When marketing for a school or college, you need to have the right promotion strategies in place. Start by reaching out to the right audience. And the best way to do that is through an integrated marketing strategy.
A successful marketing strategy is one that incorporates both online and offline methods of promotion and allows you to reach out to customers through more than one channel. To increase school enrollment, the first thing you need to consider is you need to find ways to engage both potential students as well as their parents.
If you’re curious about how to go about formulating an effective marketing strategy to increase admissions at your institution, we’ve created a shortlist of the most effective marketing techniques for you.
1. Use search engine optimization (SEO) to increase online reach
Search engine optimization (SEO) lays down the very groundwork for effective digital marketing. It involves making improvements to your digital presence to increase visibility in search results. This includes finding the right keywords and phrases that you think parents and students use when searching for schools.
Let’s say your campus is located in Maryland. Your goal should be to be among the top searches for anyone looking up “schools in Maryland”. To do this, add targeted words and phrases to content in your website so that potential students can easily land on your page.
This will help increase visibility and improve the reliability of your website, making it easier for customers to see you as a top search result on their browser.
2. Market success stories on social media
One way to get potential students interested in your school is by promoting success stories of past students. Use your digital presence to show how your school has had a lasting impact on others, and how you have played a part in your students’ success.
Make student profile posts on Instagram and Facebook and talk about their academic and professional achievements. Nothing has a bigger impact on parents than seeing good results from your institution. From great job opportunities to college acceptances and awards and honors, you can talk about how your institute played a part in shaping student success.
Whitmore School has done well in keeping up with student successes during the virtual semester and has made sure to publish their positive experiences for everyone to see.
You can do this for both alumni and current students. Get their consent to talk about their experiences at school and market their success to your potential customers.
3. Distribute educational flyers
If you want to market to a wide range of people, the most important thing you need is quality content. The kind of visual content you produce leaves a significant impression on your target audience. It is integral to make sure you have a range of content forms, both online and offline.
Creating good visual content is now easier than ever. With online design tools like PosterMyWall, you don’t have to be an expert to create engaging visuals. You can get free access to a wide range of school posters for every need.
Create engaging flyers that showcase the color scheme of your school, present your logo clearly, and talk about your vision and mission as an institution. Add in some points about what makes your school unique, and hand out your flyers at school events, open houses, and put them up around the town for everyone to see.
4. Put out a television ad
The younger generation might be active on social media, but you need a way to reach out to their parents and guardians too. Not all of them will scroll through Facebook to look at your page.
Television advertisements are a classic but effective way of marketing yourself to the public. Make sure your ad runs at a time and on channels that can be viewed by both children and their parents. Put out a 90-second ad to be played on the local news channel in the evening. Have it play on the children’s channel during the daytime.
Make sure your ad covers all of the information you want to convey to your audience. Give them a glimpse of your campus. Add a voiceover explaining your vision and mission. Make sure your contact information is displayed clearly for parents to see and easily get a hold of.
5. Showcase campus life through Facebook and Instagram Live
Video content is one of the most popular methods of online marketing. To connect with your prospective students and their parents, stay active on platforms like Instagram and Facebook and make use of their live story feature to showcase your campus in real-time.
Give them a glimpse of what the classrooms look like. Take a tour of the campus grounds and show its facilities. If your campus has dormitories, show a peek of life inside dorm rooms. Add a twist and feature current students in this live series as they go about their daily lives and talk to you about their favorite parts of the school.
This will give students a peek into life on campus. They will be able to envision themselves as a part of this school and will be more likely to enroll.
Increasing enrollment is the biggest issue the education market is faced with. With these effective marketing tips, you can promote your school through a multitude of channels and make sure your prospective students know that your institution is the place they should be.