Last updated on January 11th, 2022
Education businesses have always been service oriented. Advancement of technology, especially the widespread proliferation of the internet has disrupted the Education industry. This has lead to the growth of multiple e-learning portals and education websites. They are easy to access and help one study in a more creative and diverse way, with the help of visuals which won’t be possible in a school classroom.
Also, students now have access to knowledge and subjects that may not have been available in their educational programs. Thus, the ways of learning have been amplified. The education industry has grown and is filled with competition all around, with multiple portals and websites coming in the Internet space world-wide. So, even Indian companies are available everywhere in the world but face a lot of competition. So, it is necessary for a business to stand out from the rest. And to achieve this, content marketing is a must.This blog will tell you how to build traction for education business through content.
Other marketing strategies versus content marketing
Most marketing strategies, like standard advertising, are put in front of the consumers, readers and audience without considering their preferences. The audience feels as if they have been forced to watch it. Also, research has shown that this force-feeding isn’t an effective way to attract consumers. On the other hand, content marketing draws the audience to you. They come to your website to read it. So, all you have to do is to make your content powerful enough to attract them and target the right audience.
What is important for customer acquisition & retention
1. Know your customer:
It is vital to know who your customer is, to build a service that he will use. In this business, it is generally difficult to differentiate between visitors/readers and customers
2. The buyer is not always the user:
One who pays for the service isn’t the one who will use it. Most of the times parents, teachers or even the company enable the student to learn from the educatsites.ites .Therefore, this makes it important to know your target audience and your end users.
3. Satisfying the needs of both the buyer and the user:
The needs of the user and the buyer are quite different. For the buyer, the service must give value for money and for the user – it must teach or supplement his education. Doing both of these things simultaneously will build trust amongst not only the consumer base, but also within the Educational fraternity comprising of students, parents, educators and peer groups.
4. Compete with yourself:
In order to succeed, education businesses need to compete with their own content rather than competing with other websites. This can be done by adding variety and enhancing the existing content to based on feedback or changing needs. Hence, this will go a long way in retention of customers.
5. Customisable content:
Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, companies should allow the customer to customize this course based on his requirement.
6. Keeping your content updated:
Apart from constantly updating and enhancing content, there should also be frequent updates about trending topics in the education industry.
7. Building Trust:
By mentioning the well-known institutions and educators that your company is associated with, customers too will associate the trust, that they have for these institutions with your brand. Therefore, this will go far in building goodwill for your brand. Education companies must keep these points in mind while building a content strategy.
Power of content in Education arena
Education businesses survive and thrive on content. As their product offering is content based – it is extremely vital to build quality content especially in lieu of the growing competition. There are several effective ways to generate content ideas. Content in the education arena is generally, but not limited to, lessons in subjects compromising of e-books, visuals like videos and infographics The effectiveness of content depends upon simplicity, relevance and creativity.
As a general rule, the simpler the content – the more users that are drawn towards it So, content needs to be in a simple language & must convey the relevant information at the same time, making it easy for students to understand even complex things The content in the education sector can widen the readers from students to their parents to teachers content makes the readers aware of the new opportunities and the latest trends in their field It helps readers plan ahead of time for upcoming career opportunities, exams etc. Content makes readers dependable on it for their life choices in education
How to build traction for Education Business through Content Marketing?
Generating traction is basically bringing readers to your website instead of a competitor’s. In today’s world of cutthroat competition, generating traction has become difficult and every business feels needs to one-up each other in one-way or another while attract new readers/users.
The product you are selling is not the only thing that will drive readers to your website, no matter how amazing the product is. Therefore, as a business, one needs to come up with many alternate ways to build traction. These methods can be so effective that sometimes they will help you sell the product, more than the product can be based upon its merits! Content marketing plays a major role in building traction for education.
Best practices to follow
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the best solutions to boost up your traction. But it doesn’t give immediate results. It takes at least 6 to 8 months for good results. Either way, it has to be a priority for your business to succeed in the long run. SEO gets people who do not know about your product already. It doesn’t help in retaining existing customers.
To do so and generate more users along with creating a buzz about your product & business in the market, one can follow these practices: One can start by listing out all the ways in which your product is better off and useful to your target audience followed by approaching these readers through customised emails and various social media channels.
Utilizing social media channels through ads, campaigns, creating content that will attract your target audience As an Education business, you could also put up daily quizzes and case studies relating to different subjects Writing and posting informative blogs on a continuous basis, with relevant keywords can get you straight to the viewers. Make full-fledged use of social media marketing. Here is a post on Instagram content marketing examples to get you started. Make use of content marketing resources and use AI in content marketing to keep pace with changing times. Building PR via avenues such as forums, groups, communities, LinkedIn and other forms of print media too. 
There are also some strategies that will always help increase your readers if done the right way:
Evergreen Strategies
- Visuals: Education businesses on the internet need to have visuals for students to remain interested in the content. Visuals comprise of videos, infographics and visual effects. They are the icing to your content making it more engaging.
- SEO: Powerful Search Engine Optimisation will boost your content in the long run. It is the most effective method to boost your visitors. Many education businesses depend only on a powerful SEO for survival.
- Plugins: Make use of the plugins to tap into Google directories allowing your content to be optimized, so that it can be searched as and when required. Though this would take some time but would yield results in a long run.
- Users needs: Customising as well as making your content as per the user’s needs will maintain a consistent amount of readers who will keep coming back. Prioritising their needs helps in earning their loyalty.
- Social Media: Frequent and relevant social media posts on most media channels along with a blog helps to make your user circle bigger and keeps your current users constantly engaged with your business.
Create marketing resources & collateral
Creating content marketing resources and collateral like catalogues and booklets will act as a proof about your product. Many Educational businesses include success stories of their previous students along with other content on their websites.
Create downloadable content
Any student needs material to study or read from and so, education websites should provide students with downloadable content apart from their study material. For any user getting content which is downloadable is a freebie which makes them come back to the website for more. Creating downloadable content according to user’s journey Being well aware of your buyer’s needs and journey makes it easy to generate content for specific stages of their journey.Below is a shortlist of downloadable content that always works for a student’s journey:
- E-books: These about a specific topic provides additional practical knowledge about the subject they are studying.
- Timetables: There are so many exams for entrance and other competitive exams to keep track of. Providing students with an academic calendar with application deadline would help them and they would always see your business’s name when they check it.
- Whitepaper: Reports also work as great downloadable content.
- Case studies: Case studies are interesting to read and not difficult to create. Provides the users with real-life examples of what they are studying.
- Assignments/Quizzes: For an education website, providing the users with quiz of the day or week will keep them engaged with your brand on a daily basis.
How do you generate leads with content marketing?
The above-mentioned methods are driven by content. One must know their target audience for effective generation of leads with content marketing, For example, A parent could be looking at the website for their children, a student might be accessing the website for help with his studies. Knowing your target audience helps to ensure that you create content that is targeting that specific segment of the audience.
1. User-Student Journey
In education businesses, the user journey gets replaced by the student journey. It is critical to engage with prospective students from the stage of awareness. A student navigates from a level of emotions that range from fear, doubt, excitement,overwhelmment, motivation, and inspiration in their journey. As an education business, your content marketing must help a student by providing them with knowledge throughout their journey which will create an impact on the student from the stage one.
“Good Content along student journey sets stage for high impact at decision time”
2. Create landing pages
An education website is visited by students, teachers and their parents along with some passing readers. There are these different segments of the audience. It only makes sense to create unique landing pages based on specific categories. Since each visitor is unique, they will react in a different way towards the landing pages. Segmentation helps you in building landing pages that is a mixture of videos, images, documents and call-to-action for a particular user. Segmentation also helps in focusing on elements of the web page such as emails or PPC ads, through which there is an increase in traffic on the website.
The Takeaway
Build traction for your education business through content. Great content marketing will help a low profile – low budget company go a long way with flowing benefits. Content marketing is the verified way to make a lasting impact on prospective consumers, driving traffic and generating sales.
