Why Should Schools Invest in International Digital Marketing?

In three words: International. Student. Recruitment.

Okay okay, so you know this already. But did you also know that digital marketing can help you find and recruit international students in a cost-effective, targeted, measurable and PROVEN way? Not to mention without even needing to leave the office. If your school or college HAS an overseas presence already, adding Digital marketing into the mix will serve to BOOST your in-market and agent activity too. What’s not to love? So, if you’re serious about recruiting students internationally, here’s why you should invest your time, money and manpower in digital marketing. 

1) It’s cost-effective (even, dare I say… cheap).

Yep, that’s right. When it comes to the volume of engagement, interest, enquiries, applications and so on that you can generate, it is the cheapest form of paid-for marketing going. You could get your brand seen by 10,000s even 100,000s of prospective students and parents for just pennies per view. You can generate enquiries from that audience pool for just a few pounds. Even convert them to make applications for ‘free’ if you’ve got the right tools set-up to do so. And the return on your investment can be pretty impressive, too. By spending £2,000 on digital adverts, you could generate around £120,000 in revenue for the school. (Trust us, we’ve done it). And that’s just a conservative result, based on one year’s return, outside of the peak recruitment period and in a new market. Imagine what you could do in peak recruitment period, once you’ve established your school’s name and brand in a given market? That’s a cracking Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS).

2) It’s highly-targeted.

You might not know EXACTLY who your ideal overseas student in Hong Kong, Thailand, or Germany looks like. But Facebook does. Well, they and their impressive algorithm can help you find them and work it out if you give them some starters to go on. Online advertising platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Linkedin and myriad others enable you to target their users based on certain criteria. For example by country, region, age, interest and so on. So if you know that your school will appeal to, for example, a Hong Kong audience, you can set your ad to only appear to users of these digital platforms in Hong Kong. Note: This is not the same as simply doing a boosted post on Facebook. Nor will the ad appear on your Facebook page’s timeline - so don’t worry, you wouldn’t be ‘spamming’ your existing, home students and parents with this. Google and other search engines will even enable you to target parents and students who are ACTIVELY looking for, for example, a UK boarding school, UK summer schools, or a specific British Council recruitment event. The more you use these advertising platforms, the more you can work out who your prospective international students are, and more finely tune who your ad audience is - yielding an incrementally better return on investment (and ROAS) each time.

3) It’s measurable.

Once you’ve started running your ads and spending that marketing budget *winces*, you will immediately start seeing measurable results. Unlike some traditional media (such as magazines), which require you to spend £1000s on a single, printed advert and then cross your fingers on one hand and stick the other in the air to see which way the wind is blowing, you will be able to instantly and accurately measure the success your hard work. You’ll be able to measure EXACTLY how many people have seen and responded to your digital activity. How many enquiries were generated from Ad X versus Ad Y. How many of those turned into applicants and bums on seats. How many people are actually opening your emails, engaging with them. Just as importantly, how many people are NOT doing so, which will enable you to adapt your communications to keep your audience’s interest. 

4) It’s proven.

Using digital marketing to grow international student recruitment has been tried and tested by the UK Higher Education sector and many independent schools over the last decade or so. It requires relatively low budget, can yield a big return on investment, and saves time and money on hundreds of plane fares back and forth to in-country recruitment fairs. Don’t misunderstand me - these certainly have a valuable place in your school’s international recruitment strategy. Digital adverts and other marketing techniques can make these (often costly) fairs not only more effective, but, when used to generate direct enquiries, can decrease your reliance on them.

5) It’s Remote.

As with all digital marketing, this can all be done remotely, from your office. You can continue to build your brand overseas, raise awarensss, gain interest, generate engagement and leads through digital means without needing to be in the country you’re targeting. Digital enables you to start or continue conversations with prospective families, collect their information and even funnel them through your application process. It can also back up your in-person events, ensuring they bring you even more bang for your buck.