How to Get More People Signed Up to Your Email List

It’s that time again, students are back to school, and everyone is looking forward to sharpening their extracurricular skillset. Whether it be dance, music, art, science, swimming, or sports, these programs are in high demand at this time of the year. To get more students enrolled, these programs benefit highly from email marketing and communication with past, present, and potential students to boost enrolment. Boasting high open rates and conversions, email marketing is one of the most cost-effective internet marketing services guaranteed to connect schools with their target audience. The only challenge that many schools face when it comes to email marketing is growing your contact list.

To help you boost enrollment this year, we’ve put together a list of 4 strategies from search engine optimization to social media marketing services that will get more prospective students signed up online.

Get Found Online

One of the key pillars of advertising used by both traditional and internet marketing services is placement. To increase the size of your mailing list, your school or institution needs to be found online. This starts with being positioned in front of interested audiences. In the digital sphere, this means that you need to appear at the top of searches or on websites where your target audience would be looking. Search engine optimization services, content marketing, PPC marketing, social media marketing services, and your website itself are all individually great ways to capture leads, but together they are even more effective. To find the best places to position your school based on its unique service offering, consider working with a digital marketing agency.

Strategic Website Development

Your website is essential to generating and retaining leads. Serving as the foundation for all other digital marketing channels (PPC Marketing, SEO, and Social Media Marketing), a website is where visitors (potential students) will be directed once they encounter your online marketing material. Once an interested party reaches one of your landing pages, there should be a prominently positioned capture form where they can enter their information to directly sign up to your mailing list. Any contact capture forms should be situated high enough on a web page to be seen without scrolling down (known as “above the fold”). When you work with an experienced web development team, they will help you layout your website design to maximize captures and goal completions. If you’re unsure whether your current website is optimized, contact your local web development agency or digital marketing agency for a comprehensive audit.

Search Engine Optimization & Content Marketing

Once you have a well-designed website, you can use search engine optimization services and content writing to compete with local competitors and get found easier on search engines. Using sophisticated keyword strategies based on search volume and location, your website can appear on the top positions of highly searched phrases related to your school or institute offerings. 

Once interested students click on your website from the search engine results page, they can subscribe to your mailing list right from your site. The most effective search engine optimization services use concurrent strategies and competitor insights to maximize success. When leveraging a more aggressive or intricate approach to search engine optimization, it is incredibly beneficial to work with a local digital marketing agency. An SEO expert will be able to help you track progress to maximize the visibility and ultimately sign ups for your mailing list.

Smart PPC Marketing 

There are two types of pay-per-click ads that can be used to target potential students or parents of students online: display ads and search ads. Search ads work similarly to search engine optimization services by targeting relevant search queries. But unlike SEO, which requires a more significant time investment and longer term strategy, PPC marketing places your ads at the top of the search results page, where they receive immediate visibility and attention. One of the benefits of using PPC ads to encourage mailing list sign-ups is complete control over your ads. You also pay only for the number of clicks each ad receives. And you can easily pause your ads once the enrollment period ends and restart again prior to  the next term. 

If you’re not sure which is best for you, search engine optimization or PPC Marketing, consult with a professional digital marketing expert to devise a customized plan that suits you best.

Consistent Social Media Marketing 

While Google is the king of internet searches, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are often used as search engines for local business searches like schools. By integrating a refined hashtag strategy into your social media marketing plan, optimizing your profiles, and regular posting, you can increase the likelihood of your school’s content showing up on the feeds of potential students. Once the posts show up in suggestions or business pages on popular social networks, you will attract local students and parents interested in your school, where they can be directed straight to your email sign-up link.

When it comes to boosting enrollment using classic digital marketing strategies, the key to success is balancing volume and personalization. Working with a local digital marketing agency, you can tailor your approach to target the right demographic based on age, gender, income, interests, and location. 

At Xi Digital, our team of digital marketing professionals leverage a full range of digital marketing services and industry expertise to generate students online. From website development and high-quality content and PPC marketing campaigns to search engine optimization, we tailor our services to help you reach your goals. 

Boost enrolment fast by contacting Xi Digital for a consultation today.