How Indian Edtech firms can optimise their digital marketing efforts - II

In our last article, we discussed how the edtech industry is leveraging digital media for revenue growth. Let us look at each component carefully to understand the dynamics.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing): SEM is used by most of the players as it helps them gain instant visibility in front of the audience with the intent to buy their services. Search and display ads synergy is necessary to deliver maximum results. Search or pay per click (PPC) ads cost you by the click, and hence it is more targeted. The average CPC (cost-per-click) goes up 5-7% every year organically, but estimates suggest that it could be quite high (~30%) for edtech companies. The reason lies in its seasonal nature and extremely low conversion rates. The conversion rates decline as you move from small to large-ticket purchases.

Search engine advertisements linked to free videos on an initial query of students can also be leveraged as >80% of students use Google to begin their course/college search. A digital marketing campaign equipped with relevant, relatable, searchable (HTML and SEO friendly) and purposeful content across social media platforms (blogs, tips, right practices, videos) have the potential to keep your lead funnel busy. Those who became qualified leads can be nurtured based on what stage of buyer journey they are at, while the dropped off cases can be re-targeted using the mobile display and behavioural re-targeted advertising.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Edtech players like Vedantu have tried to address their high acquisition cost through attracting visitors to its website through freemiums (free test preps, reference material etc.). This has helped them build a funnel of 85 lakh unique visitors to its website each month, of which 95% come organically. Edureka acquires its 60% users organically through free YouTube videos, online communities and blogs. Edureka is also developing an AI-powered counselling chatbot that will interact and advise users with their career-related queries.

Simplilearn, an e-learning platform for tech professionals, gets ~15 lakh, monthly visitors, on its site. 3.3% of these visitors leave an enquiry and 0.73% end up buying its services. For Simplilearn, 40% of its inbounds traffic comes from referrals and another major chunk comes from its free video uploads on YouTube. This traffic would have otherwise cost them ~Rs. 11 crore/month if acquired inorganically. For Eruditus, the CPL (cost per lead) for its course on Design Thinking, is ~Rs. 1100 in India – 43% of what it would cost in the US. Unfortunately, Indian conversion rates are five times lower than their US counterparts resulting in a much higher acquisition cost. Vedantu, in order to reach out to a wider audience base, has associated with top network publishers like Google, Yahoo and more.

For example, someone targeting aspirants of Bank PO exam could create a short test on their website where the questions change every time the test is taken. This test can be taken by an aspirant multiple time and it gives the probability of becoming a bank PO. A user then could return multiple times to assess his or her level of preparedness. A short video on ‘tips to crack the bank PO exam’ can be hosted on YouTube, shared on social media such as Facebook. Not only this, display and banner ads can be used along with converting it into a question-answer on Quora. Interestingly, on Quora, if you ask “What is the best online coaching institute for bank exams in India?”, the answers repeatedly point towards Vidya Guru as no one else has paid attention to this platform.

Social Media Marketing: The biggest driver of edtech growth is trusting because the education industry runs on trust. Their digital campaigns are sketchy and unreliable in many instances. Users are not equipped to handle exploring internet-based products, and their ability to search the internet is limited in scope. This is a generic problem that the industry faces when trying to create marketing campaigns that are online. Add to this the scams in past which erode the confidence of both students and parents further. The need of the hour is to produce relevant and meaningful content that is accepted and understood. And when using social media, you need to understand both the emotions and the mood in entirety.

Social media has everyone…students are there…their families are there too. So, gear up and promote the awesome work and achievement of your students. Share stories of their proud parents. Don’t shy away from reposting somebody else’s post. Make announcements and use twitter which thrives on its lightning-quick reactions to world happenings. Reveal a personal story of someone who has been your user and yes keeps it real. Ask a question to your audience to elicit what they need or what they desire. And yes, never ever forget to offer congratulations to those who made it. Make their personal story a hero…not your contribution. You will be amazed at the brand recall it would have…even when you are just the supporter in the cause.

Create a business account on all the popular networks including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn. After friending and following leads, take the time to engage with them regularly. You can motivate your audience to visit your website by sharing links to images, video clips, and articles. Be active and engaging by commenting, retweeting, and favouriting your fan’s content. Engage with individuals’ blog posts and tweets and try to be as helpful as possible with their researching and buying processes.

The pillar of using social media should lie in bringing unbridled engagement and that comes with an open discussion. Social media is all about sharing, so why not share a snippet of classroom content to encourage discussion. Making use of the best search phrases goes a long way in optimising your content’s performance. SEMrush, SERPS, Moz, and Google Keyword Planner are a few examples of platforms you can utilize to engage in a comprehensive keyword research study before crafting your content. It’s a good idea to go with long-tail expressions as well as keyword phrases that do not have too much competition. As an example, ‘bank PO preparation’ is most likely an extremely sought-after key phrase, in addition to being pricey! Rather, pick more particular keyword expressions such as ‘the best way to crack bank PO exam’. If it is free, it could not hurt you much. Vedantu uses social media to engage with potential customers effectively. Their everyday conversation with potential users regarding upcoming courses/ teachers etc. has helped them connect with over one lakh potential users across different media channels.

There are more ways of reaching out to potential customers. We will discuss the remaining ways in the last and concluding part of this article.