4 Practical Ways to Ride out the Covid storm this September Intake
International travel restrictions, social distancing measures, financial uncertainty, reduced household income. These are just some of the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on today’s global society. And there will be more to come. In the meantime, private schools and universities are planning for September intake - whatever that might look like. How do these uncertainties affect your school marketing strategy, and what can you do to ride out the storm of uncertainty, and put your institution in the best possible place to welcome (back) as many students as possible, while ensuring their safety and wellbeing, come what may?
1) Focus on your current students
Your current students are your strongest advocates. They are the converted. They know how great a time they’ve been having studying with you, and in most cases they probably want to continue their education journey with you. Make it easy for them to do so by providing ample support. Not just study support for their online learning NOW, but financial support and personal (virtual) support to help alleviate any concerns they may have. Let’s not bury our heads in the sand - some our current students and parents will have tighter finances come September, due to furlough (in the UK) taking earnings down to around 80% of their pre-Covid levels. In other countries there will be similar scenario, due to economic uncertainties. This, coupled with other economic impacts of the pandemic, may mean some families are forced to reconsider fee-paying school options. Consider how your bursaries and funds may be able to offer a little help to these students. It might just make the difference to one or two, which will make a huge impact on your school’s bottom line. Not to mention the students’ ability to continue their education at an institution within which they have formed strong and valuable relationships. For more ways to improve your enrolment, check out this blog.
2) Check in with your International students
For international students, it is arguably an even more uncertain time. Travel restrictions, quarantine processes and flight availability are seemingly daily narratives at the moment, and they vary from country to country. The question of whether or not your overseas students will even be able to come to your school in September may be up in the air. Many schools are already communicating plans with their current and prospective international students. Boarding schools able to offer accommodation during the required quarantine period may help relieve some of the concern around international travel, to reassure parents that their child will have a safe place to quarantine before school starts. For others, they may simply be less keen to get on a plane. For these students, consider alternative options that you could offer them - can you continue with online teaching provision, can you defer their start date to later in the year, or even to next year? Offering flexibility will further engender reassurance that your school is well-equipped to safeguard the students’ educational and personal wellbeing during this period of flux.
3) Work through your Pipeline
You have already done lots of hard work over this academic year to generate enquiries, prospectus requests, Open Day sign ups, applications. You may also have offered places to students who had to turn down their study place due to lack of scholarship options. This is where your flexibility of funding can play a part to help convert these students into accepted and enrolled students. Other conversion tactics may be used to convert enquiries into applications and ultimately enrolments. For example, consider showcasing your school’s additional value - not the USPs you usually talk about, but can you dive deeper into school life to demonstrate other value that an education at your school can provide to students? These seemingly small (and to you, free), value adds may just be the nudge needed to convince your prospective families to choose you in September, not just over other private schools, but also over non-fee-paying competitors,
4) Get to grips with your Reporting
Reporting on the outcomes, success and failures of your marketing and admissions activity can have a profound impact on their future success. Namely, on how many students you bring to the school and the budgets required to do so. Reporting is possible for offline or traditional marketing, but its digital channels where this tool really comes to the fore. Having a firm grasp of which marketing activities bring you the highest number of enquiries, quality enquiries, web visits, prospectus requests and so on will show you where you would be best to focus your efforts during a time of scant resource and personnel. It will help you make your budget work harder, and avoid wasted time and budgets.