Year in and year out, and the most precious moment in attracting new students always repeats itself: the enrollment campaign.
Educational institutions usually carry out biannual targeted campaigns to attract new school enrollments, with more emphasis at the beginning of the year. However, to avoid falling into “more of the same”, you need to reinvent yourself every semester.
And be creative!
Not to mention that with each passing day it is necessary to develop more attractive and humane campaigns… Yes, people are becoming more demanding!
Therefore, the question remains: Have you ever come across any creative or strategic blocks in developing actions during enrollment periods??
If so, no need to worry! In this blog post, we will give you a little help with 5 great ideas for carrying out assertive school enrollment campaigns and some other tips that will make your Educational institutions stand out among competing educational institutions.
Before creating an enrollment campaign…
One thing at a time, that's the motto!
First of all, you need to observe and plan, and only then execute. Therefore, if you want to develop assertive actions, you must start by analyzing what the school has to offer and determine all the details of the process.
Check the number of vacancies available
What is the maximum number of enrollments that the institution can receive during that period? In which grades are there the most places available? What are the maximum and minimum limits of students per class?
These are questions to be raised, analyzed and cataloged so that the enrollment campaign is aligned with the availability of Educational institutions.
It is also worth observing school dropout rates and default occurrences to consider a waiting list.
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Determine the documents required for registration
Whether for new school enrollment or re-enrollment, it must be defined which documents will be requested to complete the student's entry or stay.
Parents or guardians must be aware of this before the act, that is, it is essential to inform them in advance and in a clear and objective manner.
Oh, and don't forget to define separate lists of documents for new students and current students.
Draw up a schedule
Organization is everything! So don't skip this step!
Keep in mind that, in addition to the opening and closing deadlines for registration, it is necessary to determine dates for possible discounts and even the extension of initial deadlines.
Now, we can talk about what we love most: Marketing strategies for educational institutions!
Continue reading with us.
5 ideas for a good enrollment campaign
Having taken the first steps with the school team, it is time to put certain Marketing actions into practice.
Everything we mention below is part of the virtual universe. And if you follow our blog, you will already know that digital presence is essential for promoting the brand.
The famous word of mouth recommendation, here, translates into shares and tags in posts, which is only possible when Educational institutions are making a name for themselves on social networks and other means of communication.
Today, it is no longer an option to consider whether or not to bring an enrollment campaign to the digital environment – it is a rule!
And for your Digital Marketing efforts to be successful, you need to invest in already consolidated strategies, as we will point out below.
1. Rich materials
Rich materials (ebooks, infographics, videos, etc.) are powerful tools for Inbound Marketing for schools when attracting new students.
This type of content exists to be used to your advantage! But how?
It works like this: your educational institution offers free material with a relevant topic in “exchange” for contact from a potential new enrollee. With this information in hand, your school enrollment campaign now begins to have a qualified base to communicate with.
2. E-mail marketing
If what your Educational institutions is looking for is a way to maintain constant contact with the public in a personalized way, the solution is to send email marketing.
This is a very valuable strategy in a sales funnel, which allows you to approach and interact with potential students, and is a continuation of the previous item, after all, people who signed up to download the free material become part of the so-called flow of nutrition.
This closer relationship allows people to get closer and closer to completing enrollment – remember your personas’ shopping journey, or customer journey strategy!
3. Content production
Another arm of Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing It's the basis for everything we're talking about here.
In addition to producing rich materials, try to feed the school blog with various articles. The same scheme applies to social networks, be sure to promote them with interactive and informative posts, always with publications that address the enrollment campaign in the spotlight!
4. Assistance in the registration campaign
Now, your Educational institution has everything well underway to attract new students, but you still need to show a lot of care and attention during the service, which can be a watershed in enrollment decision!
Does your educational institution have a call center team? Is there a structure to receive and handle a possible large volume of calls and messages?
We know that having a dedicated team for this can be very costly, which is why it is worth implementing service technologies such as chatbots. This way, people who contact the school will have quick support to resolve their queries, without overloading the team.
Have you thought?
5. Good quality images
Remember that idea of showing the public the best Educational institutions has to offer?! So, a great way to do this is by publishing real images of the school's structure. Even better if you have photos of students and employees, as long as they are authorized, of course.
Here's a tip: it's worth investing in professional photo production for the enrollment campaign!
You need to highlight the qualities of your Educational institutions! But how?
All the tips we gave make up a set of actions that will help your educational institution generate leads and that work for practically every product or service out there, including an enrollment campaign.
Schools that do Digital Marketing can reap rewards in the short and medium term, when their strategies are well thought out, but remember: you need to highlight the qualities of your Educational institutions.
See how!
First, what are the school's differences?
Highlighting some values of your institution can be the difference in your audience’s purchasing decision. After all, is a simple promotion what parents are looking for when they enroll their children?
Remember that this is not just about an acquisition, but about the future of these people's children. Therefore, Educational institutions need to prove why the investment is worth it.
Highlight elements such as:
- Extracurricular programs, such as Music, Languages, Dance, Visual Arts, Sports Activities, Theater, Sustainability Workshops, High School, etc. classes;
- Results, such as cases of students who passed entrance exams, ENEM scores and even stories of young people who went to study abroad through Educational institutions;
- Infrastructure, such as Olympic swimming pool, sports courts and other facilities;
- Equipment, such as computers, laboratory items, digital whiteboards, interactive games, etc.;
- Diversity, training and experience of the faculty;
- Location, if that is relevant;
- Operating time not market.
Now, find out how to communicate this in the enrollment campaign
In the ideas we presented above, such as email marketing and content production for blogs and social networks, reserve a percentage of these productions to publicize and highlight these differentiators of your educational institution in your enrollment campaign.
However, be careful: this “self-promotion” should not be excessive.
Remember that your objective should first be to help parents and students find the best school, but you shouldn't say that your Educational institution is the best all the time, on the contrary.
In Content Marketing strategies, for example, you first need to create a real connection with the public and this involves talking about the subject without selling your solution at the so-called top of the funnel.
Do you want an example of how to do this in the enrollment campaign?
Let's assume that a big difference of Educational institutions is the extremely strategic location: in the city center, close to a Military Police unit, but even so, on a quiet street, with parking and lots of security around, it's a dream.
Selling this image is simple, but this may not be the biggest concern for some parents at that moment. Therefore, you need to remind them that this is a valuable differentiator!
Presenting the advantages of enrolling children in a school in the city center, reinforcing the importance of security around the institution and highlighting the tranquility brought by an Educational institutions close to a parking lot and on a street with little traffic will make parents realize the high value of this differential.
Remember that many parents pay for monthly fees expecting quality and distinctive services, so don't hide the best of your EI in your communication!
These are the best ideas to boost enrollment campaign schools, so important for attracting and retaining students!
What did you think of these tips? If you liked this content, also check out the post How to attract students? X creative and cheap ways!
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