promotional items like
A guide to setting up management consulting projects…everything you need to know
Posted by Parkzone Corsair in Memory on November 28th, 2010
The purpose of this quick reminder is to try and capture all of the things experience has taught us need to be in place to ensure the project goes as smoothly as it can. The start-up is the foundation of the project.
This is written from the perspective of the engagement manager.
When reading this, remember we are trying to write a guide for project start-ups when there are numerous kinds of projects:
Projects with just one consultant
Projects with a small team
Projects with a small team full time…or part time
Projects run on the clients premises…or off their premises
Projects where the project team reports to someone not directly involved in the project
Anyway, you get the point. There are many, many variations. Our guide needs to be useful to them all. Therefore although parts may not apply to you, we think 90% will.
Start with understanding the client first. Always!
Make sure you have a network map that identifies all of the political and decision making network.
Ensure you have a client face-off chart to clarify who owns which client and who needs to be briefed and debriefed before and after each contact with a specific client and that your team understands their individual responsibilities.
Get the most up to date organisation chart you can.
Make sure you know all of the key client’s secretaries; they will get you in to the client’s office when nobody else can. They usually start off suspicious of your motives. If you can prove to them by demonstration that your intent is to help their boss, they will generally be more helpful to you than they are to their own organisation. For example if some documents need to be passed on to ensure the client is fully briefed before a meeting, make sure the secretary knows the reason.
Be honest.
The top clients expect interesting, exciting, value-adding updates with consultants. Don’t leave them in a one month void before the first update meeting. It is also wise to remember many consultants are at a client. Make sure you (and your team) stand out from the pack.
Your project team
Have a week zero if possible. A week zero is one week set aside prior to the project start to ensure everyone is briefed, familiar with the tools and ready to hit the ground running.
Have a team meeting every week preferably off-site.
If there are multiple locations in the project have one per location and try to get around to them or use conference calls.
The agenda should be relevant to the project but should also contain out of project elements. “Consultants Corner” where team-members have the opportunity to bring something new to the attention of the team is useful. Consulting training should be part of the meeting bringing additional content, experience on previous projects, techniques or processes to the team. This is a really good idea and should be made compulsory.
For large projects, a Project Balanced Scorecard should always be implemented and acted on. It is a pain to start with and sounds like too much work, however it is necessary so do it.
Although the aim is to discuss project issues within the consulting team meetings sometimes it is necessary to discuss them in the security of just your team and without the client. This is OK and the team needs to understand this. To do the job properly for the client you sometimes need to guide them through some treacherous waters. This means you have to know as a team where you are going and stay in front.
Create an On-Project Training Curriculum for the consultants.
Setting Consultant Expectations in Your team
Set consultants expectations carefully. Make them realistic and achievable but a stretch where possible.
This also feels like a lot of work to start with but will save huge amounts of time later. Bear in mind that this is what you will be judging their performance against at the end of the project or at review time. If you didn’t feel that your performance and contribution was going to be valued, how would you feel?
Spread the work to your team and stream leads (consultants running distinct pieces of work) but retain control. Get the consultants to write down what they think the expectations on them are, let the stream leads discuss with them and clarify and then ensure that you agree and understand. If
Mac Tipz that you need to know!
Posted by Parkzone Corsair in computer on October 16th, 2010
hey youtube just decide to make a cool video showing some tips that you might already know but just in case there is still a lot of people out there that dont know about it. anyway i started by saying about the wallpaper and its site. well if you scroll down you will find the link for the website and you can get your HD wallpapers that look amazing in any monitor display. Another thing was the quicktime and i showed you about its features that make quicktime less useless, trim is great tool to make your movie smaller and you can choose the parts of the movie you want and the parts you dont want, then you can add that part to something else and make cool videos to youtube or just for yourself. another thing was the DOCKDOCTOR, which enables you change the color of the dock to the color you want. The last thing i talked about was the wallsaver, wallsaver is a application that is available for free and lets you enable the screensaver while doing things it doesnt affect on your perfomance at all and looks amazing. Now the links for the website to get the applications: WEBSITE FOR HD WALLPAPERS: www.applewallpapers.net DOCKDOCTOR: www.innermindmedia.com WALLSAVER: www.wallsaverapp.com they are small applications and it wouldnt be a problem for you to download them. mr10julio10 dont forget to rate, comment and subscribe, its simple, shows your appreciation and doesnt cost a cent. many thanks i shall see you soon. Peace.
