Choosing a school is one of the biggest decisions a family will make. Parents want to feel confident that they understand a school’s values, community and the opportunities it can offer their child.

We have extensive experience in education recruitment, working with colleges and education providers to plan and deliver campaigns that attract prospective students and influence decision-makers. We bring that experience, alongside our data-led approach, to independent schools looking to strengthen pupil recruitment.

Whether you’re promoting an upcoming open day, building awareness in a new catchment or supporting longer-term recruitment, we help make sure your message reaches the people most likely to be interested, at the right time and in the right places.

More than just advertising

A successful campaign isn’t simply about being seen by as many people as possible. It’s about being seen by the right people.

Effective recruitment starts with understanding your market. We can analyse existing student locations, catchment patterns and audience profiles to identify where recruitment is strongest, where new opportunities may exist and which geographic areas should be prioritised.

We use this insight to understand the audiences most likely to consider your school or institution and determine how best to reach them. This means media budgets can be focused where they have the greatest potential, creating campaigns that are relevant, efficient and measurable.

From initial awareness and research through to an open-day visit, enquiry and application, we create a joined-up media journey that keeps you front of mind when important decisions are being made.

What we do

We plan and buy media across a wide range of channels, selecting the right combination according to your audience, objectives and budget:

• Paid search & Performance Max – capturing active consideration and intent
• Paid social & digital – building awareness and driving action
• OOH & digital OOH – creating visibility within priority catchments
• Radio, Spotify & digital audio – reaching parents and students in relevant environments
• Display & video – building consideration and reconnecting with interested audiences
• Local media & partnerships – establishing a presence within key communities
• Direct mail & door drops – highly targeted geographic recruitment
• Audience profiling & catchment analysis – identifying where recruitment opportunities exist
• Tracking, optimisation & reporting – understanding performance and improving ROI

Every plan is tailored to your organisation, your objectives, your location and the audiences you need to reach.

We also understand that education marketing teams are often balancing admissions, open events, communications, content and day-to-day priorities. Red Kettle can provide the additional specialist resource you need, from planning and managing a complete recruitment campaign to supporting your team during particularly busy periods.

From awareness to application

An open day is often where interest turns into a real connection, but that relationship starts long before someone walks through the gates.

We help build awareness ahead of key recruitment periods, reach parents and prospective students while they’re actively researching their options and give them compelling reasons to take the next step.

By connecting activity across different channels and stages of the decision-making journey, we can support recruitment from initial awareness and consideration through to open-day registration, enquiry and application.

And the learning doesn’t stop when the campaign finishes. We use campaign performance and audience insight to inform future activity, helping each campaign work harder than the last.

Clear advice. Effective campaigns. Measurable results.

As an independent media planning and buying agency, we’re not tied to particular media owners, platforms or channels. We recommend media based on your audience, your objectives and your budget.

Our focus is simple: putting your budget where it has the greatest opportunity to influence recruitment.

We combine strategic thinking, honest advice and strong media relationships with extensive experience in education marketing to create campaigns that deliver.

And we believe reporting should go further than impressions and clicks. We monitor and optimise campaigns throughout their lifetime and, where tracking allows, measure the actions that really matter, including open-day registrations, enquiries, applications and other meaningful conversions.

Planning your next recruitment campaign?

Whether you’re preparing for an open day, looking to grow pupil or student numbers, exploring a new catchment or reviewing how effectively your current media budget is working, we’d be happy to talk through your plans.

Let’s start a conversation.

Integrated recruitment campaign in action

For a long-standing, multi-campus education client, Red Kettle planned and managed an integrated multimedia Apply & Enrol campaign, using a combination of channels to build awareness, reach prospective students across the recruitment journey and drive action during the critical enrolment period.

The results below represent one digital element of the wider campaign, demonstrating the level of engagement achieved:

87K Impressions | 12.9K Clicks | 14.78% CTR | 10.6K Tracked Conversions

This element of the campaign achieved a 14.78% click-through rate and 10,600 tracked conversion actions, demonstrating strong engagement from prospective students during a key recruitment period.

Part of a bigger recruitment picture

Our approach goes beyond individual media channels. By combining audience and location insight with a coordinated mix of digital and offline media, each channel has a defined role – from building awareness and consideration to capturing active intent and encouraging applications and enrolment.

For this client, that ongoing approach has supported a period of sustained recruitment growth, with total enrolments increasing from 5,135 in 2024 to 5,508 in 2026 – an increase of 7.3% over two years.