“Marketing is not the art of finding ingenuous ways to exhibit what you do. Marketing is the art of creating genuine value before your clients and helping them to improve. 

The keywords of Marketing are “Quality”, “Service” and “Value”.

Phillip Kotler

In today’s highly competitive “Education” sector you need to be engaging your stakeholders; prospective parents, current families, alumni, donors and community.

True engagement is the idea of turning on a prospect to a brand idea, connecting with them on a deep level, building and enriching customer relationships. These key elements are part of a strategic imperative to building a sustainable competitive advantage that has the power to affect customer satisfaction and loyalty. Which in turn ultimately affects your bottom line financially.

Schools are no different to other brands and they need to work at building, nurturing and enriching the relationships they form with prospective and current families.

Why should a prospective parent CHOOSE you and why should they stay?

Why is your school important? Why is it good value?  Why should they choose you? Why should they trust you?

Consciously or subconsciously, all those questions are going through a customer’s head. If you want them to act, you need to answer them, and that means making sure you already know what differentiates your school, adds value for parents and gives parents a sense of belonging.

Then how do we communicate all this?

For decades, schools dictated their interaction with their communities. Schools also chose how they would communicate and when to deliver messages. However, the consumer climate has dramatically changed. Technology has enabled and empowered customers to control the types of conversations they have with companies. The rising issue is that most companies haven’t adjusted to these new changes. They’re stuck doing things the old way. As a result, their outdated systems have lead to unengaged consumers and declining parent satisfaction and sometimes enrolments.

That’s why it’s so important for Marketing Teams to create a bridge that closes the customer engagement gap. It’s an opportunity, not an inconvenience, for your school.

Your Marketing personnel need to be represented at the decision-making table and have a full understanding of the school’s strategic business priorities, they need to create meaningful communication processes, consistently ensure that your school behaviour resonates with your vision, mission and philosophy and aligns with parent expectations. Parent and Staff surveys should be part of your yearly review; these consumer insights shape your direction as a school.

If you are not looking at your school’s position in the market and collaborating with your marketing department, then you are missing out on crucial opportunities to engage with prospective families, current families, students and your community. By designing a culture and brand that is authentic and well communicated you won’t be asking yourself the questions why are our enrolments low, why are students leaving, why are we having poor parent satisfaction scores. Strategic Marketing is the key to making a successful school.

David Ogilvy Quote:

“Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals.