The Complete Guide to Marketing Cycles for Language Schools and How to Use Them Effectively
If you are like most of the language schools, you are always in search of new students. But trying to sell your courses all the time can be a mistake, and it even can backfire and make them run away from you before you’ll actually be able to show them how valuable is your offer.
That happens because no one likes the annoying salesman! In order to make people trust and bond with you – which will give you a higher conversion rate – you need to follow marketing cycles. So, keep reading, because that is what we will talk about in this article! 😉
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Introduction: The Importance of Following Marketing Cycles
The first (and already mentioned) reason why you shouldn’t be trying to sell your courses all the time is that you will be seen as the annoying salesman.
That kind of people that when you go to a shop don’t even let you see the goodies before you ask for their help. The ones that keep following you and offering you something that you didn’t even have time to decide whether you want to buy it or not 🙄
What happens, in this case, is that students usually tune out schools who keep on talking about themselves without delivering useful content for them.
The ones who try to sell them courses ALL the time are especially dreaded. And we believe that you don’t want any potential students shutting the door in your face. Right?
The second reason why following marketing cycles is important is that your marketing isn’t only about sales – one of its goals should be to amplify brand awareness and create interaction with the students, which will later lead them to become advocates for your school. Periodically you need to produce material that will deliver people some value, so, they will want to follow you (engage with you, before the real commitment). This type of content will put your school in front of more people who might’ve not heard about your school before.
And third: if you keep on trying to sell constantly to the same people, even your best selling tactics will stop being effective. You will have already convinced the ones that needed convincement (who are now your students) and the effectiveness of your offer will start drastically decreasing. The people that are left on your email list, or on your social channels, who haven’t bought from you, will not buy your course. At least not for a while, and, by trying to convince them, you’re wasting a lot of energy.
You need to get fresh blood every few months. 🧛♂️😉
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The Outline of a Client Journey for Language Schools
What we suggest you do instead of the “nonstop selling approach” is to take your potential students on a journey: produce content that will let them gain trust in you and see that your school is the best choice for them.
Just the same way as you don’t make most of your big, life-changing purchases from a random person on the street who is shouting that they have what you need - your students won’t seal the deal with you, if you won’t show them (over time) why you are the best option!
This kind of content will be useful for three types of your potential students:
The ones that are already searching for a language school. They will be able to compare you with other schools, to then choose the best fit for them.
Please note: not the best offer, but the best fit. When they’re comparing offers from different schools, they would’ve already found the ones that have the price, location, and curriculum which they like. Now they’re checking which one will match their personality and emotional needs the best.
People who are not sure whether they want to learn the language with a school, or on their own – here your job is not only to convince them that going with a school is a better choice but also why they should go with your school.
The ones who are learning with your competition. Snatching students from another school might be either the easiest or the most difficult task – depending on how good their own marketing and customer service is. But it is not impossible and might be a necessary move for you to consider in the markets where the amount of students is limited.
In order to reach and convert those potential students, you should think about the entire process that they usually go through before making a purchase:
Finding out that your school exists;
Finding out whether you are a good choice for them;
And (FINALLY!) buying!
What are the Three Marketing Cycles?
The three marketing cycles are very much related to the process above. Each of them corresponds with a way that you can do to convince people to stop whatever they’re doing and spend some time with your content; then guide them to move from one level of interest to the next, finally enrolling in your course.
Let’s see how each of the three cycles works:
1. Gathering – the step in which you will get as many eyes as possible on your school. At this point, you need to create a presence both online and offline. For that, you can use advertisements with the main objective of brand awareness, and not of selling (we just wrote an article about the different types of advertising for language schools, you can read it here).
Some of the online strategies useful at this point are: lead magnets and ads directing to your free resources, such as articles, podcasts, webinars, videos as well as influencer marketing, etc.
Offline you can use leaflets, posters, radio and TV campaigns in order to gain visibility.
2. Befriending – after getting some new eyes on your school, it is time to showcase your expertise, create connections, and be human. How to do that?
Online you can produce social media posts and emails, that will be useful for your potential students. At this point you want them to like you, realize that your values are a match and that your school can be trusted. Here are some examples of content to produce in this phase:
language tips,
places to visit in your town,
interesting things to do,
content that will demonstrate your authority: teachers’ profiles, breakdowns of your curriculum, student testimonials, etc.
Offline you can organize free events and get-togethers, which will create a connection between those new potential students and your staff members, giving you an opportunity to showcase your expertise and the great experience that you can provide.
Warning: do not sell during those meetings unless it comes out naturally, in the conversation. This is not a Tupperware Avon party!* Don’t make your potential students feel ambushed!
*A Tupperware party is an event where a sales representative invites their friends and family to a party during which they’re being sold food containers. Yikes! 🙄🤷♀️😉
3. Selling – Finally we got here! Now that the potential students know that you exist, have created an emotional connection with you, and know that you’re valuable, you can sell them your courses. Just don’t be sleazy or annoying – show some creativity in here as well!
Usually, we suggest giving 1 month to each cycle. Obviously, there are exceptions and you might want to shorten or lengthen one of the cycles.
TIP: try not to make any of the cycles shorter than 2 weeks and don’t directly sell for more than a month, people will start leaving!
We‘ve created a marketing cycles to-do list with actionable steps for you to follow in the upcoming two weeks. Created specifically for language schools!
You can access the to-do list library by leaving your email address below:
How Marketing Cycles Affect Your Business Goals
Now that you know what the cycles are, and that you cannot directly sell all the time (because it simply doesn't work), let’s talk about what you should do.
You'll need to schedule 3 to 4 main offers (launches) per year. Schedule out the remaining time backward:
So if you’re planning to start selling your summer courses in June,
you should start getting fresh eyes on your content in April
and focus your energy on creating deeper connections with all of your audiences in May.
Does that mean that you cannot sell in the other cycles? No!
You can sell all year long, but be elegant about it. First, provide value for the students, then make a subtle sales offer.
Also, you should have the elements of all the cycles, all year round (which will guarantee that you can attract and convert your ideal audience no matter when they find you).
But in regard to content production, the main focus of your campaigns should always be according to the cycle you're in.
You should always plan your marketing cycles around your business plan. Map out which courses will be going live when. And based on that, decide when the cycles will start and end.
Always follow the pattern gathering-befriending-selling. That way you can guide your potential student from one stage to another, making it easier for them to decide to commit to your school!
Concluding Thoughts on Planning Your Campaigns with Marketing Cycles
The main takeaway from this article is: you cannot sell all the time.
You need to first gather people 👀 (get as many eyes on your school as possible);
Then befriend them 👨👩👦👦 (create a connection, an atmosphere for them to get to know you, your expertise, who you are, and why your school is better than other schools in town).
Then you can start selling 👌.
When you follow these cycles, you can expect better sales, because you are talking to a pool of people who are potentially interested in your courses, and who have a personal connection with you (rather than your competitor).
We hope that following the marketing cycles will give you more clarity on how to plan each part of your marketing campaign. But in case you need additional help – check out how we can help you with your marketing strategy HERE.
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