4. Second-Year Course Headline (4 marks) Create one headline promoting second-year digital courses in this program, targeted to first-year students. You must provide:
a) Provide the headline
b) Explain your reasoning clearly using class content
“Master SEO, Web Design and Digital Marketing in Second Year: Start Building Powerful Career Skills”
For a headline aimed at first year students in regard to second year courses, I knew that I would have to start pivoting somewhat away from a focus on high school students effectively. In my headline’s creation, I wanted to first consider how I could communicate value through mentioning the tangible skills that students would gain upon completing their second year of this program as opposed to referencing any course codes. The skills I chose to highlight were more practical skills that are in higher demand among companies looking to hire such as SEO, Web Design and Digital Marketing (this covers both email marketing and content class under the same umbrella). The reason why this is so impactful in a headline like mine for this program’s second year courses is the fact that first year students have mainly been focused on learning theory based classes such as ADV211 where little practical work is done. I recognize that in order to keep first year students interested enough in our program to desire to continue on into second year with both their time and financial investments, I need to highlight what they are motivated by which is skill acquisition and being ready for a stable career they felt incentivized by prior to even starting the program. Therefore, by stating that students will get to master certain key skills, I am emphasising the value provided from the second year of this program through mentioning how second year courses for them will place emphasis on practical learning rather than just hearing about theory.
In addition to this, my headline will also help to reduce any uncertainty that they are facing regarding second year courses. This uncertainty might be coming from being unsure of what second year involves or hearing negative social proof from others around them in regard to the work load they will face. The headline I created is truly aiming to help create a reduction in this uncertainty by informing students that they will gain technical skills and practical experience that they can keep with them for the rest of their careers after the second year finishes. Furthermore, the headline is helping to provide these potentially nervous or uncertain students with a great level of clarity about what the second year will consist of. I did this by avoiding over promises or over exaggerated wording of the headline so that I could communicate clearly without any friction who the second year courses are for, what they will acquire in terms of skills from these courses and why it matters through the mentioning of their careers. This is also significant for ensuring that the headline is properly aligned with the user intent of these first year students as they are often going to be concerned about preparing for their careers and building up skills for their resumes. Ultimately, having courses like Web Design 1 and 2, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing and Developing Internet Marketing Content highlighted in the headline itself helps to directly address these concerns to reduce uncertainty to the furthest extent possible while keeping the 4 U’s in mind when it comes to being unique, ultra specific and useful in this headline. Overall, my headline for second year courses is effective for reaching the target audience of first years as it communicates value, reduces uncertainty, provides clarity and is relevant to their needs/wants.
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