School Marketing Strategies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How to Create Result-Driving and Effective Marketing Plans for Schools?

Did you know there are 32,163 schools across the UK, and this figure is rapidly growing? And does that mean you need a school marketing plan to keep up with the competition?

The answer is yes! Educational institutions can no longer think, “But we do not need to advertise because our enrollments are doing just fine.” With increasing parent and student expectations, you must be up-to-date with today’s trends around marketing for schools and technology!

E-learning, VR rooms, computer classes, Augmented Reality (AR), etc., have raised the bar for all educational institutions. Thus, marketing themselves to increase enrollment and set their organisation apart is the need of the hour!

This blog explores the different marketing plans for schools you may use as a reference. Let us begin!  

Why Is Marketing Your School Significant?

Apart from dealing with growing competition and fulfilling your audience’s expectations, here’s why you must use an effective school marketing plan to succeed:

Build Awareness and Improve Brand Image

71% of parents in the UK state that Ofsted school reports are a reliable information source. Also, 8 in 10 parents felt these reports depicted an accurate image of the educational institution or provider! 

Hence, gone are the days when you could maintain a reliable brand image without devising education marketing strategies efficiently. Today, parents are more attentive and do a lot of research before selecting a school for their kids. 

Thus, your school marketing plan must focus on showcasing your institution in a positive light and creating confidence among people. Also, it should increase visibility so that more parents and students become aware of your services and contact you. 

Boost Enrollments

Another primary reason to use marketing strategies for schools is to boost your enrollment numbers. You may feel that your current operations are enough to get admissions, but are they?

Imagine you get around 100 new enrollments yearly, but another school in the city receives 250. What can you do to change this scenario and convince more parents to enrol their kids with your school instead of the other one?

Yes, you need a well-crafted school marketing plan to persuade people to give your school a go! You can send prospective students your school prospectus or run a social media campaign to target parents living in the neighbourhood. 

Retain Students and Build Valuable Relationships With Parents 

Getting enough enrollments isn’t enough because admissions are not a one-time process. Schools also need to work on their student retention programs. And the best way to do that is to create a marketing plan for private schools and execute it correctly.

Also, your goal should be to establish genuine bonds with your student’s parents. Make them believe they took the correct decision to send their children to your school. Along with internal meetings with parents, marketing plans for schools can help fulfil this objective!

How to Create a Marketing Plan For a School?

It can be expensive and daunting to design several marketing strategies altogether. The trick is taking one thing at a time and moving your way upwards slowly. Thus, you can expand your plans according to your goals, budget, and convenience. 

Here are the most effective marketing plans for schools you can use:

Create a List of Your Objectives

You cannot settle on how to develop a marketing plan for a school without clarifying your objectives. Thus, create a list of the goals your school marketing plan can help you accomplish!

Most leading organisations use the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) approach to increase efficiency. It is an excellent goal-setting tool for understanding what you want to achieve and how. This mechanism allows you to lay the foundation of your school marketing strategies, helping you set challenging objectives with trackable results. 

For example, your objective can be:

• Our school must get 500 new enquiries this admission season.
• Our school’s website must generate at least 20 new leads this week.
• All the newly-shifted families in the city must know about our school within a few days of their arrival. 

These are all attainable objectives using well-thought marketing strategies for schools to help you grow. You can set short-term and long-term goals according to your preferences, but the motive is to create a roadmap. 

This roadmap helps you decide which marketing channels to select and what kind of content to use. Thus, you don’t need to spend much time and effort devising a school marketing plan once you complete the planning stage. 

Another thing you must consider is to use a tracking mechanism, like QR codes, personalised URLs, etc., to measure your progress. You can use unique features for all campaigns to compare which one worked the best!

Conduct a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis helps you understand your school’s current standing in-depth. Is your school well-known in the area? Are there any significant aspects you must work on to improve?

Before you create a school marketing plan, you must gather the answer to these questions to make the correct decisions. It can help you distribute your marketing spend better and give a head start to your campaigns!

• Strengths: As discussed earlier, start marketing your school by first analysing your popularity or reputation among your target audience. You can conduct a survey or use internal resources to find your strengths. Also, you may compare yourselves with other educational institutions to get an idea. 
• Weaknesses: They are all the things your school lacks and should implement soon to keep up with other schools. Perhaps, missing online presence, not enough enrollments, or an inadequate number of parent-teacher meetings are your weak spots. Also, please note that not working on your marketing strategies for schools is also a weakness. 
• Opportunities: Identifying your opportunities at the correct time can be complicated but not impossible. You must constantly engage with your students and parents and determine their expectations from the school. 
• Threats: Naturally, your competition is the primary threat to your enrollments and student retention rates. Thankfully, a result-driving school marketing plan can help you fight against this threat and improve response ratios. 

Improve Your Website’s User Experience (UX)

Many parents judge a school by viewing your website’s design and functionality. Websites represent you in the online world, and you must offer an impeccable UX to your audience. Hence, try to include them in your marketing plans for schools to start with!

Below are some school marketing strategies for revamping your website:

• Your website must be responsive on all devices. You do not want a parent to visit it on their mobile phones and find it hard to navigate. It can leave a negative impression and cause visitors to leave unsatisfied. 
• Also, your web pages should load fast if you want visitors to stay and get the information they need or contact you. It is one of the most underrated school marketing strategies but subtly helps you to develop trustworthy school-parent relationships. 
• Use different sections to make your website easily navigable. For example, include separate contact, about us, upcoming events, faculty information, and blog pages. 
• Make your website look professional by avoiding stock images and low-resolution icons. Instead, use real-life images and high-quality graphics to make your school’s mission pop and get more leads. 

Your website is the centre of your marketing plans for schools, so make it the knowledge hub for your audience. Ensure your website has all the information a student, parent, or stakeholder might need!

Use Google Adwords to Increase Search Traffic

Google Adwords is one of the fastest marketing strategies for schools to increase their online traffic. It enables you to advertise to parents and students in real time, i.e. when they try to research a school online. 

Thus, instead of approaching your audience and discussing your services, you can present your organisation when your prospects are ready for it. However, you must learn how your intended audience interacts with a platform before you dive into any school marketing plan or strategy. 

Decide whom you want to advertise to and for how long. Many schools use Google Adwords during the admissions season to get the maximum enrollments. But it depends on your school marketing plan and budget! 

Also, settle on your call-to-action (CTA) to use in your advertisements. You can ask parents to fill out a contact form or call you immediately. 

Here are some crucial tips to consider when using Google Adwords:

• Write an interactive and compelling ad copy with the relevant keywords for marketing your school to motivate parents to click on it. 
• Redirect visitors to a custom landing page that speaks to the audience directly. 
• Keep your Google Adwords school marketing plan short and upfront. Refrain from adding a lengthy form with ten questions or ask parents to go out of their way to complete the CTA. 
• Monitor your campaign results and identify which keywords and ad groups can drive better conversions. 

Build Your Facebook Community

Creating a Facebook page for your school can enable you to improve your communication methods with families and students. You can also use it as an effective school marketing plan to promote your services and expand your network. 

Schools can upload videos, post the latest updates, ask questions, run quick polls, talk about upcoming events, etc. There are numerous ways to increase your followers on this social media platform, like using location-specific Facebook retargeting and sponsored ads. 

Also, employ other social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube to increase visibility among students and parents. They form a significant part of all school marketing strategies because most people like getting information through social media. Like a website, your social media accounts also represent your brand and show you are up-to-date with today’s technology. 

But, you must learn the primary tactics and algorithms of all the platforms you use to succeed in marketing your school effectively! For example, it is better to upload lengthy videos on Youtube and short reels on Instagram. Similarly, you can use Facebook and Twitter for word-form content to increase traffic. 

Effective social media marketing strategies for schools can help you get more followers and engagement. It can take your school a while to build a reputable, strong community, but it is worth the wait!

Send Direct Mailers

Many organisations make the mistake of thinking that direct mail is a traditional school marketing plan and cannot produce profitable results. However, there are many ways to modernise this channel and use it to increase responses. Furthermore, several globally-reputed companies, like Google, use direct mail marketing to close deals. 

Thus, adding direct mail to your school marketing plan makes sense. It can help you speak to parents one-to-one and create trustworthy bonds. Also, you can cut through the digital clutter and reach your target audience before other schools. 

Your direct marketing plans for schools must be personalised, engaging, and persuasive. Try to segment your audience according to their demographics and send tailored messages to win more leads. 

You can send marketing postcards with your school’s mission statement and a few images. Or you can draft custom letters to parents to add more value to your school marketing strategies and grab your audience’s attention. 

However, if you find direct mailing daunting and expensive, try PostGrid’s direct mail API. It allows educational institutions to automate their mailing activities and save costs. Also, it offers an extensive suite of features, like address verification and real-time tracking, guaranteeing your campaign success. 

Start a Blog Section

Blogging is the ideal tool to level up your school marketing plan offline and online. You can contribute to several educational topics, like the current trends in the industry, new student clubs, field trips, etc. 

Motivate your students and faculty members to write guest posts from their points of view. It allows your audience to read genuine content about your school, helping you boost your school marketing strategies quickly. 

Also, publishing students’ posts helps you brush up on your journalism skills. Thus, you can transform your blog section into a community project and motivate everyone to contribute.

Apart from articles, you can include infographics, images, videos, checklists, presentations, and reports. Parents and students can rely on your blog section to acquire helpful knowledge and stay informed about your school’s operations. 

You can use your blog links in all your school marketing strategies to drive traffic. For instance, you can print your article links to your direct mail letters or postcards for people to access your website and know more about your school. Alternatively, you may use QR codes to make it easier for people to read your blogs. 

Furthermore, you can add these links to your emails and social media pages. Thus, you can interlink your online and offline marketing strategies for schools and improve your chances of getting more leads. 

Create an Email Series

Email marketing may not be the most profitable school marketing plan, but it helps increase brand awareness. You can conduct email drip campaigns for several purposes, like:

• Onboard new families and welcome them to your community. 
• Welcome new staff or faculty members. 
• Promote your services and talk about how your school is better than the others. 
• Discuss upcoming school events or trips. 
• Talk about the previous year’s academic performance, etc. 

Also, you can trigger email campaigns for specific events to boost your school marketing plan, like:

• A parent fills out your contact form. 
• A parent sends an enquiry email to your official address. 
• A parent clicks on your Google ad, etc. 

Remember to align your email marketing strategies for schools with other channels. For example, you can launch a multi-channel campaign, wherein your prospects receive the direct mail item the same day as the email. You may also include the details of your mailers in the email, like:

• We have a surprise for you. 
• Wait for the perfect mailer at your doorstep today. 
• Scratch the postcard and get exciting news about our school. 

It helps give recipients a heads-up about your direct mail’s arrival and sparks curiosity. Thus, you are more likely to get higher responses and conversions by marketing your school using integrated campaigns. 

Use Video Marketing

Here’s an exciting fact: Video content generates 85% better brand recall than text. Also, the average person watches 100 minutes of video content daily. Hence, we cannot deny that your marketing plans for schools need more videos to engage your target audience. 

You can use third-party videos, but it is better to post visual content that depicts your school’s work. For example, you can record clips from the annual day and upload them to your Youtube and Instagram handles.

Moreover, you can create more buzz around your school marketing strategies by sending video mailers. Simply print a QR code that takes recipients to your Youtube channel or web page where they can watch the full videos. 

You can record your existing students and their parents explaining their reviews about your school. Or you can post videos of students learning in a classroom or enjoying an industrial visit. As said earlier, there are endless ideas and opportunities to improve your school marketing plan using videos. 

Re-Evaluate Your Performance From Time to Time

It is essential to conduct a re-evaluation program regularly to know if you are on the right track. Sometimes, your school marketing plan may produce positive results, but not enough to cover the cost of your campaign. Similarly, often, you may not take advantage of a few opportunities that can help you do better. 

Hence, always take the time to look back and see what you are lacking. Find areas for improvement and work on them in your next campaign. You can also use custom contact numbers, email addresses, pURLs, etc., to compare all school marketing plans and draft reports. 

Luckily, PostGrid’s automated direct mail services help you access real-time analytics and school marketing plan insights. You can log into your PostGrid account after a campaign and view these reports through your dashboard. Thus, you don’t need to analyse your performance manually or spend weeks compiling everything. 

More About PostGrid’s Direct Mail Solutions to Help Schools Plan and Launch Successful Campaigns

Before we dive into PostGrid’s direct mail services, here is a checklist to help you launch an effective school marketing plan using direct mailing:

• Artwork: You must design eye-catching and appealing artwork to grab your potential recipients’ attention. Also, you should use a unique mail design each time, primarily if you want to target the same group of people. Your artwork decides the success of your school marketing strategies because it is the first thing people see when they get your mailer. 
• Mailing list: You require a targeted mailing list to focus on relevant prospects only and manage your budget well. Often, schools compile their student records to create a mailing list. But, you may need to dig deeper to gather information on newly-shifted families or fresh prospects. 
• Printer: Schools have several printers to print their postcards, flyers, letters, etc., in-house. But, they don’t because it takes time and effort and increases unnecessary costs. Thus, they require a printing vendor to handle their school marketing plan tasks and boost efficiency. 
• Mailing partner: You can lodge your mailers at the Post Office to launch your marketing strategies for schools after completing the other steps. It can take one to three business days for your direct mail items to reach their destinations. 

So, can you launch a successful school marketing plan using these aspects only? Though these are the primary requirements, you must consider the behind-the-scenes, like packing your mailers, labelling, tracking, etc. 

PostGrid’s direct mail API allows you to conduct all the above activities under one roof at the click of a button. Thus, you do not need to find a printer or carry hundreds of mail items to the Royal Mail office. 

You can automate your school marketing strategies from the comfort of your office and sit back. Also, PostGrid offers many advanced features, like metadata tagging, GDPR-compliant mailings, bulk mailings, etc. 

Click here to learn more about how PostGrid can assist you in your direct mail marketing plans for schools!

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