Marketing basics for language schools: the difference between cold, warm and hot sales leads
Have you ever wondered why your marketing endeavors seem not to reach the right people and as a result, you struggle with filling your classrooms? That should not be an issue for you from now on – in this article, we’re explaining where to start when it comes to creating a successful marketing strategy.
There might be so many reasons why your marketing results don’t meet your expectations but one of them probably roots in the very foundation. Have you really thought of a proper strategy for attracting new students to your school? No? Okay, let’s start with the basics then 😉.
Let’s explore the world of sales leads!
What the leads actually are?
Not surprisingly, strategic marketing is all about sending the right message to the right people. But before starting to think what exactly you should tell them, so they feel like your school is absolutely amazing and that they want to invest their money in your courses, you should categorize your potential clients into specific groups. In other words, you should tag them as cold, warm or hot leads. Basically, it’s about the mindset of the people you’re reaching out to.
Before we dig into the “temperature” issues, let us clarify, what the sales leads actually are and why you should focus on them while planning your marketing (and the money you spend on it!).
Simply, leads are people who might potentially be interested in your courses but you don’t have full knowledge concerning the reason for their interest and when (and whether) they’re likely to join your classes.
You might wonder why is it so important to stick to those distinctions. Well, defining different types of leads will impact your advertising, messaging and the type of content you produce for different media (including social media).
Sounds quite substantial, doesn’t it?
Get access to our library of free marketing guides, trackers, and templates for expat language schools:
Cold leads
Let’s start with the lowest temperature then.
Cold leads are those people who don’t know you and your offer at all. They might be expats who haven’t researched any language schools yet or people who don’t feel like learning the local language for some reason. They might not be interested in joining a course for now but who knows, maybe you’ll manage to convince them at some point?
By definition, cold leads don’t respond to your emails or don’t interact with your social media (because they’re not familiar with them yet). In general, they don’t trust your school and it will take you quite a long time to convince them that your courses are worthy of their money. Anyway, only a few of them may become warm leads after nurturing for quite a long time.
However, defining the cold leads properly is crucial , when deciding on the type of lead generator - a free piece of content you’re giving away in exchange for their email address (like a free workshop, webinar, guide, checklist, etc. – btw – have you already downloaded our free guide? 😉). Your lead magnet is the way for you to capture those people who are not yet, but might potentially be interested in your services, and nurturing the contact with them by sending them personalized messages. This is how you “warm up” your leads.
Knowing who your cold leads are is also irreplaceable when you’re creating the entire user experience on your website – being aware on where the people will drop off if your messaging or visuals are not clear enough can make or break a potential sale!
Also, while communicating with your cold leads, you should convince them about the importance of the problem you’re responding to. In the case of the language teaching market, some expats might not yet be aware that, for example, they need to learn the local language in order to feel better in the place they live in. It might be due to the fact that they arrived recently or maybe because they feel like speaking English is enough for them to be a part of the community.
Remember: in order to sell you need to fix the major problem that your potential client might have. And if they’re not aware that they have a problem – gently point them to the direction that they do, indeed, have one 😉.
You can reach them with all the “mass communication”- your general google and social media ads, flyers and posters. If you’re more advanced – you can reach them also by using the power of your local influencers!
Warm leads
People defined as warm leads are those who follow your social media and engage with posts from time to time. They might subscribe to your newsletter or leave their contact details with you. But they might also be the ones who don’t know yet about the existence of your school, but they are, overall, interested in learning the language.
They might be expats who want to learn the local language and already did some research about available offers. They somehow found your school, kinda like you but it’s your turn to take proper steps and convince them that your school is the best fit for their needs. Not the competition behind the corner – you.
With this type of audience it’s important to get very specific about what they actually want: what classes would suit their needs best, how do they want to feel, what kind of messaging “speaks to their soul”. You want to show your school as the exact place they want to be and the exact people they want to be seen with. An aspiring corporate manager and a social butterfly expat mom will be searching for completely different schools and offers. Right?
You reach your warm leads with re-targeted ads, you connect with them at expat events, in your newsletter and on your social media channels (yes, you read this right! Your social media channels should not be targeted to either cold or hot leads- they’re mainly to keep on heating up the warm crowd 😉).
Get access to our library of free marketing guides, trackers, and templates for expat language schools:
Hot leads
These are the people that would instantly make perfect students of yours. They already know you and are on your mailing list, inside your Facebook or LinkedIn group, are your current/ recent students or their friends. In other words, you have an established relationship with them. You previously identified their needs and you have a perfect course for them. Hot leads are those potential students who are ready to sign up.
Also, hot leads are expats who are searching for language schools and are interested in your location and/or price. Your goal here is managing the final transaction and making sure their name joins the list of your courses attendees so they can start joyfully learning a new language at your school.
But don’t be fooled – you have to take care of your hot leads as well! Like with every relationship, if you don’t take care of it, it might fade away and even your biggest fans might lose interest. Make sure to stay in touch with your hottest leads by creating and managing an engaging Facebook or LinkedIn group. Send them special emails blasts and include them in important decisions when it comes to your school and offer (participating in this type of decision-making process should be unavailable to the outsiders!). Nurture the sense of community and make sure, that they feel appreciated, and their opinion valued.
Keep them as hot as possible, as they are the ones who will become your ambassadors at expat forums and among their friends!
Conclusion – let’s warm them up!
Hopefully, we managed to convince you how important it is to define the categories of your potential clients. The ways you communicate and engage with cold, warm and hot leads will definitely make your marketing more strategic and will impact its effectiveness as a result.
As we underlined in this article, defining the leads properly will influence what content you produce and for what kind of media. It will influence your ads targeting on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and in general, your interaction with your potential students.
We hope that this article will help you with making more informed marketing decisions. If you feel like you might need some help with wrapping your head around targeting your marketing strategies – feel free to reach out and schedule a free call!
Good luck and talk to you soon! 💛
