Streamlining Your School Marketing: Automation Strategies to Save Time and Boost Enrolment
Marketing is essential to the success of any school. Without effective marketing, it can be difficult to attract new families and retain existing ones. However, marketing can be time-consuming and expensive, and it can be challenging to find the right balance between marketing efforts and other school priorities. Fortunately, automation can not only streamline your school marketing but make it more effective as well. A few automation strategies for your school to consider:
Use an Email Marketing Tool
Email marketing is a popular and effective way to reach potential and existing families. With an email marketing tool, you can automate your email campaigns and send targeted messages to specific groups of families. With email marketing automation, school marketers can automate the process of sending personalised emails to individuals based on their behavior, preferences, and demographic information.
When using an email marketing tool, it's important to segment your audiences. You might segment your audience based on their interests, year level, or location. By segmenting your audiences, you can send targeted messages that are more likely to resonate with each individual.
Set up a Social Media Calendar
Social media is another marketing staple for schools. However, it can be challenging to find the time to create and post content regularly. A social media content calendar can help you plan and automate your social media posts.
Start by identifying the social media platforms that are most relevant to your school. For example, if you have a lot of older parents in your community, Facebook may be the best platform for you. If you have younger parents and Sixth Form students, Instagram and even TikTok may be more appropriate.
Next, create a content calendar that outlines what type of content you will post on each platform and when. This could include updates on school events, student achievements, testimonials, and school news. Then, use a scheduling tool like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to schedule your posts in advance.
Implement a Chatbot
Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular for customer service and marketing purposes. For a school, they can help answer frequently asked questions, provide information about your institution and even schedule tours or meetings.
By implementing a chatbot on your school website or social media pages, you can provide 24/7 customer service without having to hire additional staff. Plus, chatbots can help automate the lead generation process by collecting contact information from potential parents and passing it on to the admissions team.
When implementing a chatbot, it's important to make sure it's user-friendly and provides accurate information. Test your chatbot regularly to make sure it's functioning properly and update it with new information as needed.
Use Data for Personalisation
Personalisation is key to effective school marketing, and data can help tailor your messages and content to be the most effective. Begin with a platform that tracks user behavior and engagement on your website and can identify triggers to conversion.
Once you have this data, you can use it to create personalised marketing campaigns. This could be anything from a digital ad campaign to those that have visited your scholarships page, emailing a parent that showed an interest in sports about an upcoming match, or showcasing key content to a relevant persona on their second and third-time visits.
Personalisation not only helps increase engagement with your marketing efforts but also helps build stronger relationships with potential and current families. By demonstrating that you understand their interests and needs, you can create a sense of trust and connection that can lead to higher enrolment and retention rates.
Automate your Admissions Process
The admissions process can be time-consuming and complex, involving multiple steps such as application review, interviews, and decision-making. By automating some of these steps, you can save time and resources whilst also improving the applicant experience.
One way to automate your admissions process is to use an online application system. This can streamline the application process for both the applicant and the admissions team, making it easier to collect and manage information. You could also use automated emails to keep applicants updated on the status of their applications, provide additional information about the school, and answer frequently asked questions.
Another way to automate the admissions process is to use an admissions CRM. This can help you track applicants throughout the entire process, from initial inquiry to final decision, and provide analytics and insights to help you improve your admissions strategy.
Measure and Analyse Your Marketing Efforts
Finally, it's important to measure and analyse your marketing efforts to determine what's working and what's not. This can help you make data-driven decisions and refine your strategy over time.
There are a variety of tools available to help you do this. Google Analytics is a free tool that can help you track website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. Social media platforms also provide analytics tools that can help you track engagement, reach, and follower growth. UBIQ's AMAIS™ can offer even more in-depth insight and analysis on each of your personas. By regularly reviewing your marketing analytics, you can identify areas for improvement and adjust your strategy accordingly.
