So you’ve noticed that most students are now online and use the internet to look for their dream school. Well, so have other education marketers. The real question is, how do you get these prospective students’ attention and interest, and ultimately, get them to enroll in your course with the least amount of spending?
One proven way is through PPC, which when executed right, can generate big returns on your investment and better brand recognition. Today we’re breaking down a couple of dos and don’ts when using PPC for student admissions:
DO: Define your target audience
Your courses are not meant for every learner. You wouldn’t market a coding bootcamp to someone interested in culinary classes.
Clearly defining your ideal student before you launch a PPC campaign doesn’t only save you marketing dollars, it also saves you time. The specificity of your demographic profile guides your messaging and designs so they achieve maximum appeal for your prospective audience.
DO: Use geo-targeting
Proximity is a deciding factor for many students and their parents when choosing an education provider. In fact, studies have shown that students typically enroll in schools and classes that are within 50 miles from their homes. It’s worth noting that eLearning takes care of this concern so depending on your user data, you can tweak your PPC campaigns to reach more locations.
DON’T: Take the humanity out of your ads
It may be tempting to show off your facilities and cutting-edge tech in all your ads. But with digital overload affecting every single audience (yes, including you!), pictures of buildings and objects don’t resonate with people as much as actual humans do. Empathy-evoking content designed to deliver joy, surprise, and pride is easier to achieve when you feature advertising collaterals that communicate emotions.
DON’T: Stick to only one type of content
So you’ve profiled your prospective student and engineered campaigns intended to be alluring to them, but that’s not where the work ends. You can’t forget about your existing students and just how influential their engagement and feedback are in adding credibility to your programs.
Naturally, your strategies to get current students and alumni to be your digital advocates will differ from your strategies to get prospects to enroll. You cannot appeal to different audiences using just one form of content and copy. Implementing campaigns that are too broad in focus might get you more clicks and leads, but they will often end up being only good on paper and cost you more money because those low-interest leads will not convert.
Education marketing is a fast-moving industry that creates equal amounts of opportunity for wins and potential for losses. Without the elaborate attention of a specialist, you may end up overlooking a moneymaker and accidentally invest in unsuccessful strategies.
Talk to us today. We’re education marketing and data experts working as an extension of your in-house team.
