FROM THE ADMINISTRATION Becoming top of Mind

The Communications And Marketing Viewpoint

Communications and Marketing in 2021 went through a transformation and consolidation phase. Following the employment of a veteran media practitioner, it was agreed that the priorities for the forthcoming year were to be raising the profile of the college and consolidating brand identity and communication lines. These targets were addressed in various ways.

Increased digital exposure

The section handling Communications and Marketing increased the exposure of St Edward’s College with more varied, more timely and more regular content. This effort was reflected in the numbers. Between April 2021/22 the number of users according to Google Analytics, increased by 34% and the number of pages viewed increased by 13.5% when compared to the same period in the previous year. The bounce rate, that is, how long a reader stays on the page decreased by 6.63% over the previous year. It would be fair to say that more people were reading more content emerging from the College and were engaging in it longer.

When one drills the data further, one finds that, removing Malta from the equation, over the past scholastic year the increases registered compared to the previous year were as follows:

Marketing Maltese

Before the 2021 Scholastic year started, it was decided that a campaign to highlight the availability of Maltese as a subject area for study was to be undertaken. This was well received with videos and targeted advertising reaching over 100k through 4 different ads (pictorial and video).

In general, targeted advertising on Facebook in the national milieu is still a strong option for the creation of awareness. This was seen also in the response to the Summer School brochure with 50k reach. The campaign was supported by a parallel initiative in the print media, using mainly Progress Press.

New Users

Scoping Dwardu’s Scoops

The scholastic year 2021 saw the introduction of a re-vamped college Newsletter. Aptly named ‘Dwardu’s Scoops’, the newsletter migrated from being part of the website to a more user-friendly ‘print’ format published on Issuu as a flipbook. Originally planned as a fortnightly publication, there were several Special Editions with information over and above the usual. This newsletter proved to be an amazing platform for the myriad of activities produced by students and teachers at the College. Often running into 10-12 pages, the problem was what to choose rather than lack of information. Some sections were more organized than others in the way they contributed but, all in all, the input was consistent and of high level. This publication was greatly appreciated also by the contacts which the college made with school agents at international educational fairs.

Website management

Discussions with NIU were maintained throughout the year. The company has been responsive to our needs and pro-active in its suggestions, both those which can be actuated immediately and those which can be integrated in a future amended website. The current website performance has been assisted using Issuu and Vimeo to reduce the weight of the data and render the site quicker to upload. Some pages have been moved/subsumed so that the UX(user experience) is improved.

With regards to the UX, an exercise was initiated over the past few months where the college identity is aligned and updated. Pantone colours, fonts etc were determined so that the ultimate impression one gets of the college is one which is steeped in tradition yet is modern and forward-looking. Internal dialogue is also proving fruitful as heads of sections have impressed on their staff the need to discuss before producing any audio-visual material. School brochures such as Summer School and IB and Boarding have been re-done/created in a digital manner. School Policies are being re-formatted and renewed so that they obtain a more corporate image. A new book, an interactive publication produced in-house, was launched for the Subject Choices. It is planned that in the forthcoming scholastic year, this will enable the Subject Choice Areas to become a paperless transaction. This will pave the way for other areas to follow suit, assisting in the Greening of the College operations.

Top of mind

As stated previously, one of the main targets this year was placing St Edward’s College as top of mind. This was achieved through a sustained digital media presence, the publication of the college Newsletter, legacy media presence and physical outreach. Throughout the scholastic year, college representatives were guests on TVAM discussing education and highlighting those aspects of education which the college prizes such as Think Understand, learn, the use of Maltese, the nurturing of inquisitive minds, sports and health, etc. Section heads as well as other teachers participated. In addition, individual teachers wrote op-ed pieces which were published on The Sunday Times and Newsbook.

One major event stood out this year: The Spring Fete which took place on the 1st of May. This proved to be a major crowd-puller with the college being showcased to an audience which may have never considered the college, let alone been to the college grounds. This was an extremely resource-intensive task and while it was a success beyond expectations, also provided several interesting lessons to be learnt.

The college continued with its foreign outreach through, mainly, educational fairs. Attending ICEF ASIA and ICEF BERLIN, the contacts made were retained through the contact established by the Dwardu’s Scoops lifeline. COVID restriction in China and the war in Ukraine have virtually annihilated two important markets for boarding. So, work must start afresh to make up for the loss. Another form of foreign outreach was caried out through contacts and visits to embassies. Over the scholastic year, Headmaster was received by the ambassadors of the Unite States of America, United Kingdom, China and Italy.