I have worked in higher education since 2017, and throughout that time I have attended many marketing events, seen a lot of different student recruitment methods, and have had opinions on all of them! The primary focus of my professional career working within the sector has been admissions, which means that I work alongside marketing colleagues to ensure messaging is helpful, meaningful, actionable and robust. Admissions is about giving people the information they need, rather than what they’ve asked for.
I know the worlds of education and horses well, but developing a professional marketing campaign was something I wanted to have support with. In October 2023, I collaborated with Sarah Clarke, the founder of Finer Equine, to develop a social media and marketing strategy for Equine Qualifications UK CIC. This involved carrying out SEO research and conducting interviews with Level 3 Equine Studies students at Reaseheath College.
Findings
We identified an SEO strategy which would support the marketing of equestrian qualifications to learners. This has underpinned everything that has gone into developing this website, and balances the needs of providers with the needs of learners.
Sarah also conducted a series of interviews with current on course students to develop the social media plan, and gain insights into how EQUK could be marketed to attract the kind of learners that are interested in the kinds of qualifications it would advertise.
The interviews revealed five key findings:
- Where are prospective learners were coming from? Corroborating evidence gathered from previous research, we identified the clear pipeline for learners, which we identified was the same pattern across all parts of the UK. Again, these conversations highlighted the key theme of ‘belonging’ which was raised in Part 1 of research. This helped to develop EQUK’s unique targeted recruitment lead generation methods.
- What is important to learners selecting courses? Hearing direct from the horse’s mouth what these learners want from educational opportunities helped to structure the content of EQUK’s marketing plan. This benefits learners – it gives them the information they want (which is not readily available on all education provider’s webpages) and education providers (by improving student recruitment and conversion).
- What is currently putting learners off applying? Perhaps the largest piece of evidence in support of EQUK was hearing that some of these students almost didn’t apply because it was so challenging to find the information they needed.
- What is stopping learners applying altogether? This research identified where the barriers where for prospective learners, and EQUK can put practical support in place to overcome these, supporting learners and providers alike.
- What makes learners actually want to apply? EQUK now knows what the hooks are for learners to actually submit an application and convert into becoming a student, and have used this to design and develop our webpages: giving learners and providers alike what they need.
Do you work for an education provider who is looking to grow application numbers, meet your widening participation goals, and hit your recruitment targets?
Conclusions
Throughout 2023, I developed a robust understanding both of the needs of learners and of education providers. Using what I had learned from the UK wide research that was conducted, EQUK has developed a robust, ethical and sustainable system to support prospective equestrian learners by working with education providers.
The research that had been conducted was used to secure a start-up grant from Firstport for Social Entrepreneurs. I chose to pursue social enterprise as the business model for EQUK because I believe that having a financially ethical business model is key to attracting support for a cause of this nature. The Higher and Further Education industries are in a challenging financial situation, but that does not mean that they can stop investing in student recruitment and widening participation. It is the core of their business (as whether it’s palatable or not, we must be realistic and acknowledge that everything, including education, must operate as a business in some regard). EQUK is offering the most cost effective and applied means to recruit equestrian students on the market, whilst benefiting the whole industry by promoting improved welfare for both horses and humans alike.
By working together, EQUK can support anyone with equestrian passion or skills to formalise their experience and wholesale support a shift in attitudes within the industry. EQUK will make it easier for those involved with horses to understand and identify educational next steps, improve employability, and access to the industry overall.
Are you interested in receiving support from EQUK to take the next step in your equestrian journey?
Do you believe in the EQUK vision and would like to support us?