Using Inbound Marketing to Increase Inquiries

Transcription

1 Using Inbound Marketing to Increase Inquiries

2 Hey! I m Stacy Jagodowski Director of Marketing & Communications at Lainer School in Los Angeles Over 15 years in admission, marketing and communications at independent schools Love photography, design, the beach & road trips; drove half of Route 66 with my sister I have a hidden talent for finding four-leaf clovers (and five-leaf and seven-leaf, oddly, no

3 Learning Objectives 1. What is inbound marketing and why does it matter? 2. What makes a strong content strategy? SEO, Target Audiences, Topics 3. What does marketing and admission relationship look like? 4. Quick start guide at the end

4 We need more students. You won t get more students unless you start with more inquiries. Ad i t. You need to find students who don t want you, but they want things you offer.

5 Inbound: Attract - Delight - Engage Create great content. Provide value/services for your audience. Be a thought leader. Collect data. Analyze and use data. Convert non-users into users

6 TL;DR: Be Helpful

7 Tak Fro Les.

8 How will this increase inquiries? Gre Tru to S r i B il n L al We re going to solve problems for users who don t want to attend our schools. We re going to slowly nurture them through the buyer s journey. We re going to infuse our schools into this helpful service we re providing

9 Start with a strong content strategy

10 What are your goals? Cultivate a New Audience Educate and Inform Provide a Service

11 Buyer s Journey I realize have a problem I want to solve my problem and have to figure out how I ve decided how to solve my problem by applying to private school I m applying to these private schools

12 Fin Yo r d C iv et A e c

13 Challenges For Schools Continued Declining Birth Rates: CDC reports 2017 saw the fewest newborns in the last 30 years Your NEW target audience is NOT looking for you You re facing an increasingly savvy consumer

14 Solutions Adopt a Hunters Mentality Develop a NEW Target Audience Nurture Leads into Inquiries

15 Con t. Nur. Con t.

16 Create an optimized blog Start Small Optimize your website Write regularly Be consistent Sta s he... Share on social Assess performance

17 Getting Started with Inbound Sta f De p e t Know your target audience: personas SEO/Keyword Strategy Content Strategy The Buyer s Journey (using a CRM) Conversion points

18 Customer Relationship Management Lif c S ag Subscribers Leads Marketing Qualified Leads Sales Qualified Leads Opportunities Customers Evangelists

19 Who w a?

20 Develop Target Audiences The o M r in Know your school s goals (student make-up, revenue, marketplace challenges) Understand your audience (why do they choose you?) Provide a valuable a service (solve a problem) Generate Marketing Qualified Leads (nurture leads into users who are ready to apply to private school) Follow the Buyer s Journey

21 Cultivate Target Audiences The o Ad so Nurture Marketing Qualified Leads & convert into Sales Qualified Leads Provide personal interactions; build a relationship via 1:1 interaction Guide them through the application process, provide a service Court them into applications Seal the deal and gain enrollments

22 Wha h yo ir?

23 Create your personas The o Ad i s & Mar Tog r n Fictional, general characters who represent your target audience. Guides content and provides direction on how you will reach these audiences. This may not always be the student you have now, but rather, the student you re trying to recruit

24 Create your personas The o Ad i s & Mar Tog r n Meet Athletic Alex What does he want/need most? What problem does he have in trying to achieve these goals? How can your school help solve that problem and achieve those goals?

25 Dev an SE St a g

26 Identify your Keywords Keywords are your roadmap to content development Pick keywords, including longtail keywords Use it to drive content planning Start with what you know

27

28 Cre ac n St a g t

29 Use those Keywords Wri, Pos, Pro Update website with keywords Write, write, write But ration content for your blog Create a strategy and schedule for posting Start posting AFTER you build a strong content base Stay consistent in generating content Have a plan for promoting content

30 REMEMBER This blog is NOT for your school. It s for your user.

31 Bu l r

32 Tips for writing for your new target audience Write for your personas (yes, use them!) Help your audience find you Help them understand their unique problems Offer solutions Softly sell your school (nurture them to become customers along the way)

33 Create an optimized blog Optimize your website Start Small Write & post on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule Be consistent If o ed... Share it on social Assess performance

34 Take your INBOUND further Ele yo t eg

35 When you re ready for more In e t ni o n Use your blog to gain more leads Rethink your inquiry - more on that in a minute Develop & nurture those leads Create premium content offers Invest in a Customer Relationship Management tool (CRM)

36 Change your mindset Remember, you re cultivating a NEW audience Make it EASY for the casual user to find you (likely, you find them first) Encourage them to connect with you Make it EASY for them to connect from the start Provide high-value content that DOES NOT serve the primary goal of selling your product

37 Rethink the Inquiry Form

38 Most private school inquiry forms are almost as intense as an actual application. If you re not invested in applying yet, do you really want to fill this out?

39 Inquiry Management

40 Traditional Management New Management Admission Manages all inquiries Marketing manages leads & subscribers All inquiries must complete the detailed form to demonstrate their interest Admission manages MQLs & SQLs and converts them through the remaining buyer s journey One long inquiry form collects all information at once Short inquiry forms use automation to collect information over time Process is driven by the prospective family Process is driven by the school

41 What should a true inquiry form look like?

42 True Inquiry Short Minimal Information Quick to complete Quantity of Inquiries Minimal User Effort User-Centric School Inquiry Long Detailed Information Time Consuming Quality of Info Maximum User Effort School-Centric

43 Download a FREE Viewbook! PRE-INQUIRY FORM: Sho & Eas Learn more about our campus, student programs, and more.

44 Wh ho y u r co l he m? +VALUE

45 Premium Content Downloads Pro n as v e Give your users a reason to connect with you Offer ebooks, tip sheets and other premium content Viewbooks only work for converted audiences Design for your personas Have multiple offers Promote the offers on your blogs, website and social media

46 Con t h t e r o do t a t yo, ye

47 En o ge t e t co c wi y Download a FREE Viewbook! Learn more about our campus, student programs, and more.

48 Mak uc &e s in c Download a FREE Viewbook! Learn more about our campus, student programs, and more.

49 Nurture the Leads Now Wha t u v em, l ud h em Don t hard sell your school immediately Drip campaigns let you share targeted content Target personas Don t forget about futures Take it slow getting to know each other

50 Passing Leads from Marketing to Admission Now Wha t u v em, l ud h em Marketing manages subscribers and leads. Marketing might also manage MQLs, but admission should be involved. SQLs are ready to fully inquire and should be placed into the admission funnel and database

51 Qu c r Gu d

52 Not I based this guide off of Marketing leading the charge, but you can adapt it for your needs.

53 Have a plan Goals & Target Audiences Role of Marketing Role of Admission Role of Others at the School Growth Opportunities Promotional Plan

54 Know your current & target audiences Who are you targeting well, already? What are your most popular programs? What are your school s strategic goals? What do your students want out of school? Who do you want to target?

55 Cater to your audience Understand who they are and what they want Develop personas that meet the goals of admission, marketing, and administration Develop both free and gated content that each persona will want to consume (generic, this should appeal to users who don t want you) Write about what you know (or ask someone else)

56 Prepare your school You can start quietly, but still need to prep folks What are you doing? Why are you doing it? How is it being done? Projected outcomes and goals? Who has to help? Who can help? How can they help?

57 Assign duties Project manager (marketing) SEO Plan & Keyword research (marketing) Writers (admission, marketing, SR admins, teachers, students) Editors (marketing) Photographers (marketing, students, teachers) Graphics assistance (marketing, students, teachers) Basic blog site development (admission, marketing, IT)

58 Assign duties CRM research (marketing, admission, IT) Budget development (admission, marketing, IT) Budget approvals (CFO, SR admins, admission, marketing, IT) CRM implementation (marketing, admission, IT) Premium content development (anyone can be an expert) Landing page design (marketing) workflows (marketing)

59 Start with a Basic Blog SchoolPress, WordPress Write regularly Use an army of writers to generate generic and school-specific content; you need BOTH Experts should write about their expertise Write high-quality, shareable, evergreen content Share it

60 Track Success Readership (subscribers) Google Analytics Social Analytics Inquiry increases

61 Later on Implement a CRM Hubspot, Salesforce, other Develop personas Offer gated content to gain leads Develop workflows & automatic triggers Use the data to cultivate leads Learn from user behavior

62 Step it up a few notches Analytics are your best friend Keep looking for new keywords to rank for Track your progress Marketing needs to deliver MQL Admission needs to convert MQLs into SQLs Admission needs to seal the deal

63 Tips for getting buy in Build a 5-year plan for growth: Start small Year 1-2: Blog only, grow readership Year 3-4: Implement a CRM managed by Marketing to show potential and Get admission to start cultivating leads Year 5: Increase FTE to boost content production & lead cultivation

64 Tips for getting buy in Be patient. It likely won t happen overnight. Be educated on why you need this endeavor. Talk about it often. You need to make it happen. Use case studies from other schools (heads and marketing directors are often willing to talk to you)

65 Tips for getting buy in Use data from Years 1 & 2 to project ROI A CRM will cost between $10k-50k How many full pay students will pay that off? Use data from EMA and NAIS to show trends Use case studies from other schools (heads and marketing directors are often willing to talk to you)

66 Increasing Inquiries with Inbound Marketing Stacy