UCL Case Study – Julia Weston
UCL Faculty of Life Sciences Head of Marketing and Communications, Julia Weston, has been making good use of our founder Jo Marshall’s high-impact HE copy for over a quarter of a century. Here she reflects on university marketing challenges, the power of good communications and the supportive networks that women in business can build.
I’m the Head of Marketing and Communications for UCL Faculty of Life Sciences, and I’m still finding out things about my own faculty.
We’ve got 44,000 students here at UCL, which helps to give you an idea of our size.
When I started, the Director of Marketing at the time said, ‘UCL is the size of St Albans. You wouldn’t expect to know every road in St Albans, every building there, every person living there… so work out which roads you need to know and then just take it from there.’
I’ve worked in the sector for decades, and I’ve been around the block a few times. As senior leaders, we’re continually courted by agencies who just want to sell us things, so the importance of people who you can trust – who you’ve a strong relationship with – just saves so much time, hassle, emotional angst.
Where Jo and Julia’s story began
Jo and I started working together 25 years ago, in 1999. I was marketing manager for research and innovation at UWE Bristol, and we worked on the innovation and enterprise stories.
We’ve worked together many times since then bringing our copy to life in content ranging from course descriptions to cutting edge research.
I came to UCL about five years ago, and I had a meeting with the innovation and enterprise team here at UCL. They needed someone to do some writing and I said, ‘I know just the person who did the same thing for me, 20 odd years ago – you need to talk to Jo.’
Bringing All Things Words to UCL
What Jo and All Things Words have done – and the coup of getting UCL as a client – is phenomenal.
As one of the university’s approved copy suppliers, All Things Words works across so many areas of UCL now. It’s quite something. Innovation and Enterprise, The Bartlett, Engineering, Life and Medical Sciences, Population Health, Social and Historical Sciences, Research Culture…there aren’t many people, who work across such a broad spectrum.
Word of mouth is hugely important. As well as professional services teams like HR, finance, that sort of thing, we have 11 faculties. Within those faculty groups, there are 11 heads of marcomms. We’ll all talk to each other and ask for recommendations.
There’s obviously the big ‘out there’ projects like the Innovation and Enterprise or EDI work or The Bartlett Review, where people will go, ‘oh wow’, and look at the role that suppliers have played in it. That’s great, but there’s also the less sexy stuff, like the copy call review. For my counterparts to know they can pay X amount of money and save a whole person working on something for six months – that’s really useful.
I’ve got every faith in Jo and her ability to deliver, whatever the project. And so do others, now – word of mouth has spread, and it’s been so overwhelmingly positive. Jo’s gone on to form her own relationships with colleagues. People like Wendy Tester in Innovation and Enterprise, so pleased and obviously delighted that I’d recommended Jo – she’s probably one of the best UCL examples.
All Things Words works across so many areas of UCL now. There aren’t many people, even among our approved suppliers, who work across such a broad spectrum. It’s quite uncommon.
Julia Weston, Head of Marketing and Communications, UCL Faculty of Life Sciences
Using copy to solve UCL marketing challenges
UCL has a much better understanding of its audiences nowadays – how to engage with our audiences, to have two-way conversations on their terms. There’s a great deal of respect among senior faculty for the impact that marketing, communications and engagement have with all our stakeholders.
Over the last few years, I have seen a much more cohesive approach to the brand. There’s an understanding that the brand isn’t just about logos – it’s more about how we talk about UCL. It’s our tone of voice and looking for ways to raise the profile collectively, rather than working in silos.
One of the key challenges of UCL communications is partly to do with our size (UCL is the second largest university in the UK, after the Open University).
A lot of our programmes are interdisciplinary. However, that makes it challenging when you need to decide, who owns this programme? Just like a member of staff needs to sit within an area, like a faculty, a programme needs to be owned by a faculty too – but you might need to work with other people to do the promotion on it.
So the sheer volume of work involved…it’s daunting on top of all the other stuff we have to do.
There’s a lot to stay on top of. Having someone like All Things Words project managing to make sure that all the threads are pulled together makes a real difference, because I don’t have the headspace to project manage that many things.
These are big projects, and the relationships are really important. So I don’t want just anybody talking to my academic colleagues.
I need to have complete faith in their credibility, their ability to understand scientific stuff that’s often mind blowing.
I know with Jo and her team, I won’t get any complaints from anybody – either about the way they’re being dealt with, or the way they’re being approached. And I know that All Things Words will always come back with copy that’s great – so it saves a vast, vast amount of time for my team with something that’s maybe a skill they are still developing themselves.
I think that’s an important thing to recognise. This is a skill set, and to hone it to the level that Jo and all her team do… it’s not something we’ve got. The time we take to do that is time we could spend dealing with open days, social media, internal comms, alumni, engagement events, all of the other stuff.
I do think it’s also about that impact. Working with All Things Words gives us far more impactful copy.
The impact of people staying on the page longer, because of things like not using academic language, and being direct and clear. You also get more visitors to the page because the search engine optimisation is better and clearer.
It’s about writing for the audience, too – people will click onto other pages or scroll down the content because it’s relevant to them.
It’s getting the style right, and ultimately, it’s then achieving our objectives and goals – more people will find your web page, and more people will apply to you because you’ve got clearer comms.
I know that All Things Words will always come back with copy that’s great – so it saves a vast, vast amount of time for my team.
Julia Weston, Head of Marketing and Communications, UCL Faculty of Life Sciences
Growth that stands the test of time
Watching someone like Jo grow over such a long time…initially, she had so many questions, and she was learning so much. But now she’s worked with so many different universities, she’s become an expert on the sector. She’s honed her approach to include upfront planning and direction.
Many years ago, I would have taken the lead, saying ‘this is what I need’, whereas now she’ll present me with a strategy, saying ‘this is the way I recommend we do this – how does that sound?’
One of the key things is, she never predicts outcomes. She understands there’s many similarities between universities, but also many differences. She doesn’t go ‘all universities do this’ – she takes a fresh approach to every project. It’s that experience and confidence. She’s not afraid to push back to make sure we get the best outcome, either.
I do think there is definitely something about women in business. Women leaders like Jo. Their networks, the support I see her giving to others – particularly women, on LinkedIn and elsewhere. I think she’s very brave.
One of the key things is, she never predicts outcomes. She takes a fresh approach to every project. It’s that experience and confidence.
Julia Weston, Head of Marketing and Communications, UCL Faculty of Life Sciences