Attracting students is no longer about just telling them what your school or program offers and how it benefits them. It’s much more complex than that. You need to be able to connect with them on a deeper level by telling a story that captivates them and conveys a message about your program.

Your audience needs to not ONLY feel like your program is beneficial to them and will help them excel in their career, they need to truly believe they are making a good investment in themselves that makes them want to enroll. Understanding what’s important to your students will help you put information out there that will draw them in.

Here is a list of five important things you need to consider when creating the right content that will attract and speak to your target audience.

Determine Your Audience

The first and most important step of content marketing is determining who your target audience is.  Does your target audience include students just graduating high school or is it working mothers who are juggling family and career at the same time? Knowing this critical information will enable you to plan what kind of content you publish, the kind of tone and voice that will resonate with your audience, and which channels are the best for pushing out your content. You’ll be able to create the best content because you know exactly who you’re directing it to and where to find your audience. 

Understand Your Consumers’ Behaviors and Interests

Once you’ve determined your target audience, the next step is to find out what their behaviors and interests are. You need to know their needs and wants, what’s important to them, what kind of lifestyles they have, the kind of things they’re interested in, how they engage with your social media platforms or website, and so on. You can access this information through analytics, and it will help you create the best content for your target audience and get them to connect and identify with your brand and what you’re selling. You can also find out this information by talking to your current students, researching message boards, or reading through comments on social media wherever there are brand mentions or on your social account posts and paid social ads.

Tell A Captivating Story

Content marketing is not just about putting out engaging, relevant, or valuable content that attracts your target audience or gets them to like your brand. You must be able to tell a story that captivates your audience and elicits feelings and emotions in them that make them feel a connection to your brand. Your story should be centered around a theme or issue that directly relates to your brand, and it must be a unique story that makes you stand out from your competitors. If you can tell a great story, you can get people to listen and want to hear more about your brand.

Communicate Your Brand’s Positioning

The content you share with the public must ensure that it effectively communicates your brand positioning to your target audience. Your brand positioning is how you want your brand to come across to consumers. It details the value your business provides to consumers and serves to occupy a unique position in the market that differentiates you from your competitors. Your content should let consumers know what your brand is about and how it stands out from the rest of the market.

Tailor Your Content to Your Marketing Channels

The type of content you publish is also determined by the channel through which you’re distributing your content. Therefore, when creating content, this a major factor you have to take into consideration as it can make or break your marketing goals. Let’s break this down further. If you’re using Twitter as your content marketing channel, you want to create content that is entertaining, concise and engaging, and takes advantage of trending topics or issues. Content for LinkedIn, on the other hand, will be professional and serve to position you as an authority on a subject or field.

Key Takeaway

Content marketing is all about connecting with your target audience and driving your brand image. Once you’ve perfected your content strategy, there’s no limit to how far your content can take you when it comes to achieving your marketing goals