Each year presents its own unique marketing challenges for independent K-12 schools, and this year is no exception. On the heels of a global pandemic, a drastically shifting economy, and a privacy-centric online advertising space, schools need to allocate annual marketing dollars smarter and leaner than in the past in order to more effectively reach right-fit families online.
1. Create a Media Plan
First, what is a media plan? While this might seem like a no-brainer, many schools lack a central place to set, track, and report on the digital marketing efforts underway inclusive of the goals they are trying to accomplish. A media plan is both tactical and strategic. For some schools, it can be part of the overarching strategic marketing plan. For others, it’s a basic spreadsheet that is managed by the Marketing & Communications department. Regardless of the format, the content should include: strategic enrollment goals; a calendar of admissions and marketing events to support those goals; target audience and demographics information and the associated channels/platforms to best reach those families; and all assets, including the messages and calls to action, the planned budget, how the goals are being measured, who’s overseeing the program, and the performance or results to date. A comprehensive media plan is key for two reasons: it can keep projects on track as well as provide an organized foundation to work with for the next year. Here’s a great media planning resource for schools from Finalsite.
2. Set SMART Goals
As you are starting your media plan, be sure to set up goals to ensure the media and marketing strategy and tactics are aligned. Setting goals will involve getting the whole team on board. This might include the Head of School, the Enrollment Management team, Admissions, Marketing, Communications, IT, and in many cases, board or committee members. Incorporate SMART goals; these goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. An example of a goal might be to get 25 families to enroll in lower school next year. A SMART goal breaks it down even further. For example, if in the past the data showed you that 1 out of every 2 families that tour in September ultimately enroll, then your goal may be to get 50 families to tour the lower school in September this year. That is a specific and measurable goal. Whether it’s attainable will be determined by success in past years, the current market, and the marketing and recruitment efforts in place to reach this goal. It is certainly a relevant goal as it relates to your overall admissions, and it’s also a time-bound goal.
Once the SMART goals are established, the media plan will list the campaigns (including the strategies and tactics) that you’re planning in an effort to achieve those goals. For example, your media plan might map out your Facebook organic and paid ads for six weeks. You may also include a plan for optimizing your visit pages on the website to drive traffic to your registration pages, as well as a plan for your email marketing campaigns. These are all tactics in support of the same SMART goal, and should have a specific timeline, with objectives and assets cohesively shaped, executed, and measured.
3. Diversify Your Digital Footprint With Paid Ads
When it comes to paid advertising versus organic strategies, Google Ads and Facebook Ads make up the lion’s share of online ad revenue, and for good reason. These platforms reach millions and when done well, the campaigns really work at driving lots of inquiries for schools. However, there are other platforms out there that should get folded in, to ensure you’re not missing out on a more comprehensive strategy designed to reach more users, and more often, in the coming year. Here are a few:
4. Lean Into Analytics for Marketing ROI
When done right, digital marketing requires very little, if any, guesswork to determine if something was effective or not. Track your marketing every step of the way to ensure it is delivering desired results, and pivot throughout as needed. Your media plan should, and will, change as a result of what’s working. Here are some tips to ensure you are leveraging the right tracking and analytics tools before, during, and after you launch a marketing campaign:
5. Align Messages with the Parent Journey, Not the Funnel
Prospective parents in the process of finding, choosing, and ultimately enrolling their children in school do not necessarily take a linear path. Parents don’t always start at the top of the funnel and work their way through without friction to the bottom. Sometimes they come in and out of the funnel and enter at different stages. This means your marketing plan and chosen platforms need to be informed by the data to get a sense of where parents are in the funnel, versus just using your admissions timeline as your marketing compass.
An example of this might be to ensure that ads for awareness building that speak to your basic info and unique selling points are targeted specifically to those parents just beginning their search for private schools. These should run all year, parallel to messages designed to reach those who are already aware of you and those in consideration phases. Use Google Analytics to identify these folks and their interest, based on their search query, or by their actions/behaviors on your website and social properties.
Aligning messages with the parent's journey also means giving users multiple ways to engage with you based on what’s the best fit for them, not just what you want them to do. Giving them the option to learn more, tour or apply, are all great calls to action (CTAs) to make available right on a landing page form. Avoid things like “Apply Now” as a singular CTA on every ad and landing page, because for families new to the area, or just beginning their search, a softer call to action like visiting or downloading a brochure might be more realistic for them. Even if it’s your application season, parents may be more connected virtually and are not ready to make that jump into applying just yet. When you align various messages with your marketing, you are taking those dollars further by reaching those families where they are in their journey and increasing the likelihood of them engaging with the marketing assets you've worked so hard to create.
If you need help aligning your digital marketing strategy with enrollment needs, and fitting it all into a manageable budget, talk to Enroll Media Group. We partner with independent PK-12 schools across the country of all sizes and missions to execute digital marketing, build awareness, and drive enrollment.