Best Enrollment Marketing Strategies For Career and Trade Schools
Are you looking to increase student enrollment rates at your trade, career, or technical school? With the need for skilled trades at an all-time high, the time has never been better to launch a robust, multifaceted marketing plan to increase enrollment. At Paramount Capital Group, we have you covered with enrollment marketing strategies that can help you raise admission rates now.
Meet Your New Student Goals With These Enrollment Marketing Strategies
No two schools or students are the same, and neither are admissions marketing plans. But using a flexible combination of old-school and 21st-century techniques can help you find the perfect balance to attract new students and increase acceptance rates.
Data Analytics
It’s important to understand your school’s strengths and weaknesses. Analyzing your data is going to give you the answers to develop your game plan, such as:
- What’s your most popular course?
- Where do you draw the most students from?
- How many graduate on time?
- Who is your top employer?
- How many take out loans vs. pay privately?
- How many students do you need to meet XYZ goals?
These questions are just the tip of the iceberg of what you can learn when you analyze the data.
Create Your School’s Story
You need to tell a story about what makes your school special and share it everywhere online, in print, and in person. This consistent message gives you an easily remembered identity and helps prospective students understand who you are and what it’s like to be a student there. Consider your brand or mission statement or if there is a specific course for which you want to be known. Personalize the story with testimonials from teachers, students, alumni, and employers. All this gives the school powerful endorsements, making it more tangible and memorable.
Attend School and Career Fairs
Physical school fairs still play a big role in showing students school options. Don’t miss this chance to be in front of your target audience, to answer their questions and tell them compelling information about your school. Gaining in popularity as a result of the pandemic—but also for convenience—are virtual school fairs. You may want to see how they work for you.
Career fairs are another new student source. You may capture the attention of someone looking to change jobs or explore new interests. And, similar to school fairs, it’s easy for prospects to find out what you offer.
Build Relationships with Guidance Counselors and Teachers
High school guidance counselors talk to students and can mention your school to students interested in something other than a four-year college degree. Teachers also talk daily to students and know firsthand who may be interested in a technical career or one in health care, the culinary arts, construction, and more.
Advertise
Make sure you advertise or are a sponsor on local neighborhood blogs, sites, or print or online newspapers. The same goes for high school sports team programs. There are plenty of digital and print opportunities around—just look.
Develop a Strong Digital and Social Marketing Plan
First of all, make sure your website is mobile-friendly and on par with the experience students expect. Consider adding a virtual tour so prospects can get a good look at the school. Also, make sure it’s easy to contact you and get questions answered. In addition, capture email addresses and design nurturing emails or eNewsletters to develop the relationship.
Next, you’ll want to look into digital advertising on places like Google or Bing, employ search engine optimization, and use retargeting ads that interact with prospects once they’ve visited the website.
Lastly, students spend a lot of time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms. You need to be there, too, with thoughtful content that reflects your school’s story.
Start a Referral Program
Reach out to current and past students and encourage them to spread the word about your school.
Offer Better Student Financing Options
While trade or technical schools aren’t as expensive as four-year colleges, they still have fees that some students may have trouble covering. If you can help students and families get tuition financing, especially those who may not have perfect credit, it’s a big differentiator that can increase admission and acceptance rates and enhance your reputation.
That’s where Paramount Capital Group can help. We specialize in partnering with schools like yours to offer unique loan solutions so as many students as possible can take the next step and enroll. It’s the perfect complement to your enrollment marketing strategies.
We offer:
- A simple one-page online student application.
- A same-day review of the application and credit report, as well as a decision.
- A compliant PDF document for approved students to sign and return.
- Funds remitted in three to five working days*.
- Loan servicing handled by us at Paramount Capital Group.
Partner with Paramount Capital Group
If you’re looking to increase enrollment at your career school, contact us today and find out how we can help you with better, flexible student loan options that can open the door for more students. We look forward to talking and developing meaningful solutions together soon.
* For some short-term programs, the student must graduate in order to receive funds.