YOU DON'T NEED MORE ADVERTISING, YOU NEED MORE PAYING STUDENTS

It is generally accepted that most advertising expense is carried by agents; only big schools (international chains with huge marketing budget) can afford to advertise widely on local markets. Even more – we have to admit that even advertising in specialized language travel magazines is often useless, because the audience of such magazines consists of the same well-established agencies that participate in annual Workshops and have already enough partner schools. It's hard to imagine that a potential student from remote Siberia will obtain a magazine like this somewhere to choose a language school, or that a tourist agency new to educational market will find this magazine in their mailbox. Such advertising is useless unless you offer something extraordinary like “This summer we offer 5% points commission more compared to other schools!” However a lot of schools advertise in such magazines on a regular basis – just because everybody does. It means that sometimes you may even cut your advertising budget without any negative consequences.

In general, language schools do not need advertising on the Russian market because it is technically difficult and expensive, with no tangible results. However there may be some exceptions.

Let’s take a situation when you have enough well-established local agents, but, for some reason, they do not send as many students as you expect them to. First of all, you have to check whether your services are competitive compared to other schools (and not only in terms of types of courses and accommodation options but also considering commission rates etc. – see Ideal School) However, if everything seems to be OK, you may need to make some effort in promoting YOUR SCHOOL, and not just helping your local agents to promote “English in Britain”, because in most cases “Britain” does not necessarily mean “your school”. There are some instances when advertising in local media may be quite sensible.

Special offers and discounts for students
Please keep in mind that your offers of “3 weeks for the price of 2” or similar which are very attractive for your students might not be so promising to your agents (see What About Special Offers?)and might not be advertised the way you expect. However if you present your offer to general public (and give your agents’ contact details), students coming to their office will specifically ask for your school, so that agents should send them to you even if they are not happy with your discounts' decreasing their commission.

Competitions, lotteries, grants
may be offered via a local agency sharing your advertising expense if you are ready to offer the main prize – 2 weeks of free tuition, for example. Boarding schools may attract attention to their programmes by offering a scholarship of up to 50% (or even 100%) to the winner of a competition. This could also be a chance to get some brilliant Russian all-rounders and to get a better place in league tables.

Presentations, seminars, fairs, interviews
Any presentation or seminar you are planning to arrange in Russia inevitably requires advertising in local media – the best way to do it is to get recommendations from your reputable local agent regarding newspapers etc.

Executive, specialized courses etc
may be advertised by direct-mail to local companies – of course you would need a reliable database with addresses and contact details. One good option is distributing your brochures and leaflets at specialized exhibitions and fairs (for example, medical, industrial etc.) without having to participate in such exhibitions personally.

Expensive boarding schools, academic programmes
Expensive programmes require more advertising. Russian parents who can afford a boarding school in Britain or in the USA for their child, always ask for the best schools. Unfortunately their knowledge of educational market is usually limited to a couple of “big names” like Eaton, Rugby or Harrow. It is recommended to place detailed advertorials in local newspapers describing your country's educational system in general, the history of your school, universities’ entry requirements etc. rather than placing small ads. Potential students’ parents will be more interested to attend your seminar in case they treat your promotional article as information and not merely advertising.

Promotion in remote parts of Russia
This is one of very few possibilities (and sometimes the only one) to reach your potential students in smaller Russian towns where you don’t have any agents or representatives – and might never find any. Advertising in local newspapers may be quite inexpensive – for example, you could place a small advertisement in several dozens of local newspapers for 100 GBP only (for all of them, not for each one). Of course it does not make any sense to advertise there unless you can offer a Russian language website address and contact details of your representative who will guide your prospective student through enrollment process.