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2021 Digital Marketing Checklist for Schools

Jan 03 2021

Make 2021 the year you get on top of your school’s digital marketing with my list of Top 10 areas to tackle (in no particular order). After reading, download the editable PDF and create your own Digital Marketing Checklist for 2021!

1. Persona Profiles

Every good digital marketing strategy begins with a good understanding of your target audience. Be crystal clear of who they are and what they look like before beginning any marketing activity. The more you know, the more successful you’ll be at effectively reaching them. Create a profile for each of your target audiences, detailing as much as you can. Don’t forget existing parents as well. Some questions to answer:

  • Where are your parents from?
  • How old are they?
  • How old are their children?
  • What websites do they frequent?
  • What social platforms are they on?
  • What are their concerns, challenges?
  • Why would they choose your school?
  • What are the key messages you want to convey to them?

Don’t just have this information in your head. Create your profiles on a platform that makes it easy for you to copy and paste data as required. A spreadsheet will usually do just fine.

VM Tip: Google Analytics can be an invaluable profiling tool, not only in identifying those that are converting on your school website but also in giving insight into their interests as well. Go to Audience >> Interests in Google Analytics.

2. Content Strategy

Based upon your Persona Profiles and what’s important to them, develop a content strategy to ensure you are reaching parents at every stage of your admissions funnel:

  • Awareness – do you have content that would have mass appeal and that might be shared? Evergreen content that never goes out of date is perfect for brand awareness – i.e.  How to Choose a Private School, Virtual Learning Tips for Parents, and Keeping Your Child Safe Online During Lockdown are just a few suggestions. Remember this is content created with your audience in mind – NOT to promote your school, but to help parents whilst creating brand awareness
  • Interest – now that a parent has heard of your school, what can you share to keep their attention? Videos can be a great option in this instance. A Day in the Life, A Message from the Head, Home Learning Resources, etc.
  • Decision – testimonials, both parent and student, are key decision-making content pieces. Are you sharing those across your website and social media channels? Don’t forget to regularly check your reviews on Google My Business as well. Make a point to respond to testimonials and report those that may be inappropriate
  • Advocacy – don’t forget existing parents when creating your content calendar. Despite social distancing, word of mouth advertising is still very strong amongst schools. Keep your current parents happy with content that reinforces why they chose your school

VM Tip: Create a content calendar to ensure the right messages are delivered at the right time. A spreadsheet is often sufficient, but if you want to have a little more fun with a visual platform that allows you to assign tasks to others, you’ll want to check out Trello.

3. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

One of the most successful marketing tools, SEO is a necessary evil that unfortunately doesn’t happen overnight. Put SEO regularly on your To-Do list though and you will see progress. A few key areas to begin your optimisation:

  • Start with a site audit. Pro tools such as Moz or SEMrush can quickly identify issues with your website and provide SEO guidance to improve your ranking
  • A free and effective tool, connect Google Search Console with Google Analytics to see what keywords you’re currently being found on and which pages are ranking. You can make the connect right in Google Analytics, go to Acquisition >> Search Console
  • Both Google Ads and Google Search Console can be used for free to do your keyword research and identify the best keyword for your school to aim for. Likewise, Moz or SEMRush, if you’ve gone, do the pro route
  • Once you’ve decided on your keywords, optimise specific pages for those, including your content, meta titles and meta descriptions

VM Tip: For local SEO make sure you have got access to your Google My Business account. Ensure you’ve added all the necessary information and regularly add images and video that best represent your school.

4. Google Analytics

Whenever working with a school, the first thing I check is if they are using Google Analytics. This tool is absolutely invaluable to your digital marketing allowing you to measure each and every aspect of your digital marketing. Not sure if you already have it on your website? Right-click on a webpage to view your source code and search ‘UA-‘. You’ll soon see the code if it’s already on your website. Depending on the outcome you’ll want to:

  • Gain access to, or create a Google Analytics account
  • Create website goals to track where your converters are coming from
  • Create custom reports to quickly, and automatically, disseminate the information that’s important to your school

VM Tip: Add a value to each of your website Goals to calculate your marketing contribution. Clearly seeing the financial contribution your marketing has made will go a long way when asking for a larger budget!

5. Social Media

It’s so wonderful to see so the role social media has played in keeping parents, students, and schools connected during lock-down. Be sure to keep that momentum going in 2021.

  • Clean up your channels. If you have social channels that you’re not posting on, make them inactive (don’t delete them or you risk someone else using your school name). There is nothing worse than a very stale social channel
  • Increase your visibility with branded social media templates. Canva is a fantastic tool for that. Be sure to use the correct image size for the best results. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter all display best with images at 1280 x 720 pixels, Instagram at 1080 x 1080 pixels
  • Create a social calendar that goes hand in hand with your content strategy. After all these years Hootsuite is still my favourite for scheduling and monitoring social media, but Buffer is an option some prefer. If you’re using Canva Pro why not try their calendar feature!

VM Tip: If you’re strapped for time, keep a series of draft posts that you can recycle on demand. Quotes, testimonials, and polls are great content options to create ahead of time. For a full list check out my blog: 30 Days of Social Media Content for Schools

6. Google Ads

With only 10 positions on page 1 of search engines and some of those adverts, Google Ads is the best option to ensure your school is seen on the coveted first page. A few tips for Google Ads:

  • Turn remarketing on in Google Analytics and create your Custom Audiences. What about remarketing to those that have come to your Open Day page but haven’t’ registered? Go to Admin >> Properties >> Audience Definitions
  • Import your Google Analytics goals into Google Ads to create campaigns focused on conversions. Don’t forget to exclude those that have already converted (create an Audience for that!)
  • Structure your ads by the keywords you’re targeting – i.e. Nursery, Sixth Form, and Boarding – creating ads with relevant content and consider creating specific landing pages for each Ad Group. The more relevant your ads and landing pages are to the keywords you’re bidding for, the better your overall ranking, the lower your costs, and often the better your conversions

VM Tip: Keep an eye on the devices your audiences use. If most are converting on mobile (and they often are) then you’ll want to shift more of your budget that way. 

7. Social Media Advertising

A lot of schools like Facebook advertising as it’s an easy platform to learn and their current parents are on it but there are always areas that you can improve in it.

  • Be sure to add FB Pixels to your website in order to create Custom Audiences based on how visitors have engaged with your website as well as to create campaigns focused on conversions
  • Don’t forget to add your URL parameters in your ads in order to track your advertising ROI in Google Analytics. You’ll then see your Facebook advertising appear under Acquisition >> Campaigns in Google Analytics
  • Create more than one ad. Just like Google Ads you need to give the platform options if you want to make the most of your investment. If you’re only showing one ad and that’s not effectively engaging, well then you won’t see the results you’re hoping for
  • Ensure you are using the correct size image or video for each placement. Facebook allows you to preview and edit right in the platform. Don’t miss that step.

VM Tip: Once you’ve run a few campaigns you should be able to determine the placements that work best for you and can focus all your budget on those areas – i.e. Facebook news feed, Instagram feed.

8. Video Marketing

This is an area many of us could still improve upon – myself included. For a school there are a couple of videos that are now considered standard, meaning parents will be expecting to see them in your library:

  • Parent and Student Testimonials – As I’ve mentioned before, testimonials are an absolute must for any marketer. Don’t worry if they’re not professionally produced. We’ve learned during our first lock-down in 2020 that user content had the highest engagement, so just ask parents to film in on their phone. Be sure to advise they hold their phone horizontally though for a consistent look with your other videos.
  • Virtual Tour. Whether it’s a 360 tour or a walk around the school with students – or both – you’ll want to have an alternative way for parents to visit your school. Most schools will have these in place by now but there are still a few of you out there without virtual tours in some form or another. Get on that!
  • FAQ. A great way to get your frequently asked questions ‘read’ are through a video. Either create a video of questions in a slideshow style or have students and teachers answer them.

VM Tip: Most of you will use Vimeo to embed your videos on your website which is great, but you’ll also want to host your videos on YouTube in order to use your videos in Google adverting as well to maximise the incredible exposure YouTube can give you. Don’t forget to optimise your videos. Try vidIQ’s free Chrome extension tool. At the very least you’ll want to have a description and a link back to your website!

 9. School Website

Your most expensive marketing investment you want to regularly audit your school website to ensure it continues to run smoothly.

  • Again, Google Search Console is a great tool to help to identify any issues or errors. You can also use it to manually submit any new URLs if the event they’re not being indexed by search engines
  • Redirect high volume pages that have been deleted, resulting in 404 errors as this can have a negative effect on your SEO. You can find these in Google Analytics under Behaviour >> Site Content >> All Pages.  > Content. Put ‘404’ in the filter feature to find those pages
  • Check your site speed in Google Analytics, Behaviour >> Site Speed >> Speed Suggestions. Click the little arrow under Speed Suggestions for advice on how to improve your load time. It may be as simple as uploading the correct image size or getting in touch with your website developer for larger coding issues
  • School websites are notoriously large. Look at your content in Google Analytics and flag any pages that haven’t been read for over a year for removal

VM Tip: Even if you’re not doing Google Ads, why not consider some custom landing pages for your SEO. With so many families moving out of the city what about ‘Moving to YOUR LOCATION’? Provide useful information about the location including information about your school.

10.  Digital Marketing CPD 

Keeping on top of your digital marketing CPD (Continuing Professional Development) is essential. Whether it’s blogs, vlogs, podcasts, webinars, or one-to-one training, be sure to schedule time to improve your skills.

  • Subscribe to newsletters that provide value, not just promote themselves. A few of my favourites include Think with Google, Search Engine Watch, and Neil Patel. I no longer send out a monthly newsletter but be sure to subscribe to my webinar and blog updates through my push notifications. Don’t worry, you won’t get spammed!
  • Webinars can be a great way to learn as they reinforce both visual and auditory learning. There are so many great webinars out there now for schools. Again, find the one that best suits your style of learning. Check out my 30-minute lunchtime digital marketing webinars and see if they’re right for you!
  • We’ve all witnessed how effectively online training can be, so regardless of what Tier you currently are in, there is no excuse for postponing one-to-one or group training at your school! Make this the year you improve your skills and secure your future. Check out the digital training I offer or reach out if you have something more bespoke in mind.

If you’d like to discuss digital advertising for your school, whether to get a little advice, book a training day, or use my services, please don’t hesitate to reach out. In the meantime why not download my editable PDF and create your own Digital Marketing Checklist for 2021!

Get in Touch

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Alta Justus, The Virtual Marketer

Alta Justus, The Virtual Marketer

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2021 Digital Marketing Checklist for Schools

Facebook vs Google Ads: Which Should Your School Use?

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A passionate digital marketer with 18 years marketing experience, I’ll work with your school to maximise your online presence. Don’t get left behind — contact me today!


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An equally creative and analytical Digital Marketing Consultant with over 18 years education and commercial marketing experience, I'm passionate about helping schools succeed in the digital arena. Read More…

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#tuesdaytip: Have a Google account? Use it or lose #tuesdaytip: Have a Google account? Use it or lose it! Google's recently announced accounts that haven't been used in a couple of years, or exceeded their storage, will be at risk of deletion. If you're like most school marketers you'll probably have a few Gmail accounts and a Google Drive or two that you haven't looked at for a while. Of course, I'd always recommend using a verified school email over a Gmail account but if are using a random Gmail and Drive to store photos or to access your Google Analytics, etc, make a point to check those accounts. It will be a while before your data is deleted, and you'll receive a couple of warnings, but as we all know tasks like this can be set aside until it's too late. Don't risk losing valuable data or photos - review your Google accounts today. And while you're at it why not switched to a Google verified work email so you don't miss any important messages like this one 😁

How to verify your school email with Google: 
Visit my blog via my bio or go to
👉 https://thevirtualmarketer.co.uk/how-to-use-my-school-email-for-my-google-accounts/

#vmdigitaltips #digitalmarketing #googlenews #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing
I love this quote about being productive vs busy. I love this quote about being productive vs busy. And this article — 11 Differences Between Busy People And Productive People — gives some great examples of the differences as well as tips to become a more productive person. I know I'm bad at saying 'Yes' a little too quickly for my own good so a great reminder for me. Who couldn't use a few tips for improving productivity... 😁

👉https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/11-differences-between-busy-people-and-productive-people.html

#mondaymotivation #timemanagementtips #digitalmarketing #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing  #strategicmarketing
I'm so pleased to see an increase in schools reach I'm so pleased to see an increase in schools reaching out for SEO training and support. Yes, digital advertising is the fastest way to get in front of your parents, but you should still be thinking long-term. That may very well include digital campaigns, but ideally, you'll want to grow your organic traffic to the point that you can reduce your advertising spend. At the very least you'll want to maintain your school website's SEO rankings.

When it comes to optimising a website for search engines there are a few things that have remained consistent throughout the years - like these 5 SEO tips. Still relevant after all these years and yet many schools have failed to do them. Why not grab a cuppa, have a read then make a plan to optimise your school website in 2021. Every little helps...

👉 Visit my blog via my bio or copy the link below

https://thevirtualmarketer.co.uk/5-seo-tips-every-school-marketer-can-implement/

#thursdaythoughts #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing #seotips #seostrategy #studentrecruitment #2021goals
Do the computers in your ICT classroom default to Do the computers in your ICT classroom default to your school website? If they do you'll want to filter out your internal traffic from Google Analytics to get a true sense of your data. It's not difficult to do but you'll first want to have a chat with IT to get a list of your IP addresses.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀:

👉 Start by creating a new view. Once you filter traffic out of GA you can't get it back so create an additional view such as 'Filtered Traffic'
👉 Next, create a filter on your new view. Go to Admin > Filters and click +Add Filter
👉 Name = Exclude Internal IPs (or whatever you choose to call it)
👉 Filter Type = Predefined
👉 Select filter type = Exclude
👉 Source = Traffic from the IP addresses
👉 That are equal to = your IP address or range

For more details on how to create your new view or filter visit https://support.google.com/ or ping me a message 😊

That's it! Now you'll be able to see both your filtered and all data dependent on the view you select! 👍📊

#tuesdaytip #vmdigitaltips #googleanalytics #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing #strategicmarketing
I'm not sure about you but I certainly don't belie I'm not sure about you but I certainly don't believe marketing can be learned in a day! And as marketing is continuously evolving, are any of us ever 'Masters'? But I agree with the intent behind the message—marketing is a profession where your training never ends. Or shouldn't! When was the last time you did any training—digital or otherwise? Why not make CPD a priority in 2021! 👍

#digitalmarketingtraining
#socialmediamarketing
#digitaladvertising
#seo
#googleanalytics
#schoolmarketing
#educationmarketing 
#studentrecruitment 
#mondaymotivation
Does your school brand reflect what parents are lo Does your school brand reflect what parents are looking for and engaging with online? The internet has evolved over the years and so have our audiences. They're savvy to sales pitches and blatant self-promotion. What they want is to connect with businesses and people they can trust—especially with their child. For brand authenticity, you need to be perceived as reliable, respectful, and 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡. Does that sound like your school...?

#morningcoffeethoughts 
#brandidentity 
#schoolmarketing 
#educationmarketing 
#contentmarketing 
#socialmediamarketing 
#schoolwebsite
You've probably heard me mention many times the im You've probably heard me mention many times the importance of gaining control and optimising your Google My Business account to improve your search engine rankings.
 
One of the fields that has a direct impact on your SEO is your Business Category. You may currently have one or two added, but did you know you can have up to 10 categories? Google is updating their categories all the time so it's worth looking at this field when you're adding new photos or sharing your latest blog within the platform. 
 
I came across this fab website the other day that can quickly show the different categories available outside of GMB. Select your country and add your term (i.e. 'school') and see all the options available. Of course, you can also do the same in GMB but this may be the prompt you need to add those additional categories and improve your school's SEO!
 
👉https://pleper.com/index.php?do=tools&sdo=gmb_categories
 
Just a note, I'm having difficulties accessing this site this morning (not sure if it's me or them??) but hopefully, you'll have no problem getting in 🤞
 
Not sure what Google My Business is? Have a peek here: https://www.google.com/intl/en_gb/business/
 
#tuesdaytip #vmdigitaltips #digitalmarketing #seotools #seotips #seostrategy #seoservices #schoolmarketing
Since how you think dictates how your week goes, w Since how you think dictates how your week goes, why not start on a positive note?! It's not always easy but there are ways to help you develop a more positive mindset. 

If you have 5 minutes, grab a cuppa and have a read of this article by @womenontopp, 𝟱 𝗪𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝗮 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹:

👉https://www.womenontopp.com/5-ways-to-develop-a-positive-mindset-to-help-you-become-more-successful/

(you can also search 'improve your mindset' in Google to find it) 

There's some great advice in there to help shift your mindset, so definitely worth the read. 

Here's to a fantastic week, everyone! 😊

#digitalmarketing #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing #digitalmarketingtraining #wellbeing #mondaymotivation
I know Monday is the last thing on your mind on a I know Monday is the last thing on your mind on a Friday afternoon but if you can do these few tasks today I guarantee you'll feel so much more positive and in control of your week:

👉 Plan for the week ahead. Tuesdays are apparently the most productive day of the week so schedule any of your big projects for that day and see if that's the case for you.

👉 Keep Monday as your flexible day. Monday is the day that sets the tone for the week and if you pack too much into the day you'll start the week off feeling behind. Schedule smaller tasks and keep as much time open as you can.

👉 Do a little digital housekeeping today. With energy usually low on a Friday afternoon it's a great time to tidy up your computer files. It's easy work, but also immensely rewarding. While you're at it, maybe give your desk a little dusting off as well. A clutter-free desk and mind are the best way to start your week!

I'm off to clear my own desktop files. I'm terrible at 'I'll file that away later'... 😁

Have a fabulous weekend everyone. See you Monday!

#fridayfeeling #organisedchaos #schoolmarketing #educationmarketing #digitalmarketing #digitalmarketingtraining
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