Marketing to Adult Learners on a Shoestring Budget Presented by - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Marketing to Adult Learners on a Shoestring Budget

Presented by Cíntia Miranda

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Introduction

Cíntia Miranda

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• Challenges
• Vision
• Plan
• Tactics
• Q&A

Agenda

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Challenges

You’re not alone!

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Common Challenges

It’s hard being a marketer

• Wearing multiple hats
• Unsure about where to focus
• Insufficient marketing training
• Lack of marketing funds

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Vision

Take control of your position

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Create a vision statement for your regional program to help you focus. The purpose of a vision statement is to help you create a roadmap between the present and the future.

Create a Vision

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Stay ahead of the game

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Prioritize

How should you be spending your time?

• 70% of your time should be spent
• n your strengths
• 25% of your time should be spent
• n new things
• 5% of your time should be spent on

your weaknesses

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How can you become a better marketer for Maine Adult Education?

• Understand your target audience
• Learn how to speak to them as

individuals

• Find out what their challenges are and

figure out a way to solve them

• Test new marketing tactics
• Make more mistakes!

Be Proactive

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Stay ahead of the game

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Commit

Transform your vision into reality

• Commitment separates doers from

dreamers

• Commitment is tested by action
• Devote a certain amount of time

per day to marketing

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Develop a Plan

Every winning team has a game plan

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One Year

Begin with a 12-month plan

• Create a SWOT analysis
• Identify your ‘low hanging fruits’
• Develop SMART goals
• Establish a marketing budget
• Determine how you’ll measure

success (KPIs)

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Did you accomplish all the tasks you listed on your monthly plan?

• Devote a minimum of 2 hours per day

executing your plan

• Create a spreadsheet listing individual

tasks

• Check the progress of your digital

campaigns daily

• Make adjustments to your campaigns

weekly

• Run a month-end report of your

accomplishments

One Month

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Take stock of your performance

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Three Months

What does your quarter looks like

• Did you meet your quarterly goals?
• What does your website traffic look

like?

• Did your marketing initiatives work?
• Make adjustments and focus on your

goals for the next quarter.

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You’re halfway there. Will you get to the summit?

• Collect data from current students to find
• ut their perception of your brand, your

product, and your service

• Identify recent barriers to conversion
• Analyze which marketing channels are
• ffering the best ROI
• Make sure your strategy is being

executed as originally planned

• If need be, make modifications to adjust

your plan to the market

Six Months

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Halfway mark reality check

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Tactics

Define each strategy meticulously

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Your website is your front desk on the

• web. Keep it clean!
• Navigation should be intuitive – no

more than 3 clicks to conversion

• Content must be engaging
• Images need to resonate with your

target audience

• Every page should function as you’d

expect on mobile and on desktop

• On page and off page SEO should

be up to date

Website

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Keep your website updated

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Use your website data to help you market your courses

Check your Google Analytics report on a monthly basis to find out:

• which programs are generating web traffic and which are not
• which keywords and search terms are being used to find

your website

• where your traffic is coming from
• reasons for abandoned carts and high bounce rates
• demographic information of your website visitors
• the most commonly used devices
• peak traffic times

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Create engaging content that will help your visitors convert

Assure your potential new students that they’re making the right decision by offering information that supports it:

• Write blog posts explaining what to expect from your

courses

• Encourage your instructors to write engaging bios and keep

their LinkedIn profiles up to date

• Offer testimonials of past students
• Create simple infographics communicating relevant data

about the ROI of your courses

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Social Media

An inexpensive way to market your courses

• Easy to maintain
• Time consuming
• Only works if you find a way to

speak to your target audience

• Requires consistency

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Social media marketing is essential to your success

• Create a weekly editorial calendar with 1-2 posts per day
• Design visually compelling images using canva.com
• Make sure your content is short and engaging

Facebook – 80-100 characters, 15-second videos Age group: 18-44 (75%) Twitter – 71-100 characters, 10-second videos Median age: 40 LinkedIn – 25 words, 30-second videos Age group: 25-54 (80%) Instagram – 100-150 characters, 10-second videos Age group: 18-44 (79%)

Source: Pew Research Center 21

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Post suggestions

• Blogs
• Course announcements
• Relevant data about the job market
• Benefits of earning a diploma or certificate
• Success stories
• Tips for adult learners
• Inspirational quotes
• Support services
• Sprinkle some fun

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Advertising Suggestions on Facebook and Instagram

• Boost your best post of the week for 7 days

(Budget at least $2.00 per day per boosted post)

• Advertise your new courses
• Create a Facebook retargeting pixel for your ads to

build an audience for retargeting ads

• Create video ads (15 seconds max)
• Create slideshow ads using multiple relevant images
• Change the imagery of your ads every 15 days to

avoid fatigue

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Keep in touch with your students

• Email marketing is not obsolete
• 90% of adults actively use email1
• Email marketing (not to be confused

with SPAM) is an effective and inexpensive way to build a strong relationship with your current and prospective students

Source: optinmonster.com

Email Marketing

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Keep your past students engaged

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Ideas for email marketing content

• Reach out to your General Enrichment students

with a monthly newsletter

• Keep your workforce preparation students

engaged with tips to help them stay focused on the program

• Share simple but informative infographics with

your English Language Learners

• Share success stories to help your students feel

that they too can achieve their goals

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Geofencing

Create a virtual fence around your target audience

• Using GPS or RFID you can set a

specific barrier around an area you wish to target

• Only people within this virtual barrier

will receive your mobile display ads

• You can also retarget users after they

leave the barrier

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• You can match a list of physical

addresses with their corresponding IP addresses to show your ads only to a highly targeted audience

• You can re-target your geofenced

campaign to follow people who engaged with your ad within the fence to their home or work IP addresses

• IP Targeting offers a higher click-

though rate than any other type of digital advertising.

IP Targeting

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Hyper-target your ads

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Programmatic Ads

Video, audio, and display

• Precise targeting based on their

demographics and psychographics

• Offers layers of filters, including

‘those who are in market for education’

• Much more cost effective than any

type of traditional media

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Is traditional media dead? Yes, and no.

• Traditional media is still highly relevant

with Baby Boomers

• Cable TV, radio, and print newspaper can

be the best advertising channels for rural audiences

What you should keep in mind:

• Consumer behavior is changing across all

generations

• Base your advertising decisions on data,

not on what worked in the past when it comes to traditional media

Traditional Media

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Radio, TV, and print media are still effective

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Earned Media

Take advantage of your media network

• Press releases
• Open house events
• Public service announcements
• Shareable content online
• Word of mouth
• Online ratings

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• Ask your instructors and past

students to share your social media posts

• Create a referral program for your

General Enrichment students

• Offer discounts for multiple

registrations

• Have monthly giveaways on social

media to keep your audience engaged

• Spread the word about your courses

though tear-off flyers in community centers

Grassroots Ideas

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Keep recruiting influencers to help you market your courses

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Conclusion

Dare to make mistakes

• Marketing is a very complex

function

• Focus on your strengths
• Commit to your vision
• Test, adjust, rinse, and repeat.

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Keep in Touch

Cíntia Miranda 207-947-9333 ext. 9510 cmiranda@pulsemarketingagency.com pulsemarketingagency.com

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