Effective Digital Advertising Strategies for Indian Educational Institutions
How to get the most out of advertising in the shortest span
You run a school? Or a college? Or a university?
It doesn’t matter! Competition has come up for all facets of education. And it is becoming increasingly hard to distinguish yourself from the rest.
This is where this write up comes in. Go through it, and reach out to us in case you want further help.
Social Media Engagement
Amplify Your Best Content
Boost engaging posts on Facebook and Instagram to showcase student achievements and campus events, attracting prospective students.
Eg: Testimonials speak volumes. Use them as much as possible. Highlight your school’s achievements – but maintain a balance of academic and non academic achievements.
Craft Compelling Ad Copy
Use direct language that resonates with Indian parents and students. Highlight unique curriculum offerings and industry partnerships.
Eg: We advised Walnut Schools to highlight their no school bag policy and their advanced learning system. This resonated well with the target audience.
Search Engine Marketing
Leverage Local Search Trends
Use Google Trends to identify popular education-related search terms in different regions of India. Tailor your ads to specific geographic areas and demographics.
Eg: Search for “best school near me” and analyse the outcomes to fine tune your ads.
Optimize for Unbranded Searches
Focus on keywords like “top engineering colleges in Mumbai” or “best MBA programs in Delhi NCR” rather than bidding on your institution’s name.
Advanced Techniques
Retargeting Campaigns
Show targeted ads to users who visited your website, especially effective for reaching out to students who showed initial interest but didn’t complete an inquiry form.
Eg: Facebook (Meta) pixel lets you do this effectively.
A/B Testing
Test different value propositions, such as emphasizing academic excellence versus industry readiness, to determine which messaging resonates best with your audience.
This is a little complex procedure, and needs some developer assistance to create 2 different landing pages, and observing which speaks better to the target audience.
Best Practices
- Regularly audit your ad copy and landing pages for consistency and accuracy.
- Allocate a sufficient budget for digital advertising based on your institution’s size and target audience.
- Stay updated on digital marketing trends and regulations specific to the Indian education sector.
- Remember, this needs to be an ongoing practice, even when admissions are not open!
- There are many more best practices which we can follow by fine tuning to your specific requirements.
AI to the rescue?
- AI now can help out with some of these tasks. There are tools like ChatGPT which offer your customized GPTs for social media marketing, tools like Perplexity which let you search the web and come up with meaningful content.
- You know what is really necessary to get the most out of AI? It’s a secret which no one really talks about. Great prompts. Furthermore, an even more well kept secret: Great prompts are developed over time – they rarely work instantly.
- So keep working on those prompts to get the best responses. (BTW, we can help you with those :))
In case you are looking to optimize your website and your school’s image, do reach out to us. Our team is specialized to help you navigate this tricky landscape.