In this blog you can find links to all of our courses and social media pages
Updated april 2025
The Catalyst Building – Leek Road houses the Business School
Staffordshire Business School, as part of the School of Digital, Technology, Innovation and Business (DTIB), offers a range of undergraduate, postgraduate, apprenticeship and professional business programmes, delivered either full-time, part-time or via blended and distance learning. More information on each individual subject and course can be found below:
A global survey shows approximately 40% of marketing leaders utilise AI solutions for social media content. The rapid advancement of AI tools has made selecting the most suitable options for social media marketing increasingly complex. This blog explores key tools and their specific applications to enhance social media marketing strategies.
AI: The Answer to Social Media Marketing Challenges
Businesses face several social media marketing challenges. Trends move faster than ever, making it tough to keep up and create fresh content. Creative blocks can throw off your schedule, and maintaining a strong presence is a constant effort, especially with limited budgets. To stay ahead, focus on brainstorming regularly, staying creative, and trying new organic strategies to keep your brand growing, even when the landscape feels tough.
This is where AI tools come in handy. AI tools are transforming social media marketing by streamlining content creation, optimisation, and publishing while enhancing engagement through smarter audience interactions. AI tools provide insights on emerging trends, consumer sentiment, and data-driven decision-making. What are the top AI innovations that can help you tackle these challenges? Let us dive in!
Social Listening AI Tool for Content Strategy
Social listening is the process of tracking and analysing online conversations about your brand, competitors, and industry in real time to understand audience sentiment, trends, and feedback using AI. It helps businesses gain insights to improve marketing strategies, refine products, and enhance customer experiences.
Align with Audience Demands: Businesses can use AI social listening tools to enhance their marketing strategies by tracking brand-related conversations across major social networks and online sources. These tools analyze vast amounts of data to uncover insights about audience preferences, industry trends, and customer sentiment. They help businesses identify key influencers, anticipate potential crises with custom alerts, and manage issues in one centralised platform. AI-powered features streamline efforts by summarising lengthy messages and analyzing metrics like words, phrases, emojis, and hashtags, enabling marketers to forecast trends, engage effectively, and identify untapped opportunities.
Sprout Social and HubSpot offer 30-day free trial for their social listening tool.
Automated Content Creation
AI content creation tools generate a wide range of content. Specialised tools excel in specific tasks, such as bulk blog creation or crafting effective email subject lines.
General-use platforms like ChatGPT offer versatility with varied strengths and weaknesses. Choosing the right tool depends on the desired content type and level of expertise needed.
Jasper AI and Hubspot offer free trials for AI content automation tools.
AI-Powered Audience Segmentation
Personalisation and segmentation are essential for effective social media marketing. It enables businesses to target customers based on location, preferences, and purchase history. Businesses can leverage AI-powered audience segmentation using tools to better understand and target their audiences.
Sharper Segments, Smarter Campaigns
Businesses can use AI segmentation tools to organise customer data, gain insights into client behaviour, social habits and understand what resonates with their audience. These tools generate visually rich, shareable reports and identify trends or issues across segments, such as customer satisfaction or preferences. By leveraging this data, businesses can identify personas and create targeted social media campaigns, engage niche audiences, and refine their marketing strategies for maximum impact.
Peak AI and Audiense are also some other tools that businesses can leverage for AI segmentation.
Smart Visual Design
Visually appealing content is critical to boost engagement on social media. However, not every business has the budget or resources for an in-house design team. AI graphic design tools help overcome creative blocks, improve creativity with greater efficiency by automating design tasks and simplifying workflows. They inspire ideas, reduce risks in testing designs, and allow businesses to focus on innovation, making the creative process faster and more efficient.
AI social media marketing tools face several limitations in business applications. AI tools lack emotional intelligence which is crucial to build relationship with the audience. Another key limitation of AI in social media marketing is its struggle with delivering authentic personalisation. To address this, businesses should oversee AI’s ability to create genuine, tailored interactions or rely on human input for more authentic engagement.
Future of Using AI Tool: The future of AI includes HYPERLINK “https://www.act.com/blog/the-future-of-ai-in-marketing/#:~:text=Real%2Dtime%20customer%20journey%20mapping,agile%20and%20responsive%20marketing%20strategies.”real-time mapping of customer journeys, enabling marketers to instantly understand and respond to customer interactions, paving the way for more agile and responsive marketing strategies. By 2025, AI in social media is set to drive HYPERLINK “https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2024/05/31/marketing-20-embracing-the-ai-powered-future/”personalisation in marketing enabling brands to deliver tailored content based on individual preferences, enhancing customer satisfaction and strengthening brand loyalty.
Ever felt like the skeleton sitting at the computer, after hours of rewriting the same sentence? Writer’s block is something almost everyone experiences at some point, whether you are a student working on an assignment or a member of staff writing a research paper. In Higher Education, writing is central to how we demonstrate learning and share knowledge, which makes it even more frustrating when the words simply do not flow (Campbell, 2019). I have faced this challenge myself, and over time I have found that various approaches can make the process not only easier but also more rewarding.
What follows is a set of practical strategies that I have used personally and encouraged others to try. While not every method will work for everyone, they are flexible enough to apply to anyone currently writing in Higher Education.
1. Talk it through
One of the most effective ways I overcome writer’s block is by talking about my ideas. This was technique recommended by my research mentor who said ‘If you can talk about it, you can write about it’. This works best in two directions: with someone like-minded, who understands where you are coming from, and with someone who will challenge your perspective. It is not always easy to welcome criticism, but when it is framed positively, it opens the door to new ways of thinking and strengthens the final piece of writing. Being out of your comfort zone will help you to grow.
2. Mind mapping with keywords
When your ideas feel dry, creating a visual mind map using keywords can help. I often start by writing a single word in the centre of a page and then branching out to associated words and phrases. Before long, patterns and themes begin to emerge that can later be shaped into a clear argument or structure. This is particularly useful for both academic assignments and research projects where complex topics need breaking down into manageable parts. There are some great tools if you’d prefer to do this digitally, including Canva’s Free Online Whiteboard Tool and Microsoft’s OneNote.
3. Revisit your guidance
Sometimes the block comes from losing sight of the task itself. I remind myself to go back to the original guidance: this could be an assessment brief, a research plan, or my own writing objectives. Regularly checking back helps me stay aligned with what is being asked and prevents me from drifting too far in one direction. Once you have consolidated your guidance, you could try the PEEL method. This approach can reduce the risk of missing associated requirements, while keeping writing focused on its intended goals.
4. Read, read, read
When the words are not coming, read and reflect on what others have written (Dahl, Vasset and Frilund, 2023). Engaging with existing literature not only helps spark ideas but also reassures me that I am part of an ongoing conversation rather than starting from scratch. For students, this might mean reviewing journal articles or textbooks connected to the topic. For research writers, it could be exploring recent research in the chosen field. Either way, reading widely is a powerful antidote to the blank page.
Final thought
Writer’s block is not a sign of failure, but a natural part of the writing process. By talking ideas through, mapping them visually, revisiting guidance, and reading widely, we can create momentum that breaks through the barrier. The important thing is to experiment and find which methods work best for you.
I hope these practical approaches provide a useful starting point for those writing in the Higher Education environment.
Campbell, M. (2019) Teaching Academic Writing in Higher Education, Ssrn.com. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3457352.
Canva (2025) Canva, Canva. Available at: https://www.canva.com/.
Creative Writing Ink (2023) How to Challenge Yourself as a Writer Creative Writing Ink, Creative Writing Ink». Available at: https://creativewritingink.co.uk/how-to-challenge-yourself-as-a-writer/ (Accessed: 16 September 2025).
Dahl, B.M., Vasset, F. and Frilund, M. (2023) ‘Students’ Approaches to Scientific Essay Writing as an Educational Method in Higher education: a Mixed Methods Study’, Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 7(1), p. 100389. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2022.100389.
Microsoft (no date) Introducing OneNote, support.microsoft.com. Available at: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/introducing-onenote-38be036d-5b5a-49ad-83be-292fe53ad7b3.
University of Staffordshire (2024) Library: Academic writing: PEEL Paragraphs, Staffs.ac.uk. Available at: https://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/academic_writing/PEEL.
By Arib Nuhad, contributions from Victoria Gilbert
University life may sometimes get overwhelming. It’s easy to forget that there’s a world just beyond campus walls that does not move at the speed of your Wi-Fi. One of the simplest, most underrated ways to reset is by the canal.
Hidden Canal Gem Near The University of Staffordshire
Here at the University of Staffordshire, not too far away we have the Caldon Canal . The soft shuffle of your footsteps, the rippling reflections, the occasional heron standing like it’s guarding a secret it all invites you to breathe a little deeper. For students juggling coursework and the pressure to “figure it all out”, a walk along the canal can feel like pressing pause on an otherwise noisy day.
The Caldon Canal, an 18‑mile branch off the Trent & Mersey Canal, was completed in 1778 to transport limestone from Caldon Low quarries. It runs from Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, eastwards to Froghall passing through Cheddleton, the Churnet Valley and the idyllic Staffordshire countryside.
Canal walks are perfect for those in-between moments. A post-lecture cooldown, a break between study sessions, or just a reason to step away from your screen. The best part, you don’t need a destination. Often, it’s during a quiet walk when you are not forcing the answers that the most important thoughts emerge: a solution to a tricky assignment, clarity about your course, or simply the realisation that you need to rest.
More Than A Short Walk
Whether you’re walking alone with a coffee in hand or riding your bike to clear your head before a 9 a.m. lecture, the canal offers more than just a shortcut. It’s a quiet thread running through the city, a path where time seems to slow down and life becomes just a little bit more manageable.
If walking’s not your thing, Caldon Canal has plenty of inviting pubs andrestaurants dotted along the route such as Ego The Hollybush Stockton Brook, Hollybush at Denford, Black Lion at Consall Ford and Hatty’s Tearoom Froghall ideal for a well-earned break or a catch-up with friends. Or you may want to try stopping by one of the village shops in Milton, Endon or Cheddleton.
Plus, for the more adventurous, there are opportunities for kayaking andpaddle boarding (just make sure to purchase the appropriate license ). Whether it’s food, fresh air, or float time you’re after, the canal has something for everyone.
A Canal Rich In Nature
You are also never short of company along the towpath. The canal is alive with wildlife vibrant kingfishers darting just above the water, graceful swans and curious ducks gliding by, and geese honking as they go about their day. If you are lucky, you might even spot a deer stepping cautiously through the trees or a grass snakebaskingin the sunshine. These unexpected moments with nature can be quietly magical and exactly the kind of reminder we need to stay grounded.
Further afield while strolling along the canal or joining the canal at a different point you can meet nature amongst two country parks.
Situated in the village of Longsdon Deep Hayes Country Park provides woodland walks, walking trails and stepping stones. You can easily access the Caldon Canal from the car park and maybe consider joining the Leek Branch of the Canal.
As you approach the final point of the canal you can venture across further woodland, meadows, four walking trails, valley views and pools at Consal Forge Nature Park
Art Meets Nature Along The Canal
If art is your thing, the Caldon Canal has something special to offer.
As you walk the towpath, keep an eye out for the canal-side mural trail, a series of vibrant artworks that capture the history, biodiversity, and folklore of the canal. These murals celebrate the natural world and the cultural heritage of the area, blending storytelling with visual designs.
The trail can be found in and around Etruria and Hanley Park, making it easily accessible from the university or city centre. If you are lucky, you might even catch an organised tour or guided walk, where local artists and historians share the stories behind the artwork, offering a deeper insight into the canal’s past and the inspiration behind each mural.
Canal Steeped In Local Heritage and Attractions
If you are looking to extend your adventure beyond the towpath, there are plenty of nearby attractions that blend creativity, history and nostalgia, perfect for a weekend break or a mindful afternoon away from the books.
Just a short walk from The University of Staffordshire, you will find an opportunity to stop by the famous pottery factory Emma Bridgewater . Here you can treat yourself to one of the delicious personally recommended snacks, take a guided factory tour or even unwind painting a plate or mug with your own creative designs! Their seasonal Halloween events and Christmas light switch on are worth a visit to put you in the holiday mood.
Further along the canal in the village of Cheddleton, you will find the fascinating Cheddleton Flint Mill. This historic site is now maintained by volunteers and dates back to the middle age, playing a vital role in the Pottery Industry during the 18th century.
For a dose of nostalgic charm, hop aboard the Churnet Valley Railway offering an opportunity to travel through the Staffordshire Countryside offering several themed experiences throughout the year including murder mysteries, Halloween Express and the famous Polar Express. Whether you want a nostalgic escape or looking for an opportunity to volunteer, the railway offers something for everyone while viewing the canal from a new perspective.
Your Local Reset Awaits
Whether you need a quiet moment, a creative escape, or a bit of fresh air, the Caldon Canal offers the perfect local getaway right on your doorstep.
Actually, the days of mass marketing campaigns and generic advertising are numbered as AIMarketing is fast approaching and as quickly as ever, it will eventually take over. If you are not hopping on this trend, you will later realise that your brand will be left behind and who ever wants that!? This AIMarketing trend utilises the sole power of Artificial Intelligence to reform how brands reach and connect with their audiences, delivering tailored personal user experiences, converting tasks into automation and unlocking extraordinary opportunities for brands.
What Exactly Is AI Marketing?
AI marketing can best be described as a wide range of marketing strategies where brands utilize artificial intelligence to enhance their marketing efforts. This includes:
User Tailored Experiences: AI helps in accessing customer data to deliver tailored messages and experiences. This can be seen in areas like customized product recommendations on e- commerce sites, targeted ads, and tailored email campaigns
Data-Driven Decision Making: AI algorithms enable the assessment of various numbers of data while discovering patterns, customer trends and subsequently use these findings to determine future behaviour of the audience. This then allows brands to make informed decisions, optimize campaigns which result in achieving better results.
Marketing Automation: AI helps in automating repetitive tasks such as data entry, social media scheduling, and email campaigns, thus enabling more time for brands to focus on other important marketing plans such as creative ideation.
Chatbots and Virtual Assistants: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants is constantly on the rise as it provide quick customer support, answer frequently asked questions, and even help with product recommendations, enhancing customer satisfaction and minimizing the stress on the marketing team
Content Creation and Optimization: AI now serves as a tool for content creation. For instance, generating blog post ideas, writing social media captions, as well as developing short-form video scripts. AI tools can also be used to optimize content for search engines, making sure your message reaches the right audience.
Predictive Analytics: AI algorithms can tell in advance various customer behavior, giving brands room to anticipate future needs of their audience and subsequently address such potential needs. For example, AI might predict which customers are likely to engage in a particular content and this will lead to brand setting up a targeted retention campaign.
Current Trends in AI Marketing
The era of conversational AI: It is important to note that AI trends involve Chatbots and voice assistants becoming very advanced, thereby giving room for more ordinary, relatable interactions with customers.
The introduction of AI across the customer journey: AI is being introduced across various touch points of the customer journey, right from the first awareness of your brand to the audience to the last touch point of them becoming a loyal brand user.
How To Get Started with AI Marketing
Identify your business goals: What do you hope to achieve with AI marketing? Increase brand awareness? Drive sales? Improve customer satisfaction?
Choose the right AI tools: Select the AI tools that best suit your brand needs and budget. You can also check out platforms for social media management, email marketing, chatbots, and data analysis.
Start out with a small-scale AI marketing plan to test the waters and gain valuable experience.
Monitor and analyze results: Track key metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, customer engagement, and return on investment (ROI) to measure the effectiveness of your AI- powered campaigns.
Continuously learn and adapt: The sector of AI is constantly evolving. Staying updated on the latest trends and best practices i is important to ensure that your marketing efforts remain competitive and stand out.
The Emergence of Generative AI
Generative AI, like ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, is shaking things up in marketing big time. These incredible tools can whip up amazing content, create jaw-dropping visuals, and tailor experiences for each customer in a way we’ve never seen before.
Imagine this: AI dishing out tons of high-qualitycontent – blog posts, social media , emails, even video scripts. Now, more than ever, brands always can keep a steady stream of awesome content flowing and reach a whole lot more people.
Now, while AI can’t replace the magic of human creativity, it’s an incredible source of inspiration and ideas. Marketers can use AI to explore new creative territory, try out different approaches, and unlock a whole new level of creativity.
But here’s the thing: AI is just a tool. It can automate a lot and give us amazing insights, but we need to keep a close eye on things and make sure we’re using it responsibly. Transparency, data privacy, and that human touch in customer interactions are absolutely essential.
The Future Of AI For Brands
The future of AI marketing holds immense potential for brand owners.
Predictive Personalization: Imagine AI predicting customer needs and delivering hyper tailored experiences before customers even know they want them.
AI-Powered Brand Storytelling: AI can assist brands create more engaging and catchy narratives by exploring customer data and identifying the best themes and messages that resonate deeply with the audience.
Proactive Customer Service: AI-based systems can predict customer inquiries and distinctively address these inquiries, thereby enhancing overall customer satisfaction and subsequent loyalty Increased Brand Consistency: AI can ensure an enhanced brand consistency across all social media channels by automating tasks and making sure that all customer interactions are appropriately in line with brand guidelines.
Establishing New Streams of Revenue: AI can also help brands to identify new market opportunities, create new and improved products and services, and enhance pricing strategies to create maximum profitability.
So Has AI Marketing Finally Come To Stay?
AI is rapidly transforming the marketing landscape. A recent Gartner report predicts that by 2025, AI will be responsible for 30% of all marketing and sales activities. Brands that embrace AI and leverage its power effectively will gain a significant competitive advantage. So yes, It has come to stay!
This project is interested in the presence in North Staffordshire (defined as Stoke on Trent, Newcastle under Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands) of an IT or digital sector of substantial size, high productivity, and continued growth relative to the local economy. The purpose of this research is to conduct primary research:
(i) to map the IT sector in North Staffordshire;
(ii) to analyse the IT sector origins, structure, performance, and current and potential role in the local economy; and
(iii) thereby to inform evidence-based policies to sustain and develop this emergent sector.
Very early findings of the project were reported in this blog
Report 1
Includes theoretical underpinnings of the project and analysis of a range of secondary datasets to illustrate there is a significant digital cluster in North Staffordshire
Suggested citation: Pugh G, Li Y, Gregory M and Fairburn J (2025) “Digital Stoke”: a new opportunity for a second-order post-industrial city. Report 1.
Primary research including interviews with companies in the study area, a survey of companies in the area, analysis of a secondary data set and mapping of data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Due for release Sept 2025
Report 3
Covering history of the development of the cluster
Case study polices from elsewhere to support the digital sector
Recommendations for supporting the digital sector in North Staffordshire
This project has been supported by the following local organisations:
Stoke City Council,
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
Newcastle under Lyme Council
Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce
Presentations of findings during various stages of the project have been given to:
As the UK celebrates National Parks Week a time to appreciate the beauty, biodiversity, and importance of our natural landscapes it is the perfect opportunity to explore how green spaces closer to home support our wellbeing, education, and sustainability goals.
Did you know that Stoke-on-Trent is home to a hidden green sanctuary? Nestled beside the Leek Road campus, Staffordshire University’s Nature Reserve is a 10-hectare haven of biodiversity and tranquillity officially designated as a Natural HeritageSite. This peaceful escape offers students the chance to reconnect with nature, reflect between lectures, and enjoy riverside walks just steps from their academic base.
With habitats including reed-marshes, ponds, deciduous woodland, wildflower meadows, and river corridors, the reserve is an invaluable resource for student wellbeing, academic inspiration, and wildlife conservation.
🌊Restoration for Nature and Education
In partnership with the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and the Wild Trout Trust, the university restored a formerly straightened 400-metre stretch of the River Trent between 2020 and 2021. This restoration introduced naturally meandering channels, gravel shoals, and backwater pools ideal spawning grounds for brown trout and safe havens for otters, dragonflies, damselflies, and kingfishers.
This ecological enhancement is more than a conservation effort it is a living classroom, offering rich opportunities for sustainable education, research, and real-world learning across multiple subject areas.
📚Course Connections: Nature Inspires Innovation
Beyond relaxation, the Nature Reserve also fuels creative and critical thinking. Surrounded by birdsong and wildflower meadows, students often find that ideas flow more freely—whether:
📈 Shaping a business pitch
📲 Creating a digital marketing campaign
💼 Analysing ethical investment strategies in Accounting and Finance
🌍 Exploring sustainable tourism or planning a social enterprise model
🎢 Relaxing after a high-energy placement at a local theme park a perfect way to unwind, reflect, and reset in nature
This natural setting supports cross-disciplinary learning, helping students apply classroom knowledge in a reflective, imaginative, and environmentally conscious context.
🧠 Why Nature Matters for Student Wellbeing
The benefits of green space are well documented. Spending time in nature can:
🧠 Improve concentration, memory, and cognitive performance
💡 Enhance creativity and academic focus
Whether you are recovering from a busy day on placement, juggling coursework, or reflecting on your dissertation topic, our nature reserve offers the space to breathe, reset, and thrive.
🏡 Sustainable Student Living: The New Student Village
Looking ahead, Staffordshire University is set to transform on-campus living with its brand-new Student Village, opening in September 2026. Located on the Leek Road campus within the nature reserve this multi-million-pound development will offer:
🏠 Over 1,000 modern, energy-efficient student rooms
🧱 700+ brand-new cluster and townhouse units
🛏️ Refurbishment of around 300 rooms at Clarice Cliff Court
🌱 A strong focus on sustainable construction and green design
📍 Plan Your Visit – And Discover More Green Gems
We will be sharing more about green spaces, biodiversity on campus, and hiddengems across Staffordshire in future blog posts. Whether you are enhancing your Business, Marketing, Visitor Attraction and Resort Management or Accounting and Finance or a degree in a different discipline, or simply taking time to recharge, these spaces help you succeed academically and personally.
This development reinforces the university’s drive to become a forward-thinking, environmentally responsible institution, integrating eco-friendly values into every aspect of student life.
Joe Wilde is co-founder of Unspun, a premium CBD brand focused on edibles and customer education. Previously, he spent over a decade in management consulting at Accenture and DXC, working with global companies on business and technology strategy.
After 8 years in San Francisco, it was time to come home and start my own company. We chose CBD because we felt we had an unfair advantage – having lived in California’s mature cannabis market, we could see the UK’s nascent CBD market was messy. We felt we could do better, so we started Unspun.
For those unfamiliar, CBD is a natural compound from hemp plants that can help with sleep and stress. It’s not the part that gets you high.
Friends were skeptical about leaving a senior consultancy role, but two years later Unspun is growing 20% month-on-month.
One thing I realised I needed was a community of people trying to build things – something I’d taken for granted in SF. That’s why I joined the MSc in Entrepreneurship at Staffordshire University and why I’m sharing these lessons.
Here are five hard-won lessons that students and aspiring entrepreneurs can apply to any competitive market.
Lesson 1: Customer Research Trumps Assumptions (Especially Your Own)
We launched thinking we’d go super playful – that’s what worked in the US. But UK customers wanted trust, not fun, due to lingering social stigma.
Even then, we got our audience wrong. We assumed our customers would be the sandwich generation (people caring for both kids and aging parents), but when we spoke to actual customers, the youngest was 48.
Your first customer research is just the beginning. Customers will surprise you – keep listening.
Lesson 2: Simplicity Wins in Confusing Markets
Competitors like Orange County have over 250 SKUs. We have 5. Decision fatigue came up repeatedly in our customer research – in a market where people are already confused about CBD, endless product variations just make it worse. Our focused approach means customers spend less time choosing and more time trusting.
When everyone else is adding complexity, there’s often opportunity in subtraction.
Lesson 3: The Product Really Matters
California taught me edibles dominate while oils are niche. But the UK market wasn’t ready, so we started with oils alongside drinks like Trip and Good Rays, knowing chocolate was our real opportunity.
As a small company, we can’t compete on price, so we compete on quality. Cold-pressed CBD in our gummies, Colombian cocoa in our chocolate – not just CBD products, but products that happen to contain CBD. Every premium decision costs more upfront, but customers notice.
Lesson 4: Build Trust Before Transactions
In a market where trust is everything, we realized we needed to educate before we could sell. That’s why we partnered with Ruby Deevoy, the UK’s most credible cannabis journalist.
Education-first marketing works. Our most popular piece is about whether CBD shows up in workplace drug tests – it’s not selling anything, but it answers a real concern people have.
Lead with value, not sales pitches. Answer the questions keeping your customers awake at night, and they’ll remember you when they’re ready to buy.
Lesson 5: Do Things That Don’t Scale (It Feels Counter-Intuitive)
As a small company, we can’t outspend competitors, so we focus on customer experience. We use Klaviyo for automated email flows, but we also do things that don’t scale – like spending time on phone calls discussing customers’ questions in detail.
It works. Our returning customer rate (RCR) is 50% vs the 22% industry average. We include handwritten notes in every package and resolve issues immediately.
Lean doesn’t mean cheap – it means efficient. Build systems that feel personal even as you scale.
The Bottom Line for Student Entrepreneurs
First, talk to your potential customers. Are you solving a real problem? Read The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick to learn how to ask better questions – it’ll save you months of building something nobody wants.
Second, start with a hypothesis, test it, iterate. You can think about a problem forever, but there’s no point in building a perfect fictitious business.
Finally, be realistic about why you’re doing this. I’d still earn more in consultancy – don’t think of entrepreneurship as the easy way out. Do it because you have a burning desire to build something.
Images are the primary medium of documentary photographers. Although photographs can illustrate or suggest, they do not have the capacity to explain or reason. Images do not quite convey meanings like language does. They are more akin to poetry, often leaving audiences yearning for deeper insights and context. Understanding the context of an artwork – such as the time, culture, and the artist’s influences – can deepen and enhance our appreciation, allowing us to engage with the work on a more informed level. This is where podcasts come in. They provide a platform for photographers to share the stories behind their images, explain their creative processes, and connect with audiences. Now that podcasts have surged into the mainstream, they can complement photographers’ visual storytelling, offering opportunities to build awareness, establish trust, and generate revenue.
What is a Podcast?
A podcast is an episodic audio series in which one or more hosts discuss a chosen topic. Themes can span nearly any subject. These series are easily accessible online and on various devices, enabling listeners to tune in whenever they choose. While many are free, some increasingly require subscriptions.
Podcasts: A Medium on the Rise
In 2022, the UK had 21.2 million podcast listeners, projected to exceed 28 million by 2026, highlighting the medium’s growing popularity. Worldwide projections estimate that there will be 500 million podcast listeners by 2025. Podcasts have become a leading form of audio entertainment, especially among younger audiences, with nearly 40% of listeners aged 26 to 35 tuning in weekly. A 2022 survey revealed that most people in the United Kingdom – 57 per cent – listened to podcasts primarily for entertainment. Also, in the survey, 48 per cent of respondents cited a desire to learn something new or deepen their understanding of familiar topics as a key reason for tuning in.
You may ask yourself: how would I fit my serious topics into an entertainment show?
Innovate by collaborating with entertainment podcasters to reach new audiences.
Entertainment podcasters excel in making complex or mundane topics engaging and relatable. Documentary photographers can tap into this skill to present their projects in an exciting way. For instance, if you are a street photographer, you could collaborate with an entertainment podcaster to explore city life’s quirks and vibrancy, turning anecdotes into humorous commentary while subtly addressing deeper societal themes.
If you are an environmental photographer, you could create an engaging yet thought-provoking dialogue with the host on the peculiarities of human behaviour that contribute to environmental problems. The documentary photographer, tackling topics like consumerism, media representation, or stereotypes, might find a natural fit with podcasters who specialise in satirical takes on modern life. This layer of commentary resonates with comedy fans while retaining the gravity of the underlying issue. It is important to note that this advice is specific to documentary photographers. Photographers focusing on other genres, such as portraits, wildlife, or fashion, must tailor their messaging and approach to their unique audiences and subject matter. Ultimately, such collaborations offer mutual benefits. The photographer gains exposure to a new audience and builds awareness, while the podcaster diversifies their content. This cross-promotion can occur through joint marketing efforts, such as sharing episodes across both platforms or hosting giveaways.
Establishing Authority and Credibility
If you have conducted extensive research for your documentary projects, you likely possess expertise in the subject matter. Use this knowledge to position yourself as a thought leader. The world of podcasting is changing fast, with niche podcasts and specialised content leading the way as listeners increasingly seek experiences tailored to their interests and needs. The podcasts you host or appear on do not have to focus solely on photography; instead, use your expertise to discuss topics where you excel. Add value to the conversation by showcasing your insights. This builds trust, reinforces your professional identity, and drives interest in your photography projects.
In 2019, Google announced the ability to search for and play podcasts directly on its platform, positioning them as a valuable element of a comprehensive search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy. While Google cannot “listen” to podcasts to evaluate their content, providing podcast transcripts on your website allows the platform to index and rank the material effectively, as the content is accessible as text. For effective SEO, ensure your podcast-hosting platform supports SEO features or prioritises SEO to help your podcast rank on Google. Include a link to your website in your podcast’s show notes so listeners can easily click it while tuning in. Once there, they should be able to find sections dedicated to your portfolio, blogs, services, and ways to connect with you.
While many people use dedicated podcast platforms, YouTube is now the second-largest search engine in the world and the top three destinations for podcast listeners. You can tap into a fresh audience by creating podcasts that address popular search queries.
Measuring the return on investment of podcasting can be challenging, particularly for beginners. Rather than seeking immediate gains, approach it as a tool to build awareness and develop a long-term strategy. But still, even as a newcomer, you can monetise through affiliate marketing by earning sales commissions or securing sponsors relevant to your podcast’s niche. Once your podcast gains traction and establishes status, you can explore additional opportunities, such as offering online courses or mentoring. View podcasting as a long-term endeavour with the immediate benefits of engaging listeners and laying the ground for future opportunities.
Podcast Industry Future Trends
The future of podcasting lies predominantly in AI and machine learning. While some AI elements in tools like Descript and Adobe Podcast are still in beta, they are set to become stable, more useful and reliable. These tools could soon handle fully automated editing for you. As AI gets better at analysing conversational flow, it will deliver more accurate transcripts, making it easier to share them on your website and improve search engine indexing.
On the listener side, machine learning could enable real-time AI-translated dubbing of podcasts, overcoming limitations of currently available transcriptions and allowing podcasts in one language to be heard in another. With these advancements, the barriers to entering podcasting will keep dropping, making it easier than ever to integrate podcasts into your practice.
The way in which authentic brand-customer relationships form has grown increasingly difficult, with growing importance on brand authenticity and swelling distrust on social media used to reach them.
This article will cover how a growing platform intended for gamers can help you stand out and circumvent many of the difficulties faced in growing an online community/
Discord is a voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) platform providing servers to users to interact through video, voice and messaging.
Founded in 2015, Discord was once the self-determined domain of the gaming community, but now boasts over 200 million monthly active users. An incredible 78% claim to use the app for mostly non-gaming activity or equal use as it’s transitioned into a beaming social hub obscured from traditional brand activities present on social media.
“Discord is a “bellwether for what the future of digital is going to look like”
Matt Maher
Some big brands have already started using discord for marketing activations such as Chipotle and Gucci, but more often used by influencers and content creators to interact with their community and create new methods of engagement.
Should you build a discord community?
If you’ve started to wonder whether or not discord might be right to be the next level of engagement for your community, it’s worth looking at a few of the advantages it can provide:
Two-way communication between brands and customers
Algorithm free – all posts and media are in chronological order
Segment customers through multiple channels based on key criteria
Real-time analytics to measure the impact of engagement strategies
Develop value exchange that offers a win-win alternative to prevalent data gathering methods such as cookies
Democratising access to brands that have a higher barrier to entry
Decide if your community should be public or private
If you’ve taken the dive to build a discord server, one of the early decisions is the way in which people join.
Discord provides the option to keep server’s private, meaning that they must be invited by someone with admin privileges. Whilst it can limit the growth, it comes it’s with its benefits, such as: added security, exclusivity, easier moderation and a deeper connection with server members.
Some creators prefer this route, ensuring genuine community members. ShxtsnGigs, an award-winning weekly podcast by James Duncan and Fuhad Dawodu, offer Discord access to members that have subscribed to their Patreon, vetting (and rewarding) those that join.
Alternatively, marketing campaigns or some influencers may welcome open access to reach a wider audience. Whilst discord allows you to index your server to be discoverable on the platform, you can also list your server on 3rd party sites via keywords and descriptions such as Disboard, Discord Expert, Discord Server List, Top and Discord Me.
Enable yourself as a community server
No matter where you begin, there’s one crucial step to growing your community on discord: marking your server as one! You can do this by heading to Server Settings > Community and going through the setup process.
Once designated, a breadth of new features to help your community as you scale will become available, such as:
Welcome screen – a personalised page for new visitors so they know what your community is about and where to begin.
Announcement Channels – A place to broadcast messages both to and beyond your server. Users can “follow your channels” to get updates published in their own servers.
Stage Channels – Host conversations between a small number of members with up to 1000 community members listening in.
Membership / Rules Screening – Ensure that new members agree to your community’s guidelines before they can talk, react or direct message other members.
Server Insights – Find out how your community is performing on a number of Key Performance Indicators.
Server Discovery – Display your community directly on the platforms Server Discovery page.
The layout of a discord server is key for user experience and retention – and can often times get confusing.
The Server Architecture of Genshin Impact
Discord allows you to create channels which can be assigned to separate categories. The concept of it is no different to a website and requires a little bit of pre-planning.
Create a welcome category, with channels for rules, role determination and onboarding – you can customise questions that have to be answered for them to gain access to different channels and can be specific to information you want to learn about them.
Have an announcement channel, where you can post news or share new content
Include essential discussion channels for topic related to your company
Make use of private channels for admins and for different tiers of community members
The Onboarding options in OpenAI’s server
Leverage the use of Bots
One of the biggest advantages of discord is the use of official and community developed bots to help automate processes.
Bots can be used for a multitude of purposes – such as automating moderation by automatically identifying violating behaviour and revoking server privileges, or by acting as a jukebox and joining your audio channels to play the hottest tunes! Notably, they can be vital in supporting community engagement, by posting announcements whenever new content is posted somewhere!
MEE6 Landing Page
MEE6 is the most popular discord bot around – which you can get started with here
Host regular events
Discord has the capability to support engaging events for your community to add another layer of interactivity and connect with members on a deeper level such as:
Use Stage Channels for a live podcast, WatchParty new content, Quiz nights or Q&A session
Host game nights with the built-in discord game library or external games.
Schedule events to promote upcoming content – Canadian artist “Grimes” used a discord event to share a snippet of the song “Shinigami Eyes” in 2021.
Creating an event is easy – just click Create Event by clicking the dropdown arrow under your server name and providing details. Discord will implement it into the server and announce it to members where they can indicate attendance.
Event Setup in Discord
When creating an event, make sure to schedule it in advance, considering different time zones and availabilities!
Measure your Impact
Once you’re up and running you can use Server Insights to judge the performance of your server, identifying trends in the engagement ration between chatters and lurkers, member recruitment, retention and the success of your onboarding.
You can even select date ranges to quantify the success of server events!
About a year ago, I, alongside fellow University of Staffordshire lecturer Dr. Karen Castle, began researching the ‘dissemination habits’ of our Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) apprentices. One of several apprenticeship programmes offered by Staffordshire Business School, CMDA sees individuals from a range of public and private sector employers complement learning on the job with university study for roughly 20% of their time. Towards the end of the programme, the apprentices produce a work-based project, the equivalent of an honours project on a full-time degree, which requires them to implement a significant change in the workplace.
By ‘dissemination habits,’ we mean the ways in which apprentices share the findings of their work-based projects with others both inside and outside their organisation. Karen and I were interested in this because we had seen apprentices do some amazing things with their projects, work that changed their organisations’ fortunes and, in some cases, even saved lives. Our research involved interviewing apprentices to find out how they shared these findings, and what we quickly noticed was that apprentices wanted to share them externally, but needed to find a ‘good home’ for them. From this, we identified a gap in the market: the opportunity for a journal that bridges the divide between academia and practice. Subsequently, the Journal of Vocational Research and Practice (JVRP) was born.
We don’t want JVRP to be just for apprentices. It’s a home for any work-based learner – whether that’s apprentices, full-time students on placements, or those employed full-time and studying qualifications in their own time at their own cost. We also don’t want it to be level-restrictive. It shouldn’t matter whether you’re studying at Level 2 or Level 8; if you have something new and innovative to offer, we want to hear about it.
To support this, we offer diverse submission formats. These include traditional 5,000–10,000-word peer-reviewed articles, but also shorter 1,500–2,000-word reflective pieces or accounts of practice, and even 10-minute poster presentations with accompanying MP3 audio, for those wanting a visual and auditory alternative. Our most exciting initiative, however, is our Hackathon Special Issues. These are themed calls where we, or a guest editor, present a pressing challenge and invite submissions on how to address it. We currently have one running on innovative support mechanisms in apprenticeships, with many more to come.
If there’s one thing we want to achieve with this journal, it’s empowering people and giving them a voice. We believe innovation can come from anyone, at any level, in any sector; and too often, that’s missed. JVRP is a space where practice meets research, and where ideas born in the workplace can find a wider audience and make a bigger impact. For our recent launch, we put together a special editorial issue written by our board, focused on how to craft these projects, package them up, and share them effectively. We call it our ‘dissemination toolkit’ – and we encourage you to take a look!
