Concept4 again visited the College Marketing Network conference this year, an event which continues to unite and inspire college marketing professionals from around the UK. Our Managing Director Jane Cleaver was joined this year by Antoinette Perry, a trusted partner of Concept4, who is an experienced marketing strategist and education marketing specialist. The event was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the centre of Birmingham at the end of January, with the focus of new insights and innovation for colleges. Encouragingly, the conference was a sell out with the promise of two keynote speakers, sixteen workshop options and a new ‘meet the experts’ panel discussing key areas of marketing.

Like last year Concept4’s main role at the event was to present one of the delegate workshops. This year Jane, joined by Antoinette presented “Content First – The Key to a Successful Website.” They used a number of case studies and examples to demonstrate the importance of carefully considered content in any website project. In fact, an early content strategy involving key stakeholders can often be the defining catalyst for an effective website. A good starting point here is how is your current content performing? Content creation time is often under estimated, so start early and stick to a schedule. The session was well attended and involved encouraging levels of engagement from those present. The main takeaway from the session, along with early content preparation was that content should shape design, not the other way around. Ultimately, you are looking for quality content, which speaks to your audience and aligns with your website goals. Also don’t forget to factor in SEO and accessibility considerations into your content from the start. The session appeared to go very well with great feedback from various participants.

As usual the conference concluded with the annual College Marketing Network awards event later that evening. This year it was hosted by Bassit Siddiqui, the TV Gogglebox celebrity who did a fantastic job of presenting the awards and engaging with the delegates. Congratulations to all the award winners including Hull College and Nottingham College who did well. It was a very big night in particular though for The Inspire Education group. They scooped an impressive six awards in total, including the Website Development Award which Concept4 sponsored and judged.