I worked with the Home Learning College (HLC) Marketing team full-time, for two and a half years, during a period of transition from print to internet based marketing. I designed all kinds of communications – printed prospectuses, micro-sites, joint websites, banners, solus emailers and online campaigns – realising, briefing and over-seeing print and IT production.
My first work for Home Learning College was to design and producing a quarterly prospectus. This was printed web-offset, 150,000+ copies per issue, and despatched via direct-mail to ‘carpet-bomb’ households across the nation. Each cover featured a photograph and a testimonial from one of the 65,000 people studying at home and the prospectus set out the courses available, and the pathways students could take to further their careers. Gradually over the two and a half years I worked at HLC we moved these marketing materials and the courses themselves from being printed physical copies to screen-based or downloadable communications.
The College Marketing Team set up partnerships with National and Local Press, Academic bodies and with many websites visited by jobseekers. Sometimes the advertising is HLC branded, other times links are more ‘Advertorial’, they look as if they’re a part of the partner website. Prospective students who click through to find more information on courses can quickly go on to book their place. All online communications are alive with links, each point and click or phone call is tracked and the resulting statistics fed into the Marketing Director’s reports. Communications have become much more targeted since the move to marketing online.
For me during this period of my career I learned a great deal about modern marketing processes. I started to design micro-websites, banners, mailshots, email newsletters as well as printed items. While the work was not always visually creative I picked up lots of new digital skills and working methods, learning from the Design Manager, the Marketing Director and a skilled in-house IT team. And I was able to continue to work in the familiar world of print design too.
Stuart Russell 