Most proprietors want to get visibility, attract more students and actually increase enrollment in school but with increasing competition, it can be very difficult to attract new students without using the right strategies.
Some schools with solid academic backgrounds are struggling in obscurity and low student count because they are not yet digital. But certain smaller schools have leveraged the smart digital strategies to drive growth and enrollment.
With such reality, you want to ask yourself, what strategies are working for these schools and how can I leverage that to drive improved visibility for my school?
With increasing advancement in technology, most guardians are now depending on digital tools to search for schools for their wards instead of word of mouth. And your school will be losing potential new intakes, if you do not get found during these searches.
To help you get started in getting your school increased visibility online, I’ll be sharing with you, the key private school marketing strategies you can put in place, to increase enrollment in schools from scratch.
Get a Website
Table of Contents
It is nearly impossible to increase enrollment in schools using digital strategies without a website because having a website is very central to building a marketing system that delivers on new intakes online.
So, one of the first digital marketing strategies to drive growth in enrollment for schools is getting a website.
Now when it comes to getting a website, there are a lot of options to choose from, depending on your goals.
For example, if your goal is to get a website where users can easily reach your school, you can consider a simple website with all necessary optimizations and pages. But, if you need a website with more robust features, consider going for something more sophisticated.
This includes set up with a learning management systems, workflow automation systems or very specific details as it meets the needs of your organization. If you’re looking at having any of such websites then invest more in building a more robust platform.
Usually, even if you need a very robust platform, you do not necessarily have to start with building a website that has all the features you need from the get go. You can always improve and scale it as you grow.
Setup Social Media Marketing
The social media is a great platform to engage with your potential students, guardians and parents. It is one of the very first places you need a digital presence, if you want to improve enrolment in private schools.
There are a lot of social media platforms out there but mist importantly, you want a platform that has the largest number of your target audience which are potential parents, guardians and students.
After you’ve selected the right platform, get on it and create a profile on the platform. This profile should carry your school brand including a brief description of your branded images and photographs etc.
When everything has been successfully set up, its time to start creating and sharing content on the social media platform. Beyond posting content, make effort to share and engage with your users to keep the page growing.
Done well, the social media can give you a robust first stop digital presence especially since it can be easily visible whenever your brand name is being searched for on the web.
Get on Google Business Page
Google Business Page (GBP) is another important platform that can give you massive visibility and a chance to increase enrollment in private schools, when you get on it. It is also a powerful platform to get local visibility and contact. And it is totally free to create a profile on GBP.
You can create an account on this platform either directly with your email address or get one set up after your website is ready and have your website linked to the platform.
To get started, get a gmail account created for that purpose and then head over to create the account and fill in all you detail, including the specific services your school is offering in relevant sections.
In addition to that, add your contact details clearly. This should be your phone numbers, including relevant links to your social media accounts. And a link where users can easily get over to your website.
This is a goldmine that can get you direct calls and messages from clients, if you can set it up properly and have it well optimized.
Create Content
Content marketing is an important digital marketing strategy for school. Using the right content, you can get your brand across to parents and guardians who would never have come in contact with the brand in the first place.
There are many ways to go about creating an effective content for your audience but if you have plans to increase enrollment in school with your content then you have to be very strategic from the start.
For example, you want to understand clearly what kind of content appeals to your target audience and then take steps to create and share that specific kind of content with them, consistently.
Now, to know exactly what your audience will be interested in can be tricky but there are some ways you can go about it. For example, you can consider using keyword research tools like Google Keywords Planner, Ahrefs Keyword Generator etc. to understand what your audience are actively searching for.
You could also use other tools like Google trends to understand what searches are trending in your target geographical location. And furthermore, using the autofill function in Google search box can give you a better understanding of keywords that matter in the educational sector you’re targeting.
Optimize for SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of taking specific steps to make your website easily visible on the web, when people are searching for it. It is an important step to increase enrollment in school.
After your website is all set up, you want to take steps to create pages and posts but before you do this, it is important to use relevant keywords to optimize each page and content you’re creating on the website.
For these optimizations to be effective, you want to start with using the right plugins and applications especially if you’re building on a CMS like WordPress etc. the plugin itself will also have to be all set up for effective positioning.
Ater that you want to head over to individual pages for on page SEO. Optimize each of the title tags, header tags, Meta description etc. with relevant keywords as it relates to the content on that specific page. Then build internal links to relevant pages on the website.
When you’re all set with on page SEO, its now time to fix your link building, website speed and technical search engine optimization. With all of this well sorted out, you’d have had your website ready for improved enrolment and visibility to prospective students and parents.
Leverage Testimonials and Reviews
Testimonials, positive reviews and parents feedback are a great way to get people to listen to your school brand. Most times, this is because the reviews are coming directly from a fellow user.
This is an important promotional strategy that can lead to increase in enrolment in private schools, if you’re able to get the right reviews and post it on platforms where your target audience can easily see it.
To get started, reach out to your existing parents, guardians and students to get feedback from them about your school then go ahead share them on your platforms, using strategic storytelling.
You can share this feedback across your social media handles and website, giving them a specific page or prominent location where they can be visible for your audience. And you can also turn them into block posts, brand stories etc., using them to reach out to your target audience directly.
Promote your School
Everything you’ve read so far can be done organically to digitally promote your school but oftentimes, organic promotions can take a while to deliver on results.
If you’re in a hurry to promote your school, see results and increase enrolment on all rounds, then you can start with getting on paid promotions.
You have quite a lot of options when it comes to paid promotion but in most cases, your budget is going to play a significant role in how much impact you can make.
For example, if you have a smaller budget, you can consider targeting your promotions across social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. this can get you a decent result at a realistic budget.
If you have a lot more expensive budget, you can consider using PPC powered search ads across platforms like Google. Using PPC search ads alongside video ads on YouTube can get you a decent ROI for your ads.
There are also other options like targeting sponsored posts and banner ads on popular educational platforms with your target audience, sponsored posts on digital platforms for national dailies etc.
To optimize your outcomes and budgets, you can run both paid digital promotions and organic promotions for your school at the same time. Done well, this can create a more realistic outcome for your brand.
Final Words
Digital marketing can effectively drive a boost in enrolment for private schools and even public schools, just like it is doing in other industries but to get the best results, you have to follow proven marketing strategies for schools that can realistically deliver on results.
I’ve shared with you some of the proven marketing tactics that has worked for schools across different economies in this guide. Using these strategies will set your school on a path to improved visibility, new enrollment and increase in students in take.
But you do not have to do this alone. With our team, we can further guide you on how to create real results for your school. Or we can implement these strategies for you, directly. Reach out to us here.
Now, it’s your turn. What are some of your biggest challenges when it comes to finding the right marketing strategies that will boost enrollment in schools? Drop your comments below.
No responses yet