Markets to target and how to tackle them: the English UK marketing conference
Making the most of data, AI and changing markets were among the major themes of the English UK marketing conference held in London at the end of September.
ELT marketing staff from all over the UK attended the event, making the most of networking with colleagues whilst gaining helpful insights and guidance.
>> View the Marketing Conference video
Highlights included:
Bespoke programmes for students on Youth Mobility Scheme visas
In the panel discussion on the Youth Mobility Scheme, Hayato Sukonju, of IAE Global, said there was demand in Japan and Korea to use the extra YMS places, but students were worried about their English skills. Hayato suggested language schools capture the demand by offering specific programmes.
Courses such as paid internships were received positively, and students also wanted to know more about UK culture. 'Japanese students want to get work experience in the UK and enjoy the lifestyle,' he said.
Hayato suggested providing more testimonials and comments to help prospective students consider their options. He added that work experience in the UK is the main focus of interest for Korean students.
Shoko Doherty of Celtic English Academy nd chair of English UK said they offered CV writing and interview workshops. Japanese and Korean students found these helpful came from a far more formal culture where people did not just walk into a café with a CV and ask for a job. Some places in Wales were desperate for staff and hiring on a basis similar to apprenticeships for six months, paying the real living wage. She said it was important to manage expectations and provide support. James Herbertson of Bayswater Education said students worked in the hospitality sector and would get a job before moving to something more aligned with their career. A student community was created to share tips. It was about upskilling them to have soft skills.
Summing up, English UK's Huan Japes hoped the session had inspired delegates to think about developing programmes which could be sold to Japanese and Korean students.
AI and marketing, being responsible and understanding limitations
Richard said the future was in diversification and emphasising what is different about your school:
'We have to stop spamming. Discoverability is more important than promotion. Mass content creation will not help." SEO was still vital and in future websites would look more like Wikipedia as AI was hungry for information, and having that better codified would bring people further down the purchase funnel.
In future, video would dominate and pages would be long with lots of information. He concluded: "Maintain your marketing integrity while everyone else is losing their s**t to AI.'
Toju Duke of Diverse AI said it was of great importance to understand the challenges faced by AI and use AI systems responsibly to boost sales and customer retention. Challenges included social inequalities, disinformation, privacy violations and data leakages. Language centres using chatbots needed to ensure people knew they were interacting with them, state that responses might not always be accurate and provide a feedback mechanism to improve them.
Short-form video: always create for TikTok first
Herbert Gerzer of Lurn Media urged marketers to diversity their content and always create for TikTok first, repurposing for other channels. 'Every language school needs to become a media company,' he said. The three rules for content were: Entertain, Educate and Inspire. Formats included organic day-in-the-life stories, podcast videos and interviews. Design the first frame first, and always for sound off.
Recruiting students from China in the post-pandemic era
Chief executive Jodie Gray said China Roadshow bookings showed there was an enormous demand and it was important to think carefully about how to take advantage.
Grace Zhu of Bonard said parents wanted a reliable agency and many would do their own research online. Safety was the most important factor and parents were interested in what a student would gain from the experience. The market was more price sensitive now.
Niel Pama of ES London said attending the China Roadshow post-pandemic had been a revelation. 'If you don't go, you won't know… you have to go yourself and ask yourself what is the why, why are they coming to the UK. It has to fulfil something. They are not coming for a good time and the experience.' He said brand was also important so tying in with a university was helpful.
Tregarran Percival of UKLC said the agents were different to pre-2019: they were more traditional travel agents. It was important to be diligent and use WeChat the way the Chinese did.
Understanding source markets for ELT globally
Patrik Pavlacic of BONARD talked about the tracking of eight major ELT destinations. He said pressure by governments was reshaping student flows and increasingly one destination grew at the expense of others. Transnational education and increased quality of local provision were also making a difference.
Presenting a power ranking of 120 source markets, he said for the first time Colombia was the largest student week market, followed by Brazil and Japan remaining the third largest and China in fourth. Italy was highest ranked for recovery in Europe but the UK had fierce competition from Ireland and Malta for students.
'Using this information is key to understanding where there is room for growth,' he said.
Looking at individual regions, he showed that 18% of all African student weeks were in the UK which meant there were possibilities there. The UK also needed to position itself better in Latin America thanks to growing demand. 'This is homework for UK ELT providers to improve the situation and make the best of the market share. The situation in Australia and Canada is going to open up opportunities to compete,' he said.
Diversity in ELT marketing and understanding representation and tokenism
Hannah Youell of International House World Organisation talked about helping people change their behaviours by making them feel seen and included. She made sure everyone left the room with a better understanding of the words 'representation' and 'tokenism', providing actionable steps to improve practice.
>> English UK's upcoming events and conferences
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