How to optimize student recruitment for the education sector?

It is common to think that attracting students is a process that depends solely and exclusively on the marketing carried out by the company, but that is not the reality. If it were, we would not be seeing a movement of modernization and adherence to technological tools by companies in the field of education. There are many other factors that influence when a student decides where they will take their classes and, therefore, it is also possible to count on ways to optimize this recruitment process through a more assertive and targeted management.

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Do you want to know how to bring more students to your educational institution? Clicksign is always providing the best content to help managers in the field of upbringing. Check it out!

What is student recruitment?

The concept of attracting students relates to action plan and strategies developed in order to attract more students interested in enrolling in your educational institution (IE). This must be one of the main concerns of managers, as it directly impacts the financial health of the institution. After all, without new students there is no expected increase in capital, right? In addition, thinking about strategies for attracting new clients will help you stand out from your competitors, as actions within this recruitment plan also help improve the institution's performance to meet the needs of students already enrolled, which can generate organic marketing — the famous “word of mouth” marketing.

How does this student recruitment process work?

Since the education market is increasingly competitive, with new institutions and methodologies emerging every year, the basis for attracting students is indeed related to the marketing that your school, course or university does. However, she it is also directly connected to the organizational mode of your company.In this way, we can understand that the recruitment plan works on two fronts: external actions, which involve the institution's way of presenting itself to the public, and internal actions, which encompass all those changes made to be able to develop the best strategies and deal with the new audience. Only with these two aspects working together is it possible, in fact, to create a scheme that can generate the recruitment of students. All the goals are designed with the aim of meet and achieve the “ideal student” of each institution and, because of this, this is a process that involves analysis of the public, competitors and much more. After all, when you and your management team are able to understand which students you want to reach, it is easier to know how to communicate with that group. So, we can say that attracting students works through market analysis and studies and the development of actions aimed at Persona from your teaching company.

Why should I think about optimizing student recruitment?

As well as companies from other sectors of the market, educational institutions are also included in the movement to modernize operations - which has been trending for some years. Even if, in the case of education, we do not have large machines that replace part of the production, there are other points of the organization that can be optimized. You, as a manager, must plan and join the market movement so as not to be plastered in the face of competition and to be able to offer what the student public needs at that time. Every generation is at a time completely connected to technology, so they seek services from companies that offer these facilities of the digital world. In addition, creating ways to optimize this strategy facilitates the work of your team, helps direct financial and human resources to the correct projects, and increases the assertiveness of the actions taken. All of these points help improve employee satisfaction and also that of your customers.

5 ways to improve student recruitment at your institution

See some actions that can help optimize the recruitment of students at your institution!

1. Invest in technological and modernized management

Business management is the starting point for developing a good strategy to acquire more enrolled students. Search tools for Digital HR, automate document signing, start cloud file management... All of this will help to perform better management and may even impact other parts of the institution.With modern management, you can more easily check the number of enrollments, understand the number of student exits, you can develop quality and student satisfaction indicators and other actions that help you understand which critical points need management attention. If you want to know more about what a efficient HR management at school, we already have a full post on the subject!

2. Do an audience analysis

As we said before, understanding the ideal audience of your educational institution is very important to be able to direct the actions of your student recruitment plan. To do this, start by studying the profiles of those who are already enrolled: what is their average age, level of purchasing power, interests they have, among other data. Basically, the tip is: be aware of your target audience and set up the Persona of your business based on this. Try to analyze the competition to understand if they are attracting the group of people you want as your audience or not. If they are, understand what characteristics these students have that differ from what they currently have. With all this data, you can create a Persona — an ideal customer for your brand — who has the characteristics identified in students who are already in your course and whom you want to reach. Uma Persona it must contain the following data:

• Name;
• Occupation;
• Age;
• Interests;
• Where do you live;
• Acquired power;
• etc.

Remember that if you have an institution that serves minors, Audience analysis must also be carried out thinking about those responsible for that child or adolescent, because they are the ones who have the monetary power. So create more than one Persona: one for the “ideal student” and the other for the “ideal family”. In this way, you can direct sales strategies both to talk and attract the youngest, and to convince the older audience that your school is the best option for their children.

3. Work the sales funnel

The Sales Funnel is a marketing tool to lead the public with little chance of conversion (which in this case would be the act of registering) to become a Lead with high interest and the possibility of becoming a customer. To that end, use advertisements on social networks, SEO strategies, Inbound sales and other strategies to work on all stages of the funnel, increasing the number of students. If you don't yet have a team designed for the marketing part of the business, it's time to seek a specialist to work at that point in your institution or create an internal sector to carry out this work.

4. Improve your institution's infrastructure

Infrastructure is a crucial point to keep in mind when looking to increase student recruitment. Does your company look good? Does it provide the necessary resources for students? Do you have technological devices to enhance learning? All of this needs to be considered. Students who are looking for a new place to learn normally visit institutions or seek out students who are already studying at a location to understand how the institution works. Imagine if your learning space isn't consistent with students' needs, but your competitor is? Surely, you will have lost a license plate.

5. Develop the differentiating points of your methodology

Does your school have more options for extracurricular activities? Is your pre-entrance exam methodology more effective? Does your professional course for programmers bring topics to more than other institutions? The public needs to know this! Identify the differentials of your company compared to others in the sector and evolve them so that they become a point that takes your teaching space to a new level of enterprise. Use this information to complement sales funnel strategies, can be a great opportunity for funnel marketing.

How does optimized management contribute to the recruitment of students?

When talking about ways to modernize and improve student recruitment, technological management is one of the first on our list, do you know why? The internal organization of an enterprise is one of the factors that has an impact at every stage and in the case of educational institutions that want to increase the number of students, the changes in this sector bring several advantages. Pay attention to some of the main points so that technological management can help to optimize student recruitment!

Easy to enroll

Nobody wants to spend hours just solving enrollment red tape, right? That's why an integrated management system or tools for digitally signing documents are essential. This makes it easier to conclude any contract between student and educational institution, avoiding customer frustration. This option also allows customers to be offered online enrollment, an infrastructure improvement point that is effective in increasing demand for your institution.

It helps with student retention

Very connected to the previous point, the devices necessary for optimal management also help with student loyalty. Like those who are enrolling for the first time, students who are already taking classes in their course do not want to have to worry about renewing their enrollment and the digital subscription — one of the essential tools for Digital HR and modern companies — can greatly facilitate this process. Learn how this option works in the text”Digital and electronic signature: we explain the differences!”.

Improves resource targeting

As we said before, optimized management allows business administrators to have a macro view of the business quickly and quickly. That way, It's easier to identify critical business points or areas that are not in need of so much maintenance, which allows us to divide and direct business resources to what is really necessary.

Allows audience analysis

With an organized and modern management combined with the storage of documents in the cloud, it is easier to collect student data to analyze the ideal audience and outline the strategies to search for new students. Therefore, both The personnel department and the marketing sector are able to carry out their activities in less time and in a more assertive way. Take advantage of all the tips from the Clicksigng blog to optimize student recruitment and see the improvements that these strategies will bring to your business. Also check out our content about importance of technology in education to see other ways this modernization can help the industry!