Do it cheap, quick, effective, and get real results.
The first and the most important thing you need to learn about spending your marketing budget on student recruitment is to use it wisely. Your goal is to attract new students to your institution; therefore, it is important to spend your budget with the most effective method to get the most out of it. To achieve this, it is important to be clear about who your target group is and what they do step by step until the moment they take a decision. This is the starting point.
Continue evaluating which are the most effective channels to reach these people or potential leads: Print advertising, business partners, word of mouth, in terms of traditional methods, you reach a smaller number of people. However, investing in the online channel is a more effective way to reach more people. Digital marketing allows you with the same budget as traditional advertising to reach different places, have a more detailed segmentation and reach students on a global scale.
In-country micro-sites are a great way to get real results with a budget. They are cheap, quick and effective. The most important thing when creating an in-country microsite is to be in the country where you are targeting your audience. For example, if you are targeting students from China, then your microsite should be in Chinese. This will help you create content that will resonate with them and build trust with them.
On the other hand, full in-country/in-language websites take too long to build and are too expensive. Also, most of the time does not focus on your key courses or offerings; that is why microsites are truly effective.Â
Moreover, microsites are additional sites that promote your products or services. These include different content than what is found on the main page or website and offer more detailed information about the product or service you have. In-country micro-sites are a cost-effective way to recruit students. They are a great way to promote the country and culture of the university and attract potential students.
To make these microsites effective, the most important thing is to be clear about the strategy and to give an adequate approach. Therefore, we bring you some recommendations:
• Focus on core messaging: One of the great advantages of microsites is that you can have more detailed information and focus the message aimed at a certain audience.
• Target regions / languages: The in-country micro site is an effective strategy for recruiting students because it puts the university in their home environment, speaks to them in their native language, and is tailored to their needs.
• Get a higher ROI: The investment for the development of a microsite is minimal compared to a robust website and since the effectiveness is greater, the leads captured will be more qualified, therefore the conversion result will be greater too.
• Do A/B tests: The ease and low cost of performing A/B tests are variables that add value to microsites, in order to reach the best and appropriate version according to the audience for which it is directed.
• Quickly change and deploy new versions to adapt to market requirements: One of the great advantages of microsites is that it allows you to make simple changes and test different versions with a different audience, to compare their performance and then identify the version that suits best to get to the objective.
• Create personalized lead funnels and marketing automations: Modern consumers want personalized attention; therefore, it is important that you also create your conversion funnel. Additionally, invest in automated marketing to speed up responses and make the information that the customer requests available and instantly.
In conclusion, microsites create a better experience for the user and the institution. The result with the conversion of captured leads depends on this good experience, then, do it cheap, quick, effective and get real results.Â
