by Dr Bharati Singh

For my 4^th blog in 5 years, I have decided to move away from writing about my learnings from the corporate sector and instead write a personal reflection on my encounter with mental health.

I have been on this planet for half a century now and have experienced highs and lows both in my personal and official life. Growing up in India, in school when we came across classmates who did not do well or did not understand simple things or failed – we just called them ‘stupid’ or ‘dumb’. We did not have any awareness of learning disabilities or mental health. The first time I learnt about ‘dyslexia’ was from a Bollywood movie called ‘Taare Zameen Par’ (Stars on the ground, 2007).

Then, I met with a huge personal tragedy in 2011 which made me leave India and move to England. It was here that I learnt about various learning disabilities and about mental health. This was also the time when back home in India, there were discussions about mental health and some famous Bollywood stars started talking about their own personal experiences with depression.

This is when realisation dawned on me that I myself had experienced issues with mental health but not having any awareness and not knowing the symptoms, had just plodded on with my life. However, there were indications which I had overlooked like severe weight loss and alopecia leading up to my departure for England in 2012. I joined University of York to read for a PhD and forgot my troubles as there was a very strong collegiate life and a very strong social network. After 16 years of corporate life, it was difficult to get back to studying but the atmosphere was very conducive with the support from my college, colleagues, supervisory team and the friends I made.

In the last year of my PhD, I secured a full-time job and moved to Staffordshire University at Stoke. The first 5 months were consumed with the new job, understanding my role, impending PhD viva and subsequent corrections. Just after submitting my PhD corrections, post-PhD blues or depression hit me. While, I had great colleagues, they went home to their families after work, and I would come back to an empty flat. I lost 1.5 stones in the space of 2 months. Finally, after 4-5 months, I decided to seek professional help.

However, in all of this, I did not lose focus at work. I had literally restarted my career at age 46 in HE and gave it my all. Slowly, I made friends in Stoke and travelled quite a bit. Along with the professional help I received and the support of family and friends, old and new, I became mentally stronger.

The World Health Organisation (WHO, 2022) has stated that depression is one of the main causes of disability. However, there are still many countries which still do not recognise mental health and people suffering from it may face different types of discrimination. Today, globally mental health ranks second in health concerns having overtaken cancer (Ipsos, 2022; ).

In UK alone, 1 in 6 adults suffers from depression (Pindar, 2022; ). NHS stats (July 2022) state that 1.61 million people have been in contact for mental health services.

While organisations have focussed on employee mental health, workplaces have seen an increase by 81% post pandemic (MHFA 2022; ). However, most of the action is reactive rather than being proactive. MFHA further states that UK employers spend almost £56billion per annum on mental health.

Just last month in October 2002, we celebrated World Mental Health Day.

However, just celebration alone will not help the cause. If you feel that someone may be suffering from any kind of mental health or you yourself may be feeling the blue, please remember:

IT IS NOT A TABOO

DON’T BE AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT IT

SEEK HELP

By Kathryn Mitchell

Email Marketing is still considered one of the most influential and dominating digital marketing methods (Paulo et al., 2022). In a transformational world, it has often been predicted that email would be the declining digital marketing technique used to communicate with customers. But time after time email is still empowering our customers (Hartemo, 2016) and will continue to do so. In this practical blog, I have provided you with some insights that may just change the way that you manage your email marketing.

In a study conducted by the Digital Marketing Institute, interviewing 200+ global marketing leaders, they found that email marketing regularly stands out for its versatility and flexibility to market almost any product in any industry (Ripton, 2022). Additionally, in 2020, email was found to bring an average of 35% ROI to businesses using it as a form of communication for their audience (Statista, 2020).

Since emerging, email marketing has been an early adopter of innovative digital capabilities. Automation introduced an efficient concept built of predefined rules, personalisation and trigger functionalities, that allowed marketers more time for productivity, avoiding reactive intervention (Mailchimp, 2021). It could be said though that success is based on effective usage. Econsultancy’s annual Email Marketing Industry Census suggests that whilst return on investment is most successful via email marketing, 33% of participants considered their automation skills as ineffective (Murphy, 2018).

In 2021, we saw an increase in marketers using emojis in email content and subject lines. This arguably soon became careless, forgetting the structured readability guidelines (Content Design London, 2020). Similarly, GIFs should be used in the right way to ensure clear context, short load time and expression of brand values (Mullen, 2022).  

These findings have shown that it may not be the type of digital marketing methods that you are using, but how you are using those opportunities. Here are 5 top tips to consider to stay competitive when creating an effective email marketing approach.

1 Flexibility First

Stay nimble to the changes that take place. Digital marketing can be a test and development process, so ensure that within your planning, you allow for flexibility, moving with internal and external change. Marketing is heavily influenced by the events within the wider business operations, tune in to that and allow it to shape clarity in your messaging.

If you would benefit from a structure to support this, consider the use of SOSTAC (Smith, 2022) to encourage the strategic stages to be present within your planning.

2 The Customer Counts

Before you are tempted to click that send button, ask yourself, is my message answering the customer’s question? No digital marketing activity will be successful if you don’t first have a clear understanding of your target audience (Vaughan, 2022). Explore who you are trying to sell to, investigating their Wants, Needs, and Desires. You may even want to understand their values and what they deem as important when they are choosing to invest in a brand.

3 Objective Outlook

Remember the end game. What are you trying to achieve? If we do not know what we are trying to achieve, how will we know how to measure success? For tactical support in creating effective objectives, try the 5S model. Providing a systematic approach to setting objectives will ensure that success can be understood.

4 Adaptable Aesthetics

The big question here is, where is your customer consuming their digital content? Put yourself in their shoes and imagine them going about their everyday – what do you see? Based on trends, they are likely to be a part of the 67.1% of the global population accessing information on a mobile device (We Are Social, 2022). Your mobile marketing strategy has never been more important, so ensure that your chosen email platform allows for responsive design.

5 Rule, Review and Refine

Your final task is to be fluid. Understanding your email marketing effectiveness will ensure that you are aware of the success factors and techniques which are encouraging interaction from your audience. Build in regular AB testing, and review periods and ensure that you listen to your customers and refine your approach to suit their needs.

References

Content Design London, . (2020) Emojis, Readability Guidelines. Available at: https://readabilityguidelines.co.uk/images/emojis/ (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

Hartemo, M. (2016) “Email marketing in the era of the empowered consumer,” Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 10(3), pp. 212–230. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/jrim-06-2015-0040.

Mailchimp, . (2021) What is email automation? A beginner’s guide, Mailchimp Marketing Library. Available at: https://mailchimp.com/en-gb/marketing-glossary/email-automation/ (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

Mullen, A. (2022) Email marketing trends in 2022: Examining design, privacy and process, Econsultancy. Available at: https://econsultancy.com/email-marketing-trends-in-2022-examining-design-privacy-and-process/ (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

Murphy, D. (2018) “Silver bullet or Millstone? A review of success factors for implementation of marketing automation,” Cogent Business & Management, 5(1), p. 1546416. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2018.1546416.

Neil Patel, . (2021) A beginner’s guide to A/B testing: Email campaigns that convert, Neil Patel. Available at: https://neilpatel.com/blog/ab-testing-email-campaigns/ (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

Paulo, M., Miguéis, V.L. and Pereira, I. (2022) “Leveraging email marketing: Using the subject line to anticipate the open rate,” Expert Systems with Applications, 207, p. 117974. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2022.117974.

Ripton, J. (2022) Why email marketing is still crucial in 2022, DigitalMarketer. Digital Marketer. Available at: https://www.digitalmarketer.com/blog/email-marketing-in-2022/ (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

Smith, P.R. (2022) SOSTAC® official site, PR Smith Marketing. Available at: https://prsmith.org/sostac/ (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

Statista, S. (2020) Roi of e-mail marketing in the UK 2020, Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/283067/return-on-investment-roi-for-email-marketing-in-the-uk/ (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

Vaughan, P. (2022) How to create detailed buyer personas for your business [free persona template], HubSpot Blog. HubSpot. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/buyer-persona-research (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

We Are Social, . (2022) Digital 2022: Another Year of bumper growth, We Are Social UK. Available at: https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2022/01/digital-2022-another-year-of-bumper-growth-2/ (Accessed: November 4, 2022).

Kat Mitchell teaches on undergraduate and post graduate courses in Digital Marketing and can be emailed Kathryn.Mitchell@staffs.ac.uk

By Dr Mohammad Ali Wasm

In my blog in 2019 (https://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/business/2019/10/28/the-return-of-the-post-study-work-visa/) I evaluated the potential of the return of the post study work visa.

Despite the lag in the uptake of the scheme due to the pandemic, student numbers have started to pick up significantly and we see a shift in postgraduate numbers from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and other countries. The undergraduate enrolment went up by almost 24.1% from the year 2016/17 and only about 5% from 2019/20 and postgraduate about 13.08% from 2019/20.

The postgraduate increase is mainly because the route is more beneficial because of a shorter time frame to completion compared the undergraduate route. Furthermore, many students prefer to get an undergraduate degree from their own country and then add more value through an international postgraduate degree.

The implications of this influx of international students could be many. On the one hand it would boost the financial benefit for the universities post pandemic . In addition, it will create more employment opportunities at the universities as the student numbers cannot be managed with existing staff. The labour market will benefit as well from the part time work being offered by these students to cater to their living costs. The value addition for the UK economy as planned by the reopening of the Post study work visa regime would be a qualified workforce which would not only contribute but also fill the gap which was created in the workforce post Brexit.

The government needs to ensure that the scheme runs for a few years as cutting it short may result in a negative impact as was the case when the scheme was abolished in 2012.

Given the current cost of living crisis, and as most of these international students have to face significant visa and other costs with their move to the UK. Only time will tell whether the full benefit of the scheme is captured.

Ali Wasim teaches a number of courses in the business school including the Apprenticeship programs CMDA and ODMA.  

By Professor David Etherington

In the last few years I have been working with colleagues in the University and Citizens Advice North Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent (CANSS) on the causes, experiences and actions against poverty in Stoke on Trent. Early 2022 we produced a study[1] on the cost-of-living crisis and we found that austerity through benefit and public services cuts has been a major cause of increasing poverty. Before the COVID-19 crisis, Stoke-on-Trent was the 14th most deprived district in England (out of 317 districts) and possessed one of the highest rates of people on low pay and with low skills. In 2016, the Money Advice Service ranked Stoke-on-Trent as the 12th in terms of numbers of people in excessive debt.[2] We found that food banks in the district have been overwhelmed with people unable to meet basic living costs.[3]

The recent changes (September 2022) to the fiscal policies involving tax cuts will do little to help, and will in fact intensify poverty. Government cost of living support for benefit claimants (around £650 for UC and ESA claimants)[4] will be nowhere near what is required even to ‘make ends meet.’[5] It seems that the Government are hell bent in punishing the poor as Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is promising more benefit cuts.[6] Work is not a route out of poverty as the Government claims as two-thirds (68%) of working-age adults in poverty live in a household where at least one adult is in work.”

Instead, they are implementing a tougher claimant regime through the plans to impose benefit sanctions as part of the ‘Way to Work’ initiative to move people quicker off benefits into work.

The time allowed for jobseekers to move to their preferred job is being reduced. Anyone deemed non-compliant will face sanctions and reduced income[8]. Already there has been a quadrupling in the rate of benefit sanctions in Stoke since before the pandemic.[9]

Furthermore there is no guarantee that benefit increases will be in line with inflation leading increasing housing and health poverty. The health of people in Stoke-on-Trent is generally worse than the England average. According to Public Health England, Stoke-on-Trent is one of the 20% most deprived districts/unitary authorities in England and about 24% (12,660) children live in low-income families. Life expectancy for both men and women is lower than the England average.[10]

Victoria Canning from Bristol University and Steve Toombs (Open University) claim that the Government’s policies are the equivalent of social murder. This is due to the excess deaths caused by poverty. They define social murder as “the outcome of deliberate policies that facilitate social, economic and political oppression, and which lead to untimely and ultimately avoidable and preventable deaths. While corporations and wealthy elites will benefit substantively from the decisions made in the mini-budget, some at the bottom of the increasingly disparate economy in Britain will lose their lives as a result.”[11]

David Etherington is Professor of Local and Regional Economic Development in the School of Justice, Security and Sustainability, Staffordshire University. David has been researching welfare reform, poverty and employment relations, including a comparative study of the UK and Danish welfare models. Some of his research has been published in a book in 2020 Austerity, Welfare and Work: Exploring Politics, Geographies and Inequalities, Bristol, Policy Press

[1] Etherington D Telford L and Jones M and Harris S and Hubbard S (2022) The Pending Poverty Catastrophe in Stoke on Trent: How benefit cuts and the cost of living crisis impacts on the poor, Staffs University/(Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke on Trent), (March 2022)

[2] Financial Inclusion Group North Staffordshire (2019) Financial Inclusion Group North Staffordshire Business Development Plan 2019 – 2025. 

[3] https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/7270/3/The_Pending_Poverty_Catastrophe_in_Stoke-on-Trent.pdf

4] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment#low-income-benefits-and-tax-credits

[5] https://www.jrf.org.uk/press/chancellor-must-strengthen-measures-help-cost-living

[6] https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/30/kwasi-kwarteng-and-liz-truss-eyeing-benefits-cut-to-pay-for-tax-plans-17478448/

[7] Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2022) UK Poverty 2022: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK. York: JRF.

[8] https://cpag.org.uk/news-blogs/news-listings/it-wont-work-why-way-work-scheme-undermines-efforts-help-people-get

[9] https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/hundreds-stoke-trent-benefit-claimants-7191218

[10] https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/static-reports/health-profiles/2019/E06000021.html?area-name=Stoke-on-Trent

[11] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/02/mini-budget-will-result-in-social-this-winter