6 Best Marketing Strategies to Increase School Enrollment

April 10, 2023 / blog / Comments (0)

Increasing enrollment is an important goal for any school.To achieve this, schools must employ effective marketing strategies that will attract potential students and parents to the school. But with so many potential tactics available, it can be overwhelming to figure out how to best approach marketing for your school. To simplify this process, the School Agency has put together a list of the six best marketing strategies for schools to consider when trying to increase enrollment. So, if you’re wondering how to hit your enrollment targets for the next school year—read on.

1. Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is the cornerstone of an enrollment-focused school marketing campaign. It is far and away the most effective strategy for generating leads (and enrollment).

Inbound marketing (the opposite of outbound marketing) focuses on creating content that attracts visitors to your school’s website. This content should be informative, entertaining, and/or engaging enough to get the target market interested in what you have to offer.

Once visitors are on the school’s website, they can be further converted into leads and then enrollees with targeted content, calls-to-action, lead forms, and more. For example, the school can create content such as an e-book or webinar that provides information about the school, its offerings, and why it’s the best choice for prospective students.

6 best marketing strategies to increase school enrollment

2. Lead Magnets

A lead magnet is a piece of content that will only interest your target market. It attracts them (like a magnet) by offering real value in the form of information, resources, or an incentive—think:

e-books
checklists
webinars
discounts
quizzes

There’s a catch, though. In order to access the lead magnet, the lead needs to hand over their contact information, such as an email address. This allows you to start building a relationship with the lead and nurture them towards enrollment in your school.

According to marketers, video lead magnets convert at the highest rate. That said, most kinds of lead magnets are incredibly effective when used properly. Make sure you store the information you collect from leads in a CRM and use it to inform your content marketing efforts.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You’ve no doubt heard of search engine optimization (SEO)—the practice of optimizing your website’s content so that it ranks higher in search engine results.

SEO is an important component of school marketing, as it allows prospective students to find your website organically when searching for schools in your area. It also helps build trust with prospective students, as higher rankings often possess authority and expertise.

To maximize SEO efforts, create content that is optimized for the relevant keywords related to your school and its offerings.

Focus on keywords that:

Have a keyword difficult (KD) score <20
Have a minimum of 500 monthly searches
Are related to your school and its offerings

Organize these keywords into a spreadsheet and create content that targets them. This will help your website rank higher in search engine results and, ultimately, drive more prospects to your school.

4. Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Local SEO is a bit different from SEO, in that it specifically focuses on optimizing content for local search engine results and Google Maps.

This strategy is especially significant if your school serves a local demographic, as it allows prospective students in the area to find your school more easily when searching for schools. To optimize content for local SEO, make sure to include relevant keywords related to your location (e.g., city, region), such as “Montessori school in Dubai” or “Elementary schools in the UAE.”

It’s also important to collect local citations—like online directories, review sites, and local business listings. This helps search engines determine the location of your school, as well as its relevance to local searches.

5. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a great way to get the word out about your school. It allows you to connect with prospective students and build relationships with them in real-time—something that traditional advertising doesn’t offer.

6 best marketing strategies to increase school enrollment

By creating content for social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok, schools can effectively reach their target market and communicate key messages about their offerings. Schools should also consider running targeted ads on social media to increase visibility and enrollment numbers further.

According to HubSpot, short-form video yields the highest ROI of any other type of content (followed by longer-form video and image posts). They should form the foundation of your social strategy.

6. Testimonials

Testimonials are a great way to build credibility and trust with prospective students. Whether they’re written or video testimonials, they provide social proof that your school is reputable, trustworthy, and offers the best educational experience.

Have current students or parents write about their experiences at the school and post them on your website. You can also ask for video testimonials from teachers, staff, alumni, and even students who have graduated and gone on to successful careers—this will show potential enrollees that there’s real value in attending your school.

And as an added bonus, websites that feature videos are 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google.

How the 6 best marketing strategies can increase school enrollments at your school

By combining these six strategies—inbound marketing, lead magnets, SEO, local SEO, social media marketing, and testimonials—you can create an effective school marketing strategy that will attract the right students and increase enrollment numbers.

The School Agency specializes in helping schools and educational institutions develop marketing strategies to grow their student body through digital marketing, web design, lead generation, content creation, and more.

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