A review by the Promote-Ed team, and Think 3 across providers within the education sector has provided some interesting observations.

Spend on branding, website development and SEO ranges widely with some providers spending over £200,000 a year and some almost nothing.
The number of Social Media followers across the key channels including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for most providers and including colleges is low in comparison to comparable businesses in other sectors.
For Multi-Academy Trusts often the ‘identity’ of the Trust is invisible, both on corporate websites or indeed at physical school locations, impacting on the business brand.
There is significant spend in traditional print materials, particularly at Colleges and Schools with the production of ‘prospectuses’ which have hardly changed in 30 years. With the first port of call for many being online research why aren’t all marketing materials made available online?
Very few providers have much to say on their web sites, often developed over many months with a focus on the visuals but little information that tells the user about what they are doing and making their business look attractive to employers and future learners

Use of Social Media, Branding and PR is key to success in any industry and you do not have to throw lots of money at it to make an impact but is the sector is missing a trick?

Let’s work together to share good practice which can only help to promote education across the country.