Middlesex University is a diverse, career-focused London university, offering a range of higher and degree apprenticeships across sectors such as technology, finance and healthcare.
We were approached by the university due to our vast knowledge and experience within higher education and degree apprenticeships, for clients such as the University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC).
The university was set to launch its first digital degree apprenticeship programme and needed PR and marketing support to build awareness, drive engagement and attract employers across all sectors. It also needed to promote the breadth of digital apprenticeship opportunities available through the programme and position itself as thought leaders within both degree apprenticeships and digital training.
Working closely with the university’s employer lead generation partner, we developed a three-month PR and paid digital strategy designed to reach businesses that were committed to digital transformation and bridging technology skills gaps within their organisation.
From a PR perspective, our initial focus was on showcasing the digital degree apprenticeship opportunities available through the university, which spanned cyber security and data science through to digital marketing and user experience (UX). We went the extra mile to tailor stories that would not only promote the digital degree apprenticeship programme to mainstream business press but also vertical trade media across sector such as hospitality, manufacturing and legal.
We tapped into key editorial themes, including the need for firms to upskill their workforce digitally and the growing importance of degree apprenticeships in driving social mobility. This resulted in editorial coverage across a range of trade, regional and national publications such as Insider Media, Nursing Times, The Manufacturer and MSN.
Underpinning the PR was a targeted paid digital advertising campaign across LinkedIn, to directly attract prospective degree apprenticeship employers working in business roles such as HR and IT. We produced a range of creative assets such as a video designed to showcase the many employer benefits of a digital degree apprenticeship.
“The team at Source quickly understood what we needed to do to raise awareness of the wide range of digital and teaching degree apprenticeship opportunities available at Middlesex University. They became a true extension of our team and delivered a PR and paid digital strategy that engaged employers across all sectors and delivered some excellent results.”
