Digital Marketing Agency for Schools: Successful Strategies

Digital marketing can and should be present in all segments.  And for that, there’s nothing better than having a digital marketing agency for schools.  Understand the subject!  Educational marketing: what is it?  Marketing strategies have also reached schools!  Educational marketing involves actions aimed at attracting and retaining customers (tutors and parents/guardians), strengthening the school's branding, making its values ​​clear, and effectively communicating with the public - whether they are parents, students or teachers.  The educational niche has seen significant growth in recent years, with new possibilities and ways of learning.  Therefore, marketing for private schools has been highly sought after to help in the search for a differential among so many competitors.  School marketing: why invest?  It is true that, with digital, the way of doing marketing has changed.  Previously, schools invested heavily in offline marketing - billboards, television and radio were great allies.  Today, three out of every four Brazilians access the internet, equivalent to 134 million people, according to the TIC Domicílios 2019 survey.  The need to be present where the customer is, making a digital presence, is clear.  Check out some advantages that educational marketing can provide: 1- Strengthening the brand Educational marketing strengthens the school's branding and highlights its differentials.  In fact, you should always make these differences clear in posts and content aimed at your target audience.  Amidst so many competitors in the industry, show why parents and students should choose your school and not another educational institution.  2- Effective communication with parents and students School is an environment with a lot of information and events happening all the time, such as events, lectures, exam weeks and even an excursion.  Therefore, it is essential to have a communication channel with parents and/or legal guardians and with students.  In addition to communication becoming more assertive, this generates trust on both sides, creating a closer relationship between the school and its audience.  The research “2021 Global Marketing Trends – Find your focus” carried out by Deloitte shows exactly that.  She listed seven marketing trends, one of which is trust.  The brand, in this case the school, must connect with its audience, understand their needs and show empathy on the subject.  Therefore, it is necessary to be transparent in all actions, so that this trust is not “broken”.  Good educational marketing must also take into account the language and tone used in this communication, creating an even greater bridge between parents and school.  3- Student recruitment and retention Educational marketing is also widely used to attract new students and retain those who are already students, currently known as enrollment and re-enrollment.  When it comes to attracting new students, this can be done by understanding who your persona is and what their purchasing journey is.  To do this, structure your sales funnel very well and invest in content marketing.  In fact, there is no shortage of examples in content marketing!  In addition to posts on your social networks, you can create optimized content on your blog - aiming to appear on the first page of search engine searches, webinars, e-books, infographics, spreadsheets and much more.  This will all depend on the stage your customer is at in the sales funnel and what their consumption preferences are.  When it comes to student loyalty, personalization in the relationship is the key point.  Educational marketing enables constant dialogue with parents and students, as we discussed above.  Furthermore, you can invest, within your strategies, in relationship marketing, getting even closer to that customer.  Offer a unique experience and exceptional service.  If you also have personal information, such as your customer's birthday, you can invest in strategies such as congratulating them on this special date.  Educational marketing strategies: find out what they are!  If you want to know how to attract students to your school, strengthen your brand or improve communication with parents and students, check out some strategies that can be used: Study your market niche and your competitors What are your competitors in the education sector doing?  How do they position themselves?  Observe what has been working and what not to repeat.  Define your persona If you don't know what a persona is, it is nothing more than your ideal customer.  Defining this makes producing content and structuring a sales funnel much easier and more assertive.  Know your differential and define your short and long-term goals What is your differential and how can you use it to add value to the school?  Also, what are your goals with educational marketing?  It is not possible to embrace the world all at once, so it is important to know where you want to go, in a defined period of time.  Invest in content marketing Content marketing is essential to strengthen your brand’s authority and alleviate your persona’s “pains”.  Offering quality content, when your customer needs it, creates a brand memory in their mind at every point of contact.  When making a future purchasing decision, it becomes much more likely that he will choose to buy from the brand that has always been there for him and helped him.  To do this, define a strategic plan and put it into practice.  Understand which channels your persona is on and what type of content they like to consume.  In fact, this content must respect the stage of the funnel that the persona is in.  We have brought some examples to help you: Top of the funnel - Invest in content that solves the persona's pain, such as materials about education in general.  This is because, normally, parents/guardians want to be sure that the school has good pedagogical projects and understands education, and you must demonstrate this.  Middle of the funnel - In the middle of the funnel, show your differences compared to your competitors, as well as how your projects are supported.  However, it is not yet time to try to sell, but to show your foundation!  Bottom of the funnel - It's time to have a CTA (call to action) for easy and visible contact in your content!  An important point to highlight is that the sales team's response must be quick, as the customer is already expecting a response!  In fact, having a sales team is a big differentiator between institutions that are successful in converting leads to enrollment and those that are not.  After-sales: after-sales content covers the part of effective communication with parents/guardians regarding projects developed by the school.  With this step carried out effectively, they end up becoming fans of the company and can recommend the school to friends.  Count on the help of a digital marketing agency We understand that there are many processes and, at first, they can be a little difficult to apply.  Therefore, there is nothing better than having specialized help on the subject, so that the correct strategies are used.  Do you need help with your school's educational marketing?  Contact us!  We are ready to help you!

Digital Marketing Agency for Schools: Successful Strategies

Most owners of educational institutions, such as private schools, courses and colleges, have already realized that a digital marketing agency for schools is essential nowadays. Because it is through it that it has become possible to build a strong brand, attracting more enrollments and student retention.

After all, with technological advances, it is not enough to simply invest in a traditional educational marketing model, given that this method no longer promotes the best results in the digital age.  

By the way, the digital marketing plan can and should be present in all segments. And for this, there is nothing better than counting on a digital marketing agency for schools. Read our text and understand the subject! 

Educational marketing: what is it?

As marketing strategies They also reached schools! 

Educational marketing involves actions aimed at attracting and retaining customers (tutors and parents/guardians), strengthening the school's branding, making its values ​​clear, and effectively communicating with the public – whether they are parents, students or teachers. 

The educational niche has seen significant growth in recent years, with new possibilities and ways of learning. Therefore, marketing for private schools has been in high demand to help them find a competitive edge among so many competitors. 

Contrary to what many people think, there is a very close relationship between educational institutions and students. 

For this reason, education marketing is not only used to attract new enrollments, but also to maintain good relationships with already enrolled students and their families. 

Importance of a digital marketing agency for schools 

count on a digital marketing agency for schools it is of utmost importance, as it will be responsible for increasing the number of enrollments, cultivating the institution's image, and mainly, for captivating potential new enrollees. 

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to devise specific strategies and carry out actions with the aim of providing the best experience for the target audience. 

School marketing: why invest?

It is true that, with digital technology, the way of doing marketing has changed. Before, schools invested heavily in offline marketing – billboards, television, radio and pamphlets were great allies.

According to data from the National Household Sample Survey conducted in 2021, around 90% of Brazilian homes have internet access. This means that around 65,6 million homes are connected, 5,8 million more than in 2019.  

That said, it is clear that there is a need to be present where the customer is, making a digital presence. Check out some advantages that educational marketing can provide:

Educational Marketing: What are the Advantages?

1- Strengthening the brand

Educational marketing strengthens the school's branding and highlights its differences through content that addresses the pain points of the personas, that is, parents and those responsible for the students and the students themselves, who today have great power in the school's decision-making.

In fact, you should always make your differences clear in posts and content aimed at your target audience. But this content should go beyond “open enrollment” and “our differences.” It is important to open a dialogue with the persona and produce content about education and for education that demonstrates how much your school is an expert in the subject.

Amidst so many competitors in the industry, show why parents and students should choose your school and not another educational institution. 

2- Effective communication with parents and students

School is an environment with a lot of information and events happening all the time, such as events, lectures, exam weeks and even field trips. Therefore, it is essential to have a communication channel with parents and/or legal guardians and with students.

In addition to communication becoming more assertive, this generates trust on both sides, generating a closer relationship between the school and its audience. The research “2021 Global Marketing Trends – Find your focus”, carried out by Deloitte, shows exactly this. It listed seven marketing trends, one of which is trust.

The brand, in this case the school, must connect with its audience, understand their needs and show empathy towards the subject. Therefore, it is necessary to be transparent in all actions, so that this trust is not “broken”. 

Good educational marketing must also take into account the language and tone used in this communication, creating an even greater bridge between parents and school. 

3- Student recruitment and retention

Educational marketing is also widely used to attract new students and retain those who are already students, currently known as enrollment and re-enrollment. 

When it comes to attracting new students, this can be done by understanding who your persona is and what their buying journey is. To do this, structure your sales funnel very well and invest in content marketing.

Incidentally, in content marketing examples There is no shortage of them! In addition to posting on your social networks, you can create optimized content on your blog – aiming to appear on the first page of search engine results, webinars, e-books, infographics, spreadsheets and much more. 

This will all depend on the stage your customer is at in the sales funnel and what their consumption preferences are. It is always important to emphasize that the relationship with potential customers should be nurtured throughout the year, making the enrollment moment smoother, as the prospect (potential customer) already knows you and through your in-depth content knows that you are an authority on the subject.

When it comes to student loyalty, personalization in the relationship is key. Educational marketing enables constant dialogue with parents and students, as we discussed above. 

Additionally, you can invest, within your strategies, in Marrelationship keting, getting even closer to that customer. Offer a unique experience and exceptional service. 

If you also have personal information, such as your customer's birthday, you can invest in strategies such as congratulating them on this special date.

4- Competitive advantage 

It is very common to find schools that have difficulty presenting their differences, such as their teaching methodology, infrastructure and advantages through online communication. 

This may be because they do not invest properly in an effective nutrition flow. Since it is through this that it is possible to develop a good relationship between the institution and the student, thus solving their doubts in a more personal and objective way.

5 - Analysis of results 

Another advantage of having a digital marketing agency for schools is having the possibility of tracking and measuring, in real time, the metrics of your digital campaigns, such as Return on Investment (ROI) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). 

This way, measuring the effectiveness of the strategies implemented by your agency becomes increasingly feasible. It is also possible to closely monitor all performance and correct any potential flaws. 

6- Educational Benchmarking  

Last but not least, the last advantage is the opportunity to carry out Educational Benchmarking.

This strategy seeks new ways to optimize the performance of institutions, as well as improve the development of student recruitment and retention processes. It also allows the school to adapt to a more practical and modern scenario used by its competitors. 

Educational marketing strategies: find out what they are!

If you want to know how to attract students to your school, strengthen your brand or improve communication with parents and students, check out some strategies that can be used:

Study your niche market and your competitors

What are your competitors in the education sector doing? How are they positioning themselves? Take a look at what is working and what is not.

Define your persona

5 foolproof tips for creating your persona The personification of your ideal client.  This is the best definition of persona.  This is what you should think about before planning your sales strategies and even the type of product or service you are going to sell.  Want to know more about this concept?  Follow our article and discover 5 foolproof tips for creating your persona and not making mistakes in your approach.  You will read about: What is a persona?  Difference between persona and target audience How to create a persona?  What is persona?  The persona is the personification of your ideal customer and it is built using real data about the behavior and demographic characteristics of your customers.  To create your persona you need to know their stories, motivations, challenges, goals and concerns.  Therefore, in order for you to define your persona correctly, you need to have contact with your target audience.  This makes it possible to identify characteristics, consumption habits, pains and desires in common among potential buyers of your product or service.  Difference between persona and target audience This is one of the most common questions for those who are starting to understand these concepts, so let's make it clear: persona and target audience are not synonymous.  In a way, target audience is a broad segment of society to whom you sell your product or service.  While the persona is the representation of your ideal client, in a humanized and personalized way.  Here's an example: Imagine you own a furniture company and want to focus your sales on people who are buying their first home.  Your target audience would be: Men and women over 25 years old, already graduated from college, with an average monthly income of R$3.000.  Your persona would be like this: José Luís, 26 years old, newly graduated engineer with a steady job.  After finishing college, he decided it was time to move out of his parents' house.  So, he rented an apartment close to his work.  Now, you are looking for cheap furniture because you want to save your money to start your master's degree.  However, due to his work, he has little time to research furniture and therefore uses the internet to find products and services.  Did you notice the difference?  At first glance, you may get the impression that the definition is the same.  However, it makes a big difference to think about a marketing strategy aimed at José Luís, who has difficulties and desires, and not at a large target audience.  “But I have several types of clients.” That’s okay, you don’t need to limit your strategy to a single persona.  It is common for some businesses to have more than one defined persona.  However, be careful not to lose focus.  By choosing multiple personas, you may end up not speaking to any of them and your strategy will have gone down the drain.  Read more about: Digital marketing planning Relationship marketing How to create a persona?  To create the right personas for your business, you need to answer some questions about your potential customer.  Therefore, you need to know your audience.  Check out 5 foolproof tips for creating your persona: Benchmark your competitors If you are just starting out and don't have any clients yet, you can benchmark your competitors' social networks.  What type of audience is there?  Are most of them men?  Are they younger?  What type of content generates the most audience engagement?  This helps to identify the profile of people who consume this type of product or service.  Assess your audience You don't sell yet, but you already have a profile on social media?  Then you can assess who your audience is.  What kind of people follow your page?  What content do you like the most?  The idea here is to try to identify a common behavior pattern that can guide the creation of your persona.  Listen to your customers If your business is more mature, you can use your customers to reach your ideal customer.  To do this, talk to some of them and find out their main needs.  You can do this over the phone or by sending out a simple survey on Google Forms.  And most importantly, understand how your product or service solves a real problem for your customers.  You can also use these survey forms on your page or website.  Offer something of value to your audience To encourage your audience to respond to your form, offer something of value to your persona!  How about an e-book on a topic of interest to the persona?  It can be very attractive and triggers reciprocity.  Questions that cannot be missing from your forms What are your pain points?  What are your wishes?  What brands do you usually use?  What is your daily routine like?  What are your goals?  From this, you will have an idea of ​​what your persona wants and needs, and thus, you can offer a solution that meets their needs.  Additionally, you will discover what type of content your persona is interested in, and with that, you can think of content that talks about their problems and desires.  This way, you create a connection with your audience, as you demonstrate that you know what they go through on a daily basis.  What’s more, it shows that the solution to that problem is closer than she imagines.  You will enjoy reading about: Marketing strategies Use the empathy map When it comes to defining your target audience, the empathy map is one of the most used tools in Digital Marketing.  This tool allows you to understand each customer segment in a very visual way.  With this, you can establish clear hypotheses regarding the main needs, behaviors and personal attributes of your ideal client.  Fill out the form below and download your empathy map for free: Well, the empathy map is made up of six questions related to the customer: What do they think and feel?  In this quadrant, you should put what your product or service awakens in the minds of consumers: How does the persona feel about the world?  What are your concerns?  What are your dreams?  What are your short-term plans?  Difficulties you face on a daily basis What is a typical day like for the persona?  What do you hear?  Here, you can ask about idols and other influences that the persona receives from different media, such as communication: Which people and ideas are they influenced by?  Who are your idols?  What are your favorite brands?  What communication products do they consume?  Read more about: How inbound marketing works How to attract customers 3) What do you say and do?  This quadrant refers to the consumption of the product or service from the moment the persona decides to purchase it.  Therefore, it is necessary to understand their behavior: What does the persona talk about?  What topics interest you?  What are your hobbies?  What do you do in your free time?  4) What do you see?  This quadrant should talk about the visual stimuli that your persona receives.  You may ask: What are your friends like?  What do you do on a daily basis?  What is the world like that person lives in?  5) What are your pains?  It corresponds to the difficulties that your audience experiences daily: What are they afraid of?  What are your frustrations?  What's stopping you from doing something you want?  6) What are your wishes?  It's what you're going to offer your persona: What is success for the persona?  Where does she want to go?  What would end your problems?  With all this data displayed in a visible way, you can draw your persona’s profile.  To enrich the construction of your persona, brainstorm with your team to collect ideas and suggestions that can characterize your persona adequately.  Don't forget to define the name, gender and age of your persona.  Now that you know how to create a persona, and with that, improve your shopping experience, know that there are other digital marketing strategies that will boost your sales!  Meet GS2 Marketing We are experts in mapping your ideal customer, attracting visitors and generating leads for our clients.  Our success strategy is based on designing your persona's purchasing journey.  We gather data and analyze our successful clients from different segments to come up with a methodology that will increase your sales.  We have the most strategic areas of digital marketing to make your business grow!  Want to know more about how GS2 Marketing can help you map your ideal customer and sell more?

If you do not know what is persona, it is nothing more than your ideal client. In this case, the most detailed image of your typical student, the student history or the drawing of this ideal student transformed into a character to whom your digital marketing strategies will be directed. 

In the education segment, it is likely that there are more than one type of personas. This definition is made through the possibility or need to be able to focus and structure a sales funnel aimed at them. 

Therefore, defining this makes the production of content and the structuring of a sales funnel much easier and more assertive.

Know your difference and define your short and long-term goals

What sets you apart and how can you use it to add value to the school?

Also, what are your goals with educational marketing? You can’t embrace the world all at once, so it’s important to know where you want to go in a defined period of time. 

Invest in content marketing

Content marketing is essential to strengthen your brand’s authority and alleviate your persona’s “pains”.

Offering quality content when your customer needs it creates a brand memory in their mind at every point of contact. When making a future purchase decision, it becomes much more likely that they will choose to buy from the brand that has always been there for them and helped them.

To do this, define a strategic plan and put it into practice. Understand which channels your persona is on and what type of content they like to consume. In fact, this content should respect the stage of the funnel that the persona is in. We have brought some examples to help you:

Top of funnel: Invest in content that reveals that the persona has a pain point, such as materials about education in general. This is because parents/guardians usually want to be sure that the school has good pedagogical projects and understands education, and you should show this;

top of funnel

Funnel medium: In the middle of the funnel, show your differences compared to your competitors, as well as how your projects are based. However, it is not yet time to try to sell, but to show your foundation!

Bottom of the funnel:  It's time to have a CTA (call to action) for contact in an easy and visible way in your content! An important point to emphasize is that the sales team's response must be quick, as the customer is already expecting a response! In fact, having a good sales team is a big differentiator between institutions that are successful in converting contacts to enrollment and those that are not.

  • After sales: Post-sales content is part of what we call the hourglass sales funnel. It covers the part of effective communication with parents/guardians regarding projects developed by the school. With this step carried out effectively, they end up becoming fans of the company and may recommend the school to friends.

Read also how to choose a digital marketing agency 

GS2 Digital Marketing 

Are you looking for a digital marketing agency for schools?

Count on the help of GS2 Marketing Digital!

We understand that there are many processes and, at first, they can be a little difficult to apply. Therefore, there is nothing better than having specialized help on the subject, so that the correct strategies can be used.

We are experts in attracting visitors, generating leads and nurturing a good relationship with the customer until the moment the deal is closed.

Our success strategy is based on the design of your persona's purchasing journey. We rely on the most strategic areas of digital marketing to help your school grow. 

Want to know more about how we can help you create your digital marketing strategies? 

Get in contact us and learn about our cases in the education segment! We are ready to help you!

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