Edition 16

Your complete guide to education marketing funnels 🎯

Written by
Ridhima &
Jayde
Jun 7, 2024

Did you know that not all marketing funnels are created equal? 

In fact, education marketing is known for its unique customer journey which is determined by longer sales cycles, a honed understanding of different international markets, and the teensy-tinsy marketing budgets universities and education start-ups have to work with. 

Effectively navigating this landscape calls for a strategic approach. One that aligns with the industry’s distinctive characteristics.

In this edition, we aim to help you do just that with the help of our Enrollment Funnels Ebook as well as other helpful tips and tricks for effective student lead generation.

Here’s what you can expect from this edition:

🗞️ News: University of Lincoln awarded UK's highest education honor

✉️ Resource: The Pink Orange enrollment funnels ebook

✍️ Blog: Key education marketing metrics 

🛠️ Tools: Our top tools for managing your marketing projects 

🙋🏽‍♂️ Frequently asked: Paid advertising has never worked for me, and working with an agency has been a waste of time. Why should I reconsider?

Education leaders discuss major challenges facing the Education sector

Fair pay for teachers and staff. Higher quality education. Better outcomes. All of this, and more was discussed by the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education, Dr. Mark Browne.

Here are the highlights: 

  • Budgetary challenges, with a funding gap of £300m in 2023-24
  • Ongoing industrial action by teachers
  • Inadequate school estate funding
  • Rising numbers of pupils with Special Educational Needs
  • University of Lincoln awarded the UK's highest education honor
  • The University of Lincoln's Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT) just won the prestigious Queen's Anniversary Prize for its groundbreaking work in sustainability in the UK's food and farming industries.

Key takeaway:

The institute's work has helped to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring the supply of high-quality, nutritious food across the UK's £100bn agri-food industries.

Take note, education marketers. It’s not just what you do, it’s what you’re selling. Have you considered highlighting your university or education company’s research in your marketing message? 

A PR hit like this one goes a long way in building credibility for your education institute or business.

<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-67455430" class="finsweet-edvertise-cta" target=“_blank”>Read the article</a>

We know this: The funnel is a one-off deal.

It has a beginning, middle, and end—and it relies on absolute cooperation from your prospects. But ever so often, it is ineffective as it can lack momentum and thus, results.

The flywheel is different.

It's not a single burst of activity; it's an ongoing process that keeps going after the initial investment has been made. The goal is to keep adding fuel to the flywheel over time so that eventually it becomes self-sustaining and keeps spinning without your intervention (like an engine).

We cover this and more in our enrollment funnel ebook!

<a href="https://www.pink-orange.co.uk/subscriber-resources" class="finsweet-edvertise-cta" target=“_blank”>Get your free guide</a>

Adopting a full-funnel approach to your analytics

Want to improve your enrollment rates and get more students? You might want to take a deeper look at the key metrics you’re measuring. 

In this blog, we look at the three funnel stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision as well as the important metrics associated with each stage.

<a href="https://www.pink-orange.co.uk/blog/education-marketing-metrics" class="finsweet-edvertise-cta" target=“_blank”>Read the blog</a>

In 2021, BSC Education approached us to increase its rankings and market positioning.

Their page clicks were high but their conversion rates were low. Bad experiences with non-specialized agencies are one of the biggest challenges that we as a performance agency face daily.  We all know that education is different from every other product on the market, which means that it requires a specific – and strategized campaign and approach – to copy, creatives, and the overarching strategy; which some agencies sadly can’t deliver.

The Pink Orange approach is to *stay* full-throttle once your campaign has gone live.

We continuously nurture leads through a mixed media and channel strategy. 

We also keep iterating till we hit the sweet spot - this means looking for ad fatigue, refreshing creative approaches, and perfecting the target persona.  

Why? So that you don’t lose money because of ineffective strategies.

Here’s what we think: Reconsider paid advertising but choose the right partners. Ask them about their process and make sure they have the relevant expertise!

We regularly post case studies like this one on our social media accounts. Here’s where you can find us.

Aaaand that’s a wrap! 

Let us know how we did by leaving us a message on

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Until next time, 

Your friends in marketing

Jayde & Ridhima