Schools and colleges are competing to attract the most talented students, and in today’s commercial world, attracting additional student enrolment is a top priority. With the expense of education facilities and teaching staff already in place, the extra revenue from just one extra student per year can make a difference. Many are constantly trying to balance the need to enrol more students so that they can continue to provide excellent services, and the need to attract only the most qualified students to ensure that their institutional standards remain as high as possible.
Whether you are generating leads through open days, student recruitment agencies or online through digital marketing, it’s important to remember that there are no quick fixes. Most channels require significant investment, and it can take time to see results. Even the best digital marketing strategy for a school can take a while to really make an impact.
The extent to which you use digital marketing to supplement the use of student recruitment agencies and open days, will depend on the online behaviours of the students you’re trying to target. These behaviours are continually changing which means a flexible and diversified marketing approach to new student enrolment should always be considered.
Student enrolment challenges are getting harder
If international students are the main audience, relying on one or two sources of student recruitment particularly agencies, can leave schools and colleges vulnerable to economic instability, as changes in the market may result in a drop in demand for international study. The current Brexit uncertainty is also adding to the challenges of student enrolment. The International Student Survey 2018 where over 67,000 prospective international students were surveyed, has identified that attracting overseas students has got increasingly harder. According to the survey findings, 39% of prospective students from within the EU said they were less interested in studying in the UK because of Brexit. Respondents from Netherlands, Ireland, Italy and Spain are shown to be significantly more pessimistic about the UK’s exit from the EU.
“For prospective EU students, Brexit makes the UK less financially viable”
How can digital marketing help student enrolment?
Digital marketing can help schools to overcome these issue by allowing them to extend the reach of their messages, open up a wider student enrolment funnel, and improve their lead generation efforts.
There’s a lot of pressure on schools and colleges to be on the cutting edge, and many are turning to digital marketing as the way to innovate their way forward, attract new students and modernise their reputations. This could include a change in culture and business models for organisations that have traditionally traded on their heritage. But a flexible digital marketing strategy doesn’t have to be expensive, and the cost of media can be scaled up and down depending on budgets and size of the student recruitment challenge.
If your school or college is ready to start preparing for its new student enrolment drive, have you got a digital marketing strategy in place that allows for a flexible approach? Maybe your budgets have dropped from previous years, or resources to manage marketing activities are becoming more limited. Oxfinder can help you understand your priority student enrolment challenges and create an effective and flexible strategy that relieves the pressure of reduced budgets and resources. Call us on 07968 027383 or email info@oxfinder.co.uk
Take advantage of high volumes of UK and International students searching for schools and colleges in Oxford & Oxfordshire
Advertise your school, college or education establishment on oxfordcity.co.uk, the leading education, business and visitor information directory for Oxfordshire. With a hike in student visitor numbers on the directory looking for details of potential schools and colleges to apply for in the new term, the site can direct a regular flow of student enquiries to your website and your student enrolment pages.
An Enhanced Entry on oxfordcity.co.uk gives you priority listing within the Education section and provides you with a full detail page to help you sell your reputation, and include those all important links to attract more student enquiries to your own website.
Advertise your school, college or education establishment on oxfordcity.co.uk
