The Proven Educational Marketing Service
Leaflet Distribution: Better than Social Media Marketing?
In a digital world, where so many students are heavily active on social media, it certainly makes sense to utilise this platform as part of your marketing to attract new students. However, to stand out from your competition, you can do so much more. When you coincide online marketing with print marketing, your results can transform.
By simultaneously targeting your leaflets and social media posts to the same locations, this double touchpoint strategy cements your brand in the receiver's eye. Therefore, don't consider social media and leaflet distribution as either/or, but complementary - to work together as part of your marketing mix and overarching marketing strategy.
"The younger generation is engaging with door drops because it's a novelty to get a physical item."
"The average time door drops are kept in the house is 38 days, and 23% of all mail gets shared around the household."
"A door drop is interacted with 2.8 times."
"Mail is generally remembered by customers with research showing it has 35% better recall than social media advertising and 49% more than email."
As these quotes from the DMA and JICMAIL illustrate, door drops undoubtedly have a significant part to play in marketing for education.
How to Promote your Open Day
Open days are an excellent opportunity for attracting new students to your School, College or University. First, however, there are certain principles to consider when promoting open days, which profoundly impact your return on investment (ROI):
1. Overarching Strategy
As already discussed, when leaflet drops form part of a larger marketing strategy, your results will enhance. First, we consult with you about the key message you wish to get across (e.g. grades, fun, nurturing students, sport, jobs, etc.) and who your ideal audience is (e.g. age, location, household income, etc.). We will then consider this with your other marketing activity and recommend a strategy accordingly.
2. Demographic Targeting
Based on the overarching strategy target audience, we will provide you with a complimentary demographic report highlighting your most appropriate postcode sectors. This report also helps with deciding on the quantity. If your targeting requirements are more specific, we would recommend our direct mail strategy, where we reach people individually and personalise their marketing.
3. Design & Print
The design and print of your leaflet/brochure/postcard must go hand in hand. The design itself should always include a bold headline, an eye-catching image and a call to action (details on these specific to schools, colleges or universities are detailed later). The print format, finish, paperweight and so on must represent your purpose. If, for example, your school is a prestigious boarding school with considerable fees, then the paper must be of equal measure - 400gsm, maybe with a laminate and spot-UV finish to portray quality and prestige.
4. Two-Stage Approach
All marketing statistics show that the more times someone interacts with you, the more likely they will respond. With open-day marketing campaigns, this is no different. We have found that when we do an initial flyer distribution about one month before the open day, followed by a reminder flyer drop one week before, this profoundly impacts the event's success. The first flyer can be more extensive, with more info, a map, and other features. The follow-up flyer works best as a postcard, with a simple headline, 'Don't forget, it's this Friday...'. The principle here is often referred to as drip effect marketing.
Marketing Messages for Schools, Colleges and Universities
The approach you take regarding the marketing message should be tailored to the type of educational establishment. Here are some ideas you can implement:
1. Marketing for Schools
- The design and print format must appeal to parents and kids alike.
- Use a unique printed shape, such as a teddy bear for preschool.
- The images must excite the kids as well as the parents. Therefore, make sure the kids look to be enjoying themselves with other kids in a friendly environment.
- Use inspirational headlines, such as, 'Do you want to give your kids the best start in life?' What parent says no to this?
2. Marketing for Colleges
- Remember, the children/young adults have a greater say on the College they attend, so tailor it more to the student.
- Inspire prospective students with images of excellent facilities, photographs of groups socialising, and even the on-site coffee shop!
- Back these emotional pulls up with logical benefits the parents will appreciate - grades, awards, Ofsted rating, etc.
3. Marketing for Universities
- Similar to the points for Colleges, students will have a significant say on which University they choose, so tailor your marketing accordingly.
- Students want to feel immersed in the complete university experience - so show it all - the lifestyle available in your area (facilities, social spaces, shopping, nightlife, halls of residence, etc.).
- As the parents are often the ones who have saved for years to put their kids through university, demonstrate the value through credentials: grades, reputation, awards, rankings, job prospects, partnerships with large firms, impressive facilities, etc.
More Great Services for the Education Sector
Here at Flow Fulfilment, we provide a host of other services universally used by the education sector:
1. Print Portal - order all your print from banners to signage, letterheads to prospectuses, id cards to branded clothing, and so much more. We provide you with a branded print portal that enables you to order your print all in one place, with significant discounts.
2. Hybrid Mail - forget franking - hybrid mail removes all the fuss and the costs, meaning you can communicate with staff, students and parents much more simpler, faster and cheaper than ever before.
3. Direct Mail - use direct mail to target specific audiences for specialist courses, with personalised messages relevant to them.
Get Started
Hopefully, this page has provided you with an array of possibilities that will help you market your School, College or University. However, as there is so much on offer, we recommend you contact us today to speak with one of our Sales Consultants. They can then provide you with advice, strategies, products and services most relevant to you.
