Digital Marketing Direction: "The Student Project"

By Erica Wenham, Tuesday 16 April 2013.

Digital Technologies For Marketing (Week 24, 25 & 26)

Hello again readers! I apologise that there has not been a "Digital Marketing Direction" post for two weeks, but myself and my colleague/fellow student have been working on the launch of a very new exciting project (for coursework 4) titled as; "The Student Project"!
Read on to find out more.

Welcome to The Student Project by Erica Wenham and Jasmin Hannington. We are two highly-driven, forward-thinking, confident PR & Marketing students at Buckinghamshire New University. We have been working together for the past two months to create a web-based concept that we believe has potential as a viable online business.

Introduction & Target Market

You need to know exactly (or as exact as you can possibly make it) who your customers are when identifying the target market of a new business or concept idea. “It's called demographics. It's part of the research you need to do before going into business. It may not go well if you have no idea who you are going to be talking to about your service or product. Geographic, demographic and psychographic are the three main ways you can find your target market. Once you know who it is you're going after then you can begin to design a plan around how you will market to them so they can see you, begin to learn who you are and get to liking you so they come and buy from you. If you try to blanket everyone with one marketing message you'll lose over half of your audience simply because it doesn't apply to them. Target who you are after and you will know how to reach them easier and find that you won't have to invest so much into your marketing to get the results you want. You'll be more focused, more effective in your marketing strategies and be able to get a greater return on your marketing investment” (entrepreneur.com, 2009). An outline of Black Sheep Digital Marketing’s target audience for The Student Project is as follows;

Students:

·         University Student’s at the ages of 18 and above, studying at either foundation, undergraduate or postgraduate level.

·         Students looking for work experience in their current field of study.

·         Students struggling to find jobs in this economy.

Employers:

·         Small Independent Businesses looking to give that extra edge to stand out from their competitors

·         Businesses  that cannot afford qualified professionals

·         Looking for help/assistance in areas that is needed for them

·         If an employer wishes to post a job listing, this would be a FREE service!

Our Vision

In these difficult times in business due to the current economy state, Black Sheep Digital Marketing understands the importance of giving a business that extra edge to stand out from its competitors. However, small and independent businesses cannot afford qualified professionals and often find themselves in a difficult position that can potentially damage their business due to this.

Using students can allow businesses to afford help in areas that is needed for them. Whether this is in need of an accountant, marketing and advertising assistant, sports coach, computer support, photographer, graphic designer, games developer, musician, actor/actress or an interior designer, students can use their knowledge and developing skills to help a business’s brand at a fraction of the cost.

My idea is to host a website that allows two platforms:

·         Students to make an individual profile.

·         Companies to advertise positions and to create a profile of their company and what they are requiring.

Benefit for the Student:

The student will sign up and register for free to the website.

They will then make their own personal profile. This will include essential details and a covering letter about themselves giving the employer an opportunity to know a bit more about them personally. There will then be an education section explaining their past and present education, going into detail on what course they are attending and what skills they have already acquired. This will also indicate the fee per hour the student is asking for. Each student will be listed into three types of categories:

1.       By Course

2.       By Region

3.       By University

The Student Project will give advice “pop ups” during the process of completing the form. This will provide the student with the skill of making their profile stand out from the crowd.

After their profile is complete, the student will be able to view job listings from employers and also to see employers profiles that are interested in getting students involved in their company. Employers will also be able to see the student’s profiles.

If they wish to apply or contact the employer they simply have to click a like button on their job listing or their company profile. That means NO FORM FILLING IN!

The employer then would simply see that the student has liked their job description or company and will be able to view the student’s profile, then seeing if they are suitable for the position.. If the employer would like to get in further contact with the student, they can send each other emails using our messaging service on our website.

Benefit for the Employer:

The employer/business will sign up and register for free.

They again will make their own company profile.

If a company is simply curious, they can browse our student profiles by either searching by sector, region or university.  The great idea about this site is an employer might come across a great student studying something that they did not consider previously that could help benefit their business!

If an employer wishes to post a job listing, this would be a FREE service! Other recruitment websites can charge a small fortune and can be an unwanted cost for small and independent businesses. The Student Project is simply trying to help businesses stay alive and also to provide more job opportunities.

Website Structure:

·         Students Profile

·         Employers Profile

·         Job Listings

Chat/video facility (allowing employer and student to interact with each other) – This is a great benefit for positions that do not need to be in store or from the employers office. It allows them to interact on a personal level. We believe that there is nothing like this in the market, an idea that can generate a lot of money, however also benefits the user. 

Our Mission

Within the next 3 years, www.the-student-project.co.uk will become one of the top 5 job portals for university students across the UK, reaching the goal of acquiring 300,000 online student profiles and 200,000 small independent business owners looking for potential student employees.

By 2017, The Student Project will strive to successfully provide 100,000 students across the UK with employment partnerships with employers via our website. The Student Project would have developed a strong brand identity through using multiple communication platforms such as social media to engage with our current and potential target market.