Top 6 tips for running highly effective student marketing campaigns

Universities across the UK are in the fortunate position of being highly desirable for prospective international students. Findings from our latest Emerging Futures research show that prospective international students rate the UK second highest after the USA among key English-speaking study destinations for quality of education.

The research also indicates that most students rate ‘high quality of education’ as their primary factor when deciding where to study – read more about it here. The challenge for institutions in the UK is how to stand out in a very competitive playing field.

We spoke to Sabilla Mazaya, IDP Connect’s Digital Marketing Manager for Southeast Asia, Begum Pekmezci, Head of Marketing for Hotcourses International, and Hendra Suryawijaya, Head of Marketing for IDP Education (Indonesia) to hear their thoughts on what marketing strategies and campaigns work best in their respective student markets. Below they share their top tips with examples included of their most successful campaigns.

Prospective students in different countries and regions respond to marketing messages in different ways. To maximise engagement, it’s vital to understand the needs of the markets you’re marketing to and to hone in on specific needs rather than broad marketing tactics.

Sabilla says that prospective students in the Southeast Asia market are easily overwhelmed with the number of study options available to them, which is why her team focus on creating campaigns bespoke to their needs.

She adds that Southeast Asian students have strong family ties and, for many, moving abroad to study will be their first time away from home. Sabilla says that for this market a subtle and ‘empathetic’ approach to marketing should be used instead of blatant selling. It’s therefore vital to emphasise safety and comfort when marketing to this audience, as well as highlighting that they will be well cared for.

She adds, “Essential aspects for marketing to Southeast Asian students include safety, quality of education, multiculturalism, and international student services and facilities. By providing clear information on these aspects, marketing campaigns will not only convince prospective students but also reassure their parents or guardians, which is key.”

Begum points out that to Nigerian students low tuition fees are one of the important factors when considering study abroad options, so tailoring marketing campaigns accordingly would work best in the Nigerian market.

Begum believes that A/B testing is particularly important for institutions who are marketing to different country markets with vastly different needs. She says that her team does frequent A/B testing to evaluate what content delivers the best click-through or conversation rates. They test different headlines and advertorial copy and change one variable at a time to find and refine winning concepts and campaigns.

Considering the differing needs of prospective students in the Middle East, Begum’s team decided to run a campaign in which universities with similar unique selling points were grouped together.

She says, “Instead of focusing on destination marketing and promoting study in the UK solely, our messaging focused on themes such as easy-admission universities, low-tuition-fee universities, high-acceptance-rate universities, and high employability after graduation.

“These campaigns were highly successful across both organic and paid channels. Interestingly, we got the highest interaction levels from easy-admission universities, because this is a particularly big consideration for Middle Eastern students.”

Begum’s team wanted to increase interactions and engagement for university clients through these campaigns. She says that this themed-based campaign was very successful, particularly because of diversified user needs after the pandemic. She adds, “Post-pandemic students and parents have more criteria, including career prospects, rankings and funding options - we are trying to address all these needs with our tailored messaging.”

One of the most successful campaigns that Sabilla’s team ran in Indonesia was also focused on promoting the unique selling points that were especially important to Indonesian prospective students. These included internship opportunities, scholarships for Indonesians, affordable tuition fees, academic rankings and diversity. This campaign helped to increase traffic, enquiries and applications for participating universities.

International prospective students are more likely to engage and connect with content that is written in their home languages. It’s therefore essential to run tailored marketing campaigns in the local languages of your prospective student audiences.  

Hendra says that showcasing testimonials by students in their local language from the source market you are targeting is another highly effective way to boost engagement. He adds that testimonials focused on the advantages of studying at specific universities have been especially well received by Indonesian prospective students.  

Hendra shares that some of the most successful digital campaigns his team has run focused on promoting recruitment events, which happen three times a year in 6-7 cities across Indonesia. He says, “We tailor our digital campaigns based on the different regions within Indonesia and these tend to do very well. Prospective students are always keen to meet university representatives to talk to them about their unique study needs, so for marketeers it’s a golden opportunity.”

A key motivator for international students is job prospects. While students from select counties may choose or be obligated to return home after their studies abroad, many others prioritise post-study work opportunities in the country where they study. It’s therefore key for institutions to highlight what such routes could look like.

Studying abroad is a huge financial investment for parents and students alike, which is why career opportunities and pathways are vital for justifying the significant financial commitments made.

A highly successful campaign that Sabilla and her team ran across Hotcourses Indonesia was focused on studying and working abroad. The campaign delivered particularly high numbers of high-quality leads.

Sabilla says, “We focused on promoting the possibilities to achieve a career abroad through the student pathway. The career-focused campaign was used to build hype of studying aboard post the COVID-19 pandemic when people were more careful to invest money, including for studying abroad. We recognised that they needed the assurance on how global education can deliver and the campaign was a great success as a result.”

Our award-winning country-specific marketing teams are in the business of understanding the needs and perspective of prospective students in source markets such as India, Indonesia, Pakistan, China, Thailand, Nigeria and beyond.  

We also work with universities and institutions across the UK to understand their marketing and recruitment needs and to help them reach the right student markets in the right way.  

Get in touch with us to see how we can help your institution connect with targeted, as well as diversified prospective markets to drive more traffic and high-quality applications.