It feels like just yesterday that we launched this series.

We started it with one goal: To give education marketers access to reliable, relevant resources.

We’ve covered everything from Lead Generation to the Psychology behind the human decision-making process. This month, we’re taking it back to basics by dissecting the enrollment funnel.

Traditional sales funnels are typically short and straightforward: you create a product, sell it to customers, and make a purchase. The enrollment funnel for (higher) education marketing is much longer and more complex: you have to convince potential students that college is worth it, that their chosen college is the right fit for them, and that they can maximize their experience by attending.

This is what you can expect from this month’s edition of (Ed)vertise:

✒️Blog post: Redefining the Traditional Sales Funnel: Why should you choose the flywheel instead?

📔Free Ebook: Dissecting the Enrollment Funnel: A guide for education marketers

🤞🏽Infographic: Past, present, future: An overview of the flywheel

Too busy to read the resources? We’ve made our ebooks more accessible by launching (Pod)vertise - an ed marketing-specific podcast!

<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/0n4ViuerZGYv5MOoZlID2r?si=d14ff6f7ff734f6a" class="finsweet-edvertise-cta" target=“_blank”>Listen on Spotify</a>

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The enrollment funnel is longer because it has to be.

Our students are making decisions that will impact their lives—and often the lives of their families—for many years to come. They need a chance to learn about our institution, compare us with others, and decide whether we're the right fit for them.

This means that education marketers have a lot of room to be creative in how they approach enrollment. They can't just wait for interested students to come to them—they must find them. And once they've found them, they have to convince those students that their school is the best choice for them. 

Students don’t convert overnight. The sales cycle of the average student can take as long as a year. It’s important to remember that you’re selling them their future - not a product that they can return if they are not satisfied.

Successful enrollment relies on the right mix of marketing and product development.

There are a lot of moving pieces in online marketing, but all the moving parts need to be working together in tandem—not working against each other.

<a href="https://www.pink-orange.co.uk/blog/funnel-to-flywheel" class="finsweet-edvertise-cta" target=“_blank”>Read more in the blog</a>

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The traditional sales funnel is a tried and true method for bringing new customers into the fold.

It's simple, works well, and is easy to use as a framework for generating leads and closing sales. 

That said - today’s generation of students is more informed. They have more options. And they know it!

Put simply, to compete with the needs of a new generation of students, marketers need to refine and optimize their approach.

The flywheel approach allows you to do just that by helping you focus on the entire enrollment process from start to finish: It's a holistic approach to enrollment that recognizes the value of all touchpoints in the process.

This is an iterative model for thinking about how to improve your enrollment process. It begins with a high-level view of the entire process and then breaks it down into smaller, more manageable pieces. The goal is to identify which components are working well—and which ones aren't—so that you can implement changes that will yield better results over time. 

Like most things in life, the enrollment funnel has evolved. It's not a simple step-by-step process anymore.

At its core, using a flywheel approach is all about creating momentum and driving growth for your business over the long term.

<a href="https://www.pink-orange.co.uk/subscriber-resources?submissionGuid=fbc61388-744c-4846-a65f-0b312dad13af" class="finsweet-edvertise-cta" target=“_blank”>Read more in the ebook</a>

What does the funnel mean for your prospects? 

Funnels are excellent for attracting customers, but you have to consider how your customer base will help grow your business. What happens after a prospect enters the funnel?

They’re the outcome — nothing more, nothing less. All of the energy you spent acquiring that customer is wasted, leaving you at square one.

Unlike the funnel, which is designed to transmit energy efficiently in one direction, the flywheel can store and release that same amount of power repeatedly without losing momentum. This makes it an ideal tool for capturing—and repeating—the kind of steady growth most schools are looking for these days.

The amount of energy spinning objects store depends on how fast it spins, the amount of friction between their parts and other objects, and their size. Think about train wheels or car tires—they store kinetic energy by rolling over rocks or potholes at high speeds.

This is especially true when considering how current students and their families can provide resources for your organization.

The funnel is a one-off deal. It has a beginning, middle, and end—and it relies on absolute cooperation from your prospects.

The flywheel is different. It's not a single burst of activity; it's an ongoing process that keeps going after the initial investment has been made.

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Until next time,

Your Pink Orange Team

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P.S. 

If you've ever tried something new, you know - the trend adoption kind, you'll know that it's never a bump-free ride. How about a chat with a few ed marketing experts to preemptively plan your approach?

<a href="https://www.pink-orange.co.uk/contact" class="finsweet-edvertise-cta" target=“_blank”>Let’s chat</a>