Changes In VET Legislation: What Does This Mean For Your Registered Training Organisation?

Accessing VET student loans has got a lot tougher. This is designed to stop the exploitation that was rife within the training industry. Australian Education Minister Simon Birmingham recently announced that the “tight caps on course loans and tough entry requirements for providers are deliberately designed to stop scams.”

Under the new revamped program, providers looking to access VET student loans will face rigorous assessments, including their relationship with the industry, student completion rates, employment outcomes of their courses and their track record as an educational institution. In addition providers will not be able to directly solicit prospective students via cold calling.

So what does this mean for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs)? With the actions of brokers seriously limited, RTOs’ student leads are going to be seriously reduced unless they take immediate action. 

New ways to attract prospective students

Traditional media channels like print and media are effective but expensive and the cost of digital channels like pay-per-click search campaigns are also high, with few clicks turning into opportunities, let alone customers.

The best way for RTOs to attract, convert, close and delight students is through inbound marketing. Students are just like customers. When they’re considering further training, which is a big investment and a life-changing decision, they like to investigate all the options available. Inbound marketing provides them with the content they need to make the right decision and sign up with the RTO that’s offering it.

Giving your students valuable content for free establishes your RTO as a thought leader in your field, with a genuine interest in the welfare of your students.

Inbound marketing – driving student leads

Inbound marketing uses a strategic approach to attract people who are already looking for your product or service. It engages them with relevant, informative content and guides them down a sales funnel towards a solution. Prospective students and their parents are already actively looking for information about training, which makes them a prime audience for inbound marketing.

According to Gartner, properly executed inbound marketing tactics are 10 times more effective for lead conversion compared to outbound methods. Research from the Annuitas Group supports this, saying nurtured leads make 47% greater purchases compared to non-nurtured leads.

Inbound marketing can be divided up into four steps:

1. Attracting your students: This is where you identify the keywords prospective students may use to find a qualification or course and create related content; this results in increase traffic to your website.
2. Converting your students: Once traffic has been driven to your website, convert interested leads by asking them to exchange information about themselves for the content they’re looking for.
3.   Closing your students: Once the students have submitted their details, guide them down a sales funnel using an automated email workflow that qualifies them according to how they engage with the content. Only leads that are qualified should be passed on to the relevant sales channels to complete their applications.
4.   Delight your students: Interaction with students doesn’t end with a purchase. Your inbound campaign should continue to engage and delight students, turning them into happy customers who pass valuable referrals on to you.

The importance of the right inbound marketing strategy

Content is only one element of inbound marketing. A successful inbound marketing strategy requires you to develop the right marketing mix to reach your prospective students.

The advantages of outsourcing

Your existing staff understand your products, services and customers best. If they are strategic thinkers, they should come up with a solid inbound strategy that produces engaging content. If you do go this route, you need to ensure your chosen staff are not preoccupied with their other work. Failing to give your inbound strategy the right attention will have a direct impact on your bottom line.

Outsourcing your inbound marketing to a company like Lupo Digital allows you to focus on activities that are central to your business goals.

At Lupo Digital we work with Registered Training Organisations that want serious results. Our services include:

• Attracting qualified prospective students: We optimise new and existing content to attract site traffic and increase student awareness with blogging, social media and your website.
• Personalise email and online interactions: We engage prospective students with customised content, unique to their stage in the admission cycle, intended area of study or website activity.
• Speed up your enrolment cycle: We create multiple conversion points to tailor campaigns and shorten the length of time between a prospective student’s first visit and their application submission
• Improve sales information: We automate the hand-off process between marketing and sales to deliver timely and relevant information about prospective students.

To find out more about how digital marketing works for RTOs, download our executive guide to inbound marketing for RTOs.