Clearing solutions

The number one destination for students applying through Clearing. We create winning marketing campaigns that will smash your Clearing student recruitment targets:

Always on - Brand building
The Uni Guide
University Partner Pack (UPP) - plus extra value packages
Display advertising
Clearing forum sponsorship
Clearing sponsored content
Always on - Engagement
Clearing TSR Talks
Email and SMS  - full database
Listicle emails
Official Reps
Research
Research products
Conversion
The Uni Guide lead generation (cost-per-lead)
Competitor targeting SMS or emails
Ada programmatic (offsite retargeting with conversion tracking)
Course interest and location targeting
Email and SMS - targeted
Clearing forum sponsorship
Clearing sponsored content

The Uni Guide

Convert Clearing applicants with our powerful direct response tool

The Uni Guide attracts a highly-qualified audience of students who are making their final university choices. Lead buttons on your profile encourage prospective applicants to: request a prospectus, submit an enquiry, book an open day, or visit your website. We also boost your traffic using search promotion. In Clearing 2021, we saw a tenfold year-on-year increase in leads. During Clearing, we can also boost your courses to the top of search.

Guarantee a great return on your investment with our fixed price cost-per-action model.

Display 

High visibility on the UK's largest online student platform

All campaigns are highly targeted, meaning every impression makes a powerful impact on a receptive student audience. We serve your ads alongside our top-performing Clearing content, securing you the maximum traffic, exposure, and engagement rates.

Our experts put different creatives through a rigorous testing process and optimise towards the best-performing ad formats, so you get brilliant results.

Clearing button - only 10 available

Clearing buttons grab applicants' attention throughout the peak Clearing period

Benefit from prominent ad placement across The Student Room site during the key Clearing window (mid-July - end of August). Clearing buttons also appear on The Student Room homepage under "Spotlights" in the sidebar.

We also offer creative direction to maximise the impact of your campaign.

A minimum of 1 million impressions guaranteed.

Email Clearing applicants

Reach our entire Clearing database 

Students in our Clearing database are waiting to hear from universities like you.

Emails to our full database get an average open rate of 26.7%.

In 2021, one university achieved an open rate of 34.1% and a CTO of 9.6%.

Listicle emails

An authentic way to reach a minimum of 100,000 prospective Clearing applicants

Feature in a listicle email to reach a huge student audience by splitting your share of voice with other universities.

Choose from Premium and Standard slots (depending on your needs and budget).

These emails give students a high-value, authentic user experience because they offer choice.

SMS

Text students about Clearing places in Results Week

Students are never far from their mobile phones.

Get instant exposure to thousands of Clearing applicants by sending an SMS in Results Week.

Click-to-deliver rate 5.2%

Competitor targeted email or SMS

Reach applicants who are interested in your closest competitors

Competitor targeting drives amazing performance by focussing your message on a high intent audience. Tell us who your top ten competitors are and we will build a bespoke database of Clearing applicants who are expressly interested in those universities (and yours). Your email or SMS will reach applicants in the run-up to A-level Results Day, ensuring your university is front-of-mind during the prime consideration stage of their decision-making journey.

Available to a maximum of 10 clients (August pre-results day send).

Subject-specific marketing - Email and SMS

Target applicants who have opted-in to hear about specific courses

84% of Clearing opt-ins declared at least one subject interest. Target Clearing applicants who are showing a strong interest in your course or faculty. Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze targeted sends available by email and SMS:

Target by location

Target by subject

Clearing Forum Sponsorship

Sponsor a forum to maximise your exposure to Clearing applicants

This excellent brand awareness campaign lets you takeover a forum with high-impact display. Make an impression where students are making important decisions about Clearing. You can choose from a range of application and subject-specific forums to target your ideal audience (see media pack for details).

Applicants will mentally associate your brand with useful content that helped them to plan their futures.

Clearing Sponsored Content

Position your brand on articles that help Clearing applicants secure a university place 

By co-branding with The Student Room you will leverage the trust students place in our platform. You will also position your brand as the authoritative voice on your chosen topic.

Roadblock your content with display advertising for a winning solution that encourages undecided or unplaced students to engage.

Clearing TSR Talks

Your experts attract Clearing applicants

Showcase your most inspiring experts and use their star power to attract Clearing applicants. Your Guest Speaker will author a discussion and respond to students' questions live on our platform. We'll promote your TSR Talk and roadblock competitor ads so that only your brand will appear on your page for a year. You'll also get expert youth engagement training.

We only host one TSR Talk per week during Clearing, so book early.

University Partner Pack (UPP)

Connect with Clearing applicants at every stage of the journey

The ultimate student recruitment and engagement tool. Let students know what's special about your university using a rich, multi-media profile on our site and get to the heart of key conversations as they happen using Official Reps. An UPP includes:

• Three Official Rep accounts
• University Guide (ad-blocked)
• Ad-blocked dedicated university forum
• Keyword alerts
• Exclusive access to student research (inc. Navigating Changing Options)
• 10% discount on other TSR products*

Ask us about bolt-on remarketing and TheUniGuide packages to get extra value.

*Some exclusions apply (please ask your Account Manager)

Research

TSR Insight is our in-house full-service market research agency and has exclusive access to The Student Room community for market research. The team specialises in higher education and is reliable, flexible and easy to brief.

These research services are ideal for Clearing:

• TSR Asks - monthly omnibus survey targeting prospective university applicants
• Vote and Tell - test your Clearing creatives on our student audience