Boost your sales in schools with a 2023-24 marketing review
Do you remember in school when you had to frequently think about WWW (what went well) and EBI (even better if)? There’s a reason they reinforce it – it’s an effective assessment technique! And it’s handy for reviewing your education marketing too.
Now schools are out for summer, you’ve got an ideal opportunity to take stock of what’s worked well in the 2023-24 academic year, and what you can do in the new academic year to increase your sales in schools, enquiries, bookings and sign ups (or whatever your unique goals are).
To help you fine-tune your strategy, and identify any areas for improvement, set aside some time to review the following:
1. Your marketing channels
It’s important to think about which marketing channels you used in the 2023-24 academic year and which performed best. For example, did you use:
- 📧 Email marketing
- 📪 Postal marketing
- 📱 Social media
- 📽️ YouTube
- 🎵 Podcasts?
Understanding which channels helped you to generate leads and sales in schools will help you to plan an effective strategy for the new academic year. And if you find a multi-channel approach works best for your lead generation, stick with it!
If there’s a channel you’re using that doesn’t seem to be performing well, or hasn’t generated any qualified leads, consider removing it from your strategy so you have more time to focus your efforts on the platforms that are working well.
2. Your website and education landing pages
Secondly, take some time to review your website content and education landing pages. Look carefully at:
The quality of your website content
- Information – Is the information on your website accurate and up to date? Are the descriptions of your products and services explained clearly and succinctly? Are the benefits for teachers obvious and immediately visible?
- Contact form – Is it clear what action teachers need to take once on your website? Is it quick and easy for teachers to contact you? Can teachers easily find your phone number and email address?
- FAQs – Do you have an FAQs page for teachers and education staff that gives them all the info they need (and helps quicken the conversion process)?
- Brand impression – Does your website content help to build a strong impression of your brand? E.g. is your website content written well and grammatically correct? Are the images you’ve included of high quality?
- Social proof – Have you included social proof e.g. new testimonials or case studies from schools you’ve worked with in the 2023-24 academic year?
The performance of your website content
Brave the minefield that is Google analytics and take a deep dive into:
- The main source of your website traffic – Can you identify where most of your website traffic is coming from so you know where to focus your attention in the new school year? (💡 You can add tracking codes to emails if this is something you’re keen to track more closely in the new year).
- Your website conversion rate – What is your website conversion rate? Has it increased or decreased since the year before? Can you pinpoint what’s caused this increase or decrease?
- Your SEO performance – Is your organisation showing up on Google when you search for keywords or key phrases related to your products and services? If not, can you create more content on your website that improves your SEO performance e.g. by adding specific keywords?
3. Your follow up strategy
Generating leads is important, but developing a robust follow-up strategy is essential for converting teachers into returning customers. Here are some things to think about:
Email campaign follow ups
Does your marketing strategy include follow ups to your engaged teachers and decision makers? These are teachers who’ve opened or clicked your email campaigns and expressed interest in your offering.
Phone call or video call follow ups
Do you nurture your engaged teachers by speaking to them directly via phone or video calls? This is a great way to build relationships and convert teachers into customers.
Website enquiries
Do you respond quickly to teachers who engage with you via your website e.g. through a contact form? Or, if teachers download a resource on your website, do you send a series of follow-up emails to thank them for their download and nurture your relationship over time?
Review complete, what’s next?!
Once you’ve reviewed your 2023-24 marketing to schools and you’re ready to get planning your next set of campaigns, feel free to use our free marketing to education checklist.
Marketing to Education Checklist
Plan your content strategy in 6 simple steps with our handy marketing to education checklist.
Ready to get your next set of campaigns booked in? Get in touch!
We can’t wait to support your marketing strategy in the new school year.