Inbound Marketing for RTOs: Attract, Convert, Close and Delight

Inbound marketing is changing the way RTOs attract, convert, close and maintain a good relationship with their students. Students don’t just sign up for any training course. They and their parents do a great deal of investigation and research before making any decisions about applying to a particular educational organisation. Inbound marketing provides them with the content they need to help them make the right decision and ultimately sign up with the RTO that’s offering it.

If you’re doing your inbound marketing correctly, this will be your organisation and you’ll enjoy the results. Forrester Research reports that companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost. In order to achieve this, it’s imperative you follow the four stages of inbound marketing funnel for rtos

1.  Attracting your prospective students’ attention

In order to reach your prospective students in all the right places, you need to map out the student journey. Begin by working out how you are going to attract students to your website by making use of persona-specific and admission stage-specific content. You should then decide where to place this content. It needs to be on the social platforms your prospective students regularly visit.

According to Statista, by 2020, there will be 2.95 billion social media users worldwide and a huge proportion of these are students! This is supported by the Content Marketing Institute that reports that 8 out of 10 people identify themselves as blog readers and 23% of all time spent online is on social media sites.

This way of driving traffic will help differentiate your RTO and establish you as a thought leader in the educational space. This is supported by Marketo who reports that 93% of buying cycles start with a search online. If your company shows up high in the search results or is active on a searcher’s social networks, you’ll get free brand awareness.

2.  Convert your students

Now that you have the attention of your prospective students, you need to provide them with the content they really need. Your aim is to convert these prospects into actionable contacts. Do this by making use of clever calls to action that add real value throughout the admission cycle. These can help improve the student’s experience with your website, get them moving through the admission process quicker and give you the right information you need to close the prospect.

You need to entice them to provide this information in return for the premium content you are providing. Once you have made this exchange, they are prime leads for you to focus on. Ideal content at this stage would be sharing informative webinars, training guides, and alumni profiles.

3.  Close your students

During the convert and attract phases you were looking at extracting valuable data and information about your prospects in order to communicate more effectively with them. Now you need to create the customised content that aligns with their intended area of study and their stage in the admission cycle. This is where all the information you have collected comes into play.

Use it to segment lists according to when students plan to enrol, what courses interest them and whether they need financial aid. At this stage, you should be creating personalised emails that arrange on-site visits, organise interview sign-ups and arrange meetings with the relevant admissions people.

4.  Delight your students

Once you have closed your students, you still need to continue to engage with them. A happy student will give you great referrals. You need to create content that engages them in conversation and seeks to enrich their learning experience. By doing so, you will turn your students into your biggest marketing assets. Word of mouth is very powerful amongst students, as is sharing on social platforms. Any content that delights them is sure to be shared with all their friends.

Inbound Marketing – the way forward for RTOs

According to Search Engine Journal, inbound leads cost 60% less than outbound leads. Lupo Digital is an inbound marketing agency with years of experience in the educational sector that helps RTOs use inbound marketing to cost-effectively connect, engage, convert and delight students.

For more information about how inbound working for RTOS, download our executive guide to inbound marketing for RTOs.