Here are the 5 best ideas for running an enrollment campaign!

Year in, year out, and the most precious moment in attracting new students is always repeated: the enrollment campaign.

Educational institutions usually run biannual campaigns aimed at attracting new students, with more emphasis on the beginning of the year. However, in order not to fall into "more of the same", you have to reinvent yourself every semester.

And there's creativity!

Not to mention the fact that every day you have to develop more attractive and human campaigns... Yes, people are becoming more demanding!

So here's the question: have you ever come up against any creative or strategic roadblocks when it comes to developing actions during enrollment periods?

If so, there's no need to worry! In this blog post, we're going to give you a helping hand with 5 great ideas for running assertive school enrollment campaigns and some other tips that will make your educational institution stand out from the competition.

Come along!

Before creating an enrollment campaign...

One thing at a time, that's the motto!

First of all, you need to observe and plan, and then execute. That's why, if you want to develop assertive actions, you need to start by analyzing what the school has to offer and determine all the details of the process.

Check the number of places available

What is the maximum number of enrollments the institution can receive in that period? In which grades are there more places available? What are the maximum and minimum class sizes?

These are questions to be raised, analyzed and catalogued so that the enrollment campaign is aligned with the educational institution's availability.

It's also worth looking at dropout rates and default rates to consider a waiting list.

Determine the documents required for enrollment

Whether it's for a new school enrolment or re-enrolment, it's important to define which documents will be required to complete the student's entry or stay.

Parents or guardians must be aware of this beforehand, so it is essential to inform them in advance and in a clear and objective manner.

Oh, and don't forget to draw up separate lists of documents for new students and current students.

Draw up a timetable

Organization is everything! So don't skip this step!

Bear in mind that, in addition to the deadlines for opening and closing enrollment, you need to set dates for possible discounts and even extensions of the initial deadlines.

Now we can talk about what we like best: marketing strategies for educational institutions!

Personalization guided by data and artificial intelligence is now a strategic differentiator in enrolment campaigns. The McKinsey report shows that organizations that apply hyper-personalization manage to significantly increase conversion rates by aligning message, channel and timing with the lead's behavior.

In the education sector, Deloitte points out that the use of genAI has already been applied in admissions and institutional communication, allowing audiences to be segmented, demand to be predicted and digital experiences to be improved. For an educational institution, this means building personalized journeys, with offers, reminders and content that really speak to the needs of each family at the moment of decision.

Read on with us.

5 ideas for a good enrollment campaign

Having taken the first steps with the school staff, it's time to put certain marketing actions into practice.

All of the above is part of the virtual universe. And if you follow our blog, you'll already know that a digital presence is essential for brand awareness.

Here, the famous word-of-mouth referral translates into shares and bookmarks on posts, which is only possible when educational institution is hitting its stride on social networks and other media.

Today, it's no longer an option to consider whether or not to bring an enrollment campaign into the digital environment - it's a rule!

And for your digital marketing efforts to be successful, you need to invest in strategies that are already well-established, as we'll point out below.

1. rich materials

Rich materials (ebooks, infographics, videos, etc.) are powerful Inbound Marketing tools for schools when it comes to attracting new students.

This type of content is there to be used to your advantage! But how?

It works as follows: your educational institution offers free material on a relevant topic in "exchange" for the contact details of a potential new student. With this information in hand, your school enrollment campaign already has a qualified base to communicate with.

2. E-mail marketing

If what your educational institution 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 an extremely valuable strategy in the sales funnel, which allows you to get closer to and interact with potential students, and is a continuation of the previous item, after all, the people who have signed up to download the free material become part of the so-called nutrition flow.

This closer relationship allows people to get closer and closer to completing their enrollment - remember the buying journey of your personas, or customer journey strategy!

Hyper-personalized emails are outperforming generic blasts. A recent Harvard Business Review study points out that integrating automation with human supervision is the most effective way to use AI in marketing: algorithms help predict the most relevant content, while teams maintain the appropriate institutional tone.

McKinsey reinforces that hyper-personalization increases engagement by more than 40% when applied to email flows. For enrollment campaigns, this means mapping signals of intent (downloads, pages visited, SMS responses) and nurturing each lead with information tailored to their stage - be it discovery, consideration or decision.

Read also:

• How to decrease bounce rate and increase conversions?
• Blog Posts: 6 of the most common mistakes made when publishing;
• Does educational consulting increase enrollment?
• Social Media and Inbound Marketing strategies: how to apply them?

3. Content production

Another arm of Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing is the basis for everything we're talking about here.

As well as producing rich materials, try to feed your school's blog with a variety of articles. The same goes for social networks. Make sure you keep them busy with interactive and informative posts, always with publications that highlight the enrollment campaign!

Short videos and authentic storytelling are pillars of educational communication today. According to the Pew Research Center, six out of ten teenagers use TikTok on a daily basis, making the format indispensable for impacting families and future students.

Inside Higher Ed shows that universities are using behind-the-scenes videos, virtual tours and student testimonials to create social proof and get closer to the public. In enrollment campaigns, authentic and frequent content in Reels, Shorts and Stories can present the school's differentials in an engaging, quick and highly shareable way, strengthening brand recall and encouraging enrollment.

4. Customer service in the enrollment campaign

Now your educational institution is well on the way to winning over new students, but you still need a lot of care and attention during customer service, which can be a turning point in the enrollment decision!

Does your educational institution have a call center team? Is there a structure in place to receive and deal with a possible large volume of calls and messages?

We know that having a dedicated team can be very costly, which is why it's worth implementing customer 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 about it?

Chatbots and artificial intelligence assistants are already a reality in institutions looking to optimize the enrolment funnel. Research by EDUCAUSE shows that the use of AI in institutional communication is growing rapidly, especially to answer questions about admissions, scholarships and deadlines in real time.

In addition, Inside Higher Ed reports on how intelligent automated messaging helps identify at-risk students and trigger proactive support. Applying this logic to enrollment campaigns makes it possible to create micro-campaigns segmented by grade, course or interest (such as sports or languages), guaranteeing relevant and scalable communication, without losing the human touch.

5. Good quality images

Remember that idea of showing the public the best the educational institution has to offer?! So, a great way to do this is by posting real images of the school's structure. Even better if you include photos of the students and staff, provided they have been authorized, of course.

Here's the tip: it's worth investing in professional photos for your enrollment campaign!

You need to highlight the qualities of your EI! But how?

All the tips we've given you make up a set of actions that will help your educational institution generate leads and that work for practically every product or service there is, including an enrollment campaign.

Schools that use 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 institution.

Here's how!

First, what are the school's differentials?

Highlighting some of your institution's values could be the difference in your audience's decision to buy. After all, is a simple promotion what parents are looking for when they enroll their children?

Remember that this isn't just about a purchase, it's about the future of their children. Therefore, the educational institution needs to prove why the investment is worthwhile.

Highlight elements such as

• Extracurricular programs, such as music classes, languages, dance, fine arts, sports activities, theater, sustainability workshops, high school, etc;
• Results, such as cases of students who passed university entrance exams, ENEM grades and even stories of young people who went to study abroad through the school;
• Infrastructure, such as an Olympic-sized swimming pool, sports courts and other facilities;
• Equipment, such as computers, laboratory items, digital whiteboards, interactive games, etc;
• Diversity, training and experience of the teaching staff;
• Location, if relevant;
• Time in business.

Now, find out how to communicate this in your enrollment campaign

In the ideas we presented above, such as email marketing and producing content for blogs and social networks, set aside a percentage of these productions to publicize and highlight these differentials of your educational institution in your enrollment campaign.

But be careful: this "self-promotion" must not be excessive.

Remember that your goal should be to help parents and students find the best school, but you shouldn't say that your school is the best all the time.

In Content Marketing strategies, for example, you first need to create a real connection with your audience and this involves talking about the subject without selling your solution at the top of the funnel.

Want an example of how to do this in an enrollment campaign?

Let's suppose that one of the school's great differentials is its extremely strategic location: in the city center, close to a Military Police unit, but still on a quiet street, with parking and plenty of security around, it's a dream.

Selling this image is simple, but this may not be the biggest concern for some parents at the time. So 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 pointing out the tranquility brought by an educational institution 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 tuition fees expecting quality and distinctive services, so don't hide the best things about your school in your communication!

These are the best ideas for boosting your school enrollment campaign, which is so important for attracting and retaining students!

Key learnings about school enrolment campaigns: Enrolment campaigns are decisive moments for attracting new students and require planning, creativity and personalization. Before launching marketing actions, the institution must organize vacancies, documents and deadlines, as well as defining a structured schedule. Digital strategies stand out: use of rich materials to generate leads, personalized email marketing, production of content for blogs and social networks, humanized service with intelligent chatbots and dissemination of quality images that show the school's structure. In addition, it is essential to value the institution's differentials - such as extracurricular programs, results in entrance exams, infrastructure and teaching staff. With data, automation and artificial intelligence, it is possible to create more assertive, human and scalable campaigns, increasing conversions and strengthening the school's reputation.

School Enrollment Campaigns: Creative Strategies to Increase Enrollment

What is a school enrollment campaign and why is it so important?

The school enrollment campaign is the main moment for attracting new students to an educational institution. Usually carried out at the beginning of the year or in semester periods, it focuses efforts on attracting families and consolidating new enrolments. It's important because it has a direct impact on the school's growth, class occupancy rates and the ROI of marketing actions. With increased competition, it is essential that the campaign is creative, human and personalized in order to differentiate itself in the educational market.

What are the first steps before launching an enrollment campaign?

Before starting any marketing action, it is essential to plan. The first step is to check the number of places available in each class and analyze dropout or default rates in order to adjust forecasts. Next, the institution must define the documents required for new students and re-enrolments, communicating clearly to those responsible. It is also essential to organize a timetable with deadlines for opening, closing and possible discounts. This planning ensures a more aligned, realistic and strategic campaign.

How does personalization with data and artificial intelligence help with enrolment?

Personalization is a competitive differentiator in today's campaigns. With the use of artificial intelligence and data analysis, it is possible to predict demand, segment families by profile and send personalized communications on the right channel and at the right time. McKinsey studies show that hyper-personalized campaigns significantly increase conversion rates. In the education sector, this means creating specific journeys for each audience, with reminders, offers and content that speak directly to their needs, making the enrollment decision more natural and assertive.

What are the best digital strategies for attracting new students?

Among the most effective digital strategies are

• Rich materials, such as e-books and videos, in exchange for contact details.

• Personalized e-mail marketing, which maintains a close and segmented relationship.

• Content production on blogs and social networks, generating authority and engagement.

• Intelligent chatbots, offering fast and humanized service.

• Quality images and videos, showcasing the school's infrastructure, teaching staff and results.
  These integrated actions strengthen the institution's digital presence and expand the base of qualified leads for enrollment.

What differentials should be highlighted in school enrollment campaigns?

More than promotions, parents are looking for quality and safety for their children. That's why the campaign should highlight the institution's real differentials. These include extracurricular programs (sports, languages, arts, technology), academic results (ENEM, entrance exams, exchanges), modern infrastructure (laboratories, courts, digital rooms) and qualified teaching staff. In addition, factors such as strategic location and tradition should also be communicated creatively. Valuing these points strengthens families' confidence and increases the chances of enrolment.