Generate Leads for Education [6 Content Marketing Ideas]

Lead generation has two key players:

1) The businesses trying to pursue prospective customers.

2) The customers deciding whether a company is attractive enough to spend money on.

In the education setting, successful lead generation is when your strategies produce enrollments. But with a generation of prospective students that have learned to block ads and has a vast array of tools to help them do so – your lead generation efforts must also get in front of those already interested in what you're offering.

However, it's one thing to become visible and an entirely different story to beat the competition and meet your goals. Below we’ll break down six content ideas schools and institutions can use to generate leads online:

1) Blogposts

Blogging helps you achieve a lot with your education marketing. First, it's an ideal way of driving traffic to your website through SEO-optimized content.

Secondly, blog posts are content pieces you can repurpose to achieve more from your marketing. Each time a reader shares your post on social networks, your social media presence gets stronger, and you drive more visitors to your website.

Thirdly, each post you put up is one more indexed page. And with CTAs (Call-To-Actions), specific content designed to achieve a particular goal, you are primed to increase enrollments.

Lastly, it's a chance to place your institution as a thought leader. Students and prospective students grow to trust your site to find credible information on various topics.

2) Podcasts

In 2021, there were over two million podcasts and more than 48 million podcast episodes. According to recent data, in 2020 and 2021, the ages of 12-34 and 35-54 listened to podcasts more than any other.

Chances are your biggest targets are students (and parents) within these two age groups. Including podcasts in your higher education lead generation strategies will help you reach these demographics. 

Podcasts also allow for a lot of creativity and versatility with topics. You get to determine how episodes run, who to invite on the podcast, and where you advertise it.

3) Downloadable guides, whitepapers, and eBooks

These three pieces of content are designed to inform and educate audiences on different topics and include educational walkthroughs, statistical data, surveys, etc.

The main difference between the three is the tone of writing. Ebooks are laidback; guides bear an educative and influencing tone, while whitepapers are more formal. Each of them is a chance to attract possible students who throng search engines with an organic search query that starts with 'how to.'

For example, how to generate leads for education, how to write a university essay, how to get a good GPA, etc. Making them available in a PDF format allows you to easily offer them in exchange for contact information so you can nudge prospects from one stage to the next.

4) Videos and webinars

Google says that 80% of prospective students who planned to attend an online university said watching an online video influenced their application. This is how powerful educational videos can be. 

The power of video is in its ability to leverage that the mind processes visuals better than text. Plus, it allows you to tell a story with testimonials, live streams, and campus video tours.

You can use each video type to help a prospect live through an event, take them through how your school can help them, and how alumni and current students benefit from the school’s various programs. And the most significant gain yet is that you are forming a connection with the viewer.

This connection is vital in moving them from a considering party to an interested one, and lastly, a prospective student who submits an application form and looks forward to becoming part of your student body.

- 5 ADVANTAGES OF USING MARKETING AUTOMATION FOR SCHOOLS - 

5) Social media  

Leveraging the power of social media is crucial to any marketing campaign executed today. 

Social media allows schools and universities to raise brand awareness across multiple platforms. So there is little doubt as to why colleges and universities around the world are increasingly using Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media accounts to reach their core audience. 

So how can schools use social media to generate more leads? Try to remember the following key principles: set a goal, identify the proper channels, following, frequency, messaging, content and engagement 

6) Paid advertising (to amplify your content)

The paid advertising platform falls under the pay-per-click (PPC) model, where you pay for every click or impression on your ad. It helps you draw prospects while they search for something you have – giving you a unique opportunity to engage prospects and boost traffic to your website from the content you produce.

They also allow you to create and share ads at the perfect time through mobile and desktop devices. Your ad shows up on SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages), just when a user is looking for the best business school in Philadelphia, tuition fees for SDSU, which short courses can I take in the summer, etc.

Here are some examples that fall under the paid advertising model: 

Search engine marketing (SEM) helps you perform better on SERP results through pay-per-click advertising (PPC). These ads reach users with your message when they most need it, making them ideal and less intrusive than most digital ads, and you only pay for impressions that turn into visitors.

Social media paid advertising uses ad tools native to social media to create, schedule, and post targeted ads geared to reach a specific market. Social media advertising also ensures that your posts get undivided attention from your ideal audience.

Programmatic and connected TV advertising enables you to buy ad space in connected TV and take advantage of the fastest-growing video advertising platform. Programmatic CTV advertising includes serving ads on gaming consoles, computers, mobile devices, and over-the-top devices. 

Content distribution services maximize your content's potential, you need to combine it with stellar distribution strategies. The oldest yet best strategy is finding your audience where they are, even if that means getting on ten different channels.

One last thing

You may have an excellent admissions department and an even greater in-house marketing team that ensures constant engagement and communication with your audiences. 

But without lead generation efforts that move with the ever-changing nature of consumers and channels, your campaigns may be getting you only half the results you should be getting. Your audience needs to believe they're making the right decision by choosing you. 

Are you tired of working hard to generate leads for your school but have little to show? We're here to help. Here at Sonority Group, we'll listen to your needs and formulate growth strategies that drive tangible results. 

Your search for an education lead generation company stops here. Let's chat!