Marketing URLs policy

Purpose 

This policy establishes the guidelines for creating and approving marketing URLs (short, user-friendly URLs) intended for promotional and marketing purposes. Marketing URLs should provide a direct and accessible path to key University-related web pages, enhancing engagement across digital and printed materials.

Definition and purpose of marketing urls

• Marketing URL: A marketing URL is a shortened, easy-to-remember URL designed to redirect users to specific pages on University-owned websites  It serves as a user-friendly alternative to longer URLs for use in advertising, promotional materials, and outreach. 
• Intended usage: marketing URLs should be used solely for University-endorsed pages that align with core University activities, such as admissions, events, research highlights, and community initiatives. 
• University-related pages only: marketing urls must link directly to pages on official University websites or platforms (www.manchester.ac.uk or subdomains) and to not link into websites or applications on other domains.  If a marketing URL is needed for a page outside University websites, a URL shortener such as bit.ly is recommended. 
• Clear branding and relevance: the URL should clearly represent the destination’s purpose, maintaining consistency with University branding.
• Usage in approved materials: marketing URLs may be included in both digital and print media as part of official University marketing efforts, including but not limited to flyers, social media posts, posters, digital ads, and publications. 

Marketing URL formats

If using a marketing URL on digital media that redirects to the corporate website or another external-facing University website, the marketing URL should have either of these formats:

• www.manchester.ac.uk/xyz - example: www.manchester.ac.uk/arrival 
  • This marketing URL may redirect to a page on the central domain such as www.manchester.ac.uk/folder/abc/xyz  or a subdomain such as www.subdomain.manchester.ac.uk/folder/abc/xyz or sites.manchester.ac.uk/nameofsite or external-facing content on other sub-domains such as documents.manchester.ac.uk. 
  • It requires approval from the Division of Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment (DCMSR).

• www.subdomain.manchester.ac.uk/xyz - example: www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/courses 
  • This marketing URL must only redirect to a page within the same subdomain such as  www.subdomain.manchester.ac.uk/folder/abc/xyz
  • It does not require approval from the DCMSR.  

• www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/xyz - example: www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/our-values  
  • This URL may redirect to pages within the Staffnet site such as www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/folder/abc/xyz or internal-facing content on other sub-domains such as documents.manchester.ac.uk. 
  • It requires approval from the DCMSR. 

Request and approval process

• Submission of requests - any staff members may request a marketing URL using the Marketing url form from the IT helpdesk system. The request must include: 
  • Destination URL: full URL of the University web page to which the marketing URL will redirect. 
  • Proposed marketing URL: suggested shortened URL for consideration. 
  • Date needed for. 
  • In some cases, the intended use will also be needed- a brief description of the URL’s intended use, target audience, and related marketing materials. 
• Review and approval - request will be reviewed to ensure that: 
  • The destination page is appropriate and aligns with University goals. 
  • The proposed marketing URL is clear, user-friendly, and compliant with branding guidelines. 
  • The URL will not create confusion or interfere with existing marketing URLs. 
• Once approved, the marketing URL will be set up by IT and the requester will be notified of the approval and setup. If the request is not approved, the requester will be informed along with any next steps or alternative options available.

Management of marketing URLs

• Modification requests: if a change in the destination URL is needed, a modification request must be submitted to DCMSR for review via the Marketing url form.  

Best practice

Marketing URLs used on digital media and printed publications should ideally be a single whole meaningful English word, or multiple words, which can be separated by hyphens for clarity. They should comply with the following principles:

• Be all lower case and avoid any punctuation except a hyphen where necessary (no spaces, dots or underscore characters). 
• Only use acronyms and abbreviations if they are familiar to the audience. 
• Clearly convey the specific facet of the University the website represents. 
• Be memorable (a long memorable word is better than an abbreviation that is hard to remember). 
• Be a folder not a filename, to avoid users having to worry about file endings (eg use www.manchester.ac.uk/xyz not www.manchester.ac.uk/xyz.html or www.manchester.ac.uk/xyz.htm). 
• Certain words cannot be used as marketing URLs. These include words used as main headings of the University site (study, connect, discover, collaborate, research), those already in use as marketing URL and others at the discretion of DCMSR.