It’s been a while since I have posted on the HubGem blog... but I wanted to share a little something on international schools and how they can really utilise HubSpot CRM. HubSpot is such a versatile CRM that you can really make your own based on your unique processes and strategies, which makes it the perfect fit for International Schools!
Marketing and admissions teams communicate with families from all over the world daily, most of which have recently uprooted and relocated their lives for their careers. With this in mind, communications in international schools tend to be far more complex due to the large variety of cultures and languages. Understandably, for families who are in this transition, pastoral care and friendly supportive experiences during the recruitment process for their children’s education is a big and potentially stressful part of the process.
On the flip side, for Marketing and Admissions departments in any school, staying on top of your communications and applications can seem like an impossible task. And considering all of the above, for international schools, there are a whole host of extra aspects to consider when exploring a CRM solution that meets all of the needs of an effective communications strategy for an international school.
HubSpot CRM is a great solution to ensure that families feel individually heard throughout the process and that communication both internally and externally is seamless. Here are some of the best tools for an international school setting:
Personas are a great place to start when introducing HubSpot CRM and International schools have a particularly wide range of personas to consider on a day-to-day basis when it comes to communication. These may vary from local, overseas, and EXPAT families. Many of the families in conversation with an international school are in the process of making a very big decision in sending their children to an international school. This may be due to relocation for a job, or for any locally based families, simply to present their children with the opportunity to experience an education within a diverse environment, heavily focused on pastoral and child lead learning.
The HubSpot, ‘Make my Persona', tool is a great way to really get you thinking of the unique objectives and requirements of each of the personas you communicate with on a daily basis. You may have naturally found effective ways to communicate and adapt your approach with experience and be able to identify certain types of individuals that you regularly come across. The persona tool really encourages you to think in depth about what each individual values which in turn, allows you to create a more memorable and personalised experience. It really encourages you to delve into the mind of your audience and consider their goals, challenges and what is important to them. This may seem simple, but is highly effective, free and a fun team exercise to enhance your customer experiences!
We all know data is a very important aspect when it comes to CRM systems within a school. HubSpot’s data policies are in line with school policy and data protection.
Cookie permissions and GDPR compliances are easily added to your initial HubSpot set-up to ensure that every email, form submission and integrated email conversation is securely managed within the system. When it comes to international schools, pupil data can literally come from worldwide sources, therefore it is extra important that data of this importance is fully secure and in line with the data/privacy of the school location.
Community is at the heart of international schools. Many families have recently moved to a new country, or are looking for their child to experience a diverse range of cultures and languages. Therefore, parent communities for EXPAT parents and strong pastoral support are very common. Creating a warm and inclusive environment for current and prospective families is made a whole lot easier with HubSpot’s ability to create multi-language marketing content such as landing pages, and marketing emails. As international schools may consist of a wide variety of languages, this level of personalisation and attention to detail is made a whole lot easier with tools such as smart content, which enables weekly newsletters or marketing email subscription communication to be tailored to the first language and unique interests of the enquiring or current parent.
Many schools are now offering an entire application form online. When it comes to international schools, many applicants will be based in another country at the point of their initial application, which makes the process complex based on their location. HubSpot’s easily buildable forms are a great way to personalise the application process online, making the experience as seamless as possible. 'Dependent' fields are also a great way to ask for any extra information required, based on the type of application. This could be useful for anyone who needs to provide Visa information, a language preference or has an additional interest in scholarships or boarding etc. HubSpot's forms are very user-friendly and allow schools to add useful property fields such as document uploads, which is essential for many international applications.
Managing online applications is also made easy with HubSpot's list tools, allowing you to segment applications by information such as pupil type, year of entry, nationality and language. These lists can then also be used for any further targeted marketing communications and keep warm workflows.
Many marketing and admissions teams struggle to maintain a personalised approach to communications on a wider scale and when it comes to international schools, this is just half the challenge. Schools have to consider a variety of personas, and age ranges but also cultures, languages and time zones. This can feel like a minefield and is often something many teams try to approach manually, which is not always sustainable.
Workflows triggered by; engagement, form submissions (such as enquiry forms, open day interests and prospectus downloads), subscriptions and downloads are a great way to initiate contact with a prospective family. As mentioned above, the data collected from HubSpot forms allow you to really enhance your communications one step further, using tools such as smart content. Other personalisation tools include HubSpot's personalisation tokens and focused marketing emails based on previous browsing behaviours and interests.
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