When I talk to Christian schools around the country, I find there is a great discrepancy in what “school marketing” really is. I get definitions like:
- “It’s all about advertising and promotion.”
- “Marketing is getting seats filled by any means possible.”
- “It seems to me that marketing is all online now.”
There is a little truth in just about any of the above definitions. But when you are thinking through your school’s marketing strategy, having a definition of marketing can really help steer you in the right direction and away from wasteful spending. If you do not know what “school marketing” really is, you end up with marketing that is:
- CHAOTIC (throwing $$ at any fad or offer that comes in the door)
- COPYCAT (just doing the same thing your competitor is doing)
- CHRONICALLY CONFUSED (repeating the same tactics year after year with little or no ROI)
You can see this definition on the home page of our site, but I will write it out here (or you can click here or on the image above and hear the audio inside of this article):
School marketing can be defined as:
“Getting your ideal families to know, like and trust you to build loyal ambassadors for your school.”
In this definition, you will also see that we deal with the 3 Rs of school marketing:
- RECRUITMENT
- RETENTION
- REFERRALS
The RECRUITMENT process of getting your ideal families to know, like and trust you is that effort to bring new families to the point where they enroll. However, enrollment cannot be the endgame. (click to tweet)
In order to have smart school marketing, you have to focus on RETENTION, or according to the definition, you have to be intentional about building loyal families who re-enroll without arm-twisting or costly discounts.
In addition, to complete the definition of school marketing, you have to build ambassadors for your school. This is an equally intentional strategy to get your current families, your community influencers and strategic partners to be great sources of REFERRALS.
How are you doing at implementing these 3 Rs at your school? If I can help you install a customized marketing strategy based around this definition, please contact me for a free 30-minute phone consultation.
This summer, when schedules are a little lighter, don’t neglect your marketing. Focus these next summer months on your enrollment marketing’s ABCs:
- A – Audience
- B – Brand
- C – Content
Our 45-minute on-demand presentation is FREE to watch – register to get the private link to the presentation!
[Scroll to bottom to listen to interview and to visit shownotes of this post for links to items mentioned in this episode]
Interview guests: Dr. Nancy Dettra (Superintendent) and Ingrid Hall (Assistant to the Superintendent) at Merritt Island Christian School (a private school for Brevard County Florida).
I talk a lot about the 3 Rs of School Marketing: recruitment, retention and referrals. We have several articles about this topic on our site (click here to see all of them). In addition, there is a FREE REPORT that outlines how important is that every school focus on the 3Rs of School Marketing (download our FREE REPORT).
In an online conversation with MICS’s Ingrid Hall, she mentioned that one of the most important things you have learned is that “the RETENTION of our students should come FIRST.” In this episode, I ask them how they came to that realization and what has been their prior experience in marketing their school.
In addition, there are 3 specific things that MICS has done to intentionally work on retention. One of the areas involving students from their School Leadership Academy.
Another marketing tool they have employed is the traditional hand written note. I think you will enjoy the story Dr. Dettra shares about the power and impact of that simple hand written note.
Finally, Dr. Dettra and Ms. Hall discuss improving retention through social media.
I think you are going to love this episode!
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One of the most common questions I get, when consulting with private and Christian schools, is: “how do we compete with free?” With the rise of free charter schools, alongside the long-standing challenging of competing with free public schools, tuition-based schools are continually being forced to showcase value for the cost of tuition. Why would a family pay for private education when (if this is the case) the “free” public schools are strong schools? Why would a family choose an expensive private school when new, niche-based charter schools also offer smaller class size?
How will you compete with free?
In this episode, I share with you a handful of responses from a recent audience survey where I asked YOU to share your ideas on how you compete with free. In future content (report, blog article, etc.), I will reveal even more ideas, but episode #51 of the School Marketing Podcast will get us started!
Episode length: 14:29
See action steps below . . .
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