Why your university's inbound marketing isn't working (and how to fix it)

Implementing inbound marketing is a powerful way for higher education institutions to attract, engage, and convert prospective students. However, despite best efforts, some institutions find that their inbound marketing strategies aren’t delivering the expected results. Understanding why your strategy might be falling short is the first step towards making the necessary adjustments to drive better outcomes. This article explores common pitfalls and provides actionable solutions to get your inbound marketing strategy back on track.

Related article: Inbound Marketing for Higher Education: A Student-Centric Approach

Common reasons why your inbound marketing strategy isn’t working

When inbound marketing isn't producing the desired results for your higher education institution, it can be frustrating and puzzling. Here are some common reasons why your strategy might be underperforming.

1. Unclear target personas

One of the most common issues with ineffective inbound marketing strategies is the lack of well-defined target personas. Without a clear understanding of who your prospective students are, it’s difficult to create content and campaigns that resonate with them. If your personas are too broad or not accurately reflect your target audience, your efforts may result in lower engagement and fewer conversions.

• How to fix it? Revisit your target personas and ensure they are detailed and specific. Conduct surveys, interviews, and data analysis to gather insights into your audience’s demographics, interests, pain points, and decision-making processes. The more precise your personas, the better you can tailor your inbound marketing content and communication strategies to meet their needs.

Check the make my persona tool from HubSpot.

2. Lack of compelling content

Content is the driving force behind an inbound marketing approach and if your content isn’t engaging or relevant, it won’t attract or convert your target audience to your university. Content that is overly promotional, lacks depth, or doesn’t address the real concerns of prospective students will fail to make an impact.

• How to fix it? Focus on creating high-quality and valuable content that answers the questions and solves the problems of your prospective students. Effective content should be informative and tailored to address the specific concerns of your target audience, ensuring that it not only attracts attention but also drives action. Consider using a mix of content types, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, and webinars.

3. Poor website user experience

Your university’s website is the central hub of your inbound marketing efforts. If your website is difficult to navigate, slow to load, or not mobile-friendly, it can drive away prospective students before they even engage with your content. A smooth and user-friendly website is critical to the success of your inbound marketing strategy, thus a poor user experience can significantly reduce conversion rates and lead to lost opportunities.

• How to fix it? Conduct an audit of your website to ensure that the site is easy to navigate, with clear menus, intuitive layouts, and fast loading times. Make sure your website is fully responsive, providing a seamless experience on both desktop and mobile devices. Additionally, optimize your site’s landing pages to guide visitors toward taking action, whether that’s filling out a contact form, downloading a brochure, or registering for an event. 

Related article: The power of user-centered design in higher education websites

4. Ineffective SEO strategy

An ineffective search engine optimization (SEO) strategy can prevent your content from reaching the prospective students who are actively searching for information online. If your university’s website and content aren’t optimized for relevant keywords, or if you’re not focusing on technical SEO aspects, your pages may struggle to rank on search engine results pages, limiting your visibility.

• How to fix it? Review and refine your SEO strategy by conducting comprehensive keyword research to identify the terms your target audience is searching for. Optimize your content, meta descriptions, and title tags with these keywords to improve your rankings and additionally, focus on technical SEO by ensuring your website is fast, secure, and easy for search engines to crawl. 

5. Inadequate use of data and analytics 

Another common reason why inbound marketing strategies for your higher education institution fail is the inadequate use of data and analytics. Without regularly analyzing performance metrics, it’s impossible to know what’s working and what isn’t. This lack of insight can lead to continued investment in ineffective tactics and missed opportunities to optimize your inbound marketing strategy.

• How to fix it? Make data analysis a core part of your inbound marketing efforts. Use tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, or other marketing platforms to track key metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, email open rates, and social media engagement. Regularly review these metrics to identify trends, strengths, and areas for improvement and consider using A/B testing to experiment with different content formats, CTAs, and landing pages to see what works better with your audience. 

Related article: SEO for Higher Education: Metrics and Tools to Track Performance

How to strengthen your inbound marketing strategy

Now that you understand the common pitfalls, it’s time to strengthen your inbound marketing strategy for your higher education institution. Here’s how:

• Refine your personas: Continuously update your target personas based on new data and feedback. The more accurate and detailed your personas, the more effective your inbound marketing efforts will be.
• Focus on content quality: Prioritize creating content that is not only informative but also engaging and relevant to your audience’s needs. High-quality content is key to attracting and retaining prospective students.
• Enhance user experience: Invest in improving your website’s usability and performance to ensure a smooth and satisfying experience for visitors. 
• Optimize SEO: Regularly audit and optimize your SEO strategy to ensure that your content ranks well in search engines and reaches your target audience. 
• Leverage data analytics: Make data-driven decisions by consistently analyzing your marketing performance and adjusting your strategy accordingly. 

Conclusion: Revitalizing your inbound marketing efforts

If your university’s inbound marketing strategy isn’t delivering the results you expected, don’t be discouraged. By identifying the underlying issues and implementing targeted fixes, you can revitalize your approach and achieve better outcomes. Inbound marketing for your higher education institution is a dynamic and evolving strategy and its success depends on continuous learning, adaptation, and optimization.

About LATIGID

To learn more about how Latigid, a Higher Education Marketing Agency, can help your institution overcome these challenges and build a more effective inbound marketing strategy for your university, visit our website or schedule an online meeting  to explore our tailored solutions for higher education to increase website traffic, generate more student leads and increase enrollment rates.