School marketing... my advice: get your ducks in a row
In November I was kindly invited to speak at the Independent Schools Association (ISA) conference. I spoke at two packed out seminar groups; filled with Heads and teachers who wanted to get some hints and tips on the ‘future of schools’ marketing’. Not too much pressure then!
The plan was to cover a variety of topics that suited the interests of the attendees (Facebook, Twitter, developing their School website, Youtube etc etc). But first and foremost, I wanted to give all the schools a reminder of WHY they should or shouldn’t be improving their marketing. I took them back to basics; what marketing is & what they should be doing BEFORE they leapt into digital marketing.
My advice was simple: get your ducks in a row.
Before you bow to the pressure of developing your online marketing, ensure you have your internal marketing and communications working as well as possible.
Invest time in your admissions process, your parental & pupil satisfaction and your offline school communications. Build a plan that focuses on improving these aspects of your marketing, BEFORE seeking to generate an online presence.
I’m not a luddite, I’m not saying don’t use the huge benefits that are offered online. I’m saying use your time and resources carefully; invest in the basics, get them right, then move onto integrating and developing digital communications into your marketing strategy.
Why spend time, money and energy in developing the wizziest website if your admissions funnel shows that your current conversions from enquirer to visitor is really poor? Or that your visitor to joiner ratio is not good? Let your admissions data outline where you should be investing your energies. Don’t be distracted by shiny technologies for the sake of ‘keeping up with the Jones’ '.
To underpin my message, I gave everyone a little plastic duck to take home: to remind them to ‘get their ducks (or their school marketing!) in a row’.
I just hope that people come to my next ISA Schools Marketing course on Thursday 9th February, to pick up their next one. They’ll soon get their ducks in a row, building up their knowledge, at each session.
Afterthought: next time I might try and order ducks that don’t squeak. Not only is it embarrassing when the postman gives your parcel a deliberate squeeze when he hands it to you, but the teachers couldn’t resist mischievously ‘squeaking’ them during the session!
