Your Language School Marketing Strategy In 2021 ??

Welcome to 2021!

The world is more complex than ever before.

And times are changing rapidly.

New markets are emerging and technology is advancing. Creating both challenges and opportunities for language schools and their marketing teams.

The stakes are high for everyone in the industry and fact is...adapt or die. ??

Many language schools are looking to paid ad strategies to increase leads and direct course enrolments.

But as more schools jump onto ad platforms, the more competitive it becomes to generate new leads and customers.

With my language school clients, we like to start with Facebook because of its mass appeal and ease of access to three major platforms in one (Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger).

Facebook is a great demand generation platform. Instagram is wonderful when it comes to storytelling and engagement. Messenger and WhatsApp are turning out to be a great 1-to-1 platform for schools. It has enabled sales teams to handle simple to complex enrolment enquiries online.

However, to get the most out of your online marketing efforts in 2021, there are 5 crucial elements to be aware of:

1. Alignment Of Personal Goals With School’s Courses ??

Talking about how great your courses are may seem like an instinctive thing to do.

After all, it:

??Shows prospective students what makes you "you".

??Differentiates you from your competitors.

??Makes your existing students feel proud that they have chosen a great school.

But if this is the first thing you do, then you’re in for a huge disappointment.

Because prospective students don’t care about how different your school is until they know that you can get them what they want.

Harsh, but true. ??

Prospective students have to feel like the goal they always wanted, whether it is to get into university, apply for a job, converse with locals/loved ones, is now within reach.

And it starts by enrolling with your school.

This is one of the key reasons our clients are able to see 50% to 200% improvements in measurable results such as a lower cost per course enquiry or higher lead quality within a couple of months.

Differentiating your school is not the real key in getting people's attention. Goal alignment is.

2. Re-Marketing To Leads ??

In Facebook Marketing, the best practice is to stop showing ads to those who have already become a lead. But most schools stop here and expect their admissions/sales team to turn someone who just filled out a form into a student.

That’s not how it works in reality.

Enrolling in a language course can be a life-transforming decision for some students. It’s also a huge investment of both time and money. Your prospective students aren’t going to make this decision in a heartbeat.

So, if you stop marketing to them right after they sign up for more information, you’ll be making a big mistake.

That’s why I take a different approach. ??

I recommend schools to continue re-marketing to these people for up to 6 months (or for as long as the average student takes from an enquiry on Facebook/website to completing their enrolment).

WHY?

Because they only just showed an interest in your course. And interest is not the same as desire.

In other words, just because they enquired about your course or school doesn’t make them sales-qualified candidates.

So, the job isn’t done and you can’t stop marketing to them yet.

Instead, your marketing goal and message will change.

Instead of trying to get them to make another enrolment inquiry, you’re now trying to show them how your school is different.

This is your opportunity to tell them more about your school. Highlight your unique value proposition. Differentiate your school and language courses from others. Make them impressed. Wow them…Help them see why you’re their best option.

And there’s a variety of mediums and formats in which you can do this:

??Videos

??Carousels

??Instagram Stories

??Blog posts

And so on….

Think of this approach as giving them subtle nudges. Over time, you are reminding them about your school and keeping it at the top of their minds without being pushy.

3. One-To-One Engagement ??

Traditionally, language school admission/enrolment processes have always involved a sales or admissions person answering the questions from excited potential students via email/phone/face-to-face meeting.

This does not change even with more digital activities going on.

The role of admission representatives or the sales team still remains key in the enrolment process.

As they are only indicating an interest in the program, your sales team has to make them feel more invested in the program.

They can’t approach the conversation like they do before with candidates who have reached out organically.

4. Maximizing Touchpoints ??

At the end of the day, a good enrolment marketing strategy requires more than just one campaign. After all, nearly no one makes a decision to enrol with your school just because they saw an ad.

As I mentioned earlier, the journey is a long one.

In a recent analysis of an ESL school's cycle, we found that the typical online enquiry from Facebook takes between 3 and 9 months to enrol.

Yes, enrolment inquiries generated from Facebook take longer to convert than others.

There are better options, such as word-of-mouth marketing and search. But, none of them matches the volume and control over your pipeline that Facebook gives you.

Given the length of the enrolment journey, I encourage language school marketers to think about engaging students at every point.

This achieves two strategic goals:

1.?Staying at the top of the potential students’ minds and developing a preference for your school (a well-established phenomenon called the "mere-exposure" effect).

2.?Appearing "everywhere" in the eyes of prospective students, which will develop a good impression of your school. In other words, "achieve omnipresence".

These reasons explain why companies spend large amounts of money on brand advertising.

The goal is not to "build brand awareness", but to influence people’s preferences.

When your school is visible to students throughout their enrolment journey, they are far more likely to pick your school over the others.

And the best part is that it only takes a fraction of your advertising budget to achieve a great effect.

5. Mobile-First Marketing ??

Millennials and Gen-Z spend a lot of time on their mobile phones. Naturally, your enrolment marketing strategy has to be mobile-first too!

For the new generation, smartphones outweigh desktops as the number one choice for doing any kind of research.

When it comes to conversations and research about pursuing further education, it is no different.

For that, you need to build a highly responsive website that:

??Fits all screen sizes

??Has an eye-catching yet professional design, compelling content, and images

??Is easy to navigate

??Is optimised for SEO

The language learning space has dramatically changed. Internet marketing tactics have also matured. Marketers need to innovate to cope with changing trends.

In a nutshell, a strong marketing strategy for your language school comprises:

??A thorough understanding of your prospective students’ road to enrolment.

??Tactics designed according to the level of your prospective buyer’s awareness.

??Offer outcomes aligned with the students’ goals and aspirations.

??A re-marketing blueprint to further lead engagement.

??Interactive, one-to-one engagement channels.

??A responsive and well-built mobile website.

I have implemented this strategy for language schools in USA, Canada, Australia, India, UK and Europe and the impact they’ve experienced has been game-changing.

What could a similar strategy do for your school in 2021? ??

www.herbertgerzer.com