President's Message

Message from the ATMA President

Welcome to the first of four editions of ATMAsphere planned for 2009.
Since many of us got together at the 2008 Annual Conference in Melbourne, the environment in which we operate continues to provide exciting challenges and opportunities.  Not the least being the Bradley Review, contestability and the ‘Three Pillars” outlined in the Deputy Prime Minister’s recent announcement on the VET sector.
In this edition of ATMAsphere, we share with you some of the 2008 ATMA award winners'strategies and tips, which we hope will inspire you to considering entering this year.  Key dates for entries in the 2009 awards can also be found in this edition of ATMAsphere.
There’s a feature article on the work being undertaken by the Joint National Communications Project and an introduction to the new ATMA Board.
The 2009 conference will be held in Sydney, November 11-13, and this year sees ATMA broaden its scope and appeal by welcoming other training organisations within the VET sector to participate. Please mark your diaries now!
Enjoy reading ATMAsphere.

Alison Werner
ATMA President

Welcome to the 2009 ATMA office bearers and state representatives
President                          Alison Werner (Qld)
Vice President                  Fran Cane (NSW)
Treasurer                         Rosalie Staggard (Vic)
Secretary                          Vacant

New South Wales            Fran Cane and Gretchel Trost
Queensland                     Alison Werner and Jody Hart
South Australia                Pat Mueller and Esther Daniell
Victoria                             Rosalie Staggard and Marg Atley
Western Australia            Vacant

Esther Daniell

Esther Daniell is currently employed as the Senior Marketing Consultant for the TAFE SA Marketing Unit (Regency location)
She has had extensive experience in marketing, public relations, event and program management in government and private industry, both in South Australia and interstate.
Esther's academic qualifications include Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education (Adult specialisation) and she is currently completing a Graduate Diploma in Marketing.
Esther is further an active member of the community volunteering her services for various community organisations.

Marketing Excellence Awards

Get recognised for your marketing and business development excellence and success by entering the 2009 ATMA Marketing Excellence Awards.
Entries close 31 July with winners being announced at the national conference dinner in Sydney on Thursday 12th November
To read about some of the 2008 winners' strategies and tips and seek more information on the 2009 awards, categories and judging criteria, click here.

And the winner is...

Winning the 2008 ATMA, Excellence in TAFE Marketing (Innovative Commercial Strategy/Service/Product) was a real honour for Appetite for Success (TAFE SA) - in getting recognised for excellence in marketing, as an innovative program and acknowledgement from national colleagues. It has led to greater awareness of the program, increased interest from industry and potential participants at a national and state level.
Our biggest advice is to not take on the task on your own. If at all possible, have a few people involved in the process – the experts providing the information and someone to write the submission from beginning to end. You need to be consistent with language and avoid ‘TAFE speak’.
Overall, the submission of putting together an award is a very lengthy process – it takes a lot of time to research and gather information and then writing the actual award takes countless hours! That said, it is an extremely valuable process as it makes you assess the program and revisit current practice.
Be positive and preserve! It is all worth it when you hear the words “And the winner is….”

Read More...

2008 best marketing campaign over $50,000

TAFE Queensland’s corporate enrolment campaign featuring TAFE’s industry experienced teachers was judged the bets marketing campaign over $50,000.
In a continually changing market with aggressive industry competition, TAFE Queensland’s corporate branding campaign reinforced TAFE as market leader, maintaining enrolment levels of some 230 000 students across 13 institutes.
The corporate branding campaign aimed to address the strengths and challenges by focusing on one of TAFE’s greatest assets – its teachers.
Research indicated that the TAFE teacher’s industry experience and the diversity of choice offered at TAFE are both great selling tools.
The concept message ‘learn from industry professionals’ was new to potential students and made TAFE a more serious avenue for developing or renewing a career. It also identified that TAFE students benefit from the skills of professional, industry experienced teachers.
The ‘learn from industry professionals’ concept was fresh to the market. By highlighting TAFE teacher’s industry experience and their names, a sense of respect for TAFE was gained from the test audience.
The campaign utilised a number of communication channels appropriate to TAFE Queensland’s key target groups in metropolitan, regional and rural areas. The campaign includes coverage across TV, print, radio and internet media to ensure TAFE Queensland continues to feature prominently in the marketplace and attract key audiences.
The importance of reaching the target audience through non-mass media has also been considered and will be addressed by individual institutes in their region. Institutes will take a greater focus on non-mass media or ‘personal’ media through a combination of direct marketing, event marketing and public relations activities in the lead up and during this campaign to reflect the range of opportunities available with TAFE.
A separate communication strategy to target influencers and gatekeepers of the primary target audience (school-leavers and young adults) will be developed and implemented by TAFE Queensland to compliment the messages of this campaign. This communication strategy will include a range of non-mass media designed to reach the target audience.
With a strong creative and message take-out, the campaign resulted in increased brand awareness, while competitor brand awareness dropped.  Student enrolments were strong, particularly within the primary target market and web and call centre enquiries also grew.
The highly successful campaign communicated the key message of ‘learn from industry professionals’ and reinforced the underlying brand positioning statement of ‘anything’s possible’.
Positive results were achieved in a tough business environment, with low unemployment numbers, stagnant demand for training and a highly competitive marketplace.
To view the ads visit www.tafe.qld.gov.au

2008 ATMA Marketer of the Year
In 2008, Small Business Solutions won the Australian TAFE Marketing Award (ATMA) Marketer/Business Developer of the Year. This award is a proud achievement of the MSIT Marketing team supporting Small Business Solutions.

Small Business Solutions
Small Business Solutions has been in operation since March 2007 and has been an incredible success in supporting almost 1000 business owners to achieve qualifications and receive business support through this innovative program.
Action Item 9 of the Queensland Skills Plan outlined the goal to deliver a range of training services to increase the success rate of small business enterprises.
As lead institute for small business, Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE (MSIT) was given responsibility for implementing this action.
After extensive consultation with small businesses, MSIT launched Small Business Solutions with the support of TV personality, David Koch, a strong advocate of small business throughout Australia.
The initiative is a partnership between Skilling Solutions Queensland, the Department of State Development and MSIT, as well as industry bodies such as AIG Australia, the Australian Institute of Management and Commerce Queensland.

Mentoring
MSIT has ensured that Small Business Solutions provides practical, on-the-ground support and mentoring to small businesses across Queensland to improve their growth, profitability and success through personalised, one-on-one mentoring from experienced and accredited business professionals.
As part of the initiative, business mentors provide Business Health Checks to assist in analysing business performance. This allows them to identify areas that will help grow and sustain a small business.
In addition to business mentoring, small business owners are assessed for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). This means that they can be recognised with national qualifications through TAFE by assessment of their existing work experience competencies
Since its launch in early 2007, Small Business Solutions has grown considerably to become a viable and mature business support program available throughout the state to small business owners.
The program began with 10 qualified business mentors and has expanded across the state to over 35 mentors offering business support and skills recognition in a wide variety of industry areas.

Expansion
The Small Business Solutions initiative has now spread to include mentors in areas such as Mackay, Hervey Bay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Townsville, Darling Downs and far Western Queensland rural areas such as Cunnamulla.
This state wide expansion means that business owners throughout the state are serviced with access to a Small Business Solutions business mentor regardless of where they conduct their business.
The next exciting step for Small Business Solutions is the national expansion of the initiative. Recently, MSIT announced the first interstate partnership in Western Australia through West Coast TAFE (based in Perth WA).
This rewarding relationship means that MSIT will proudly continue to expand SBS at a national level with a range of interstate partners.
In 2008, MSIT has extended the SBS program to Chinese and Indigenous markets through alliances with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Indigenous Business Association.

The Joint National Communication Project

The Joint National Communications Project is one of the Strategic National Initiatives in the 2005-2008 Commonwealth-State Agreement for Skilling Australia's Workforce.  The intent of the project is "to improve public perceptions of vocational education and training, particularly in the traditional trades".   The project is managed by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and funded via the Ministerial Council for Vocational and Technical Education.  The Joint National Communications Project is undertaking projects to inform ongoing communications and actions.  
One key research project, The Vocational Education and Training Attitudinal Research Project, was presented at the ATMA conference last year.  This baseline measure study of attitudes to VET involved a sample survey of 9,011 working-aged Australians supplemented by a series of focus groups with specific target audiences.  It provided hard evidence of the extent of people's knowledge of, and attitudes to VET, and how these influence career intentions. Details of the availability of this research will be included in the next ATMA newsletter.
Other activities identified as part of the Joint National Communications Project action plan currently being undertaken include:

Key messages and branding for marketing VET
This work will focus on developing key messages for marketing VET that
would appeal to people in the Australian community and would attract
them to consider VET - and which could be used in marketing products,
even if they are generated separately by different levels of government
and the private sector.  These messages will be tailored to specific market segments, based on evidence from the initial, research phase, of the Joint National Communications Project. 

The work will result in the development of messages themselves, as well as advice about the key channels that would be most effective in communicating messages, and specific 'hooks' that might be used to enhance the impact of key messages.  The work will provide evidence of the effectiveness of the messages developed and a high-level
implementation strategy for use of the full set of messages, channels and specific 'hooks' in the VET sector across various levels of government and the private sector. Additionally, the work will undertake an assessment of the value and challenges of branding in VET, develop options for branding and undertake preliminary market testing of the options.

Defining elements of VET
This project will result in an overall description of the elements of VET that makes sense to the key users.  Specifically, it will produce an information product (or products), which defines the elements of VET, that can be used widely in the Australian community.  The product(s) will be user-centric, in that it will contain information and be presented in a way that meets the information needs and learning styles of at least two distinct user groups in VET - those who undertake VET courses; and employers who offer places for apprentices, employ people with VET qualifications or utilise VET training for their employees. 
As the results of these projects are released, the information will be shared with ATMA members and key stakeholders.

Australian Training Marketing Conference

In 2009, ATMA brings you the ‘Australian Training Marketing Conference’.
This years conference will “Connect, engage, captivate” you! 
Speakers will evoke you to develop, enhance and generate ideas on ways to connect with your customers on a new level in the digital age - highlighting new methods of communication and demonstrate how you can implement them into your business.
The conference will explore the changing trends of the marketing sector and how you can utilise these changes and implement them. Keynote speakers will focus on:
•         Changing landscape of VET
•         Changing society and marketing trends
•         Connecting in the digital age
•         Integrated marketing communications
•         Making connections B2B
•         Leading change
Breakout sessions will focus on how to be strategic with the methods we use, with topics such as:
•         Market research – tips and tricks
•         Technology guide to a successful e-marketing strategy
•         Building your brand: tactics for success
•         Writing with influence
•         Conducting business conversations
•         Using technology to engage customers
•         Creative business development strategies

Being held on the 11th to 13th November 2009, the Australian Training Marketing Conference in Sydney, it is a great opportunity to network.

Hope to see you there.

Research

The environment in which the VET sector operates
According to Australia’s National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), at present, key environment factors include:

•the recent deterioration in general economic conditions, with geographic regions and industry sectors facing differing economic prospects and significant impacts on parts of the community a strong emphasis on skills development by the Australian Government, within a framework encompassing early childhood education, schools and VET; there is also a focus on trade training and higher-level skills
•the Australian Government’s focus on the role of VET in promoting social inclusion
•an emphasis on outcomes and accountability following the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
•decisions regarding funding
•the formation of a national strategic view on the future funding of VET
•a greater focus on competition and contestability in the VET sector to drive responsiveness, with ‘market design’ emerging as a critical issue
•a reassessment of the relationship between VET and higher education following the completion of the Bradley review of higher education (link to http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Review/Pages/ReviewofAustralianHigherEducationReport.aspx and the Cutler review on innovation, (link to  http://www.innovation.gov.au/innovationreview/Pages/home.aspx) with the Bradley review recommending an expansion of NCVER’s role to cover tertiary education more broadly
•the completion of the National VET Data Strategy undertaken by the Allen Consulting Group for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
•a focus on the physical environment and hence the need for the training system to respond to changes in industry driven by water shortages and the introduction of emissions trading
•long-term challenges relating to the ageing of the population.

Source: p3, NCVER 2009 Strategic Plan  (link to http://www.ncver.edu.au/pubs/stratplan09.pdf)

Membership Subscriptions

Are you serious about TAFE marketing? Want the best contacts and networks for your job?  Want access to useful, inspirational ideas and methods used by other ATMA members?   Make sure your ATMA subscription is up-to-date.

Annual subscriptions are due now.  For full details, see the Members section of the ATMA website.