As a former consultant within the Duct Tape Marketing global network of consultants, I approach marketing based primarily on what the Duct Tape Marketing network calls the “marketing hourglass”. This is a variation of the traditional marketing funnel.
The “marketing hourglass” was conceived by John Jantsch, creator of Duct Tape Marketing. I think it offers a simple metaphor in understanding the relationship your school has with potential families.
Based on a similar definition from Duct Tape Marketing, I believe an easy-to-remember definition of school marketing is this:
“Getting ideal families to know, like and trust you in order to create loyal ambassadors for your school.”
This definition follows the “marketing hourglass” perfectly. New potential families are led into the top of the hourglass. Subsequently and systematically, these ideal families are nurtured through a variety of touch points and trust-building encounters that lead a family through the “know-like-trust” phase. I believe that when a potential family has vetted the competition well, they will come to a point in their relationship with you that they trust you enough to educate their kid(s). Assuming they are a good match, they enroll. The “marketing hourglass” expands from the traditional marketing funnel by emphasizing the “retention” and “referrals” that happen after enrollment. The re-enrollment efforts are given as much attention as recruiting efforts because we do not just forget about them after enrollment. This metaphor causes us to consider how their repeat enrollment year-after-year is something worth nurturing.
As well, the word-of-mouth and marketing referrals are also given as much attention, intentionally instituting marketing efforts aimed at bringing in new leads of potential new families because our current established families are doing the marketing for us!
I would love to help your school install a marketing system that follows this simplified approach to school marketing. I invite you to explore our coaching programs by clicking this page and then filling out the form so that I we can chat for free about it for 45 minutes. I am eager to answer questions, explain fees, and tell you what I expect your enrollment marketing results to be.
Marketing your school is not complicated but it is complex.
When something is labeled as “complicated”, not only does it invoke fear, I think it also infers “this cannot be done without much difficulty.” If you are operating under a marketing effort that is complicated, I hope you will read on and let me simplify it for you.
If something is “complex”, it really is not speaking of whether something is difficult or not. While some people use these terms interchangeably, complex simply refers to the extensive parts involved in a system. The way my car works is complex, but I do not think my father-in-law (a mechanic) finds it complicated at all. When I lived in West Africa, I learned the local dialect called Aja-gbe. While it is a complex language (and yes complicated at first), I can now speak and understand it fluently. (Click to hear me recite John 3:16 in the Aja-gbe language). Languages are a complex mix of vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar rules (and their exceptions). While they are complicated at first, if you study it and pursue it with the help of someone who knows it well, it is no longer complicated or difficult.
So, if you are tired of the chaos and copycat marketing because school marketing is too complicated, allow me to simplify the complexity of school marketing.
As I wrote in an article called, “Here’s why you need a marketing system for your school“, I explain in greater detail about the 3 complex parts of school marketing: system, strategy and tactics. As a follow-up (or primer) to this article, I would suggest you click through and read the one I just mentioned.
School marketing is complex because there are factors of all kinds impacting the decisions parents make. It is complex because you are consistently considering the 3 Rs of school marketing: recruitment, retention and referrals. It is complex because it may still involve a heavy amount of traditional advertising methods as well incorporating inbound and social media efforts into an integrated and holistic approach that people want measured. School marketing is complex because it is not like marketing a business, nor is it the same as communicating like a church or non-profit organization. School marketing is complex because it is often just one of the hats someone might wear alongside donor development, admissions and maybe event planning.
As I have outlined on numerous occasions (and there’s an audio message from me about this on the homepage), the definition of school marketing can be simplified to this:
“Getting ideal families to know, like and trust you to build loyal ambassadors for your school.”
If mastering all forms of ad placement, social media and word-of-mouth marketing seems way too complicated to achieve your enrollment goals, I invite you to consider the simplicity of the definition above. I consider this definition one that is simple to remember and memorable to every member of the marketing team to keep everyone aligned toward marketing your school. I think it it simplifies your objective and simplifies your approach to the complexities of your marketing system, strategy and tactics.
At its core, this definition is about nurturing a Mom/Dad/student toward not only enrollment, but to becoming the ideal family that returns year after year without hesitation and then actively tells others about your school. That is not a complicated approach to marketing, but it does necessitate you understanding the complex system, strategy and tactical plan for marketing your school.
I would be honored to help you navigate the complex world of school marketing. I have seen clients frustrated by the complicated chaos turn into confident school marketers because they discover a new way of marketing their school. I would love to help you. Just click on the picture below and we can talk on the phone for about 30 minutes (for free and with no high pressure tactics). I will listen to your unique challenges and see if there’s a way how I could help your school.
Randy Vaughn
Who determines your school’s online reputation? Do you control this? What about those things said about your school online?
Managing your school’s online reputation requires diligence, not just a casual glance from time to time. You spend thousands of hours and dollars to project your school’s perfectly crafted brand messaging, attempting to communicate your school’s value with the needs of prospective families. But do you have control over all that is said? In one fell swoop
Here are 3 common areas where negative comments can affect your online reputation:
- Online Review Sites – whether it is GreatSchools.org, your Google listing, or perhaps some other site like Yelp, people have a forum to say pretty much whatever they want (more…)
Facebook is continuously changing its algorithm that determines what kinds of posts their users want to see in their news feeds. In short, Facebook is using clues from you about what you want to see. Plus, they want to ensure the content from publishing pages like brands, businesses and schools do not smother the posts you see from your family and friends.
Unfortunately, this means that your page may likely see a decrease in engagement and notably web traffic because, in a sense, fewer of your fans are actually seeing the content you post to your school’s Facebook page. To help you beat Facebook’s algorithm, I am offering 7 tips to help ensure your content is seen and not forgotten:
- PAY-TO-PLAY – investing $5, $15, $50 or more into some posts will need to be a regular part of your Facebook strategy. Sure, promotional event posts like Open House dates would be a good play here, but as well, if you have a compelling parent or student testimonial, it would be a good idea to get more people to see this post as well. You may also want to create some targeted Facebook ads for people of a certain city name or age group.
- ENGAGE – as has been the case for a while, Facebook’s algorithm puts a premium on the content from pages where fans react, comment and share. So communicate to your parents and constituents that passive Facebook scrolling doesn’t cut it any more. If they want to help spread the word about your school, you desperately need them to react to the post (they can click on Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry). Encourage them to react with words, too, leaving comments about the posts. And of course, the “granddaddy of them all” is the share feature. This powerfully spreads your post into the news feeds of their friends, creating a powerful word-of-marketing tool in the hands of even the most introverted of users. As if I needed to say it, but engagement is not only on the part of the fan. If a parent, alum or student writes a review or comments on or shares one of the school’s posts, engage with them. Acknowledge their effort and maybe ask a followup question. Engagement is a two-way street!
- SEE FIRST – with one click, parents can opt in to seeing the posts of your school’s posts. Regardless of the algorithm Facebook uses, this puts your school’s posts at the top of their news feeds on desktop and mobile devices. This keeps your best posts from the morning from getting buried before the parent sees it in the evening. [*SEE VIDEO BELOW ON HOW TO DO THIS*]
- GET NOTIFIED – while not every Facebook user religiously checks his/her red circle notifications, many do. You can invite your Facebook page fans to return to your Facebook (on a desktop or laptop, not on a mobile device), hover of the “LIKE” button and you will see the options to “Get Notifications”. This offers yet another way that fans do not miss a single post. [*SEE VIDEO BELOW ON HOW TO DO THIS*]
- USE YOUR GROUPIES – I always advocate selecting your best ambassador parents/alumni to join a secret Facebook group for the purpose of marketing/promotion. You can communicate with this group about events coming up at school but also, whenever you post to the Facebook page, you can write a quick note to this group alerting them of the new page post. No more needing to text everyone or emailing the group. And members of this secret group also receive the red notifications so they will also see you posted something there as well. Because of the secret/private nature of the group, you may even want to specifically direct ways to react to the post such as, “would you please make a comment detailing how this post impacts your son or daughter” or “please leave a comment that includes some details about your favorite teacher or tradition at the school”. Previously, I have written an article about this group, calling it your secret marketing weapon!
- POST OFTEN – the numbers are not in your favor if you limit your page posts to just a few times per week. If Facebook is going to restrict or limit the visibility of certain posts, then having only a few will hurt your chances of being seen at all. If at all possible, look for ways to post daily or even multiple times in a day. You may want to subscribe to features like Buffer or Quuu to help you fill your content calendar. Speaking of content calendar, have your downloaded our FREE SOCIAL CONTENT CALENDAR yet? Click here to get it!
- BE VALUABLE – above all else, make sure your Facebook posts are of value to the end user. Provide helpful content for prospective parents as they look into the various choices for educating their children. As well, because you want to post things that are of value to them personally, consider ways your Facebook page posts can equip them to be better parents, wives, husbands, citizens or ways that encourage their faith through inspirational posts. When you are awesome, your fans will share your awesome content, too!
Click for a free consult to learn about a better way of marketing your school!
** WATCH VIDEO ABOUT INCREASING FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENT**
[ if embedded video does not play, click here to be directed to the Facebook post ]
