In Focus - Uni Australia

Your Name & Position: Rowan Kunz, Business Development Manager
Your Business Name: Uni Australia
Launched:  July 2010
Staff: 4 + 25 University Writers across Australia

See Uni Australia's listing on MediaScope

What is your experience and background?
I have a background in education and working with young people. I run a multi award winning academic coaching business which operates across NSW and became involved with Uni Australia as BDM based on my own experiences at university. I started a course (Law - which I eventually completed), purely because I liked the sound of it, rather than really understanding what it involved. I realized that while I completed the course and found my feet, many other students did not, which was why I became part of the team at Uni Australia.

How and why did you start Uni Australia?
University is one of the biggest decisions anyone makes – it affects an individual’s health, wealth, and happiness in the short and long term. Despite this fact, a staggering 1 in 5 university students quit their course in the first year due to dissatisfaction and unhappiness.

Uni Australia began out of a simple question - Why do so many students quit their course in the first year? We discover the key was a lack of education – while students could visit open days at universities, and speak to career advisors and friends, it often only gave them an incomplete picture of what a course and university where actually like.

We decided to change this by reaching out to tens of thousands of university students across Australia to ask them about their experiences. We now provide 35,000 university student reviews, ratings, and rankings on all Australian universities, a national course directory for university courses, and Lonely Planet style articles and guidebooks designed to help students transition to life at university.

What features & benefits do you offer advertisers?
We receive highly targeted niche traffic – high school students and prospective university students from across Australia and overseas who are looking to undertake tertiary studies in the next 12-18 months. Over the last 6 months, over 35,000 students have used the site to make a more informed decision about university. As a result, we are uniquely positioned to help tertiary education institutions & education providers directly reach and influence high school students contemplating further study.

We provide banner advertising, course directory listings and guidebook advertising and sponsorship.

Can you outline the good and the bad about being an independent media business?
Good:  Independence! We get to represent what it is truly like on the ground for a student at a university.

Bad:  As a small relatively new company, sometimes the gap between your vision and your budget cannot be bridged!

Please outline your sales structure?
We sell advertising and sponsorship directly – in fact, that is my job as BDM!

What advice would you offer to anyone thinking of starting a commercial media business?
Talk to your target market before you do anything – get to know them, what drives them & what their needs are.

Where do you get your business information from?
Books (Amazon and Book Depository junkie), Smart Company, AFR, BRW, and a lot of blogs from people involved in Silicon Valley.

Would you like to be profiled like Uni Australia?  Please get in touch

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