Many years ago, I got this question from a client, a marketing manager at a faculty.
“We need more leads. Can we double our ad budget?”
Well, no.
The ads were already showing to anyone searching for keywords that were relevant to the course. I could probably force more people to fill in a lead form, but they would just take up recruiters’ time.
I understand why she asked the question, though.
As the single marketer responsible for promoting all programmes offered by the faculty, she had targets to meet that were set in stone. And downstream from her, the recruiters were breathing down her neck.
The only thing she did have was a sound budget for advertising.
So it was understandable that she was looking for ways to put that budget to use.
Looking back, this conversation put me on the path I am on today. It made me realise that promotion tactics are just a small part of the picture.
Student recruitment is a system
When you’re falling behind, it pays to take a step back and figure out, together, where the bottleneck is – rather than doubling down on what is obviously not working well (or not well enough).
Not much later, I came up with this model to represent how everything in education marketing and recruitment is interrelated. I explain this model in detail at the beginning of my first book (free PDF).
Getting the team aligned
You may think this is a very simple model, and it is.
But it’s a good vehicle for getting different team members on the same page.
I’ve developed a training course based on this model. It’s especially effective when you bring together a diverse group whose job scope touches on student recruitment in one way or another.
For example,
- The faculty director who understood that it’s worth setting aside some ad budget to increase student diversity
- The data analyst who got clear on which KPIs truly matter and updated the dashboards, and
- The admissions officer who got her point across that certain groups of applicants are extremely hard to admit and that this should be communicated much more clearly.
Check out the course: “Effective Online Marketing for Education”
This article first appeared as a Field Note
In the Field Notes, I share one practical idea you can try on your site or in your campaigns. Every two weeks. Get it in your inbox by signing up here.
