12 Strategies that Work for Higher Education Marketing
If you are an online marketer trying to market higher education, your target audience is probably millennials. Trying to convince them to accept your product can be a challenge in such a crowded market. However, you have an advantage in that most of them can be found online. If you are selling higher education, here are some strategies by Tony Guo (http://www.linkedin.com/in/tyguo/) that may work for you.
1. Talk About the Cost
One reason why some may shun higher education is that they may think it is too expensive. You will thus have to address this issue if you hope to make any conversions. Talk about the long-term positive effects of higher education. Besides that, ensure that potential students understand all the financial options availed to them throughout their time in school.
2. Have a Solid Mobile Ad Strategy
If you are marketing higher education, that means you are targeting relatively young people. Most potential students use mobile devices as the only way to access the internet. Thus, you will need to have a solid mobile marketing strategy. Many tools are available that are designed to ensure your campaign succeeds.
3. Appeal to their Parents
Today, there are fewer parents paying for their children’s higher education. However, even the few that still do are quite significant. Besides that, even when they do not pay, they still have a big influence on the decisions that their kids make. Have a strategy that is designed to reach out to them in their role as influencers.
4. Use Social Media
For you to sell higher education, you need to be on social media. Almost everyone who wants to join a higher education program uses social media. Use various metrics to reach out to them. You must ensure that you use it in the right manner. One danger of using social media is that your product may not be taken seriously. Keep that in mind when marketing higher education.
5. Use Surveys
A great way to understand your target audience and thus market to them successfully is to conduct surveys often. A survey provides you with the information that you need to optimize your campaign and reach an audience that you may have been ignoring.
6. Use Snail Mail
Although it may seem like a lot of time, it has proven quite successful. A handwritten note indicates that you value the potential student. Besides that, the potential students are already used to being targeted through personalized means. They are more likely to give you a positive response if you choose to target them personally. While snail mail may not work when you are marketing other products, it has proven exceptionally effective for markets of higher education.
7. Ensure You Have a Solid Strategy for Responding to Queries
One reason why you may be losing potential students is that you do not respond to queries in good time. Consequently, they may end up developing a negative connotation about your product. You must have a regular schedule for checking for queries. You can also post automated responses promising to reply within a given period.
8. Post ROI Content on the Website
With the cost of education being so high, parents and their kids want assurance that their investment will not go to waste. A common strategy used by websites is to post employability statistics. Additionally, you can name a few students who have been at the institution and who have enjoyed massive success in the world.
9. Talk About The Faculty
Students are naturally curious about who will be teaching them. It is important that you post photos of some of your most decorated members of staff. Besides that, if they have won any awards, ensure that you mention them. It is a fast and easy way to convince potential students.
10. Get Found on the Internet
If you are going to market anything online, you need to have a good SEO strategy. Even when you are purchasing ad space, SEO still matters. The reason for this is that it affects the placement of your ads. This is because search engines view the user experience as being quite important.
11. Use Branding
Branding is quite important for success in marketing higher education. In fact, students could choose an institution based purely on brand recognition. The reason for this is that there are simply too many institutions of higher education. Even employers are not sure of how they can choose employees when everyone has stellar credentials. The result is that they may rely on branding when making their final decision.
12. Be Socially Conscious
The millennials want to be part of something that brings about positive change in the world. Thus, if you can demonstrate that you are socially active, they may be willing to listen to you more. An important strategy also gets you noticed without having to spend any money on advertising. Sometimes, a positive news report could be all it takes for a student to decide that they want to be part of you.
When all of these strategies are used in tandem, you should expect to see some positive results. However, you should keep in mind that there is no silver bullet to success.