Is It Time for an Audit of Your Education Marketing? 6 Questions to Ask Yourself
As with anything, your marketing efforts can become stale over time. Maybe you’re starting to notice that your campaigns aren’t doing as well as they’ve done in the past. Or, you’ve been charged with coming up with new, fresh ideas to market your product or program. It’s important to evaluate the campaigns you’re utilizing currently so you can plan for the future. Not sure if an audit of your education marketing is needed? Ask yourself the following questions:
Are your education marketing campaigns successful?
This may seem like an obvious first question, but to accurately answer it you first need to determine what success is to you. Is it purchases of your product? Enrollments in your program? What is your goal? If you aren’t getting the downloads, enrollments, or purchases you’re after, then it might be time to re-evaluate the marketing your conducting.
Are your education marketing campaigns pretty successful, but could be better?
Your campaigns may be generating just enough traction to be determined a success, but you want—and need—more. More purchases, more enrollments. Take the time to look at the marketing you’re putting out and review what is working. Do you get responses to emails with specific subject lines? Do your social campaigns generate more activity than web banner ads do? Find the things that are working and do MORE with them. Use that subject line, or variations on it, more often. Increase the frequency of your social posts and maybe consider reducing the run time of your web banner ads.
Are your education marketing campaigns unsuccessful?
Again, this may seem like another obvious question, but there is a reason the phrase “beating a dead horse” was coined. Many marketing campaigns consist of the same elements being used over and over. Maybe because they’re easy to implement or the cost is low. Maybe because they’ve been successful in the past. Maybe because you just really like them. But it’s important to take a step back and really look at what you’re putting out and the results you’re getting. Maybe your marketing needs just a few tweaks or a complete overhaul. Either way, an education marketing audit will help you to determine which direction to go.
Are you completely new to education marketing campaigns?
Maybe the person who used to do the marketing left/retired/won the lottery and now you’re charged with developing new marketing campaigns. It’s important to have a thorough understanding of what has been done in the past so you can both avoid past failures and build on previous successes. Your predecessor may have run a campaign two years ago that was extremely successful, and you may find it’s time to resurface that. Or what you think is a new, amazing marketing idea had actually been tried before and was not very successful.
Has there been a shift in the focus of your product or program?
Products and programs grow and change over time. Newer versions or updates are introduced, and in the education industry this could mean that your marketing now has to emphasize (or downplay) those changes. You may even need to start marketing to a sector of the education market that you’ve never reached out to before. It’s important to identify what has changed and how that can or should affect your marketing campaigns for the coming year.
Has there been a change in the education industry that could impact your product or program?
The education industry is constantly evolving—laws change, federal funding comes and goes, and technology advances. Has the adoption of ESSA impacted your product offering and how you market it to educators? Is funding now available for educators to utilize your program? Your marketing should stay current and reflect how your product or program accommodates such changes so educators can clearly see the value in your offerings.
