I'm Shashikant Shah, a digital marketing expert in Kathmandu. I work with colleges, schools, training institutes and study abroad consultancies across Nepal on the part of admissions that happens on a phone screen: the Google search, the Maps listing, the ad, the page and the WhatsApp message that follows. I've worked with Cosmos College of Management and Technology, my prices are published, and because I'm also a software engineer I build the enquiry pages and the tracking myself.

Short answer: digital marketing for education in Nepal is timing plus tracking. Programme and destination pages that match what students type, a Business Profile that looks alive, Google and Meta ads that start before the intake and stop paying for the wrong clicks, and every call and WhatsApp message counted so you know what an enrolment actually costs.

How students and parents choose in Nepal

A parent in Biratnagar types "BBA college in Kathmandu" or "best +2 science college near me". A student in Butwal searches "study in Australia consultancy" and then checks Facebook to see who their friends went with. Both look at the Google rating, the photos and whether anyone answers the phone. That is the whole decision path, and most institutions are invisible for at least half of it.

Timing decides more than budget. Colleges fill seats in the weeks after the SEE and +2 results, so the pages and the ads have to be ready in Jestha and Bhadra, not started then. Consultancies run on intakes, February and July for Australia, April and October for Japan, September for the UK, and the enquiries come months before each one.

The enquiry itself usually arrives on WhatsApp, Viber or a phone call, not a form. If nobody tracks those, the ad account can't learn which campaigns bring real students, and the money goes to whoever clicks, not whoever enrols.

The problems I see most often:

  • A website that lists programmes but has no page a parent would actually search for, like "BBA in Kathmandu" or "IELTS classes in Pokhara".
  • Google Ads set up by a freelancer on broad match, paying for job seekers, scholarship hunters and people looking for a different city.
  • A Google Business Profile with the wrong category, no photos of the campus and reviews from two years ago.
  • Facebook boosts to everyone in Nepal, with no pixel and no idea what an enquiry costs.
  • Enquiries arriving on five phones and a Facebook inbox, with no record of which ones enrolled.

What I do for colleges and consultancies

  • Google Ads: exact and phrase match on the programmes and destinations you actually offer, negatives for jobs, scholarships and free courses, and a landing page per campaign with a WhatsApp button.
  • Local SEO and Business Profile management: the right category, campus photos, current fees and a reply to every review, so "college near me" finds you.
  • SEO: one page per programme or destination in the words students type, with the intake dates, requirements and cost on the page.
  • Meta ads: campaigns to the districts and age groups that enrol, with the pixel and conversions set up so the cost per enquiry is a real number.
  • A fast enquiry path: a page that loads in under two seconds on a phone, a form that goes to your CRM or a Google Sheet, and WhatsApp and Viber buttons that are tracked. I build it myself as part of web development.
  • Automation: an auto reply that answers the first three questions at 11pm, and a sheet that shows which enquiry came from which campaign.

The first 90 days

Days 1 to 30. I look at the intake calendar first, because it decides everything else. Then I fix tracking so every call, WhatsApp click and form is counted, clean up the Business Profile, and pause any ad spend that's going to the wrong people. You get the baseline: what an enquiry costs today.

Days 31 to 60. The programme or destination pages go live, and the ad campaigns are rebuilt around them with the right match types and negatives. Your admissions team gets a one page sheet on how to answer enquiries and log them.

Days 61 to 90. We look at cost per enquiry and, where you can tell me, cost per enrolment, against the baseline. Then the budget moves to what worked before the next intake. You get all of this as a written plan before we start, with what's not included.

Who I've worked with in education

Cosmos College of Management and Technology is on my case studies page under the scope delivered: digital campaigns supporting student enrolment. I don't attach numbers to it, because they weren't tracked to a standard I'd publish.

The published education result is an education consultancy on Google Ads: cost per lead went from NPR 3,500 to NPR 2,100, and leads roughly doubled at an unchanged NPR 300,000 a month spend. It came from an engagement I worked on as part of an agency team, so read it as the account's total, not mine alone. The method is on the case studies page.

What it costs for schools, colleges and consultancies

My prices are published. An audit of your ad account, your pages and your enquiry tracking with a 30 day action plan is USD 249, about NPR 34,000. A four week sprint is USD 899, about NPR 122,000. Ongoing work is USD 1,800 a month, about NPR 245,000. What each one leaves out is on the pricing page. The first thirty minute call is free, and if your intake is too close for anything but ads, I'll say so.

Questions schools, colleges and consultancies ask

Can you get us more admissions this intake?

If the intake is next month, only ads and a fast enquiry page can move the number, and I'll say plainly how much. If it's next year, we have time to build the pages and the profile that bring enquiries without paying for every one. I'll tell you which situation you're in on the first call.

How much should a college or consultancy spend on Google Ads?

Enough for the account to learn, which in my experience is at least NPR 30,000 to 50,000 a month on the ad spend itself, separate from my fee. Below that, Google never sees enough data to improve. The published education result on my case studies page ran at NPR 300,000 a month, so the numbers scale with how many seats you need to fill.

Do you handle Facebook and TikTok for us?

I set up the pages, the pixel, the audiences and the campaigns, and I show your admissions team what to post. I don't run daily content, and I'll say so up front. For a college, the students themselves are usually the best content.

We're a consultancy outside Kathmandu. Does this still work?

Yes. A consultancy in Butwal or Chitwan competes locally on Google Maps and nationally on Facebook. Most of my work is remote and in your own accounts, and I travel for the first meeting when it helps.

Will you promise a number of enquiries?

No. I'll give you a written 90 day plan with a baseline and the numbers we watch, and every month you'll see what changed in your own Google Ads and Analytics. If a channel isn't paying for itself, you'll hear it from me first.

When are you not the right person?

If you want cheap boosted posts and a monthly number under what one intake is worth to you, I'm the wrong fit. If you want someone who works only in education and has never touched a website, also wrong. I build the pages and the tracking, and I'll say when a channel isn't worth your money.

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Tell me about your college or consultancy

Send me your website and your next intake date. I'll look at your ads, your Business Profile and how enquiries reach you, and tell you the one thing I'd fix first, whether or not you hire me.

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