marketing by region: royal roads
Yes, we did get back from Canada from a week long trip and yes, chances are there will be more Canada posts. I am not sure if you can find a more beautiful area than Vancouver Island. They have beautiful bay views, wonderful harbors to walk around at and an amazing setting for a university. We are growing in the marketing of universities so it shouldn’t be a surprise our Marketing by Region this week is about just that, a university. Everyone, meet Royal Roads University.
Right off the bat it you see that Royal Roads is not a tradition university; it is designed to cater to students who are already working. This model is growing in popularity, in fact, for some universities, their “working degrees,” or “adult degree” programs are the ones that are growing leaps and bounds. Second off, you might notice the beautiful setting that Royal Roads displays. Imagine finishing up your degree or masters in a modern castle with Victoria Harbour as your back drop. If I could only go back and do it all over again!
But we are here to talk about marketing and marketing materials. I don’t think it is any secret that web development in the education sector is pretty terrible, and that is being kind. What struck me from the beginning with Royal Roads is that the home page of the website has a nice structure. They do have a bit of an issue with floating text but all and all the photography is well used and I didn’t find it very difficult to navigate. For a university page, finding the right contact information doesn’t take a lot of time, which if you have spent any time on a more tradition university site, you know the feeling of wanting to throw your computer across the room.
In some ways their social media leaves a little to be desired and at the same time it is simple and shares the story of the university. More development will need to be done in the future but they are far from ruining their brand. We cannot talk enough about telling your story and making sure everything that you are putting out into the world matches your brand. Social media is one of those tools that can seemingly be an after thought and yet if done incorrectly can kill you. Remember you have a story to tell; is social media hurting or helping that story?
I should also mention that Royal Roads uses a large bottom navigation bar. This is nice because it helps denote important information without disturbing the initial content. This bar is seen on every page which reminds users of the information.
Our hats off to Royal Roads University. They are an example of someone in their industry doing it right. We look forward to watching their success in one of the most beautiful places on earth!