Competition within the education sector is fierce, and it seems that competition has only grown because of COVID-19.

Many parents have reverted to homeschooling in order to avoid sending their children into the crowded hallways of schools. All types of students, including university students, have also transferred to online learning.

Students today have copious amounts of options to pursue their education and that amount only continues to grow. No matter if it’s online learning or in-person learning, online education lead generation is more important now than ever.

Education Lead Generation Strategies

There are a few lead generation strategies that can be used specifically for the education sector. Always remember to complete thorough research around your educational institution. This will help you to establish your target audience and better understand how to reach them.

Targeted Paid Advertising

The interesting thing about the education sector is that your target audience will consist of either students, parents, or both. Generally, students will be looking for where they want to attend based on the perks and offerings they find, and parents are usually the final decision-makers.

This will of course depend on the type of educational institution you are marketing; however, targeted paid advertising can be a great way to hone in on both groups.

To generate leads from online paid ads for students, you should seek to include call-to-action buttons that encourage students to download something of value, subscribe to a newsletter, visit a landing page, or get in touch. Each in exchange for an email address or point of contact.

These types of offerings work as lead magnets as they offer the student something without an expectation for something in return. The educational institution is then given the opportunity to get in touch with the user through email, making them a valuable lead.

Retargeting is also a great paid advertising method that works to reach those who have already interacted with your educational institution online in some way. These could be leads who have browsed the institution’s website, submitted a form, or visited a landing page.

Showing an ad to someone who has already shown interest in the educational institution is more likely to convert than someone who has never heard of it before.

Build Connection Through Social Media

Social media is a great way to generate leads from both parents and students. You will just need to be strategic about which platforms you choose in order to target each group.

For example, parents are more likely to spend time on Facebook, while younger generations of students are likely to be on Instagram or TikTok. Create content that is specific to each platform and for the specified group.

Your organic social media strategy for parents could include talking about the great educational features about your institution and why it is a step above competitors.

Students on the other hand would be most interested in what will make your educational institution a better learning experience than the rest. Do you offer exciting classes? Or great hot lunch days?

Think about what students will care about most and show it through your content.

It’s also important to remember that there are a lot of users on social media, but not all of them are necessarily going to be high-quality potential leads. Make use of targeting features on your selected platforms.

SEO Lead Generation Strategy

Both students and their parents are heading online when it comes time to search out the best educational facility. They head to a search engine, type in the type of school they’re looking for in their area, and then browse the results shown to them on the first page of Google.

In order for your educational institution to show up on the first page of those search engine results, your website needs to be properly optimized. Search engine optimization (SEO) practices include putting searchable keywords throughout your website content.

These keywords match the search terms that are being searched for by parents and students. These parent and student searchers are seen as high-quality leads because they are looking for exactly what you have to offer.

For example, an elementary school in Toronto might optimize their website for a keyword such as ‘elementary schools in Toronto’. This helps to match their website to the search intent of potential leads.

Become a Lead Generation Machine

Are you ready to see some major growth within your educational institution? Utilizing these education lead strategies is just what you need to get ahead of the competition and recruit new students to join your classes.

Investing in the right lead generation strategy can make all the difference in influencing the educational decisions made by students and parents. Asset Digital Communications can help you to establish your lead generation and digital marketing strategy and get you the qualified inbound leads you’re looking for.

Contact us today!