One thing that many of you may not know about me is that I have two degrees. I have a BBA in marketing and a Masters degree in missiology/Bible/cross-cultural communication. I suspect there are not too many folks running around with that combination of diplomas!
While school marketing is a passion of mine, another passion of mine is missions. If you are a Christian, I believe John 3:16 and Jesus’ “Great Commission” of Matthew 28 are clear enough directives that I should be involved in God’s mission to share His love with the entire world!
This week, I am in Thailand for my first visit to the continent of Asia. I am here as part of a mission team from the States sent to encourage about 40 pastors, missionaries and southeast Asian ministers. [I am finishing the writing of this post from Thailand: this week we are involved in Bible study, worship and corporate and individual prayer time. I am on the prayer team where I will have many opportunities to pray with these incredible men who have come to Chiang Mai, Thailand!) Here’s a video I posted earlier to my Facebook page:
I am not sure what your summer holds for you. I love spending my summers with my family on vacation and in some way or another, it is our family goal to be involved in some sort of mission trip every summer. At the time I am writing this, my oldest son, Timothy (13 years old), is with his grandparents on a mission trip to Zambia, Swaziland and other parts of southern Africa. My daughter is making plans as well to spend her summer before her senior year in an undisclosed mission point around the world (I am vague for privacy and security reasons).
I attend a church that is focused on sending people on mission trips to share God’s love and to strengthen those who serve God in nations around the world. We love that part of our church!
For most Christian schools, your mission is to supplement, augment and support your parents’ decision to raise up their children with godly values and an eye toward a world in need. I understand the mission of God that drives your commitment to Christian education. I get why you do what you do!
I am excited to welcome AISAP members to my town of Fort Worth, Texas! I am honored to be on this year’s Faculty and I will be teaching along some other amazing school marketing leaders. You can read more about the Faculty here. I would love to see you in my MarCom class called, “Why You Should Be using Pinterest and Instagram to Market Your School”. Here’s more of what you will learn in my class:
Visual content matters in a cluttered social media world. Instagram and Pinterest are two exciting platforms that not enough schools are using to market themselves to prospective families. Both of these platforms are also perfectly suited to cultivate a strong loyal ambassadorship among current families, but their power to connect with prospective students and their parents is not being harnessed by schools. In this session, you will learn why these two platforms are unique for reaching your target audience and creative and practical suggestions on the type of content that you should post in each platform. Even though you are already busy enough with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, you will also learn the tools that successful schools use to incorporate Pinterest and Instagram into your marketing system of recruiting, retention and referrals.
I call Fort Worth home now and have for pretty much the last 25 years. It’s a great city – here a few of my favorite fun facts about Fort Worth:
NOT DALLAS – it’s a longtime rivalry between the two neighboring cities that make up the DFW metro area. But Fort Worth folks do not like it when out-of-towners lump us all into one big city. When you are coming to the AISAP 2016 Annual Institute, you are coming to Fort Worth, not Dallas (said with a little wink and a lot of swagger). I grew up out in West Texas but spent holidays and summers visiting my grandparents not too far from The Worthington Hotel where the conference will be this year. He used to tell me stories of how the mayor of Fort Worth would take a sack lunch from home when having to have meetings in Dallas because he didn’t want to “put any good Fort Worth money in Dallas county!” That’s rivalry!
WE WERE ONCE A REAL FORT – the U.S. War Department established Fort Worth in 1849 as the northernmost of a system of forts for protecting the American Frontier after the end of the Mexican–American War. The City of Fort Worth continues to be known as “where the West begins.” After the Mexican–American War In January 1849, U.S. Army General William Jenkins Worth, a veteran of the Mexican–American War, proposed building ten forts to mark and protect the west Texas frontier. After his death, his successor was assigned to find a new fort site near the confluence of the West and Clear Forks. On 6 June 1849, General Arnold established a post on the banks of the Trinity and named it Camp Worth in honor of the late General Worth. In August 1849, Arnold moved the camp to a north-facing bluff that overlooked the mouth of the Clear Fork. The US War Department officially granted the name “Fort Worth” to the post on 14 November 1849.
COLLEGE SPORTS – in college football, the BIG 12 is one of the best conferences and Fort Worth is home to the Fightin’ Frogs of TCU (that’s “horned frogs”, not just regular little Kermits. Here’s how TCU describes their mascot).
PRO SPORTS – admittedly, Dallas has the Stars in Hockey and the Mavericks in the NBA. But since Fort Worth is the county seat of Tarrant County, we like to lay claim to the NFL great Dallas Cowboys and one of the greatest teams in the MLB, the Texas Rangers. Both the Cowboys and Rangers play their home games in Arlington, which is another great city in Tarrant (not Dallas) county. Another braggin’ right!
GOLF CARTS AND FAST CARS – Fort Worth also hosts the annual Colonial golf tournament and north Fort Worth is where you can find the Texas Motor Speedway, one of the largest NASCAR racing facilities in the nation!
BETTER DOWNTOWN THAN BIG D – I continue my defense of Fort Worth by stating the obvious to anyone who lives in the DFW area: Fort Worth’s downtown experience is far above that of Dallas! I’m sure there are varying opinions from locals, but while I lock my doors in Dallas, I gladly take my family out walking around the amazing open air downtown experience in Fort Worth’s Sundance Square.
NO BOOTS – while Fort Worth is know as “Cowtown”, not everyone wears boots and belt buckles. At risk of being kicked out of town, I admit I do not currently own a pair of boots. But if I was going to own a pair (like I did when I was younger), I would own a pair of Justin boots, made right here in Fort Worth, Texas!
MONEY IS MADE HERE – even though the economy is great in Fort Worth, I am actually literally referring to the. U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth where 60 percent of America’s paper money is printed. The only other place money is printed is in Washington, D.C.
COWBOY & CATTLE CULTURE – while Fort Worth is a cosmopolitan city, there is a lot of cowboy and cattle culture around. Fort Worth is home to the oldest stock show and rodeo in the country – the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show (our family attends every year!) Fort Worth also hosts the world’s only twice-daily cattle drive in the Stockyards National Historic District.
TRADE IN THE BOOTS – Fort Worth is home of the Cowtown Marathon, Ultra Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K and 10K events. The Marathon and Ultra are both Boston Marathon qualifying events. As a matter of fact, Fort Worth’s Cowtown Marathon is the largest multiple-distance event in Texas.
JFK – President John F. Kennedy delivered his last public speech at a Fort Worth Chamber breakfast before leaving for Dallas, where he was later assassinated that day in 1963.
MUSING OVER MUSEUMS – if you have the time to visit any of them, Fort Worth is frequently called, “the museum capital of the Southwest.” There are dozens of galleries and museums around the area, but within walking distance of downtown and The Worthington Hotel you can find 5 major cultural museums: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame.
STRAIT COWTOWN SONG – American’s “King of Country Music”, George Strait, rose to stardom in the early 1980s. Especially notable on his rise was the release of his wildly popular 1984 hit, “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind.”
FOOD – it’s hard to pin down my favorite but Fort Worth is well known for its amazing taste in Tex Mex food, great bakeries (a friend of mine owns the Swiss Pastry Shop which sells its world renown Black Forest Cake) and recently was named by readers of Conde Nast Traveler as one of the Top 10 Burger Cities in America (Fort Worth is #6 and the top-rated city in Texas for burgers!)
Can’t wait to meet you in Fort Worth!
~ Randy Vaughn, School Marketing Consultant, @schoolmktg
Emily Cretella (@emilycretella) is a marketing strategist and copywriter who helps her clients create and share stories that make audiences take action. As owner of Cursive Content Marketing, Emily provides consulting, copywriting services and workshops to independent schools and higher education. Read her stories at cursivecontent.com, and sign up to access her FREE School Marketer’s Toolkit of e-books and worksheets designed to help you tell a stronger school story.
First, I try and get everyone on board (myself along with the client’s entire marketing team) with a common definition of “school marketing”. My definition of school marketing goes like this:
“Getting ideal families to know, like and trust you in order to create loyal ambassadors for your school.”
Beyond this definition, I address 3 core areas that build on one another:
SYSTEM – your overall marketing effort has to be built on a solid systematic way of marketing. Rather than chaotic, shoot-from-the-hip marketing, your school marketing is well-thought-out and intentional. Inside of your larger umbrella marketing system, there are plenty of micro-systems centered around social media, referrals, lead generation and nurturing, family follow-up, etc. Each one of these micro-systems has to assess the tools, finances, personnel and skills sets needed for success. Your marketing system should have a clear understanding by your entire team about how your school addresses the 3 Rs of school marketing: recruitment, retention and referrals. Without this fundamental understanding of system, you will only achieve average enrollment marketing success at best.
STRATEGY – as the system is set in place, you can begin to determine your strategy based on your enrollment gaps and goals. While your marketing system (and all the micro-systems) are fairly consistent from year-to-year, the strategy should vary depending on where you need seats filled. Your strategy can obviously address 3-5 ideal family personas. If you do not target your personas at all, you end up with a “one-size-fits-all” marketing message that really should be renamed as “one-size-hits-small”. If you are broad and generic, your message will resonate with no one. Know the persona’s pain points and how your school is differentiated as the best solution in your local market to meet that need. Develop this “know-like-trust” effort with specific touch points to lead a potential family toward becoming one of your school’s most loyal ambassadors.
TACTICS – the implementation part of marketing is what gets most of your attention (time and money). The “practical and tactical” make up the line items in your budget so you tend to think about these items most, but often neglect #1 and #2. If you do the former correctly, the system is in place so that a sound marketing strategy will dictate the most effective tactical implementation plan. If you are implementing the same marketing plan every year, then you are demonstrating that you have no targeted strategy.
