3 Digital Marketing Tips for Independent Schools
Much like a clothes store or a restaurant franchise, an independent school is a business and attracting enrolments is the equivalent of appealing to customers. Fortunately, there are lots of ways that independent schools can market their establishment, from traditional methods like newspaper features and direct mail, to more modern alternatives such as digital marketing. Online marketing methods are great because they allow you to target your desired audience and you can easily measure the outcome. Here are three digital marketing tips to get you started…
- Improve Your School’s Website
When looking for ways to improve your website and use it as a way to attract prospective parents, there are lots of things to consider. Most importantly your website needs to load quickly and work well across a range of different devices. It should be professional with stunning photography to showcase your happy students and beautiful buildings. It should also be user friendly so be sure to consider what the parents might be looking for when visiting your site; is it easy to find? There are also various ways to make your website more interactive, such as integrating interactive maps or video tours of your school, as well as virtual open events for parents who cannot attend in person.
These are all things that the team at Innermedia can help you with, which can help you stand out amongst your competition. Not only are we experienced in designing and building top quality websites for a range of independent schools, but we also have the reporting tools that allow us to determine which pages of your existing site are most popular and how it is performing in the Google search engine results page. This allows us to propose some actionable changes.
- Drive Traffic with Paid Advertising
Pay-Per-Click advertising, more commonly referred to as PPC is one of the quickest ways you can generate leads online. This is because when PPC is correctly and expertly implemented, it allows you to gain immediate traffic to your website. In simple terms, PPC is when marketers create ads to appear in Google (or other channels, such as Facebook) and the company pays a fee every time that ad is clicked. These ads are targeted to a specific group of people, based on your desired audience and regularly reviewed data.
At Innermedia, our PPC team regularly review your ad campaigns to find ways that they can be improved. This is to ensure you get the best return on your investment. This can be a stand-alone way of generating leads or can be used alongside other marketing tactics to attract a wider audience.
- Increase Your Organic Search Visibility
Prospective parents will conduct research surrounding appropriate schools for their child long before the come to you with any queries. That’s why it’s important that you are appearing in search engines. This is where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes into play.
SEO is essential if you want parents to find your school when they type a query into Google. There are lots of contributing factors when it comes to SEO, both behind the scenes of your site and on the front-end. Anything from how your menu is set-up to how many other websites are linking to your website can increase your Google rankings and help you generate traffic. Unlike PPC, SEO is a long game and something you must keep up with if you want to stay ahead of your competitors. Don’t hesitate to speak to a member of the team here at Innermedia if you would like some more information on how we can help you with your SEO and website in general.
