As school marketers we’re always trying to be one step ahead of the curve, right? I get it, I’ve been there. We’re working harder for leads while our competitors in an extremely competitive market, trying to be the journalist, the designer, the photographer, the new-idea-inventor, trying to implement new technology to help us work smarter and not harder, all while trying to predict what’s next for marketing. Phew!
Don’t worry, we’re here to hold your hand through this often pain-staking process. We’ve compiled this guide to help you understand what (sometimes little) changes you could make to your marketing strategy this year and whether it’s the right decision for your school. That doesn’t mean trawling the internet or asking ChatGPT for a hand… We've done the research and we’re here to share our top 5 findings with you.
Iteration AI Advertising Storytelling Employee Content
Iteration
We’re sorry to break it to you, but your website is never finished.
This year, we’re predicting that schools will be more-hands on with their websites. Some time ago, websites were seen as a “one and done” nice-to-have. Now, these websites are the shop window to your school. That’s why, in an increasingly competitive global market, we’re expecting more schools to think about how they can grow and continually improve their websites.
Our experience directors work with our partnering schools to demonstrate best practices in collating, storing, and exploiting data, how to get creative around existing modules, and implement new experiences across their sites. We believe this to be fundamental to the client experience at UBIQ - and to the success of our schools’ websites.
By updating your website, you’re ensuring that key areas such as blogs and news articles aren’t neglected, that the website stays relevant to the current climate, and each touchpoint feels fresh and engaging. Here’s a couple of things to consider when thinking about iteration:
- Not all interaction is adding new content. Consider your Google Search Console reach and your most popular pages (outlined in the UBIQ AMAIS platform) and whether you can improve the reach across key terms. This might be updating meta titles and descriptions or sprinkling key words across pages.
- Are you using a range of media? We all know we learn and digest information in different ways. By using a range of media such as video, imagery, and text, you’ll enable existing and prospective families to gather a broader understanding of your school.
AI in Marketing
I know, we’re as shocked as you are (note the sarcastic tone).
The power of AI will continue to be harnessed by Schools across the globe this year, especially now that DeepSeek has entered the scene. We’re sure that, by now, you’ve at least had a dabble with ChatGPT to either come up with some new recipe ideas or give life advice.
For those of you who have really got stuck into ChatGPT have used it to create some great content this past year. It’s not surprising, therefore, that HubSpot reported that 43% of users use generative AI to write content back in 2024. This year, we’re predicting this will grow astronomically in the education space, particularly where budgets are low and resources are tight. Here’s some tips on how you might implement it into your workflows:
- Use AI to summarise your newsletter content from multiple different sources
- Use ChatGPT to examine the changes between two documents
- Inserting interview transcripts straight from Apple AI’s voice memo transcription service into Google Bard or ChatGPT (whichever you prefer) to produce staff, student, and parent interviews and testimonials (thank me later)
- Set up automated workflows to read and draft admissions emails
It would be criminal not to mention our solutions here at UBIQ; some of our independent schools have started the year by integrating AI chatbots to enhance the admissions process and remove as many stumbling blocks as possible for uncertain parents. Our clients are also using AI to predict outcomes and customer journeys, empowered to individualise their content to each users’ demographic and intent. What’s more, they are creating automated workflows to take out the middle man. All without any human interaction or extra resource from your side. Pretty cool, eh?
A Fresh Take on Advertising
As schools have access to a broader range of digital marketing tools, we expect to see a huge diversification of advertising methods. This year has seen and will see more schools using enhanced advertising options such as Meta forms to generate leads right off the bat or in their remarketing. As demographics shift, many educational institutions will begin to see social media as having high (or higher) potential for conversion, turning to their platforms to reimagine how these might work for them.
Typically, educational institutions use social media for two disparate purposes:
- As a reporting platform for existing families
- As a paid advertising platform to reach prospective families
The two are rarely seen as working in tandem, and we’re sure this year we will see schools thinking cleverly about how best to bring these two sides together.
As Performance Max marketing becomes more well-known, we’re anticipating that schools will begin to explore the markets available on these platforms, with ads cropping up around Google Shorts and YouTube.
Considering paid advertising, or a change in your paid advertising strategy, can be really overwhelming. At UBIQ, our Amplify team works with Schools to refine their strategy so that it aligns with their goals and challenges.
Visual Storytelling is Still the Champion
The data is continuing to tell us that people love video content (who doesn't love doomscrolling on TikTok?).
While there’s still a place for short-form video content, we’re predicting that schools will invest in longer-form content either made at home or by hiring an agency. There will be a return to the second-tier “meet the head” style video we are all so familiar with, but reimagined to cut and dice some nods to the School’s culture throughout as schools get more confident with video editing solutions.
We’ve seen interactive videos make waves this last year, for example in Embley School's video with Affixxius, but also across different sectors. Within retail, we’ve seen fashion retailer Mango use ‘sticky’ interactivity over video to encourage people to buy and in Netflix's narrative-led Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. But how can you implement this idea into your School marketing strategy? The answer is: with the right ideas and the right tools. Here's an example:
- Create teacher or heads of department interviews segmented by standard admissions questions.
- Show question options available on the screen such as “what will my child learn in 5th grade?”. Instead of a user having no choice but to either watch all eight minutes (if you're lucky enough to retain them for that long), they can click the question on the screen that interests them the most.
- This system can be as complex or as simple as you’d like it to be, either through questions within the widget built by design specialists *cough* like UBIQ *cough*, or simply by creating a series of landing pages which direct users to the next ‘video’.
- In the latter instance, with some headings and sprucing up, users will be able to click through as many questions as they’d like asking. Not to mention, it’s a great way to encourage long-form engagement leading to an interaction with the admissions team.
Employee-Generated Content
If your school's social media strategy doesn't involve LinkedIn, it's time to get to know.
The truth is, schools are getting great engagements on LinkedIn from colleagues, parents, other schools, and prospective families.
Through LinkedIn, there’s another way to advertise all the great things about your school, and that’s through your workforce.
“But parents don’t care about what it’s like to work here” - I hear you say.
Actually, they do. Increasingly, the 21st-century customer is making more considered decisions and picking a school remains one of their biggest decisions. It goes without saying that a large majority of those who can access independent education are engaging on LinkedIn.
So, how best to implement this? It’s one thing to schedule a heap of posts on how great your organisation is from the company account. But research shows that employee engagements supercede company engagements by 5x. That means if you posted five times a month, it would only take your competitor one employee post to catch up or even be ahead of the curve.
Unfortunately, implementing LinkedIn into your socials isn't always straightforward. It involves breaking down the stigma around posting on LinkedIn - something that can be daunting and almost cringy for those that take part. You’ll see some individuals willing to give it a go and others completely against it. We’ve heard it all; employers have concerns that employees growing their personal brand will make them more employable and likely to leave, and employees worry that their employer will perceive their LinkedIn profile as actively seeking jobs. Ultimately, you cannot achieve this all-singing all-dancing LinkedIn engagement without overcoming this hurdle.
However, once you do, your employees’ posts will be seen by their followers and connections, and those that engage will push the post out to their followers and connections, and so on.
What's next?
Now we've shared what's coming, how will your school react? Will you experiment and challenge your marketing team by making some changes or get left in the dust? If you're ready to innovate, team UBIQ is on hand to help you on your way!
Maddie Lingard
Senior Content Marketing Manager
