The biggest goal of any educational institution is to increase enrollment, since it comes in hand with the positioning of the same, as well as its reputation. After all, what other sign of success can we see if it is not a well-numbered enrollment?
For years, institutions have been announced in traditional media such as radio, TV and shows or flyers in order to reach a larger number of people, hoping that they are part of their target audience.
The reality is that this type of advertising faces two major problems: the lack of precise metrics to determine the effectiveness of our advertising in these media and the overwhelming competition that exists, especially by large institutions with equally large budgets. Leaving aside, too, the ecological cost implied by practices such as flyers.
Some institutions have made the change to the digital age, managing accounts in social networks and even advertisements to attract more students. But remember that in the world of advertising, the thin line between a successful advertisement and annoying advertising is very important.
For an ad to be successful it is necessary to have a strategy behind it. And even more and more educational institutions find a successful strategy in educational inbound marketing.
You can also read: Educational Marketing What is it and how does it work?
Inbound marketing is a new philosophy within digital marketing, since the user is not persecuted, but attracted by the content and invited to share the same values and interests, to achieve closure by enrolling the prospect.
After all, the big question is how to attract a student who lives his life surrounded by technology. We are talking about a person who does not exceed 20 years, has very heterogeneous interests and for which, if there is no proper segmentation of them, it becomes just as ineffective as traditional media.
Inbound marketing is based on the follow-up of the Buyer’s Journey, that is, converting students from strangers and outsiders to our proposal, to become our brand’s promoter, spreading our benefits through word of mouth. As you can imagine, for the school inbound marketing, the process does not end when the registration is closed, but when the student is really committed and shares our values and vision.
But let’s find out a little about the buyer’s trip, applied to educational institutions.
There are five fundamental steps in the buyer’s journey:
Unknowns: In this stage, all the people that could be potential students of our Institute enter. They have varied interests and live connected to technology.
Visits: People who have already visited our content and downloaded manuals and study plans, for example. These people already know who you are, now we need to know who they are.
Leads: After they have left you their data by means of a form or within an advertisement, you will have the profile you are looking for. Keep in mind that each prospect is not only a sales opportunity, but also helps you determine what type of student you are attracting, in order to better focus on your content and offer.
This is a fundamental step in building your Buyer Persona.
Customers: Here comes the long-awaited closing. Once the person has traveled to this step, it means that he bought our educational offer, identifies with the institution as a member and little more.
Many strategies for recruitment are limited up to this stage, without taking into account the factor changing of university, which, although it is not such a large rebound factor, is still possible. What we deal with inbound marketing is to fall in love with our offer, we must not forget it.
Promoters: The final stage of the buyer’s journey is to make him a promoter. A promoter is a recurring consumer, who shares the values and vision of the company.
In the school enviroment, this would translate into an already enrolled student, who actively participates in extracurricular activities and who even influences (either on his or her parent’s actions) the decision of another student to enroll in your school or College.
Reaching the stage of Promoter is a long-term investment, which allows your advertising to adapt and grow organically, through word of mouth and interaction in social networks.
Do you want to know more about the fascinating Journey of the Buyer and more tools to increase your enrollment with the help of Inbound Marketing? Download our Free Guide: How to make your first Digital Marketing strategy using Inboundc.
Good luck!