The student admissions process has always been a number one priority for schools, yet, over recent years, it has become more challenging. According to recent stats by GOV.UK, the number of pupils across all school types in England has increased by 73,800 compared to 2022, following a birth peak in 2013.
Simultaneously, the number of schools in the UK has slightly decreased. In some schools, Brexit, COVID, and staff shortages have made it challenging for admissions teams to keep up with the growing application workloads. This has increased competition among UK education institutions for potential students. It’s a good time to consider adding new tactics to your school’s marketing strategies.
In this article, we’ll share effective strategies to help your school increase student enrolment and attract more candidates before the new admission season begins.
Before jumping into tips and tricks you can apply to increase student enrolment, let's examine the factors that matter most when future students choose a school. Your educational institution needs to put these key points at the forefront and emphasise them in your marketing messages.
According to a research report about UK school performance and parental choice, the following factors are important to both low- and high-income families:
If you’re looking to boost enrolment, it’s crucial that potential applicants can easily find your school online. People “shop” for educational institutions on the Internet just as they do for other products and services. Whether it’s future students or teaching staff candidates, your target audience needs to be able to discover and recognise your school with ease. Consider incorporating these strategies into your marketing plan to attract more potential school students—easier and faster than your competitors.
To help future students distinguish your school from the myriad of other educational institutions, it’s essential to build a strong brand. Good brands are tied to a clear identity. Customers (in your case, students) will feel a connection with it, trust it, and remain loyal to it.
What does your school stand for? Draw on the experience and impressions of current students and alumni to crystallise your brand promise and then communicate it clearly to your prospective student persona.
Identify what sets your school apart—whether it’s a focus on certain academic programmes, innovative teaching methods, a unique student or teacher community, or a strong alumni network.
Ensure these statements reflect your school’s unique qualities and consistently feature them in all your marketing communications—from enrolment brochures to your school website and social media. These statements should make your school memorable to your target audience.
Work with a design agency to develop a cohesive design concept, including logos, fonts, and school colours, that prospective students will associate with your school.
Use your visual identity across all platforms —your school website, social media profiles, hall banners, brochures, and email marketing — to create a cohesive and recognisable brand.
Ensure that your messaging is uniform across all marketing platforms, where your student persona can encounter your school. This consistency will help to form strong brand associations in their minds.
Branded communication, along with visual consistency, will win your school the attention of a wider audience and attract more students from online and offline marketing channels.
A website is a powerful tool to help your school establish an online presence and streamline your marketing efforts. Make your school website a place where you describe the application process in a clear and detailed manner—to ensure your prospective students complete it smoothly. Provide step-by-step instructions or a checklist on how to complete the application. Add contact information for your Admissions Office or a staff member who will process student inquiries whenever they are stuck along the enrolment journey. Take a proactive approach by sending automated reminders about key admission deadlines directly to applicants’ email addresses.
To ensure your website is easily found by potential students, it needs to be search engine friendly. Incorporate relevant keywords into the website’s content so that when your target audience searches for terms like “best schools in (location)” or “high-quality education in (location),” your website appears in the top search results. An SEO agency or expert can advise you on the most effective search engine optimisation strategies.
You’ve likely seen cafés, stores, and other businesses’ profiles displayed as snippets when you search for them on Google. Google Business is an effective and free way to create similar profiles for your school, boosting its searchability and displaying key information to both local and international students.
To create a Google Business profile, follow the instructions here:
Add school details
Personalise your profile
Boost searchability
If inbound marketing has not yet been included in your school's promotion strategy, this is your sign to explore it. This kind of online marketing method helps you attract potential students to your school by creating and posting content that is useful to them.
Think of actual topics that overlap with student preferences and make them the foundation of your inbound marketing strategy. Your school website, social media accounts, third-party resources, and forums where your target audiences "hang out" are the platforms where you can practice inbound marketing. For example, since your staff members are familiar with the application process, they can share helpful tips with others on how to complete it. Why not write an article on this topic for your school blog? This content can assist readers who are finding the enrolment journey challenging, make your school appear more reliable and trustworthy, and help drive more organic traffic to your website.
According to DataReportal, over 86% of the United Kingdom’s internet user base (regardless of age) used at least one social media platform in January 2023. The average time spent on social platforms daily is around two hours. So, why not use these social platforms to reach your potential students and showcase your school’s brand?
Your target audience—potential students and teaching staff— are likely to check out your social media profiles if they’ve already heard about your school. It’s common practice these days to do a quick “background check” on companies and educational institutions via social media. That’s why it’s crucial to keep your school’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram accounts up-to-date.
To make the most of social media and attract potential students, it’s important to post regular updates on your school’s accounts. Share glimpses of daily life at your school—like campus routines and extracurricular activities. You can also use video content, such as student testimonials, to answer common questions. Remember, the key to inbound marketing is to ensure your posts are helpful and relevant to your audience.
To boost engagement with your posts, consider running paid social media ad campaigns. For example, as the enrolment season approaches, you could launch a targeted advertising campaign aimed at potential students. The campaign message should be carefully crafted to match their interests and highlight how simple the application process is at your school. If the message resonates and sparks their interest, they’re likely to click on the ad, leading them to your school’s website or social media page to learn more about your institution.
If you want to fully harness the benefits of social media advertising but don’t have a dedicated marketing staff member, consider partnering with Socially (now branded as Gaia). With over 30 years of experience in the education sector, we specialise in social media advertising and consultancy. We’ll take care of everything, delivering a turnkey campaign tailored to your needs. With Socially (now branded as Gaia), there’s no need for technical expertise—we’ve got you covered with precise targeting and highly relevant campaigns that drive enquiries straight to your door.
As the competition for potential students stiffens, educational institutions are seeking new strategies to boost enrolment. Effective approaches include establishing a strong online brand, launching an informative, search engine-optimised website, creating a Google Business profile, and engaging in inbound marketing.
Social media advertising is a particularly powerful tool for attracting prospective students. If you haven’t launched a social media ad campaign or are unsatisfied with your initial results, consider this your sign to act! Book a free 30-minute call, and we'll help you get started with social media ads for student enrolment and recruitment.
How do students learn about the school they’d like to enrol in?
Most students use search engines to find a school with a high enrolment rate. That is why it is crucial you SEО-optimise your school website and have a Google Business Profile to ensure your school is included in SERP.
Which tools should you use to increase student enrolment?
A school website and social media, at the very least. Targeted online ad campaigns will help your school reach a wider audience and be remembered among competing educational institutions.
How do you advertise a school to students?
Apart from traditional marketing strategies, like open days and school fairs, you can use online advertising campaigns (in Google and social media) to advertise and promote your school.