making your school shine: tips for increasing enrollment

Agenda

• Marketing 101 • What marketing says about your school • I want a billboard • Marketing Audit • Why do parents choose your school? • Enrollment Marketing • Pictures role in marketing • www.yourschool.com • School brochures • Resources

Marketing 101

Marketing is getting people with a specific need to know, like and trust you.

Marketing 101

Marketing is the set of activities used to: • Get your potential customers’ attention • Motivate them to buy • Get them to actually buy • Get them to buy again (and again…)

What does marketing say about your school?

• Everything! • Good marketing helps to:

– Attract new students – Reduce student attrition – Bond alumni and past parents – Keep good teachers – Raise funds – Build your school’s image in the wider

community

I want a billboard

I want a billboard

Perform a Marketing Audit

• Get an outside-in perspective of your school • You’re too close to the situation – “can’t see

the forest for the trees” • Helps evaluate a school's efforts and budget • Assign a person or a team to perform the audit • What are your goals?

Marketing Audit

• Consider all of your prospective parent/student touch points

• Spread out all marketing materials and external communications on a table – Brochure – Advertisements – Website – Email communications – Open house information – Registration process

Marketing Audit

• Listen to what your constituents say about their perception of your school and what they like and don’t like – and what they would like to see – Student leaders – Parents – Alumni – Faculty and staff – Prospective students

• Walk around your campus with a camera • Look at what your competition is doing

Marketing Audit

• Evaluate results • Look for marketing disconnects • Determine what needs to be done • Create priorities, timeline • Marketing plan

Recruiting

Recruiting is seeking families to your school who will be: • Great students • Supportive families • Great referral sources • Generous donors

Retention

• Customer Service • What sets you apart • Make them feel

needed

Retention

• Include them in your team

• Spotlight their kids • Be authentic

Referrals

• Always ask for a referral from your superstar parents

• Most schools admit that referrals are by far the best source of new students

• Train them. Teach them.

Why do parents choose your school?

Why we chose JP2 Catholic School?

Enrollment Marketing

• Things to do… – Foundation pieces – Website – Open house – Brochure – Advertising – Direct mail – Church bulletins – Make it easy!

Foundation Pieces

A picture speaks a 1,000 words…

Pictures Tell Your Story

• Emphasize: – Faith – Academics – Athletics – Extracurricular

activities – Spirit

• Show diversity

• Simple close-ups • Unaware action shots • Parent photographers • Stock photo files • “Pictures have legs!” • Talent waivers

FAITH

ACADEMICS

ATHLETICS

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

SPIRIT

www.yourschool.com

• THE most important marketing tool • Targets internal and external audiences • Keep it current, simple, clean • Focus on recruitment and retention • Publicize web presence everywhere • Make it a top priority

Your Front Door

Enrollment on the Web

School Brochure

School Brochure

Additional Resources

• Facebook.com/makingschoolsshine • Sign up for newsletter at

AcademicBranding.com • 10 Commandments of Academic Branding

– academicbranding.com/ten

• CHOOSECATHOLICSCHOOLS.org – Tools4Schools

• Fellow Catholic Schools – what works, what doesn’t, best practices