It is often the case that schools know too much about their product (education) and not enough about their customers (the parents).

There is a monumental difference between why you think someone should invest in your school and why someone does not invest.

This gap between the two is bridged by what we can refer to commonly as ‘marketing’.

Marketing. 

So what are we really talking about here?

If your first thought is advertising – ‘getting the word out’ and letting people know you exist/what you can offer them, then you may well be missing the most important point.

Let me give you an example of a School Head who was able to multiply their return on their efforts with parents by shifting that initial focus from advertising to marketing.

Paddling Without A Paddle

My client, let us refer to him as ‘James’, is a colleague of longstanding who had recently taken over the Headship of a small prep school that offers a unique and diverse curriculum. He emailed me a copy of a promotional flyer he was working on. He asked for my feedback.

“So, what did you think?”  He asked.

“To be honest, I haven’t a clue.” I said.

Although a tad perturbed by my response I then asked him two critical questions:

1. Who, exactly, are you trying to reach with this flyer?
2. Why do you think that the main bullet points on the flyer are what your customers want to know?

James admitted that although he had a general idea of the ‘type’ of parent he was trying to reach, he didn’t have a clear answer to the second question.  His mistake is a common one.

He had made the assumption that what was important to him was also important to his clients – the parents.

James’s boat was bobbing in the turbulent waters of the marketplace, but he only had one paddle in the water – the “advertising” paddle. As a consequence he was simply going around in circles and was in desperate need of that second paddle to even things up. We will call this the “marketing” paddle.

Marketing is that essential area of management attention that is determined through on-going observation, research, and analysis to answer key questions, questions such as:

• Who are your customers (parents)?
• How do they think?
• Where are they located?
• How do they choose which school to invest their money in?

In short, your marketing efforts drive your lead generation (advertising) by revealing what is most important to your best customers.

An Important Announcement, which carries No Value.

Consider, if you will, the idea of an audacious banner spanning the front page of the school website (or indeed hanging on the school gates…) proudly announcing that the school is “Under New Management”

To a new Head, fulfilling a lifelong dream, this is an exciting and important message.

However, to a passer-by, that banner says nothing more than that there has probably been trouble in the past, an unsteady ship.  Think about it.

To a previously unsatisfied parent, that sign may deter them even more. “What? Same uncreative curriculum, delivered differently? New teachers teaching the same old stuff?”

Had more time been spent in marketing, you might have discovered that your customers are extremely interested in your expansion to ‘embrace a GCSE curriculum, your investment in new staff to cater for additional languages, the new sports hall proposals to cement stronger links with the local community…‘ and you could have more effectively used that web banner/front gate banner space to proclaim your developments.

There really is no ‘target market’ for “Under New Management.”

Clichés are exactly that; cliché

As we analysed James’s flyer, he began to see that he had created the equivalent of the “Under New Management” banner.  He had listed significant-sounding clichés that seemed to offer important benefits:  “Conveniently located,” “knowledgeable, friendly staff,” “competitive fees,” and “wide intake selection.”

When we further considered where his customers were coming from, he understood that he was actually only conveniently located to some – and to others who might be his customers, he was on the wrong side of a constantly congested transport infrastructure.   And given that the alternative to “knowledgeable, friendly staff” is “unfriendly and clueless,” should his customers expect anything less?

‘Competitive fees’ might be important to his target market, but if James understands that his best customers come to him because of his ‘hard-to-find specialty curriculum in Design and Art’ or ‘excellent sporting facilities’, all things being equal fee pricing may not be of primary concern.

A key attraction to those parents looking at his school might be James’ ability to provide ‘products and services’ that are unavailable from his competitors. This is important.

• Marketing is a collection of activities that go on internally, within your school.
• Marketing is your on-going effort to question, observe, and understand your parents and their genuine attraction to your school.

In the rush to advertise, James ignored the most important key to effective lead generation:

Taking the time to understand what your parents care about, and how to most effectively communicate to them that you KNOW them.  

Marketing vs. Advertising

• The marketing paddle is your understanding of who your parents are.
• The advertising paddle is about clearly articulating the promises your school makes to them.

Effective lead generation comes from remaining hyper-aware of the balance between the two and maintaining that connection at every point of contact between you and your customers (your parents)

With proper marketing, advertising becomes a matter of broadcasting the fact that you know what your parents want and are ready to provide it.   It has to be based on what they are thinking, not what you are thinking.

Effective marketing efforts make your advertising decisions informed and strategic rather than solely based on your personal preference, happenstance, or what you see everyone else doing.  

The System of Marketing

As with any area of your school, you need a system for gathering data about your market.

There are plenty of methods out there that work; you just have to find the one that’s right for your school. Here are some examples:

• Using appropriate social media to inform and involve your clientele is vital. For example, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are currently amongst the most obvious, important and widely used. This will open channels of communication with your parents in addition to phone calls and email (see below).
• Create and establish a website presence, electronic newsletters, blogs or physical brochures with relevant and informative content that your parents can subscribe and respond to. This will also help to open channels of communication with your parents.
• Conduct simple surveys. There are many great resources for creating electronic surveys out there such as http://www.surveymonkey.com.
• Install email marketing software such as http://www.newsweaver.com or http://www.littlegreenplane.com for reaching your clients. These services allow you to analyse and filter the results of your advertising efforts so you can immediately see what your clients respond to and what they don’t.