The education market is increasingly demanding and has greater competition from schools, institutes, vocational training centers, public or private universities or business schools. Schools are increasingly in need of resorting to marketing agencies and carrying out educational marketing strategies and techniques to attract students.
Marketing in education should be understood as a generator of mutual benefits for students and for the educational organization that provides training, whether they are courses, intermediate or higher degree cycles, university degrees or masters. It is important not to lose sight of the vision of improving the student experience along the way or they will end up becoming a profit-seeking company and not a quality training institution.
The first thing in educational marketing is to know who the student is and what profile the one who enrolls in our training programs has. Once the current public is known or the target it wants to address has been chosen, the center must be aware of the interests and main motivations when choosing the training. Some of these factors can be the price, the reputation, the duration, the teaching staff, the specialization, the possibility of internships or job placement, the methodology among others.
Decision Making Period
Decision-making in the education sector is one of the most time-consuming for the client. The period from when a user begins to look for information until he finally decides to enroll in a specific center is, for example, around 6 months in master's degrees and around a year in degree (greater commitment and duration).
It is necessary to know and bear in mind these factors in the face of marketing strategies. Evidence is required in the campaigns and in the treatment and advice of the leads generated throughout this period to achieve an adequate enrollment rate.
Seasons
Despite the fact that more and more centers allow enrollment throughout the year, the collective imagination continues to have August as the beginning of the academic year. The education sector shows a great seasonality in the demand on the part of the user interested in training, the main months being: June, July, and August.
Call center
As we mentioned in reference to the maturation period, the purchase of a training product is a thoughtful process and not at all instantaneous that is carried out through a web page. For this reason, it is necessary, within the marketing strategy in education, to have a call center service, either integrated in the client itself or outsourced that takes care of the management of leads, advises and accompanies the information process until enrollment. At a smaller scale, it could be a designated phone number for potential students and/or parents where they can get more information and one designated employee can answer all their questions and guide them through the enrollment process.
It is essential that the first contact since the request for information is made within the first 24 hours. The user who seeks training does not ask only in one center but uses several and the speed of response is a key factor in the conversion.
Landing Page
Generic and product specific landings are needed to attract undecided searches. These should include:
Abundant information.
Related image (aspirational)
Clear advantages (Officiality, University Endorsement, Scholarships ...)
Visible form.
Videos (provide confidence)
Opportunity: Scholarships / Discounts ...
Accelerator (Find out about our scholarships before…)
Call to action
Recruitment Channels for the education sector
-Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
-SEM positioning: Google Ads
-Advertising on Social Networks: Linkedin Ads, Facebook Ads or Twitter Ads.
-Email Marketing
As you can see, marketing can be really beneficial for the education sector. Now more than ever parents and students are seeking information about schools and universities on the web. It is essential that education centers keep in touch with their students and staff through social media.
Let us know if you would like to schedule a consultation with our team to discuss your business’ marketing objectives.
Comments