Marketing your courses or programs requires utilizing various tactics. Follow these techniques to better serve your students -- no matter your Institute type is.
You can't run a successful campus without marketing it. And while in today's constantly changing scenarios like COVID-19, Regulatory Changes, Advent of NEP 2020, Mandatory Accreditation and Entry of International Universities in Indian Terrain there is no "right" way to market, there are ways that will be optimal for your typical type of Courses / Programs.
But there are ways where you can create impact in your arena and for your students. Strategies that work for another Institutes may not necessarily work for yours and vice versa. Putting yourself in your students' shoes, identifying their needs but also their wants and wishes will really help you to design the Admission Campaigns, Curriculum, Extra-Curricular Activities and Running Various Operating process in the Campus.
Standing out from the competition means using marketing tactics that work for your Students as per which geographic location your campus is, and ensuring your policies are not against your Students and Parents.
For example, inundating new Parents and Students who look for admission with brochures and paper flyers isn't a great tactic, as these could pile up before your target even before they decide for Admission for your Courses / Programs. Plus I have not seen any campuses who talks about Student’s success your campus can create for your prospective students and how your offerings are different from other campuses in terms of modern skills which student requires to move towards success in this New Era.
Plus, you have very meagre way to measure success in terms of Enquiry to Admission conversions. Instead, devise a digital campaign targeted to new students and parents which is mapped to student’s success and in addition you can track and respond to prospective students.
Here are three ways to optimize marketing tactics to ensure success for your Campus.
1. Get to Know Your Students
Any Campus that doesn't know their target Student is setting themselves up for failure. Knowing your student doesn't just mean knowing how often they come to your site or how often they make a visit to your campus. That knowledge is all well and good, but it also means knowing what their life looks like from the inside out. Knowing and mapping their success towards your goals and aspirations is the first step to derive and devise good Marketing Plans, Curriculum offering and Skill Development. Conducting surveys, evaluating social metrics, holding in-person or virtual events and analysing students’ reviews are just some strategies you can employ to better know your Parents / Students. Further, by knowing your student, you can focus your marketing tactics on those that resonate most with them. Know what tools they use and learn everything you can about them.
2. Stick With Your Brand's Central Purpose
You need to work upon your Institutes Vision and Mission which need to be aligned to Students Success. Just because your Campus and Faculty Members can do it all doesn't mean it should. Increasing your Seat Capacity or Offering More Certifications Programs are good, but getting into a new Course which may not be Core Area will be dangerous. Broadening your area of Offerings in terms of new courses or programs are good but jumping ship to another category will sometimes fall flat. For Eg. You may be running Successful CBSE Board School, but jumping or launching IB school will be a mistake. Expansion of your existing expertise will be more impactful and will create more revenue for your campus.
Another tactic that can highlight your core purpose is promoting exclusivity. After all, there are numerous Schools in the vicinity of any prospective student / parent that practically all do the same thing: Teach and Give Degrees. The trick is to demonstrate why your Institute is a cut above the rest, relaying how it can save a busy parent time by providing top class services to Students in terms Teaching, Coaching and Make them Successful in their Career.
3. Survey the Competition, But Don't Dwell on It
OK, so what makes your brand so great? Look at your mission and vision statements. Why do student turn to you instead of the competition? These types of questions are essential to ask yourself--particularly when it comes to marketing your brand.
It's also essential to survey your competition. Look at your top competitors or Campuses that offer similar services or programs to yours. Do a Google search and see whether you need to re-evaluate or further optimize your SEO strategy. If your campus / Institute isn't at or near the top of the search results, you'll know this to be true.
That said, don't dwell too much on the competition. You are only as good as your own race. This is something we all just witnessed during the Tokyo Olympics, as 23-Year Old Neeraj Chopra captured gold despite the focus being on VADLEJCH Jakub of Czech Republic. Utilize marketing tactics that are best suited to or complement your brand.
Know more about how you can measure your Student Success through Financepeer All-inclusive Academic Platform at www.financepeer.com.
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