On this page 10 sections
- The short answer
- Step 1: Start with seats, not with ads
- Step 2: Fix your dates and plan backwards
- Step 3: Choose two or three channels
- Step 4: Check your claims before you print
- Step 5: Build one page and one follow up plan
- Step 6: Track every enquiry to its source
- Weekly review checklist
- Mistakes to avoid
- FAQs
In short
To plan an admission marketing campaign for a coaching institute, start from the seats you need to fill and work backwards. Fix the batch date, work out how many enquiries you need, choose two or three channels, check every claim against the advertising rules, and track each enquiry until the student enrols.
A good admission campaign is planned backwards. You begin with the seats you need to fill and the date the batch starts. Then you work out how many enquiries you need, where they will come from, and who will follow up. In this guide we share the six steps we use when we plan admission marketing for coaching institutes in Delhi NCR.
The short answer
Decide how many seats you need to fill and by which date.
Work out how many enquiries that needs, using your own past numbers.
Choose two or three channels and do them well.
Check every claim in your ads before anything is printed or posted.
Build one clear page and one follow up plan.
Track every enquiry from the first contact to the fee receipt.
Step 1: Start with seats, not with ads
Many institutes start by asking how much to spend. We ask a different question first: how many students do you need in this batch?
Here is an example with made up numbers, only to show the method.
The new batch has 60 seats and 20 are already filled by early admissions. You need 40 more.
Last year, about 1 in 5 families who visited for counselling took admission. So you need about 200 visits.
About 1 in 3 enquiries came for a visit. So you need about 600 enquiries.
Your rates will be different. Take them from your own register or CRM for the last season. If you have no records, start recording now. Our guide on how to track an admission enquiry from first contact to enrolment shows a simple way to do it.
Step 2: Fix your dates and plan backwards
Write the batch start date at the bottom of a page and plan upwards. A ten week plan works for most batches.
Weeks 10 and 9: prepare. Update your Google Business Profile, build the batch page, write follow up messages and set up tracking.
Weeks 8 to 5: bring enquiries. Run search ads, social ads and school or locality activity. Call every enquiry on the same day.
Weeks 4 to 2: meet families. Hold demo classes, a parent seminar or a scholarship test. Invite every open enquiry.
Last 2 weeks: close. Focus on families who visited but did not decide. Share the batch timetable and the last date for admission.
Match these weeks to the exam cycle of your students. Check the official calendars of the exam bodies before you fix dates, because exam and result dates decide when families start looking.
Step 3: Choose two or three channels
A small team cannot run eight channels well. We suggest you pick the few that match how your students search.
Students who are already searching
Students and parents search for coaching near them on Google and Google Maps. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, so a complete and accurate profile matters more than tricks. Start with our Google Business Profile checklist for coaching institutes in Delhi. A small search campaign for your course and locality can sit on top of this.
Parents who are not searching yet
Social ads, school tie ups and seminars reach parents before they start comparing institutes. These channels need more follow up, so plan your counsellor time before you spend. Our performance marketing team can help you size this.
Enquiries you already have
Old enquiries, past students and their siblings are the cheapest source. Send them a short, useful message about the new batch. You will find ready messages in our guide to WhatsApp follow up messages for coaching admission enquiries.
Step 4: Check your claims before you print
Coaching advertising in India now has clear rules. On 13 November 2024 the Central Consumer Protection Authority issued guidelines to prevent misleading advertisements in the coaching sector. According to the official release:
False claims about courses, duration, faculty, fees, refund policy, selection rates and rankings are not allowed.
Promises of guaranteed selection or assured admission are not allowed.
A student's name, photo or testimonial needs written consent, and that consent must be taken after the student's success.
The advertisement must show the student's name, rank and course details with the photo.
False urgency, such as untrue claims of limited seats, is not allowed.
The same release says the authority had issued 45 notices to coaching centres and imposed penalties of Rs 54,60,000 on 18 institutes by that date. Our advice is simple: keep proof for every number you print, and remove any line you cannot prove.
Step 5: Build one page and one follow up plan
Every ad, pamphlet and message should lead to one clear page for the batch. The page should state the course, who it is for, the faculty, the timings, the place and one next step. If you are not sure whether you need a full site, read landing page vs website for a small business.
Then write the follow up plan before the first enquiry arrives:
Who calls a new enquiry, and within how many minutes.
What message goes out if the call is not answered.
When the second and third follow ups happen.
When an enquiry is closed as not interested.
Step 6: Track every enquiry to its source
You can only improve what you can see. For online campaigns, add tags to every link. Google's help page on campaign links says you should always use utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign. For offline sources, add one question to the enquiry form: "How did you hear about us?"
Keep the source on the student record until the fee is paid. At the end of the season you will know your cost per admission for each channel, not only your cost per enquiry.
Weekly review checklist
Enquiries this week, by source.
Enquiries called on the same day.
Counselling visits booked and completed.
Admissions, and fee collected.
Spend by channel.
One thing to stop and one thing to do more next week.
Mistakes to avoid
Starting ads before the page and the follow up plan are ready.
Judging a channel by cost per enquiry and ignoring admissions.
Using result claims that you cannot prove with documents.
Leaving enquiries in a phone or a register where the team cannot see them.
Need a plan for your next batch? Book a free admission marketing call with Sprite Genix and we will map your seats, dates and channels with you.
