Is your research institute invisible online?

Why the key to being found isn’t a new marketing plan, but a new type of hire: the embedded digital specialist.

Your institute manages a multi-million-pound budget and coordinates the work of dozens, if not hundreds, of world-class researchers. Your team is producing high-impact work, meeting the rigorous demands of funding bodies, and contributing significantly to your university’s research excellence framework. On paper, the engine is running perfectly.

So why does it feel like you’re running a powerful lighthouse with the lamp switched off? You have the structure, the expertise, and the high ground to be a beacon for your entire field. Yet the ships you are meant to guide – the commercial partners, the best doctoral candidates, the policymakers – are sailing past, following other lights because yours is nowhere to be seen on the horizon.

The hard truth is this: this isn’t a failure of research power. It’s a failure of being found online.

In a world where every potential partner, policymaker, and future prodigy starts their journey with a search query, your institute’s website is your primary gateway to influence. If your expertise isn’t showing up on the first page of Google or being surfaced by AI, you’re losing the battle for relevance before it’s even begun.

Work with central support, but understand its limits

Your first port of call should always be the university’s central support system. You have access to a pool of talented people in the central marketing, communications, and web teams. Most universities have these teams and it’s vital you build a strong relationship with them.

Go to them. Work with them. You need their support. A central PR team often has the contacts to land your research in the press. Marketing teams have the infrastructure to help you attract the best postgraduate and doctoral students. They are essential partners in the university’s ecosystem, and your institute cannot succeed without them.

But once that partnership is in place, it’s crucial to be honest about the structural reality. There is a gap between what they can provide and what a multi-million-pound research institute truly needs to thrive in the digital world.

They’re stretched across the whole institution

First, there’s the issue of bandwidth. These teams are supporting the entire institution – every department, every school, and every other research institute. They are stretched thin, juggling competing priorities. They simply don’t have the capacity to dedicate the deep, consistent focus your institute deserves. They can offer a support ticket but can’t offer a dedicated resource.

Second, their primary mission at most universities is student recruitment. The university’s entire marketing engine is geared towards attracting prospective students. Your institute’s mission to attract strategic partners and influence policy is a secondary concern. There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s just the reality of higher education. But it means their strategic goals are not your strategic goals.

They’re not embedded in your world

Finally, and most critically, they are not embedded in your world. They don’t sit in on your lab meetings or bump into your post-docs in the corridor. They don’t understand the nuances, the quiet breakthroughs, or the unique language of your field. They are outsiders looking in, which means they can only ever translate the information you give them. They can’t help you find the stories you don’t even know you have.

This isn’t a criticism of the people. It’s a diagnosis of a system that was designed for a different purpose. To truly switch on your lighthouse, you can’t just rely on a remote operator. You need someone in the tower.

The strategic hire: The Content Strategist

The person you need in that tower is a Content Strategist.

This role isn’t about managing a department or attending endless committee meetings. It’s about being a hands-on specialist dedicated to a single, critical mission: translating your institute’s value for a digital world. They are a strategic doer who bridges the gap between your researchers’ brilliant work and the people you need to reach.

Put simply, they are the expert responsible for getting your institute found online.

Here’s what that looks like in practice. A Content Strategist is the person who:

• Acts as your translator. They can sit with a researcher, understand the core of their latest paper, and turn it into a clear, compelling article that an industry partner can actually read and understand. They find the story inside the data.
• Builds your digital authority. They are experts in how search engines like Google and AI assistants work. They ensure that when someone searches for expertise in your field, it’s your institute that shows up. They don’t just create content; they build the system that makes it visible.
• Aims the beam of the lighthouse. They analyse the marketing data to understand who is engaging with your work and why. This allows them to focus your efforts, ensuring your research is seen not by just anyone, but by the right people: the potential funders, the high-value collaborators, and the next generation of top-tier talent.

This is a role that requires a unique blend of skills: the intellectual curiosity to engage with complex research, the writing craft to make it accessible, and the technical knowledge to make it perform online. They don’t just manage the message. They get their hands dirty building the engine that turns your academic assets into tangible, real-world influence.

What to look for: The profile of a Content Strategist for research

Knowing you need a Content Strategist is one thing; knowing how to hire a great one is another. You’re not looking for a generalist marketer or a junior assistant. You’re looking for a specific and rare blend of skills.

The best way to picture the ideal candidate is as a “T-shaped” expert. Think of their skill set like the letter T.

1. The horizontal bar: broad strategic awareness The top of the T represents a wide, working knowledge of the entire digital marketing landscape. They understand how social media, email marketing, PR, and paid advertising all fit together. This is crucial because it means they can think strategically. They won’t just create content in a vacuum; they’ll understand how it integrates with the work of the central university teams and how it serves the institute’s bigger picture.

2. The vertical stem: deep, specialist expertise This is the most important part. The stem of the T represents a deep, hands-on mastery in the specific areas that will make the biggest difference to your institute. For this role, that expertise must be in:

• Content Strategy & Copywriting: The ability to translate complex research into clear, compelling stories that resonate with non-academic audiences.
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): The technical craft of ensuring your website and its content are structured to rank highly on Google, so partners and talent can find you.
• AI Engine Optimisation (AEO): The emerging skill of making sure your institute’s expertise is recognised and surfaced as a definitive source by AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s SGE.

Crucially, hire a champion, not an assistant

Your first hire in this area needs to be a leader. You need someone who can walk in, audit the situation, and build a strategy from the ground up. They need the confidence and experience to guide you and your academics, advise on best practices, and champion this new way of thinking within the institute.

A recent graduate or a junior assistant will not have the strategic experience to do this. They will require management and direction.

Chances are you may already have an admin person who looks after updating your website. But that will only be a small part of their job and they’re not a specialist in this area.

An experienced hire, on the other hand, will be a self-starter who provides direction, not asks for it. You’re not just filling a gap. You’re hiring the person who will build the lighthouse lamp, switch it on, and make sure it never goes out.

Making it happen: A pragmatic approach to budget

At this point, you might be thinking, “This sounds great, but I don’t have the budget for a new, senior-level salary.”

This is the most common hurdle, and the solution is simpler than you think: don’t hire a full-time employee.

The best and most experienced Content Strategists often work on a part-time or fractional basis. The digital world changes at a relentless pace, and for many top specialists, working with a portfolio of clients is the only way to keep their skills at the cutting edge. They are constantly experimenting, learning, and applying new techniques in different environments.

This creates a huge opportunity for you. It means you can bring in a genuine, senior-level expert for two or three days a week—a ‘strategic doer’ who can build and execute your strategy without needing the full-time salary.

Typical UK salary for senior Content Strategists

To ground this in reality, let’s look at typical UK salaries for these roles. A senior Content Strategist with the strategic and technical skills we’ve described commands a full-time salary in the region of £55,000 or more. A part-time arrangement makes accessing this level of expertise far more attainable. You get the benefit of a strategic champion and a hands-on specialist for a fraction of the cost of a full-time leadership position.

This isn’t about finding a cheaper option. It’s about making a smarter investment. You are securing high-calibre, up-to-the-minute expertise that will deliver a direct return in the form of increased visibility, stronger partnerships, and a more powerful case for future funding. You’re not adding a cost; you’re investing in an asset.

It’s time to switch on the light

The quality of your research isn’t in question. Your facilities are world-class, and the minds within your institute are brilliant. But in today’s digital world, quality alone is not enough to guarantee influence.

The path to being found online isn’t paved with more meetings or another committee-approved marketing plan. It’s built by a dedicated specialist with a unique set of skills – a Content Strategist who can translate your academic expertise into tangible digital authority.

The choice, ultimately, is a simple one.

You can continue to produce world-class work inside a powerful but dark lighthouse, or you can make the strategic hire that finally switches on the lamp and guides the world to your door.

About the Author

Nate Smith is a Content Strategist with a deep background in Higher Education marketing. He helps bridge the gap between academic expertise and real-world influence by building the digital systems that ensure brilliant work gets found by the right people.

Think your institute is ready to bridge that gap? Connect with Nate on LinkedIn.