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Industry Overview
The education and training industry is a broad category encompassing job-specific certification, professional training, as well as classes emphasizing self-fulfillment, leisure and hobbies. Demand for such training is often driven by employment trends in the medical, technological and manufacturing industries. Major services in this industry include technical and trade schools – accounting for almost half of the industry’s revenue – as well as business schools and computer training. Other industry services include fine arts schools, sports and recreation instruction, exam preparation and driving schools. This industry’s sales and marketing initiatives often revolve around high school recruitment programs using videos, presentations, and referral incentive programs to attract students. Other common marketing programs include TV, careers fairs, open houses, and print marketing.
Notably, in addition to teaching technical skills, many education services are now heavily invested in Internet-based distance learning by way of “virtual classrooms.” This development enables students to view streaming media and converse with the instructor and one’s peers through instant messaging.
Business Challenges
The educational sector is one in which governments, countries and employers rely on to shape the future workforce. As such, the high expectations generate several business challenges:
- Vulnerability to Federal Funding Cutbacks: Although government funding only represents a small portion of the industry’s revenue, some educational institutions rely heavily on these loan programs to sustain student enrolment. Cutbacks to such programs can significantly affect the industry’s profitability.
- Internet / Other Media Competition: More than ever before, paid in-class and online education is rivalled by free or low-cost instruction from the Internet, DVDs and computer software. Although this fails to provide students with legitimate credentials, this type of training is often more convenient and less costly than structured online or in-class instruction.
- Poor Publicity: Legitimate educational institutions must battle the harm caused by the growing number of unscrupulous institutions that offer instant certifications and degrees. Consequentially, educational institutions are labelled as “diploma mills.”.
- Aging Workforce: Many educational instructors are rapidly approaching retirement, thereby creating a hiring burden on educational institutions. Often schools are finding it more and more difficult to recruit qualified instructors to instruct the next generation of students.
Industry Opportunities
- Online Education: Educational institutions are only scratching the surface in the opportunity to blend in-class and online classes. In the United States alone, almost 5 million students are enrolled in at least one online course.
- Institutional Partnerships: Career educators are increasingly partnering/ integrating with high school programs. This proves to be effective in lowering high school dropout rates and offers a critical alternative to technically minded students who are not interested in traditional liberal arts in their post secondary education.
- International Expansion: More than ever before, schools are recruiting internationally and establishing more overseas campuses. Likewise, recruiting international students for online programs poses additional growth for
the industry.
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Digital Marketing Trends
- Customer Acquisition via Social Media
- Twitter Usage Among Higher Educational Professionals
- LinkedIn Usage Among Educational Professionals
Digital Marketing Opportunities
- Immediate Areas of Focus for Social and Mobile
- Popular Pay-Per-Click Keywords
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