Emma Lister is head of marketing at Calderdale College, based in Halifax.
With over 10 years of experience in marketing, Lister is part of a small in-house team that supports all aspects of the college from 16-18 courses, apprenticeships and business training to more than 5,000 students each year.
At Prolific North’s 2023 Marketing Awards, the team recently won the award for Best In-House Marketing Team.
Here, Lister shares what a recent week in her life looks like.
Monday
It’s a slightly bleary-eyed start to the week, having spent the weekend graduating from my Level 5 qualification in Leadership and Management – but there’s a spring in my step nonetheless!
Monday kicks off with a team presentation to our director of commercial services and partnerships, where we pitch our marketing plan for the year and share updates on our college marketing strategy. Our marketing strategy puts a spotlight on the already celebrated qualities that make us the college of choice for our existing students, partners and staff.
After the presentation, we enjoy home-baked cookies courtesy of our team’s answer to Mary Berry.
We submit entries to the Association of Colleges’ Beacon Awards and then it’s an afternoon of 1-2-1s and planning. The team gathers and we refer to our fantastic new operational plan to run through project updates. I love new ways of organising and managing capacity, and it’s a busy start to the first term so we need to maximise resources where we can!
I finish my Monday with a free gym session at the College, which includes a circuit run by a local rugby legend.
Tuesday
I spent the morning with the college leadership and management team working on our departmental self-assessment reports, reflecting on the last 12 months. We’re nine months into the execution of our marketing strategy so I have lots of exciting updates to include in our team’s report.
It’s time to catch up on campaign performance with my team and identify where changes should be made to upcoming activity to reflect the analytics.
Our course guide 2024/25 arrives after months in production and we’re impressed with the final result! Also – you can’t beat that fresh-off-the-press scent!
When the day comes to an end, it’s time for a brisk walk around my favourite reservoir to unwind and reset.
Wednesday
We have a team stand-up meeting to capture the key operational updates and priorities for the day. It’s the 24-hour countdown to our National Manufacturing Day event at our Engineering Centre and our marketing team leader is sharing the final arrangements and briefing the team.
We head to the recording studio on campus where on Monday we will film our new podcast series. We do a quick sound check. Testing…testing…
I meet with one of the project managers for a new programme the college is running to deliver numeracy training to residents and businesses across the county. We discuss the possible barriers to accessing training and how we can alleviate those barriers with different strategies.
Thursday
National Manufacturing Day has arrived and we’re opening our doors to over 200 young people at our Engineering Centre. This is a real opportunity to demonstrate the wide variety of careers in manufacturing, from technical roles to leadership positions.
The event hosts many audiences throughout the day, finishing with pizza and networking with local businesses. I have a go on the F1 in Schools race track and find myself losing miserably. My reaction time leaves something to be desired and it’s clear I don’t have a future in F1 racing!
Friday
It’s straight into the final prep for Monday’s podcasts. We host briefings with the presenters and discuss foliage décor, music and pre-podcast haircuts – all of the key considerations when preparing for any podcast…!
Then we jump on a Teams call with our branding agency to catch up on current projects and brief some incoming tasks.
The team share with me some fantastic media coverage – the perfect way to end what has been an extremely busy but successful week.
