Industry Spotlight: Nurturing Higher Education Leads
June 15, 2015Keeping Social Media Social
July 12, 2015The highest quality leads will always be the ones that tell you they’re ready to make a purchase decision, rather than you having to ask them first. This holds especially true for nontraditional education leads; they know they need to further their professional development, but it’s very easy for them to put it off until next year due to financial limitations or time commitments. Pushing these leads too hard toward class start dates will result in a lost opportunity, but there are ways marketers can guide these leads instead. That guidance comes from smart calls to action (CTAs) that subtly move the lead along the sales funnel.
When crafting a CTA, you always want to offer a solution to the unique problem that your individual contact or target segment is facing. Here are some common pain points that education leads need answers to:
- How will I pay for this?
- Are these courses going to fit my schedule?
- What support will I get? Can I easily get in touch with professors and advisors?
- How easily can I attend this course? Is it exclusively on-site, or available online?
- Will this course further my professional development? What am I getting for my investment?
Answer each of these questions and provide a solution by turning them into opportunities for buyer engagement.
“Concerned about payments? Download our financial aid brochure to see your options.”
“Have questions about the course material? Get answers – watch this video of what students have to say about academic support.”
“Here’s a peek at what you’ll be learning in Course X: download last year’s syllabus”
As you may notice, offering valuable content is one of the most important keys to an engaging CTA. What’s more, if you can acquire those interactions, you will have more useful data to work with when sending them the next message. More often than not, it will be through behavioral signals, not a message or phone call, that a lead will express, “I’m ready.”
Leverage these engagement techniques and the resulting behavioral data to turn your prospective students into active learners (and your education leads into buying customers).
As all marketers know, different audiences require different messages. Our Industry Spotlight series is designed to deliver more pointed information to B2B marketing professionals working in a specific industry with a specific audience. Want to see a post on your industry? Comment below or send a request to [email protected]!
