More than advertising and sales, marketing is part of a company's intelligence, directing the adoption of strategies that value strengths and opportunities to win customers and win the market.
With that in mind, it's easy to understand why, increasingly, developing good Inbound marketing strategies is essential for the success of any undertaking. And this undoubtedly also applies to educational institutions.
Like any other customer, students (whether they are independent or under the guardianship of guardians) are increasingly demanding and find an ever-increasing offer of educational institutions and sources of knowledge.
Faced with this increasingly competitive scenario, many universities have a common question: how to stand out and attract new students? In this post, you will understand the importance of getting to know other countries and their marketing strategies to revolutionize your campaigns!
In this post you can see:
- Why learn about strategies from other companies or institutions?
- And because getting to know other countries and their strategies (Is it necessary to go that far?);
- But why is all this important for educational institutions?
Good reading!
Why learn about strategies from other companies or institutions?
Before "leaving the country", it is important to understand why it is worth knowing the marketing strategies of other companies or other educational institutions. It's common to look at this idea with suspicion because nobody wants to copy anyone, right?
But it is necessary to understand that the market in which you are inserted works as a kind of thermometer or compass, and can be an important guide for business, even in the educational scenario.
This means that by monitoring what direct or indirect competitors are doing, it is easier to identify trends, positive ideas that can serve as inspiration and even ideas that went wrong and that, therefore, serve as a lesson for the entire segment.
In addition, by studying and knowing who your competitors are, you have the possibility to discover their strengths and weaknesses and in this way, you can highlight your company's differentials, building a competitive advantage.
And since the subject is to know other educational institutions, of course we could not fail to mention Benchmarking, a technique widely used within companies to generate insights.
What is Benchmarking?
Have you heard about Benchmarking? The term may even sound strange, but the strategy is already widely used in the competitive universe of companies to study the competition.
Benchmarking, or translating, reference point,it is a process used to analyze other companies in the same segment, where you can observe from the best practices used by the current one to a performance comparison.
By applying the Benchmarking technique, you can find out how your educational institution has performed in the market compared to others in the same sector and thus analyze its performance.
See also these contents:
- 6 strategic intake indicators for educational institutions!
- Educational Marketing: learn how to have a strong brand!
- How can educational marketing help your student retention?
In addition, another great benefit of Benchmarking is that the tactic can generate good insights to improve the productivity and efficiency of your processes.
Not to mention that with Benchmarking your Educational institution gains more market knowledge, discovers new trends, improves your view of the market and of yourself, and even builds a solid argumentative base.
And because getting to know other countries and their strategies (Is it necessary to go that far?)
The answer is yes. If you want to revolutionize your campaigns, this investment is worth it. And it is not about thinking that what is done "out there" is always better and, therefore, deserves to be copied by those who seek success.
Indeed, there are foreign countries and especially brands that are known for their revolutionary marketing campaigns.
Bearing in mind, for example, the combination of technological resources and education, there is much that can serve as inspiration for educational institutions, from the use of technology in the classroom, trends in social networks or even news from marketing automation.
But, beyond innovation, the idea is that by being in contact with the culture of other countries and new strategies, you can open your mind to discover different ways of communicating.
The focus is to use all this exchange of experience that you will have with new cultures, to improve and make the experience of your potential student more enriching.
Once you are immersed in these new tactics, you have the opportunity to adapt them to your educational institution's purpose and can give new direction and power to your own campaigns.
In other words, looking for what's out there will allow you and your educational institution to know the strategies trends abroad and have a much broader view of their market and its possibilities. And, consequently, be able to use this information in an even more strategic and assertive way.
But why is all this important for educational institutions?
Okay, now that you understand what Benchmarking is and you already know some of the benefits of keeping an eye on your competitors, let's talk about your educational institution? After all, how can this process make a difference and contribute in practice to the performance of your brand?
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Improve your relationship with the target audience
Gone are the days when it was possible to say, with certainty, that education in Brazil was not similar to that of other countries that can be considered a reference.
To understand this, let's consider two factors: first, the reform of Secondary Education brought the Brazilian school closer to the format already known in European and North American countries; second, foreign educational institutions are already positioned in the Brazilian educational market, including offering several free courses.
This means that the target audience of educational institutions already has, in an increasingly natural way, proximity to education trends abroad, as well as the associated marketing strategies. Ignoring this is having to face a growing difficulty in communicating and conquering this audience.
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Innovate in digital strategies
In addition, following the scenario outside the country and competition in higher education can be a way to innovate in your strategic planning for capture and retention, as well as a great way to keep an eye on new digital trends.
After all, we cannot talk about strategies and education without mentioning the digital universe.
Potential students are increasingly inserted in the virtual environment and with the boom of social networks, and technological advances, it is no longer possible for educational institutions to ignore this!
The truth is that to stand out today in the educational scenario, it is increasingly necessary to invest in online strategies and bet on the new marketing trends for content production.
And of course, to keep up with all this and reach this audience, there's nothing better than seeing how other IEs are applying this in practice, isn't there?
Having ideas that can add new tools to your strategies can be much easier when you follow the foreign educational market and are inspired by successful cases.
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Identify weaknesses and refine your strategies
Not to mention that by monitoring companies in your segment both inside and outside the country, your Marketing team can identify which areas of your company need more attention or improvements.
It is also possible to discover references and successful cases in the educational environment, and thus improve your strategies with good insights.
But, attention! Remember when reviewing other companies, it doesn't mean that what they do is better or that every set of actions should be applied to their strategies.
It's important to know that there will be amazing ideas that won't be applicable to your product or service.
Therefore, reflect on what is really worth adapting to your reality or not. Keep in mind that the focus of this process is to generate powerful insights and improve your strategies, okay?
Were you interested in the subject? Now it's time to put it into practice! If you want to start investing in educational marketing and change your results with effective retention strategies, get in touch with our team of experts.
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