Marketing Your School
Marketing your school is essential in today’s competitive educational environment. The good news is that there are so many effective ways to do it—you just need to get started. So, here are 51 ideas to get you moving in the right direction.
If we were to tell you just one thing that private schools do right that most public schools don’t bother to do, it would be to market their school’s differentiators. Maybe public schools see themselves as ubiquitous and feel they don’t offer anything different than every other public school in the country. However, I’m pretty sure that isn’t true.
October is Red Ribbon Month, and schools typically celebrate Red Ribbon Week during the last week of October. This year, Red Ribbon Week is October 23–31. Whether your school pulls out all the stops for Red Ribbon Week or you’re throwing together a last-minute plan, don’t miss the opportunity to market your school.
Whether or not it’s a conscious effort, we seek to imitate people we admire or view as successful. This carries over into the business world as well. While careful not to infringe on anyone’s copyrights, we look to others for inspiration. When you undertake a website design, do you look at other school websites to see what they are doing? So how about seeking inspiration for your school marketing approach too?
Whether you’re managing school marketing for a public or private school, chances are you would like to grow your enrollment. More than a monetary investment, your school is an investment of time and trust for the families you serve. So what better way to show other parents what a great school you have than to let them hear it from other parents?
Foundations are essential for buildings, organizations, relationships, and yes, marketing plans.
As we make our resolution to market our school, the first step I suggest is aligning your school values to your school marketing agenda. Because this is such an essential marketing tip, I’d like to help you with this step. Let’s work together to lay the groundwork for marketing your school by defining your school values, mission, and stakeholders.
If you’re hashing out marketing and school public relations on your own, then a full-blown strategic communications plan can feel overly complicated and time-consuming. Sometimes looking at complex processes in different ways can help with understanding and executing and, thereby, simplifying the process. In this blog, let’s look at your school marketing plan like a roadmap—complete with simple, stops along the way to help you reach your goal.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of information you have to absorb each day? Beginning to think you are merely roadkill on the side of the information superhighway? Are you inundated with far more information coming in than you can assimilate? Well, you are not alone.
Marketing is usually a word used by for-profit businesses and shunned by educators. Most of us don’t enjoy being “marketed” to, so we don’t like the thought of having to market ourselves when we have dedicated our lives to one of service. We might feel we should be exempt from all that nasty marketing/sales stuff. But, we may need to rethink this!
No matter what kind of school you run—public school, private school, charter school, or faith-based school—these three pillars of an effective marketing plan should support your school communications. These elements will not only help you transition throughout the year from one focus to the next, but they’ll bring all your efforts together to strengthen your school brand and messaging and improve your public relations.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and means that you put some strategy and techniques into your school website management to get free online traffic from unpaid (organic) results.
Your school website should be the hub of communications for your school. We understand when complications arise—like ADA compliance—some schools would like to throw the towel in and give up on their online presence altogether. But in today's mobile world and climate of school choice, you cannot ignore your school website—especially if your school is struggling.
School choice doesn’t necessarily mean that public schools have to suffer. One elementary school in Queen Creek, Arizona, is setting an excellent example of how to succeed and excel in a school choice environment. Even if your state is not a school choice state at this time, there is something to learn from this public school that is stealing enrollments from charter schools.
“The very things that held ya down are gonna carry you up and up and up.”
These profound words were said to Dumbo by Timothy Q. Mouse when he was encouraging him to fly. They may also apply to the possible changes with the incoming Trump administration regarding School Choice.
Marketing is a key communications function for schools, and it’s one that is often underutilized or sometimes completely ignored.
Because we think school marketing needs to be a priority this year (and every year), here are three steps that will help you not only make but keep this new year resolution!
There are lots of reasons people decide to do things themselves instead of outsourcing or hiring a trained professional. ...
What makes the difference in a DIY success versus a DIY train wreck?
The answer is having the right foundation and tools.
There is a reason we say, “An image is worth a thousand words.” Photographs stand out in text-heavy websites, draw attention, and increase memory recall. The best photographs communicate without any text; that is the power of visual content.
It's not too late to make a lasting good impression. Whether your school has already begun or has yet to open its doors, there are some important topics that you should address to make sure you are starting each school year off right.
By understanding the reasons people talk and following these four simple rules to influence word-of-mouth marketing, you are well on your way to being the hot topic of conversation in your community.
“You don’t need to brag; when you do a good job, people will notice.”
Dear readers, this is a lie!
Imagery is a timeless form of communication that engages audiences in various ways. Whether you recognize it yet or not, seeking to increase your use imagery as part of your school marketing is important, easy, and effective. Let’s look at the value of concrete imagery, such as pictures either on a printed page or screen
Right as I rang the bell, a concierge walked around the corner. The bell wasn’t a simple ding… It was a long, drawn out doorbell tune that played up a scale and then back down. I grimaced and looked at the concierge’s face to see if I had annoyed her by ringing the bell—I could just imagine how hearing that tune every day may grate on her nerves.
Can you believe it? She wasn’t even a little annoyed that I had rung that bell just as she appeared.
Telling school stories that inspire, excite, entertain, and encourage your school community is at the heart of successful school marketing. Stories educate, inspire, and entertain us. They carry with them underlying themes connecting us to the organization and people involved. Storytelling and its scientific background affirms its relevance as a powerfully simple tool in school branding. Let’s look at how you can use this tool in your school
Don't give your power away by allowing others to define your school for you. Claim your school’s brand for future, current, and prospective students and faculty.
What is effective school communication? Most people would acknowledge that it is critical to the success of our school, but it is a broad topic and difficult to pin down.
It sounds simple enough, right?
Merriam-Webster says it is “the interchange of thoughts or opinions.” I think the use of the word “interchange” is significant, as it indicates mutual give and take.
Blogging shouldn’t seem like a new fandangled idea any more, especially as you delve into your position as school marketer. You might be hearing about it in conference sessions, in articles about school social media impact, or from other education blogs.
Blogging for schools is not a new concept, that’s for sure. The question school marketers should be asking themselves is, "to blog or not to blog?"
No other industry would even consider asking their technology department to manage their communications, public relations, or marketing strategies. These two areas of expertise require radically different skillsets. It would be like asking a prima ballerina to conduct brain surgery. Both are experts in their fields, but their fields are vastly different. But public schools do it all the time. So, how did this come about?
Implementing change is like flying solo for the first time. It scares the crap out of you when you look down at the runway, but once you land, you can’t wait to get back up into the sky.
Because our work here at School Webmasters bridges the world of education and the world of business, it is easy for us to see similarities and differences. Here’s what we’ve learned.
School choice and the many possible options available to K12 education have created an environment of competition that was nonexistent even a decade ago.
Now that you are headed into the second half of the school year, it’s a good time to refocus on how to best reach and engage parents in this new year.
As you practice school public relations, you’ll improve your school brand, connect with your community, and boost your marketing efforts. Consistent, strategic messaging with the end goal of creating and nurturing relationships with your publics is key to your school's success.
It's summer and if you're like most educators, you're enjoying the quiet hallways, catching up on piles of paperwork, and working on your summer maintenance projects. While your school is getting whipped into shape with new coats of paint and clean carpets, don't forget that your website needs some summer TLC as well.
The best school websites serve many critical purposes. To accomplish those many objectives, they must also be functional, usable, and accessible (which we covered in Part 1). Here we’ll not only cover what should be on a school website but how to target and satisfy your various audiences.
Trust—all across our country—is perceived as wounded and limping. Whether within corporations, government, or our schools, many feel the damage is irreparable. We disagree, and you should as well. You have the ability to rebuild trust in your circle of influence and create optimism that replaces cynicism. Trust rules. It drives your school’s cohesiveness. It drives performance. It even drives student achievement.
Telling school stories that inspire, excite, entertain, and encourage your school community is at the heart of successful school marketing and branding, and is critical to your school’s success.
In this blog, we’ll look at a scientific side of storytelling and explore how other school administrators across the county are implementing various storytelling tools.
The term “brand” is much more than a logo or school motto, and it encompasses much more than your school letterhead and newsletters. Your brand is an image that includes the ideals that you want to promote to your enrolled families, prospective families and visitors, and the community at large. A distinctive brand can be one of your school’s most valuable communication assets, especially in this time of school choice and open enrollment.
Benefits are a huge motivator. And whether we realize it or not, much of our day-to-day actions are motivated by benefits. School marketing has incredible benefits such as approval, trust, investment, support, involvement. These benefits are worth your time at least a few hours every week.
How would a first time visitor to your school describe its atmosphere? Is it warm and inviting? Or is it cold and unwelcoming? From the grounds, signage, and parking lot to the front office and the website, your school atmosphere is evident. Is it the message you want to present?
Have you ever walked into a crowded room where a hundred little conversations are taking place all at once? It sounds a little like a beehive buzzing, doesn’t it?
In school communications we don’t throw the term “marketing buzz” around much—although maybe we should.
Your school’s students, parents, staff, and prospects are already using social media to stay involved. So choose your platform, set up your pages, and get involved!
School website management can be a huge advantage to your school’s branding and communication efforts. Find out what works and why.
There is so much involved in creating and maintaining an effective school website. And, to be fair, it is nearly impossible to expect your school staff to have the skill sets required to manage today’s website and social media without specialized training.
Yes, we are talking about outsourcing your school's website management. Not just the design of the website, which is quite common for most schools, but to include the ongoing content updates, proofing, copywriting, graphics, and content additions throughout the year.