Our marketing strategy includes print advertising in trade magazines, yellow page ads, TV commercials, Facebook and Google ads, on-line directories, exhibiting at trade shows, field trips with related schools, career fairs, community functions.
That said- 99% of potential students when asked "How did you hear about us?" answer "I found you on the internet" so I wonder about paying for expensive TV commercials. I know we need to have a multi-faceted campaign, but wow.
We divide our marketing plan into several categories.
National Industry Magazines. We keep a steady advertising campaign in the top industry magazines while also supplying articles written by our staff and instructors. This helps us to maintain involvement in the professional community.
Web presence. Along with our main website we also incorporate the use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc), blogs and forums. Maintaining a large web presence with frequently updated content helps to maintain our rankings. Other paid services help such as Google Ad word and Facebook ads.
Local Marketing includes involvement with local industry events, community service, print and television ad coverage. Radio remotes during our open house events and free seminars that are open to the public also help keep us fresh in the minds of our clients.
Our school is a little different in our trades that we offer. So we approach them a little different. A lot of our students come from referral. Some come from news paper adds from out of state and local. And some others come from doing research on the internet. When we get a lead we call and e-mail asap and follow up with additional emails.
Our main components marketing are direct mailers, website and print advertising.
When a lead comes in, we follow up with informational calls, emails & campus tour invitations.
We have a broad marketing plan. Our students come from all walks of life. We advertise via TV, radio, web, print, billboards, referrals, events, etc. Our plan is to get the word out and letting you know about the school.
The marketing plan is reviewed periodically and it is adjusted based on the reports. Those who come to the school and let us know where they heard us from and what was the deciding factor in coming to the school. As far the rest of how it is put together, well I am not sure about that.
Our main components and methods of marketing are television and radio advertising –and of course- internet web searches which always bring in a healthy number of prospects. If a lead comes in by web, we’ll follow up in the same manner until a visit is scheduled with the admissions dept. If the lead was generated by phone, we’ll follow up with informational calls and register the history until our admissions dept. establish contact who will then follow up with the prospect student.
personal contacts (referrals),mailing,flyers,webside,yellow pages TV.
Hi Chuck! It sounds as if you have tapped into the most effective resource for potential students.
To your point about what makes your school different, I too have stressed the importance of "branding." It is crucial, particularly in today's employment economy, to position our programs, our services, and our graduates so that both students and employers can see the special value of what we have to offer - moreso than the school down the street that may provide similar programs.
Out of curiosity, what are some things that your school emphasizes as added value (no proprietary information, of course)?
Thanks for your comments!
Jay Hollowell
ML140 Facilitator
Our major marketing plan is having our website linked with the two largest resources for students to use when searching for a school of our type. It sends these students directly to us via email and we then contact them with the information. We have used TV, Newspaper, Magazines and none of them got us leads like these two connections provide.
Also, we always impress upon the contact what makes us different (better) than our competitors.
Because we are a little more expensive as a private school, we must convince them we provide them with more than they get at other schools.
We constantly update our website to keep it interesting and informative.
Chuck Clark
You omitted what, to me, seems to be the most obvious: the internet. It's free, it's powerful, it's easy to track and it is the yellow pages of the future.
Thanks, James, for the observations. Your description is on target regarding the career college student composite - desires a better life for himself/herself and family, wants a better job or a new set of workplace skills; most liely is the first generation student in his/her family that is contemplating additional education or training beyond secondary school. A more specific target market relates, perhaps, more closely to your school's particular student demographics and characteristics.
Jay
ML107
Mailings, print media, personal contacts (referrals) and some TV. As far as the process I'm not sure how it works. I would say that our target market is everyone who wants a better life but has done little or nothing to obtain that goal up to this point.
