Introduction to Inbound Marketing for Schools
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The document introduces inbound marketing as a modern strategy for growing school enrollment by attracting and engaging prospective parents through educational content, rather than traditional interruptive marketing methods. It outlines the philosophy, methodology, and tools required for implementing inbound marketing, emphasizing the importance of creating targeted and personalized content across various channels. Case studies show significant increases in enrollment and engagement metrics, validating the effectiveness of this approach.
Introduction to Inbound Marketing for Schools
- 1. ©ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL ADMISSION PROFESSIONALS ANNUAL ADMISSION INSTITUTE 2015 1
- 2. ©ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL ADMISSION PROFESSIONALS ANNUAL ADMISSION INSTITUTE 2015 2 INTRODUCTION TO INBOUND MARKETING: Why traditional marketing is ineffective and how an inbound strategy will grow your school’s enrollment.
- 4. A GIFT FOR YOU 4 DOWNLOAD NOW YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SCHOOL MARKETING schoolinboundmarketing.com
- 5. THE ENROLLMENT PROBLEM SCHOOLS FACE 5 ATTRACTING MORE OF THE RIGHT PROSPECTS TO VISIT YOUR SCHOOL
- 6. 6
- 7. 7 WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSIONS?
- 8. How do you get your school to appear on the first page for a Google Search in your city?
- 9. 9 WHAT IS INBOUND MARKETING?
- 10. How has the smartphone changed how your prospects interact with your school?
- 11. 1 WHAT IS INBOUND MARKETING? 2 PROOF IT WORKS: SCHOOL CASE STUDY 3 THE PHILOSOPHY: WHY INBOUND WORKS. 4 THE METHODOLOGY: HOW INBOUND WORKS. 5 THE TOOLS: A PLAYBOOK THAT WORKS. 6 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES. CONTENTS.
- 12. 1 What is Inbound Marketing?
- 13. Instead of buying ads, buying email lists, or cold calling, inbound marketing focuses on creating educational content that pulls people toward your website where they can learn more about what you sell on their own accord. WHAT IS INBOUND MARKETING?
- 14. INBOUND IS AN APPROACH TO MARKETING THAT REACHES TODAY’S PROSPECTIVE PARENTS WHERE THEY ARE AT IN THE SCHOOL SEARCH PROCESS. Understand what content pulls your buyers through the sales funnel, and use that context to personalize your marketing at scale. Get found by qualified leads online with content (website pages, blog articles, social messages) optimized for search and social media.
- 15. 1. Inbound as a philosophy (the “WHY?”); 2. Inbound as a methodology (the “HOW?”); and 3. Inbound as a tool set (the “PLAYBOOK”). INBOUND MARKETING CAN BE UNDERSTOOD IN THREE WAYS: TOOL SET
- 16. Inbound marketing in a nutshell: Market with a magnet, not a sledgehammer.
- 17. 2 Does it Work? A Recent School Case Study
- 18. RESULTS AFTER ONE YEAR WITH AN INBOUND MARKETING STRATEGY: More Info at www.schoolinboundmarketing.com/customercases 111% Increase in Enrollment 89 New Students 171% Increase in Applications 170 New Applicants 344% Increase in Website Traffic over 4000 Visits a Month
- 19. QUICK TIP: CHECK YOUR WEBSITE TO SEE IF IT IS MOBILE FRIENDLY
- 20. USE GOOGLES TOOL TO CHECK YOUR WEBSITE: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ GOOGLE SEARCH ALGORITHIM UPDATED ON APRIL 21st 2015
- 21. 3 The Philosophy: Why Inbound Works
- 22. Inbound marketing is a philosophy based on the truth that consumers buy differently today than they did 10 years ago. INBOUND AS A PHILOSOPHY.
- 23. PRE-INTERNET. •Buyer: Relatively uninformed. •Buyer Journey: Linear. •Marketing Playbook: Interrupt (cold calls and advertising). THINK ABOUT IT. TODAY. •Buyer: Well-informed. •Buyer Journey: Fluid and random. Starts with Google. •Marketing Playbook: Thought leadership through content creation.
- 24. There are three major reasons why consumers are skeptical about brands, and why interruptive advertising and cold calling aren’t nearly as effective as they once were … HOW DID THIS TRANSFORMATION TAKE PLACE? 3
- 25. 1. The Proliferation of Media: The media landscape has become insanely cluttered. There’s a magazine, TV channel, radio station, and a gajillion websites for every conceivable interest. WHY INTERRUPTION DOESN’T WORK: REASON NUMBER ONE.
- 26. The media landscape grew to include more channels over time, and each channel eventually became its own advertising medium.
- 27. Let’s try to comprehend just how cluttered the media landscape is to illustrate how much advertising there is ...
- 28. This is a simplified timeline of the appearance of advertising in major communication channels.
- 29. Not only has the media landscape grown by type; each type has grown exponentially by volume.
- 30. • In 1920, there was 1 radio station. In 2011, there were 14,700. • In 1946, America had 12 broadcasting TV stations. In 2011, there were over 1,700. • In 1998 (over 15 years ago!), the average consumer saw or heard 1 million marketing messages – almost 3,000 per day. • In 2014, there are 1,500 stories competing to show up in your personal Facebook News Feed at any given moment. THE PROLIFERATION OF MEDIA.
- 31. Advertising was proliferating faster than laws were implemented to regulate it, which leads us to ...
- 32. 2. A History of Deceptive Advertising: Consumers are accustomed to false claims and deceit in advertising, so even when clever ads are seen by consumers, they’re thought to be dishonest. WHY INTERRUPTION DOESN’T WORK: REASON NUMBER TWO. According to the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, 63% of consumers need to hear company claims 3-5x before they’ll actually believe them!
- 33. Interruption. False claims. Over-promising. Under-delivering. Increased regulation. Brand egocentrism. Exploitation. Lawsuits. This changed everything.
- 34. 3. Technology Empowered the Consumer: Consumers gained access to tools and information that enabled them to dodge interruptive brand messages and instead seek out information when they’re ready. WHY INTERRUPTION DOESN’T WORK: REASON NUMBER THREE.
- 35. VCRs. Caller ID. DVRs. The Do Not Call list. Spam software. Broadband internet. Smartphones. Social media. This changed everything.
- 36. By aligning the content you publish with your customer’s interests, you can earn permission to market to prospects that you can convert into leads, close into customers, and delight to the point they come promoters of your brand. THAT’S WHY PERMISSION BECAME MORE EFFECTIVE THAN INTERRUPTION.
- 37. There are several major themes of inbound, permission-based marketing. Let’s talk about them.
- 38. You create targeted content that answers your prospective parent's basic questions and needs, and you share that content far and wide. CONTENT CREATION.
- 39. You recognize that people go through stages as they interact with your school, and that each stage requires different marketing actions. LIFECYCLE MARKETING.
- 40. As you learn more about your leads over time, you can better personalize your messages to their specific needs. PERSONALIZATION & CONTEXT.
- 41. Inbound marketing is a philosophy based on the truth that consumers buy differently today than they did 10 years ago. INBOUND OVERVIEW
- 42. Inbound marketing is multi-channel by nature because it approaches people where they are, in the channel where they want to interact with you. Example: You don’t push a prospect to download an application when they don’t even know if your school is a good fit. A MULTI-CHANNEL PRESENCE.
- 43. Your publishing and analytics tools all work together like a well-oiled machine, allowing you to focus on publishing the right content in the right place at the right time. INTEGRATION.
- 44. • Building trust, not skepticism among your prospects. • Being loved, not ignored by your customers. • Outsmarting, not outspending your competitors. IN SUMMARY, INBOUND MARKETING IS ABOUT ...
- 45. 4 The Methodology: How Inbound Works
- 47. The inbound philosophy is backed by a methodology that helps brands attract, convert, close, and delight visitors, leads and customers through a variety of channels such as social media, blogging, SEO, landing pages, forms, and email. THE METHODOLOGY.
- 48. The methodology facilitates the buyer journey through the sales funnel – from strangers to promoters of your School brand.
- 49. THE METHODOLOGY VISUALIZED AS A SALES FUNNEL
- 50. Blog Social Media Keywords Pages Calls-to-Action Landing Pages Forms Contacts Email Workflows Lead Scoring CRM Integrations Social Media Smart-Calls-to-Action Email Workflows Attract Convert Close Delight Strangers Visitors Leads Customers Promoters LET’S GO THROUGH THE METHODOLOGY STEP-BY-STEP.
- 51. HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE INBOUND METHODOLOGY GRAPHIC. Along the top are the four actions (Attract, Convert, Close, Delight) companies must take in order to obtain visitors, leads, and customers.
- 52. HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE INBOUND METHODOLOGY GRAPHIC. Along the bottom are the tools schools use to accomplish these actions. Note: Note the tools are listed under the action where they first come into play, but that’s not the only place they’re applicable! Several tools, like email, can be essential in several stages of the methodology.
- 53. Blog Social Media Keywords Pages Calls-to-Action Landing Pages Forms Contacts Email Workflows Lead Scoring CRM Integrations Social Media Smart-Calls-to-Action Email Workflows Attract Convert Close Delight Strangers Visitors Leads Customers Promoters STEP 1: ATTRACT STRANGERS AND TURN THEM INTO WEBSITE VISITORS.
- 54. You want to attract people that will potentially become leads. Attract your ideal parent or buyer persona by creating content that’s valuable and easy for them to find. In contrast don’t exclusively produce content that brags about your school’s recent accomplishments. STEP 1: ATTRACT STRANGERS AND TURN THEM INTO WEBSITE VISITORS.
- 55. Blog Social Media Keywords Pages Calls-to-Action Landing Pages Forms Contacts Email Workflows Lead Scoring CRM Integrations Social Media Smart-Calls-to-Action Email Workflows Attract Convert Close Delight Strangers Visitors Leads Customers Promoters STEP 2: CONVERT WEBSITE VISITORS INTO LEADS.
- 56. Once you’ve got visitors to your site, the next step is to convert those visitors into leads by gathering their contact information. In order to get this valuable information, you need to offer something up in return (ex: ebook). STEP 2: CONVERT WEBSITE VISITORS INTO LEADS.
- 57. Take a Look at Liberty Christian School a K4-8 School in Owings Mills Maryland. Go Here: www.libertychristianschoolmd.com EXAMPLE WEBSITE: CONVERT WEBSITE VISITORS INTO LEADS.
- 58. Blog Social Media Keywords Pages Calls-to-Action Landing Pages Forms Contacts Email Workflows Lead Scoring CRM Integrations Social Media Smart-Calls-to-Action Email Workflows Attract Convert Close Delight Strangers Visitors Leads Customers Promoters STEP 3: CLOSE LEADS INTO CUSTOMERS THROUGH LEAD NURTURING.
- 59. Once you’ve attracted the right visitors and converted the right leads, you need to transform those leads into customers with targeted, automated email nurturing and social media interaction. STEP 3: CLOSE LEADS INTO CUSTOMERS THROUGH LEAD NURTURING.
- 60. Blog Social Media Keywords Pages Calls-to-Action Landing Pages Forms Contacts Email Workflows Lead Scoring CRM Integrations Social Media Smart-Calls-to-Action Email Workflows Attract Convert Close Delight Strangers Visitors Leads Customers Promoters STEP 4: DELIGHT CUSTOMERS TO TURN THEM INTO PROMOTERS OF YOUR BRAND.
- 61. Using context and personalization to deliver tailored messages, continue to engage with, delight, and (hopefully) upsell your current customer base into happy promoters of your company. STEP 4: DELIGHT CUSTOMERS TO TURN THEM INTO PROMOTERS OF YOUR BRAND.
- 62. Now that we’ve covered the methodology, we’re ready to dig deeper into the tools you need to get visitors (traffic), leads, and customers.
- 64. 5 The Tools: A Playbook That Works
- 65. Tools to attract strangers to your site include: •Blogging •Social Media •Keyword Optimization •Site Pages STEP 1: ATTRACT STRANGERS AND TURN THEM INTO WEBSITE VISITORS. Blog Social Media Keywords Pages Attract Strangers Visitors
- 66. We’re going to take a moment to emphasize the importance of blogging because it’s that important ...
- 67. Schools blog because it’s one of the most effective ways to attract potential customers to your site.
- 68. •GO TO KIM’S PRESENTATION ROOM #2 @ 2:30PM ON BLOGGING THIS AFTERNOON TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO SETUP A BLOG FOR YOUR SCHOOL. COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTION
- 69. Blogging isn’t the only tool that effectively attracts customers to you, though.
- 70. You must share remarkable content and valuable information on the social web, engage with your prospects, and put a human face on your brand. YOU NEED TO BE ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES, TOO.
- 71. You need to carefully, analytically pick keywords, optimize your pages, create content, and build links around the terms your ideal buyers are searching for. YOU SHOULD CREATE CONTENT AROUND TARGETED KEYWORDS AS WELL.
- 72. Now, what tools do you use to turn traffic into leads?
- 73. Tools to convert visitors into leads include: •Calls-to-Action •Landing Pages •Forms •Contacts Database STEP 2: CONVERT WEBSITE VISITORS INTO LEADS. Calls-to-Action Landing Pages Forms Contacts Convert Visitors Leads
- 74. Calls-to-action (CTAs) are buttons or links that encourage your visitors to take action, like “Download a Whitepaper” or “Attend a Webinar.” If you don’t have CTAs or if they aren’t enticing enough, you won’t generate leads. ENTICE YOUR VISITORS TO CLAIM AN OFFER WITH CALLS-TO-ACTION.
- 75. When a website visitor clicks on a CTA, they should then be sent to a landing page where the offer in the call-to-action is fulfilled, and where the prospect submits information that your sales team can use to begin a conversation with them. DRIVE VISITORS TO LANDING PAGES WHERE THEY CAN BECOME LEADS.
- 76. In order for visitors to become leads, they must fill out a form and submit their contact information. Optimize your form to make this step of the conversion process as easy as possible. USE FORMS TO GET THE INFORMATION YOU NEED ABOUT YOUR PROSPECTS.
- 77. Keep track of the leads you're converting in a centralized marketing database so you can make sense out of every interaction you’ve had with your contacts – be it through email, a landing page, or social media. HOUSE ALL OF YOUR CONTACTS IN ONE PLACE.
- 78. What tools do you use to turn leads into customers?
- 79. Tools to close leads into customers include: •Lead Scoring •Email •Marketing Automation •Closed-Loop Reporting STEP 3: CLOSE LEADS INTO CUSTOMERS THROUGH LEAD NURTURING. Email Workflows Lead Scoring CRM Integrations Close Leads Customers
- 80. You’ve got contacts in your system, but how do you know which ones are ready to speak to your sales team? Using a numerical representation of the sales-readiness of a lead takes the guesswork out of the process. USE LEAD SCORING TO DETERMINE WHICH LEADS ARE READY FOR A ADMISSIONS.
- 81. What if a visitor clicks on your CTA and fills out a form on a landing page to download a whitepaper, but still isn’t ready to become a customer? Nurture them with a series of emails focused on useful, relevant content until they’re ready. SEND TARGETED EMAILS TO LEADS TO PULL THEM THROUGH THE SALES FUNNEL.
- 82. COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTION LEAD NURTURING SEMINAR TODAY WITH BRENDAN SCHNEIDER
- 83. If a visitor downloaded a whitepaper from you in the past, you might want to send that lead a series of related emails. But if they follow you on Twitter and visited certain pages on your website, you might want to tailor the messaging. GO BEYOND EMAIL BY USING AUTOMATION INFORMED BY CONTEXT AND LIFECYCLE.
- 84. Know which marketing efforts are bringing in the best leads and whether your sales team is focused on the most qualified leads by integrating with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. CLOSE THE LOOP BY INTEGRATING YOUR MARKETING TOOLS WITH YOUR CRM.
- 85. What tools do you use to turn customers into repeat, happy customers?
- 86. Tools to delight your customers include: •Smart Calls-to-Action •Social Media •Email and Marketing Automation STEP 4: DELIGHT CUSTOMERS TO TURN THEM INTO PROMOTERS OF YOUR BRAND. Social Media Smart-Calls-to-Action Email Workflows Delight Customers Promoters
- 87. Treat people like people and earn trust by using Smart Content and Personalization Tokens to create a tailored experience based on prospects’ needs across all of your marketing channels – from CTAs to email to landing pages. FUTURE: KEEP THE CYCLE GOING BY CONTINUALLY NURTURING WITH PERSONALIZED CONTENT. Click to learn more about how Smart Content and Personalization works.
- 88. Alas, we’re done with the tools! Here’s how the inbound methodology and tools all come together.
- 89. 1) ATTRACT: GET TRAFFIC 2) CONVERT: GET LEADS 3) CLOSE: GET CUSTOMERS 4) DELIGHT: ANALYZE & OPTIMIZE Create blog content, search engine optimize (SEO) that content, and promote it on social media sites. Place calls-to-action throughout your website, blog, social accounts, and email to drive visitors to landing pages with forms. Send leads targeted, automated emails to drive them through your buying cycle. Provide your sales team with lead intelligence for more effective sales calls. Analyze the success of your marketing campaigns, and determine which areas need further optimization or personalization for future success.
- 92. RESOURCES TO DIG DEEPER INTO THE CONCEPTS OF INBOUND Download for Free at schoolinboundmarketing.com Headmaster Guide to School Marketing