5 small changes to make inbound marketing work in education

Inbound marketing is all about delighting your customer. These 5 small changes will help to make your education marketing efforts more inbound - and less outbound.

1) Create a content plan

Planning is everything, to ensure that your content is effective it needs to be regular and interesting. Work with other departments to gather news articles and visual content, and prepare in advance when you can. Make sure that your content meets the needs of customers at every stage of their journey - from initial 'top of the funnel' brand awareness, to decision making 'bottom of the funnel' offers and content. Always aim to share your content when and where your contacts need it most.

2) Capture leads efficiently

Optimise the use of forms on your website, are you currently giving all of your content away without getting anything in return? For some of your most valuable content (prospectuses are a great example), consider gating this behind a short, simple web form. Even better if your leads are captured straight into your CRM!

3) Nurture your leads carefully

Avoid spamming your audience, plan a careful lead nurturing campaign to continue providing value. Segment your leads into lists and contact them according to their interests, stage in their journey with you, or based on their interactions with your website. Remember to personalise and put your customer's needs first.

4) Delight your customers

Once your contacts have converted to customers, continue to delight at every touch point. It is so important that the handover from marketing to admissions and then admissions to tutors is as seamless as possible. Make sure that your communication with current students or families is just as good as when you were recruiting them and you will have happy customers. Happy customers will recommend you, help to drive the marketing flywheel and generate more high-quality leads. Give your customers a way to recommend you, feedback surveys and requests for reviews are an easy way to hear what your customers are saying.

5) Report and improve

If you have implemented the above steps and embraced the inbound methodology then the reporting should show the results you want - but it can take time and some fine tuning. By setting up custom reports, monitoring analytics and reviewing which content is converting, then you can work smarter and continually improve. See which pages are popular, do people leave those pages with the answers they were looking for? By keeping a keen eye on what works - and what doesn't - you can continue to provide the best possible service to your contacts and customers.

Ready to implement an inbound methodology? We can help you to assess your current methods and recommend the best place to start.