Announcing our new webinar for private schools! This is one of the most common questions we get asked, so we designed a webinar to answer this question.
HERE’S AN ARCHIVED PRESENTATION FROM YOUTUBE:
NOTE: If you missed any of the posts in this 3-part series, click here.
In the final post of this 3-part series, we look at some ideas and realities of referral and word-of-mouth marketing! As we discussed in part 2 of this series on private school retention strategies, I want to remind you of the term “LOYAL AMBASSADORS.”
Loyalty speaks of the extent to which your families are not just re-enrolling out of a lackluster attitude of “aw shucks, I guess we’ll stay put.” This lukewarmness will never produce a quality referral. Loyalty is retaining families who would do whatever it takes to have the opportunity to continue another year. And they are not swayed by another school’s tuition rate or even extra-curricular offering. Fierce allegiance is earned and is intentionally cultivated.
In the same way, ambassadors speak with boldness and clarity. Just as the United States Ambassador to Benin speaks on behalf of the President, your school will struggle or thrive based on how many ambassadors you nurture. (By the way, read a little more about why I lived in this French-speaking West African nation.) From a biblical standpoint, 2 Corinthians 5 speaks to believers as being
“ambassadors” as though God were “making his appeal through us.” Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the one who appoints them and they represents the interests to those to whom they are sent. Does your school’s leadership “appoint” your families as ambassadors? Do you place expectations on families to “make appeals” to their friends? Probably one of the sins (am I sounding preachy?) committed by any school is the omission of asking for referrals . . . better yet, asking your families to make them for you!
There’s an old adage in business marketing: the referred lead is easier to close and costs less to obtain. In lieu of spending thousands and thousands of dollars strictly on advertising only to generate a few clicks, an ambassador’s referral optimizes the leverage of their friendship to validate the lead. In other words, you are going to listen to and trust suggestions from your friends more than you’ll believe bullet points from a slick brochure. And when I ask schools, most of the time, they admit that referrals are by far the best source of new students. So why are you still having trouble filling seats year after year?
3 of the most common reasons why referrals are not made: (more…)
The internet world is finicky. Normally when Facebook announces a revolutionary change, the overwhelming feedback in my newsfeed is negative. Most people, including Facebook page admins, are still adjusting to the changes in the Timeline announced previously this spring. And there are still many complaints.
Now this week, Facebook announces two significant modifications: FB page admin roles and scheduling posts. Today’s post will deal with the former; we will pick up the latter next week.
While the social media bandwagon is thrilled with the FB admin roles (and most of the big “gurus” out there are super giddy with nothing negative to say), I question how the new FB page admin roles will help your school. (more…)
You get an angry parent who not only lashes out to your Headmaster in person, but he takes it online. Ouch. It’s one thing for an exchange to happen behind closed doors on campus, but it’s a bigger deal when prospective families get to read about it online!
That’s why your school needs reviews today – right now – don’t delay!
I would encourage you to ASK your satisfied families to review you on 2 different places online:
Keeping a consistent flow of positive reviews is the very best solution for deflating the sting of an occasional negative review. But they are not as easy to get as you might think – asking 10 families might generated 1-2 reviews. Families are busy and they forget to do it – keep following up and asking.
-Randy
This is an interesting concept – introducing social media at a young age! (if the player is not visible on your mobile device, you can watch it here on Vimeo.)
If your school is not yet tweeting, consider this outstanding read from Brendan Schneider: 31 Ways Independent Schools Can Use Twitter.
