Top 5 Inbound Tools for school Marketing

Inbound marketing is becoming an increasingly popular way to market independent schools as prospective parents choose to engage with schools online.

More than ever it is important that your school has a strong inbound marketing strategy in place to attract parents. HubSpot describe inbound marketing as a “business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them”. In marketing your school using inbound marketing methods you will be able to make better connections with prospective parents looking to enrol their child.

Here are 5 top tools to use when marketing your school using inbound marketing methods:

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

SEO helps you to use information about your target audience’s search terms to generate organic traffic to your school website. With SEO everything is centred around the user experience, meaning that specific buyer personas can be researched and targeted based on their internet searches. Using online software, your school can identify key search words used by parents ensuring that your school website is ranked highly on search engines. In a recent HubSpot survey 64% of marketers said they actively invest in SEO.

SCHOOL WEBSITE

Once SEO is used to attract target audience to your school website, you then need the website to convert these visitors into parents that will enrol a child in your school. It is important to make sure that your website isn’t just a simple brochure of your school. It should provide valuable and current information on what your school has to offer. Using what you know about your target audience you can design your website around what they will be interested to know, this will create a trusting relationship with your audience. And don’t forget to include a clear call-to-action such as ‘book a place at our virtual open day’ or ‘call now’.

BLOG

A blog featured on your website is a great way to show in real-time updates on the work happening in your school. A blog will also help to provide an ongoing stream of content for your website, helping your school’s online presence stay current. With research on your target audience, you can use this information to tailor your blog posts to what they would be interested in reading about your school. As events are becoming increasingly virtual, up to date blog posts are a great way to provide connectivity between you and prospective parents.

SOCIAL MEDIA

A great way to connect with your target audience is through social media pages. In today’s world most people have social media accounts and prospective parents will likely also turn to other local parents to get recommendations on schools. Social media can also transform your current families into marketing ambassadors. The top three social media platforms used by marketers remain Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with Facebook showing to be the top social media channel with highest return on investment.

DIGITAL BANNER ADVERTISING

Placing adverts on known websites that your targeted demographic often use will help to get your school’s name in the minds of potential parents. Remember that design is an important element of banner adverts, it should be clear and concise with a simple call to action. Adverts that are spammy or over the top can often deter people from visiting your website, so keeping your design clean and professional is key. Using banner adverts on affiliate websites around key campaigns can often work better to target parents during identified times in the year, rather than year-round, making this tool manageable to all budgets.

Although inbound marketing tools do see a high return on investment, there’s still a place for traditional marketing tools such as print advertising, radio, leaflets and so on. Using these traditional methods to drive traffic to your website will increase your search engine ranking and the trusted reputation of your school.

Thinking of implementing inbound marketing methods for your school? Arrange a free consultation.