School Marketing: 5 Steps To Attract More Students
11 Tried and Tested Digital Marketing Ideas for Schools
11 Tried and Tested Digital Marketing Ideas for Schools
Last Updated On: 27/12/2022
Manasa Ramakrishnan
School Owner
“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” — Tom Fishburne
In this article
Website and SEO
Content and social media
Engaging parents
Website and SEO
1. Install a chatbot on the website
If lead generation is your foremost priority, this step is almost a must.
Visit the website of top brands. Almost all of them now have chatbots installed. And this isn’t just another chat plugin but rather AI-powered chatbots.
If someone visits your school’s website and decides to chat with you, you can predefine the sequence of messages to send to them. You can personalize the messages based on that person’s cookie data and overall browsing habits.
This enhances your brand engagement and boosts lead generation.
You can easily find many good chatbots for your website; the entry plan of some of them are free.
2. Embed a video on the lead generation page
Adding a video on a landing page can increase the conversion rate by 86 percent.
This is, in fact, one of the simplest ways to capture more leads.
So, as a first step, have dedicated landing pages for lead generation. (Ideally, you should have multiple landing pages that target individual segments within your target audience.)
Then embed relevant videos on those pages. Videos that explain your value proposition and why your school is a better fit for students are the best choice. You can sit in front of the camera yourself and speak on the subject. Or, you can hire an animation studio to make such animated videos for your school.
3. Get (positive) reviews on Google
Did you know 91% of consumers between the age of 18 to 34 trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations?
It’s safe to assume that even those outside this age bracket read and rely on online revenues just as much, if not more.
The more positive reviews your school receives, the higher the chances of parents enrolling their kids in your school. It builds their trust in your school.
So, ask the parents of your students to leave online reviews for your school. Google reviews are more important here, especially for local SEO purposes. But you can also encourage them to leave positive reviews on other platforms as well, including Facebook.
4. Optimize the website with local keywords
If parents are Googling to discover schools in their area, guess what kind of search queries they are using?
“Best school near me” “top school near me” “best schools in [city name]”
In fact, Google’s 2019 report highlights “near me” mobile queries have grown by 200 percent in the past two years.
You have to optimize your website with these localized keywords; keywords that include “near me” and the name of your city, town, or locality. These are the queries parents are using to discover schools. You can attract and convert them by optimizing your site with such localized keywords; you can build a highly visible local presence this way.
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Content and social media
5. Highlight video testimonials of other parents
Don’t do all the talking yourself. Instead, let the parents of your existing students take the mic and promote your school.
Testimonials are very effective. Video testimonials can be even more impactful.
Seeing the faces of other parents and listening to their experiences can work wonders in convincing the mums and dads who are looking for a school for their child.
So, reach out to the parents of a few students. Ask them a few questions, like “what do you like best about the school”, “how the school has helped your child grow”, “why would you recommend this school to other parents”, and more. Record their videos and distribute them on your website and other digital platforms.
Video testimonials can accelerate your lead generation strategy, unlocking greater rewards.
6. Have an email drip campaign
Many schools don’t know what to do next once they have the contact details of a prospect. Don’t be one of them!
Have a defined email drip campaign that effectively nurtures the lead and drives conversion.
Remember, lead generation is just one part of the process; you need to know how to nurture the leads. Defining an email drip campaign that’s run on automation will help nurture the leads and increase student enrollment.
7. Create content around pain points
Creating content (blogs, social media copies, more) will uncover opportunities to improve your brand discoverability and engagement.
But you can’t produce “any” type of content. It needs to be precise and created around the distinct pain points of your target audience.
Now, what are the pain points of your target audience?
The answer to this requires you to first create buyer personas.
Create buyer personas and include the pain point data there. Then create a content strategy around those pain points that your target audience finds relevant and resourceful.
8. Stay active on social media to drive engagement
This is one of the simplest school admission marketing ideas, and it’s also very critical.
Poor social media presence reflects badly on your brand.
Activities on social platforms enhance your discoverability and engagement. It unlocks opportunities to get in front of more people.
So, if you don’t already, start posting content on all major platforms. Be more frequent and consistent. Grow your presence, gain more followers, and get the words out about your school.
If you have the budget, run social media ads as well to capture the leads of targeted parents within a geographic boundary.
A strong social media marketing game built on publishing more high-quality content assures you of great results, including better brand positioning and increased student enrollment.
Engaging parents
9. Let the teachers talk
The students will spend a large part of their days under the supervision of the teachers. So naturally, the parents would want to know more about the teachers. Who they are? How experienced are they? What’s their track record? What is their personality like?
Parents want answers to these questions regarding the teachers who would be teaching their kids.
So, put your teachers at the front of your marketing campaigns. Include their videos on the website and social platforms, talking about themselves, their experience, and their teaching approach.
Showing your teachers talk will add credibility to your school’s brand and build trust with the parents. The parents will be comforted knowing their kids are under the guidance of the right teachers.
10. Explain the admission process clearly
Uncertainty pushes many people away!
You have to let the prospective parents know about the what’s and how’s.
What happens when they give you their contact details? How does the admission process at your school look? How much are the fees and admission charges? How long does the process last? How can they prepare their kids for any admission test or interview? What documents should they produce at the school?
Such questions should be addressed from the go so as to ensure there’s no uncertainty for the parents about the admission process. Clearly mention the steps so that the parents are informed and prepared.
Eliminating any room for uncertainty can positively impact your conversion rate.
11. Engage the parents of your school students
Just like in any business, your existing customers are your biggest asset. The same is true even with schools.
The parents of your existing students are your biggest asset. Engage those parents to trigger word-of-mouth marketing.
If you provide them a good experience, those parents will talk about your school in their circle; on social media, with their colleagues and friends. Word-of-mouth reach can snowball very quickly and bring huge traffic to your school in a short span.
How do you deliver a good experience to the parents of your students?
Hold events and invite them. Offer them ways to track their child’s academic progress. Plan regular parent-teacher meetings.
There are several such initiatives you can take to keep parents engaged throughout. Thereon, integrate such initiatives into your school marketing campaigns. Talk about such initiatives on your website and other digital platforms.
“In the world of Internet Customer Service, it’s important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away.” – Doug Warner
Conclusion
The mentioned are a few tried and tested digital marketing ideas for school owners.
Admittedly, they aren’t magical and won’t turn things around immediately.
Your overall school marketing campaigns require thorough planning and consistent execution. Moreover, they need intensive tracking and subsequent improvements.
In all, there are many proven school marketing ideas to help increase enrollment. They all need to be tied together and integrated into an at-large strategy. The above-mentioned digital marketing ideas will help you get started on the right track.
At LEAD, we take care of marketing for our partner schools. We ensure they are positioned strongly in front of the right audience, bringing them more students and driving revenue. We offer end-to-end school admission and marketing solutions. We have tiered offerings, suited for all types of private schools in India. 3,000+ schools are powered by leads (and yours can too)! Check out our solutions and take confident strides to scale your school.
Take a Step Towards Growth: Partner with LEAD today
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