School Advertising Ideas to Maximise Your Reach

Technology is an all-pervasive part of our lives today. From our day-to-day needs to some of the biggest decisions of our lives, we turn to technology to assist us. The internet and the digital world are a big part of how the world works today. Be it our grocery needs or the latest style of clothing, there is an app for everything.

Education is no different. From looking up instant answers to queries to researching a new concept, the internet has become the first go-to for most students. In fact, the internet is also the first place parents look when searching for the best learning environment for their children. It should come as no surprise that most schools have begun to use the internet as the arena for their marketing efforts. The digital medium, when used correctly, can be one of the most effective ways to reach parents and students.

In this article, we will highlight why it is important for schools to advertise, what to keep in mind when designing your communication, and some of the most effective school advertising ideas.

Why Should Schools Advertise?

• To increase enrolment by reaching a wider audience and driving awareness
• For targeted outreach, using ads aimed at specific demographics and the intended audience
• For improved reputation as a result of effectively highlighting key differentiators and advantages
• To enhance communication by ensuring important information reaches the right audience
• To boost additional revenue opportunities, which can help upgrade school resources

Before we get into some of the most effective school advertising ideas, let us quickly go through the basics of effective communication.

Fundamentals of Effective Communication Strategy

Goal: The first step is to have clarity on what you hope to achieve with the piece of communication, and what is its main purpose. Try to make it as specific as possible, both in terms of its job and the measurability.

For example: Increase student application for enrolment in middle school (job) by 15% (measurability), or boost inquiries for newly introduced specialised learning modules for grade 12th (job) by 30% (measurability), or have 100 students (measurability) enrolled to attend the summer camp (job)

Target Audience: Next based on the objective of the communication, zero in on the target audience. For schools even though the end user is the student, the parents become the decision-makers. A school’s communication needs to appeal to both these audiences depending on the offering and the key influencer.

For example: Parents will decide the best middle school options for their children based on several factors (primary), however, the child must feel comfortable in the school environment to continue (secondary), or a grade 12 student will decide if the specialised learning model helps them ace their upcoming exams (primary), parents can choose to support them (secondary), or A child would be the main decision maker on the summer camp (primary) however, the parent has to pay the fee (secondary).

Besides knowing who the communication will speak to primarily, schools also need to profile the audience they want to speak to. This profile will help them pick the right communication tool to target the desired audience efficiently.

For example: To drive middle school enrolment applications the school might want to target parents in a 5 km radius of the school, or parents who already have elder siblings attending the school or parents of students with an eye for certain educational opportunities and infrastructure that the school provides

Media Mix: With multiple media and communication options in the age of the internet, each of these channels can serve a different purpose or work together to build momentum for a single objective. Schools can have different media strategies for different objectives.

For example: A school’s website can serve as the single point of accessing key information on the school and its infrastructure through the year. During the admission cycle, it can be altered to feature admission information and updates most prominently to support the school’s ad campaign.

Media Choice: The above point on media mix brings us to the next point. Administrators must have clarity on not only their overall communication objective but also the role of each media channel in their campaign. Due to their inherent attributes, every media channel has some strengths. A campaign should work to leverage those.

For example: Social media is a great tool to generate organic traction and views, while internet ads serve better as targeted outreach to pull in new parents. SEO is extremely effective for tapping into potential clients who might already be looking for schools.

Communication Design: The communication or advertising should be aligned with its objective and the media choice. The choice of language and visuals must be made to connect with the target audience. The communication should also include a call to action for the parent. Ideally, communication is designed to include a hook – works to draw the target audience in, support/story – offers them a solution for their need and call to action – highlighting the action a client needs to take to fulfil the need.

Amplification: The last bit for making the campaign successful is to amplify it with ample support. Amplification does not necessarily mean high marketing spends. A calculated approach across different media and mediums to deliver the most efficient outcome goes a long way to make an effective campaign.

And now on to some of the latest and most efficient school advertising ideas.

School Advertisement Ideas:

• Know Your Audience: When you zero in on your target audience, get to know them – their age, gender, likes, interests, income, lifestyle etc. Putting down their characteristics and a pen portrait helps you target your communication to the right demographic.
• Website Experience: Building an optimised website experience with all the key information, functionality and a user-friendly, easy-to-navigate interface is essential for any school. It is considered a minimum requirement today. Campaigns do the job of making clients aware but they need to drive this traffic to an information source on the internet. Websites serve not just as a place to disseminate information but also as the school’s mouthpiece.
• Search Advertising: Internet search has become one of the top ways (if not the top way) for a majority of people to gain information for their queries and build awareness for their offerings. Use the ideas listed below to improve your search performance by investing in SEO to improve your visibility.
  • Start Following Google Trends: Google trends help you navigate the search universe by informing you of the latest search trends related to your business before you bookmark or purchase keywords. For schools, you can check for high-ranking queries and keywords made by parents related to schools, learning outcomes, teaching-learning experience etc.
  • Use Automated Bidding: Use automated bidding to help maximise results. Once you have clarity on your goal and how you want to use search marketing as a tool, you can set Google to automatically bid for you. You can choose one of the six pre-set strategies (increasing website visits/enhancing website visibility/getting ad clicks and conversion/ targeted return on ad etc.) in line with your goal to make it easier for you.
  • Promote 2+ Ad Versions: To elevate your marketing game, it is advisable to use multiple versions of an ad. Sometimes a different play of words or take on the offering can make one ad outperform the other. This classic A/B strategy makes sure your communication reaches your target audience.
  • Pulling up Search Terms for Negatives: Keyword bidding can be done in two ways – an Exact Match for a narrowed-down search and a Broad Match that allows Google to judge user intent and show your content to a broader audience. Though a broad match strategy seems like a win, it can also result in a lot of wasted ad money for mismatched users. Search term mining comes to the rescue here. Pull up the Google tool to mark ad-prompting keywords that don’t fit your offering as negative. This helps you sharpen your Broad Match without limiting yourself to Exact Match. A win-win.
• Video Ads & YouTube: Videos and video ads help engage audiences better with their immersive feature. They put out a lot more information and feel more personal when compared to static ads. Numbers show that YouTube is the largest search engine after Google. Besides driving interest and disseminating key information these videos can improve your brand impression. Applying the communication mechanics of hook, story and call to action can help you implement video ads efficiently.
• Leverage Social Media: Like a well-designed website, a social media presence has become almost essential for schools to connect and remain relevant to existing and prospective students and parents. It enables informal interaction and regular information sharing with all stakeholders while also facilitating quick responses. Social media today is one of the easiest ways to stay connected to your clients. A few tips below to help you take your social media game to the next level.
  • Build a Community: Social media enables schools to build a thriving community around their efforts. Regular updates, prompt responses and open communication channel helps build genuine relationships with audiences fostering a sense of community. This goes a long way in creating lasting first impressions for prospective students and their parents.
  • Boost Posts: Regularly updating and posting on social media keeps your followers and community updated, however, to reach more prospective students and parents, schools need to invest in boosting some of their well-performing posts. This helps your content reach a much wider audience. Boosting posts is an economical option that can be used to complement your campaign or in some cases be used instead of creating a separate campaign.
  • Use Conversion-Focused Ads: You can use paid social media advertising that focuses on conversions or click-backs to drive more traffic to your website and offerings. These ads help you tap into your community and prospective clients to increase the visibility and awareness of communication at the same time give you a sense of measurable ROI
  • Make Your Ad Interesting: Ensure that your ads can catch the attention of your intended audience. When it comes to younger audiences, social media offers the opportunity to engage using interactive material such as quizzes, optical illusions, games etc. Introducing an element of shareability can help your content grow organically, giving it a much larger reach than your direct audience.
  • Add Statistics in Your Copy: Like interaction and shareability engage younger audiences, statistics provide mature audiences with a link to your performance. Using statistics in your ads helps your school create a sense of trust in its capabilities and provides proof of its performance which is one of the key decision-making factors for most parents and high school students.
  • Use Pixels: Pixels are pieces of tracking codes that spotlight user preferences. This helps you target your ads to people specifically seeking this information. You can also retarget prospective clients who have visited your website or those who have clicked on your ad on social media. This helps you get precious user insights and the most bang for your advertising budget.
  • Quality of Images: Nothing pulls down impressions like poor quality or badly chosen images. Especially for schools, presentation plays a key role in driving perceptions. Whether it is sharing on-campus events and activities or announcing application deadlines, it has never been easier to share quality images thanks to easily accessible high-tech cameras and editing software.
  • Brand Language: Social media works on the principle of personal interaction and voice. The language used is direct and conversational by real people. Social media ads also follow the same principle. Simple, easy-to-follow language that gets your point across is better than a heavy value statement which might be great for your brochure or website.

• Utilise Email Marketing: Email marketing can help you strike a personal cord with existing and potential clients. Reaching out to existing clients to promote additional features or offerings your school has is a great way to convert captive, existing audiences for value-added services. Email marketing can also be used to establish a touch point with a wider set of potential clients using intelligent segmentation for targeted reach.
• Podcasts: Podcasts help you establish subject matter expertise while delivering relevant promotions. They are great to have as part of your content strategy or to use as complementary support to your ad campaign.
• Use Testimonials: Another way to establish credibility and trust is to highlight the shining experiences other parents and students have had with your school. They help prospective clients see your school as reliable, authentic and one that delivers results. Testimonials can be used as part of an ad campaign or as an ongoing part of your communication strategy to boost your image.
• Create a Compelling Call to Action: Most importantly, always close your ads with a strong and compelling call to action. This prompts parents or students to take the desired action for the intended outcome. A strong call to action directs clients towards the next steps, helping you conclude the interaction by engaging with your audience.

Conclusion

Armed with these tips you can now draft your own marketing and advertising roadmap. Start with a clear goal and the outcome you want to achieve with your communication and ad campaign. It is prudent to use selective tools that work well instead of doing everything without much impact. Pick the strategy that suits your budget and requirements. Use expert help where you need it. You can always use some of these ideas as the base to kickstart your ideation.

Last Updated on July 9, 2024