Many education center owners have learned the hard way that large marketing and advertising campaigns can have very limited results. For example, our company once spent $16,000 on radio ads over a three month period. We received a total of 17 calls as a direct result of this campaign; almost $1,000 per lead. That’s not quite a formula for profitability, nor the results we were looking for. And this was not the only advertising campaign that failed to produce results.
Over the years, we have consistently seen poor results from direct advertising. In addition to our experiences, I have also heard from other center owners of similar dismal returns on advertising investments. Steve Shapiro of Pinnacle Learning Centers in Boston quoted a one in one thousand reply rate on his direct mail postcard campaigns. One in one thousand! 10,000 pieces of mail to generate 10 calls? Not very exciting results.
Two questions come to mind: Why such poor results from direct advertising? What alternatives exist?
I believe that direct advertising produces poor results in the education market because parents care deeply about their children’s education and therefore turn to friends and professionals (teachers, counselors, etc.) for recommendations rather than calling an education company from an advertisement. For this reason, word of mouth referrals are the biggest source of new clients for many supplemental education companies.
So, if traditional advertising produces limited results, how can an education center grow its business? Over the years we have found that the best way to grow was to provide exceptional service and let the community know about it.
Here are several direct ways we have been able to build brand awareness, increase word of mouth referrals, and grow our business without pouring large amounts of money into direct advertising.
Be proactive with problem sessions
First, we make sure to track each session that takes place. While we have found that the vast majority of sessions go well and require little follow up with the parent, it is essential to be aware of sessions where the student and instructor are struggling to make progress. A student who struggles in a learning center environment will typically have a history of struggling in school and perhaps with other tutors or learning centers.
This is a great opportunity to show the parent that you offer superior service by contacting them after a session with insight into the problem. You can offer a revised direction based on new information made available from conversations with the instructor. We have found that while challenging students can take up a disproportionate amount of time, the parents of these students often times become our best referring clients.
Email session results
In addition to contacting parents when we perceive a problem, we communicate with every parent through email after each session. Sessions are logged into our CenterTrac data management system and emailed to parents after administrative approval. The parent can also have additional email addresses listed, allowing the session log to be sent to other people such as a school teacher or a learning specialist. These reports contain information about the session, but also other services we offer. This has been a great way for us to differentiate ourselves from our competition and educate people about our services at the same time.
Meet with teachers
Another powerful way to build referrals is to offer to attend parent – teacher meetings. When we meet with parents alongside the teachers of our students, we make it clear that we must support the teacher’s education goals and perspectives in order to best support the student. This deference and respect communicates that we, as supplemental educators, can make the teacher’s life easier and increase the likeliness of students succeeding in their classroom. Gaining the respect of teachers can go a long way to improving the volume of referrals an education center receives.
The key to this type of marketing and advertising is to align with the process of delivering high quality educational services. Using this approach, you will never have to choose between serving your clients and attending to the business of building your business. You will accomplish both!