First things first…
Before deciding which marketing strategy best suits your school and needs, you must first identify what parents are looking for in a school. You can start doing this by collecting data about the parents whose children are already attending your school.
You can also target potential new parents during or after open events. Important questions to ask should include: why existing parents were initially interested in the school; what were the main factors to consider (location, results, facilities, extra-curricular activities) and what demographic they are. If you are able to contact parents who didn’t choose your school, they can also provide useful insights for identifying how you can appeal to this audience.
Once you have gathered this information, you can build personas about the families/ parents/ children you want to target, based on the above. At Digithrive, we use sophisticated personal profiling methods to help create your ideal persona. We are able to use your existing data to help you create the ideal personas to target in your marketing campaigns.
Here we share five proven ways to improve your school’s marketing:
Channel 1: Social Media
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or another channel, social networks are a great way to expand your school’s presence. They are a great tool for allowing parents to keep apace with events and other news from the school. Make sure that the name of the school, the logo, and core values are immediately visible. Keep your profile up to date with regular posts featuring a variety of media that represents your school’s values. At Digithrive we are able to create a social media schedule to generate social leads and engage with them through the click of a button. We create a steady stream of professionally written content designed to engage with your current and potential audience.
Channel 2: School Websites
A school’s website is an excellent space to promote your school. It is more customisable than social media sites and will allow you to provide more in-depth information about the school. Your website is just as important as your physical school reception – it should look beautiful, and be loaded with information and hooks to attract potential parents. It is the perfect place to showcase what your school is about – your ethos, your teaching methods, and curriculum.
There should be information about key dates and open days, and clear calls to action, with an easy method for signing up. Digithrive is able to help with optimising your website – we can assess your overall digital presence and suggest key improvements to ensure that your website is converting potential parents, as well as being a useful source of information for existing parents. Our digital analysis also shows you how high your school website is appearing on Google, and we can use our listings software to claim and cleanse all your listings across main search engines.
Channel 3: School Newsletters
A digital newsletter is a great way to notify parents about school news and getting their support for events happening at the school. Newsletters that work best have a clear with an uncomplicated format. We create newsletters for many of our school partners enabling their parents to be kept abreast of the school’s most recent and relevant news.
Channel 4: Open Events
There’s nothing like interacting face-to-face with potential parents and students as they are really able to get a feel of your school and decide if it is the right fit. This is the reason why open events have the highest conversion rates in terms of securing admissions. At Digithrive, we are experts in running successful open day campaigns for our partner schools, which lead to real admissions. We use the most sophisticated digital marketing techniques, including PPC and online advertising via Facebook, Instagram and Google to get schools open day sign-ups and attendees. We then use a carefully curated lead nurture system, which continues to send communications to interested parents, eventually converting them into real admissions.
Channel 5: Advertising
Now more than ever it is essential that you focus your advertising efforts on Digital Marketing. Not only is it the most cost-effective way to reach potential parents, but you can also track and amend all of your campaigns and see real results.
At Digithrive, we provide an array of advertising opportunities for a 360 marketing campaign for your school. We use carefully curated content, lead generation and retargeting initiatives to capture all interested parents. We are also able to leverage print media, due to our sister company Zest Media who owns the largest education portfolio of education magazines in the UK. We have in-house designers and content writers, meaning we can design or improve your adverts, both in print and online.
If you would like more professional tips on marketing your schools do get in touch with the Digithrive For School’s team who are always happy to help. contact us here