5 School Marketing Trends to Capitalise on in 2022
Now that 2022 has well and truly kicked off, it’s time for your school marketing team to look forward into the future, and begin formulating a plan for the coming academic year and beyond. However, with an ever-changing landscape of marketing innovations to keep track of, as well as the disruptive forces of COVID-19 still lurking around, it is increasingly difficult to know what belongs in your budget, and what belongs in the bin.
As experts in school marketing, we have conducted a thorough analysis of the current marketing trends taking the world by storm, and harnessed our years of experience to decide what is going to make an actual difference for your school in 2022. Below are our top 5 trends in private school marketing that your school can make use of this year to truly grow your admissions.
1. Virtual Visits
After COVID-19 sent everyone inside, and made traveling near impossible for many around the world, we saw an incredible rise in the popularity of virtual experiences. Demand for our virtual tour services skyrocketed, as schools quickly adapted to the changing situation. However, as we have begun to slowly return to normal, it is clear to many that these virtual experiences, such as our virtual campus ours, are here to stay, having cemented themselves as a convenient and effective marketing and admissions tool for the leading schools around the world.
In 2022, virtual school visits and virtual open days are swiftly becoming the norm, allowing prospective families to immerse themselves in a schools’ learning environment and community spirit without needing to leave the door. We’ve made sure to integrate this insight into our own virtual campus tours by introducing our live guided tour feature, which empowers your admissions team to conduct in-person digital walkthroughs of your campus for prospective families and groups.
By not just adapting, but embracing this marketing trend, your school can benefit from a growing international market of families who aren’t able to travel. If a student and their family can have a guided tour with an admissions team member from the comfort of their living room, you are already one step closer to gaining a new applicant, and that is going to make a real difference to your schools’ growth.
2. Social First Content Marketing
By now, it does not need to be said that your school should have an online presence in social media platforms. Although prospective parents are the key target, it is also important to make engaging content for the students themselves, as their preferences will influence their parents' decisions. There is an ocean of platforms to choose from, but at the very least, prospective students expect to find you on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. However, it is one thing to simply be on these platforms, and it is another to utilise of each individual platform to its full potential.
Each platform has its own idiosyncrasies, and opportunities for engagement, and creating content according to this is called social first content marketing. In 2022, social first content marketing is becoming a priority for many of the leading private and international schools, who are adapting their digital strategy depending on the platforms they use, and who they are speaking to on these platforms.
Take, for example, Collège Champittet, a leading day and boarding school in Switzerland, who utilised our social first School Walk Through video format. This format, built for Instagram, Tik Tok, and social media campaigns, communicates a lot in a short amount of time, with a vertical aspect ratio and an upbeat, visually-driven story that thrives on social media platforms.
3. Message Clarity
Now more than ever, parents are busy, short on time and short on attention. Digital marketing experts estimate that on average, we are exposed to up to 10,000 advertisements in a day, and this is only expected to grow as time goes on. As a school, there is simply no mental capacity in prospective parents to be ambiguous about who you are, and what you stand for. That’s why, in 2022, it is more imperative than ever to have complete clarity in your messaging, your purpose, and your unique selling points.
As a school, a true competitive edge against other schools in your market will come from being able to concisely describe what makes your school unique, and the right choice for prospective parents. Whether it be through physical out-of-home advertising, digital campaigns, or simply through your website, your unique message must be absolutely clear.
To achieve this, it is now industry standard in 2022 to build a message house, which distills your schools’ USPs into distinct messages, which can then be used to create campaigns and new educational offerings for your school. However, it can be difficult to find time and the right expertise to execute such a process, which is why we offer brand consulting and message house creation services to many schools around the world. By leveraging our 13+ years in both the marketing and education industry, we are happy to take a deep dive into what makes your school unique, and create total clarity in your messaging, so you can power forward in 2022 with a revitalised and differentiated marketing and admissions strategy.
4. Innovative Campus Videos
Apart from the necessary virtual campus tours, it is becoming increasingly necessary to use multiple media formats to showcase your campus to prospective families. Many schools have previously opted for video and photography to present their campus, but as we’ve discussed at length in our article about the difference between video tours and virtual campus tours, schools now need to find more innovative ways to capture prospective families’ attention, and truly turn their heads.
We have taken this insight to heart, and made it our mission to find new and engaging ways to showcase school campuses all around the world. In a series of videos for leading Swiss boarding school Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz, we used jaw-dropping drone videography to emulate the feeling of flying through the magnificent school campus. Shot in both winter and summer, we highlighted the many educational opportunities and beautiful facilities of the school, and this led to a significantly higher rate of engagement. This illustrates the power of being bold with how you present your school, and in 2022, it will make all the difference to your admissions.
5. Brand Authenticity
Many marketing scholars agree that, in 2022, we have transitioned into the age of authenticity for brands. Consumers have begun to lose faith in many brands, and are more skeptical than ever. Research shows that 90% of consumers reported searching for authenticity when deciding what brands they’ll support. For a high involvement purchase decision, such as deciding which school to enrol your children in, this is even more salient.
If there is one thing that schools must focus on this year, and in the coming decade, is a transition to brand authenticity, building trust and being real with prospective families. What this requires is more than just strong messaging, but a commitment to delivering these messages in a way that shows you don’t just talk the talk, but also walk the walk. This requires taking that extra step beyond others in your market, and communicating your brand in a way that you really mean what you say, and you can back it up. In our experience, we tend to let the students do the talking, as their experiences, if presented naturally, speak volumes of your authenticity.
For example, see this testimonial we produced for Brookhouse School in Kenya. Just through a sit-down conversation with one of their senior students, prospective families can immediately feel a sense of warmth and authenticity, strengthening trust and a positive attitude towards the true Brookhouse brand.
As educators at heart, we always leverage our experience in the education sector to make honest connections with students, staff and parents, and this always leads to a more authentic message in our school video portfolios.
Summary of 2022 School Marketing Trends
In this article, we’ve looked at the following trends for school marketing in 2022 that are most relevant for private and international schools. They are:
Virtual visits
Social first content marketing
Message clarity
Innovative campus videos
Brand authenticity
If you’d like to capitalise on these trends and gain a competitive edge over other schools in your market, or if you’d just like to have a chat and get some industry-leading insights on how to level-up your schools’ marketing efforts and admissions growth, then don’t hesitate to reach out! Our school marketing experts are always available, so you can contact us anytime using our website contact form, or calling us on +44 20 34 55 22 41.