international marketing strategy for boarding schools an ... · leading the way in international...

International Marketing Strategy for Boarding Schools

An introductory guide

Suzanne Rowse – Director

Leading the way in international marketing and student recruitment services

This document has been produced for British boarding schools who are setting out to produce an international marketing strategy.

If you are wondering ‘where do I start?’ then this document has been designed for you!

At BBSN we recognise the challenges school staff face when developing a strategy, so this document provides some basic pointers for consideration.

After reading this document, if you need more information about individual markets please contact us as we have a subscription service to an online service called Connected which provides market intelligence, country reports, videos and a database of reference-checked agents to find out more about individual markets. These help you identify if there is a ‘fit’ with what your school offers and the needs of each market.

It is vital that you do your homework and desk research before you dive into booking international events and planning trips. Your promotional activities should be targeted and effective, thereby not wasting valuable time and budget (the scatter gun approach!)


What is strategy?

Put in the most simple of terms, strategy can be defined in 3 steps:

1. Where are we now?2. What do we want to achieve? 3. How will we achieve it?

If you wanted to train to run a marathon you would need to know how far you can run now, how far you will need to run (26 miles for a marathon!) and how to train to achieve this goal.

If you don’t know the current structure of your boarding (numbers/nationalities/gender mix etc), and you don’t know what you are looking to achieve in the next 3 years, how do you know what you need to do? This may sound simple but it is not uncommon for marketing and admissions teams to be unclear as to what they are trying to achieve (aside from filling beds!)


Working on your strategy

Step 1: Define where you are now . . .

Find out the answers to the following questions:

❖ How many boarders do you have?❖ What is the breakdown of full/weekly/flexi boarders?❖ What is the % of British vs. international boarders?❖ What % do international boarders make up of the whole school?❖ What is the gender balance of boarders?❖ What is the breakdown of nationalities in the whole boarding community?❖ What is the breakdown of nationalities by year group? ❖ How many short term boarders do you have? ❖ What is the breakdown of nationalities by specific programmes eg 1 year GCSEs, pre-IB, pre-A levels

Once you have the data, do a projection to see what will this look like in September with your new intake? (Take out leavers, add in new joiners and consider those still in the pipeline.) Then project this into the next academic year; what will it look like then? For example, what are the nationalities of Year 13 leavers and will this leave nationality gaps in the school? What will the gender balance look like? What about British boarders?



Step 2: What do you want to achieve?

❖ What does the school want to achieve in the next 3 years in terms of boarding recruitment? (Refer to the questions on the previous slide)

❖ How does this fit in with whole schools plans?

If you are tasked with the international recruitment and you are not sure of the answer then we recommend you discuss this with the Head and SLT.

Without knowing the answers, and without having clear objectives, you can’t develop a strategy that is measurable. If a school is measuring on the basis of ‘beds to fill’ rather than the composition of boarders by nationality/gender/age, academic profile etc, it can lead to a boarding community that is imbalanced and therefore unattractive to agents and potential families. This becomes a ‘downwards spiral’.



Step 3: How will we achieve it?

Having identified your objectives you can now start to identify target markets based on all of the factors you considered in step 2.

For example, using the projections you should be able to see which pupils, by nationality, will be leaving in the next 3 years and the gaps this will leave.

You will be able to see which countries will not be represented in your community and this will help to identify target areas.

You will see the gender balance of pupils and if you have specific requirements to target eg girls in year 9, music scholars, long term boarders etc.

Once you have identified your target areas, THEN you can start to look at promotional activities including overseas trips and events (see international events calendar).


A template for identifying target markets

The following template is a simple but effective tool for assessing international markets. (It is used by the UKTI when helping companies consider export markets).

Plot potential markets in each of the four quadrants by considering the EASE and the DEMAND in each market. For example, China would be in the top right hand quadrant because it the largest market for UK boarding schools and easy in terms of ‘routes to market’ such as agents and events.

When considering the ‘EASE’ of the market, this might be if:

❖ You have pupils from this country❖ You have alumni there❖ You have agents in this market❖ You have other contacts there eg links with schools, companies, religious orders❖ It is close to the UK and easy to travel to❖ It is a safe country to visit

When considering the ‘DEMAND’ think about the market size and market trends (is demand increasing or declining?) using the ISC data (see slides at the end of this document) and the Top 30 Markets Table which we produce (see the live feed of Top 30 Markets in the Knowledge Zone within Connected). Consider the demand from certain markets for certain programmes, eg Spanish wanting short term stays, Italians wanting IB programmes, Chinese wanting 1 year GCSEs.

VERY EASY

HIGH DEMANDLOW DEMAND

DIFFICULT

Use this template to consider the ease and demand in different markets. This will help

you to identify your target markets.

Markets which you have placed in this section will be the least attractive as there is low demand and it is a difficult market to

work in

Markets which you have placed in this section will be the most attractive as

demand is high and it is an easy market


The Marketing Mix

The marketing mix means having the right product/service, at the right price, in the right place with the right promotion . . .

To be effective, you should be adapting the marketing mix for each market. There is not ‘one size fits all’!

For example . . . .

❖ A Spanish family may want a Catholic school which accepts pupils for one term. They will not be interested in the destination of leavers.

❖ A Chinese family may want a school with ‘good’ academic results with a high number of pupils going on to ‘top’ universities.

❖ A Brazilian family may want a school which will accept their 15 year old to join in January to do a pre-IB course. They want a less traditional environment without uniform and easy access to a big city.

❖ A Nigerian family may want a school with strong Christian values which is safe and secure and doesn’t have easy access to the town centre.

Would your school have the right ‘fit’ with each of these? For those that do, what would you communicate with each to highlight the fit?


The Marketing Mix

When considering target markets, what does your school offer in terms of the ‘product’ and ‘price’.

What is the ‘fit’ with different markets?

When it comes to promotion, you need to understand the ‘drivers’ in different markets to know what to communicate to families and agents in terms of what is valuable to them. Your message needs to be tailored to the needs of the market.

For example, you will need to ‘turn up the volume’ on certain aspects that are valuable to a market: courses, ethos, religion, results, location, pastoral care, destinations of leavers, flexibility, activities, specialisms, etc.

How can you convey these messages via your promotional tools? Consider case studies and tailored leaflets for different markets.


A reminder of the international pupil data from the ISC

The following slides are a reminder of the ISC data to help you consider demand and market trends in international markets.

ISC Census 2018 - made available on Friday 27th April 2018 - Analysis of the number of non-British pupils at ISC schools with parents living overseas

Note that the information is gathered from school sin January and therefore does not reflect the short stay students who join at other times of the year.


12,634The number of NEW non-British pupils at UK schools with parents living overseas.


6.4%The increase in the number of NEW non-British pupils with parents living overseas

compared to last year.

An increase of 750 pupils.


19 Markets are up6 are down

Last year, 6 markets were up and 19 were down


Of all non-British with pupils with parents living overseas

24,246at co-ed schools (85% of all international)

3,099at single sex girls’ schools (11% of all international)

1,168at single sex boys’ schools (4% of all international)


Type of school attended by non-British pupils whose parents live overseas

COED Schools: 24,246(85%)

GIRLS' Schools: 3099(11%)

BOYS Schools: 1168(4%)


Markets which are UP 2017 2018 % change Change in pupil nos

Mainland China 2881 3174 10.2% 293

Hong Kong 1567 1750 11.7% 183

Spain 835 986 18.1% 151

Remainder of Europe non-EEA 369 447 21.1% 78

Middle East 400 438 9.5% 38

Thailand 273 323 18.3% 50

Central and South America 229 307 34.1% 78

Rest of Africa 226 233 3.1% 7

Malaysia 227 229 0.9% 2

France 178 195 9.6% 17

South Korea 149 194 30.2% 45

Central Asia 129 179 38.8% 50

USA 111 150 35.1% 39

Japan 128 149 16.4% 21

India 82 90 9.8% 8

Taiwan 72 79 9.7% 7

Australasia 55 62 12.7% 7

Pakistan, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh 40 44 10% 4

Ireland 17 29 70.6% 12

Changes to NEW non-British pupils whose parents live overseas


Changes to NEW non-British pupils whose parents live overseas

Markets which are down 2017 2018 % change Change in pupil nos

Germany 1103 1047 -5.1% -56

Remainder of Europe EEA 1067 934 -12.5% -133

Russia 604 520 -13.9% -84

Remainder of Far East 533 485 -9.0% -48

Nigeria 307 292 -4.9% -15

Rest of North America 61 57 -6.6% -4


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

7297

4905

2270

18171699

1430

1068 1003 910 862 852

563 498 467 456 427 404 392 363238 157 129 117 101 88

The TOTAL number of non-British pupils with parents living overseas - ALL SCHOOLS

Comparative data2018: 27,9392017: 26,980Increase of 3.6% and 959 pupils

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

3230

1759

10571000 954

535 492 463 452

330 330 302244 230 200 195 181 156 154

92 81 62 60 45 30

The number of NEW non-British pupils with parents living overseas - ALL SCHOOLS



0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

6128

3776

2081

16911524

1174985 933

799691 681

485 429 409 390 366 360 330 302208 140 101 100 91 72

The TOTAL number of non-British pupils with parents living overseas - Co-educational Schools



0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

30002794

1419

977887

810

505 465 449 430

292246 241 215 214 185 179 170 136 134

79 78 55 47 41 25

The number of NEW non-British pupils with parents living overseas - Coeducational Schools



0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

928

796

200

166

133 130113

8168 60 55 52 46 44 38 35 31 27 20 20 13 12 12 10 9

The TOTAL number of non-British pupils with parents living overseas - Girls' Schools


Comparative data2018: 3,0992017: 3,039Increase of 2% and 60 pupils

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350 341

235

126

57 56 53 52

2923 21 19 18 17 13 13 11 11 10 9 7 6 4 4 3 3

The number of NEW non-British pupils with parents living overseas - Girls' Schools


Comparative data:2018: 1,1412017: 1,025Increase of 11.3% and 116 pupils

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350 333

241

90

6256

45 4133 31 31 30 29

2318 18 17 15 15

10 8 7 6 4 4 1

The TOTAL number of non-British pupils with parents living overseas - Boys' Schools


Comparative data2018: 1,1682017: 1,204Decrease of -3% and 36 pupils

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

105

95

64

2724

1412

10 9 9 8 7 6 6 5 4 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 0

The number of NEW non-British pupils with parents living overseas – Boys’ Schools


Comparative data2018: 4202017: 343Increase of 22.4% and 77 pupils

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400378

305

118

96

80

65

4738 38

32 29 25 21 16 14 11 10 10 8 8 5 3 2 1 0

The TOTAL number of non-British pupils with parents living overseas - Prep Schools


Comparative data2018: 1,359 pupils2017: 1,223 pupilsIncrease of 11.1% and 136 pupils

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

307

133

61

3631 28

23 21 1813 11 10 9 8 6 5 5 4 2 2 2 1 0 0 0

The number of NEW non-British pupils with parents living overseas - Prep Schools


Comparative Data2018: 7352017: 648Increase of 13.4% and 87 pupils

Suzanne Rowse, Director, BBSNEmail: [email protected]: 01892 267500

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