Think of a business you trust. Why do you trust them, and therefore invest in them? Usually, your answer would in some way touch on reputation, and longevity.
Trusted businesses tend to provide a great product and/or service, consistently.
These factors are no different for the education industry.
How do we maintain a solid, long term growth in the educational industry?
There are two ways to succeed as an education business; one has a short-term focus, the other a long-term one:
Short Term Success
Short term success is not always difficult. In the short term, a new education business may rely heavily on marketing and sales. Promoting new courses, new products, a new way of learning can all attract attention and gain enrolments at the start.
However, this is not necessarily going to work forever and not for all learners -
- Some learners want to see established education providers.
- Education providers who have experience and knowledge on how to offer education services.
- Providers who are experts in their fields.
In the past, education providers needed a solid understanding of their subject and how people learn. Today, there is a lot of focus on algorithms, marketing spend and social media profile.
Is that shift a good thing?
Well, in the short term, perhaps it is a good thing. There is no doubt that this kind of focus will get students
- as long as the sales team is effective
- the education provider knows what the student
So, absolutely you need to pay attention to those areas.
However, you only have to do a search for reviews on the internet to see the education providers who go out of business OR get bad reviews. Then -
- Students can’t reach their education provider
- They do not get the help they need
- Staff lose their jobs
- The education provider may go out of business
So, whilst education businesses may be able to make money in the short term, they need to offer good, high quality services in the long term.
This doesn’t mean that education providers need to be around for decades to be effective, but it does mean that they need great products, good service and experience and knowledge to do well in the long term.
Sustaining Growth in the Long term
Education has changed radically!
For an education business to sustain their growth into the long term, there are many things to consider. For example –
- High quality tutor support – Students want a tutor who knows their stuff. They want someone who is enthusiastic and keen about their subject. They want someone who will answer their questions well, clearly and quickly.
- High quality administrative support – Tutors are not the only essential members of staff in an educational establishment. Administrative staff are the backbone of any business. They provide students with their courses, answer queries, pass on academic queries to tutors, deal with enrolments and keep the organisation functioning well.
- Great courses – Education providers need great courses to be able to sell. A shoddy, poor course may sell initially, but if bad reviews start to come in, eventually the sales will dry out. So high quality, well written courses are essential.
- Up to date information – The courses should also be up to date. Things change all of the time – theories, research, skills required, new professions, new knowledge. Courses need to adapt to take account of this. For example, a course on child development from 50 years ago will probably be very different today. Therefore, education providers need to ensure that their courses are regularly reviewed and up to date.
To sustain growth an education provider therefore has to
- Provide excellent learning materials
- Outstanding customer service
- Grow their reputation at a regular and manageable rate.
- An understanding of educational theory and how education has changed.
- An in depth understanding of the areas in which they offer courses
- Knowledge of market, analytics and social media.
AND have a great reputation, gained from offering effective, enthusiastic and well-organised student support.
Marketing and IT: So important, but don’t forget the psychology!
Marketing, knowledge of social media and a clever IT team is important to get students and simplify and streamline education.
Actual learning is more complicated. A knowledge of how people learn, how people communicate and how to provide effective learning is also important.
Complex repetition rather than a learn-by-rote approach. When a course is written, the focus is not limited to short term memory where a student remembers information long enough to be tested on it. A great course of learning teaches a person how to actively learn, and the material is examined and experienced from a range of perspectives.