Growing your school in troubled times, sbacs webinar

Strategies for Success

Rick Newberry, Ph.D.

[email protected] www.EnrollmentCatalyst.com

© 2013 Enrollment Catalyst

During this webinar we will discuss successful strategies to help your school grow during these troubled times.


Starbucks

The Family Portrait

Rollercoasters

Coaching

Blog




Enrollment Catalyst partners with schools to provide coaching for school leaders in their

school’s enrollment management and marketing systems, strategies, and solutions needed to

reach their goals.


Clients


Some school observations from travels and consulting across the country


School Growth

Leadership

Quality

School

Experience

Vision

Faculty and

Staff

Parent

Satisfaction

Reputation

Location

Price

Competition

Enrollment &

Marketing

Plan


Economic uncertainty

Enrollment instability

Parent entitlement, consumerism and disloyalty

Increased competition

Increased dependence on financial aid

Increased focus on branding and marketing


We lack marketing knowledge, training and expertise.

We lack resources and staffing (and the commitment to make this a budget priority).

We gripe about not getting our school published in the local newspaper when we can publish anything we want on the web.

We place priority on marketing externally to our community and often neglect our most strategy—word of mouth through our parents!


We often take a shotgun approach to marketing.

We have a plan for improving our school but don’t have a marketing and enrollment plan for growth.

We are intrigued by social media and web-based strategies but don’t know how to use them effectively.

Some of our school brands and websites look like they were created many years ago!

We don’t tell our story very well.




The places we advertise

The Web

The desire for authenticity

The power of referral in an online world

The world of social media

The need to be in a conversation

The importance of creating remarkable content


The power of word-of-mouth!


1. Word-of-Mouth Consistently ranks as the number one reason how families hear about your school.

2. Website The first place a parent looks when they hear about your school through a word-of-mouth referral is your school’s website (as well as other info on the web).


Our marketing and enrollment plan must be built around these strategies.

Implementing these strategies assumes that you have a high quality school and a strong brand to communicate.



We will discuss 10 strategies for successfully growing your school.


School Growth Successes

1. Develop and communicate your brand

2. Set goals and analyze enrollment results

3. Devote resources to staff and the team

4. Launch a parent ambassadors program

5. Consistently follow-up with inquiries

6. Re-recruit your current families

7. Implement a word of mouth campaign

8. Focus your resources on your website

9. Generate leads through online marketing strategies

10. Tell your school’s story through social media

What is branding?

“From a business point of view, branding in

the marketplace is very similar to branding

on the ranch. A branding program should

be designed to differentiate your product

[school] from all the other cattle [schools]

on the range. Even if all the other cattle on

the range look pretty much alike.”

Al and Laura Reis, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding




“The brand on the outside is only

as strong as the brand on the inside.” – Karl Speak, President, Beyond Marketing Thought


Develop a compelling visual brand for your school that includes the following: ◦ Logomark

◦ Typography

◦ Color palette

◦ Photography


Consistent use of your school’s brand elements: ◦ Logo

◦ Tagline

◦ Colors

◦ Message



Most administrators haven’t considered this question as a key part of their marketing strategy. We need to begin asking the question:

What do you want them to talk about?



Determine/Define the optimal enrollment your school.

Develop annual incremental goals to reach capacity: ◦ 2013

◦ 2014

◦ 2015


Develop specific enrollment goals for the following areas: ◦ Total Enrollment

◦ Retention

◦ Admissions

Inquiries

Campus Visits

Applications

Deposits

New students


Provides a snapshot overview of the re-enrollment of current families and enrollment of new families.

Hire a director of enrollment and marketing at your school to lead this effort.


Direct administrative responsibilities for admissions ◦ Director of Admissions/Enrollment

◦ Head of School/Principal

Additional involvement in admissions ◦ Secretary/Receptionist

◦ Administration

◦ Faculty and Staff

◦ Parents

◦ Students

Develop, implement and manage the recruitment plan

Strive to reach and exceed all of the goals

Provide an outstanding campus visit experience and follow-up for all inquiries and applicants

Increase awareness of the school through feeder schools, churches and other groups

Encourage and facilitate the involvement of parents in the recruitment strategy

Report weekly on the progress toward recruitment goals

Quality/excellence in their job

Tell your school’s story

Turn negative moments into positive moments

Channel concerns to the administration

Communication with parents

Relationships with parents

Create memorable moments

Positive ambassadors for the school

Recruit a team of parent ambassadors to expand the reach of the enrollment office.


Passion for your school

Credibility among their peers

Connections at the school and in the community

Opportunity to be involved

Recruit a team of parents to help you in your enrollment effort by: ◦ Presenting tours of campus.

◦ Hosting new family “desserts” in their homes.

◦ Mentoring a new family throughout their first school year.

◦ Follow-up for prospective parents.

◦ Calling and/or writing personal notes to parents and welcoming them to your school.

◦ Reaching out to churches and schools.

◦ Posting online reviews.

© 2011 Cherry+Company

New parents can be the best resources for your school to reach out to their previous school, church, neighborhood or other group.

Provide a card in your admissions package that includes the names, child grade levels, phone numbers and email addresses of your parent ambassadors.


Implement a 30-day follow-up plan for parent inquiries. This follow-up plan should include mailings, calls and emails that encourage the parent to apply/enroll at your school.


Step 1 – Make initial contact with inquiry

Step 2 – Send information packet on school with personal letter (within 24 hours of inquiry). ◦ Make sure the letter is personalized and well-

written to sell your school.

Step 3 – Call one week later to discuss your school and encourage the parent to take the next step (seven days after inquiry date). ◦ Phone call should focus on the following:

Make sure information was received in the mail.

Encourage the family to visit.

Use the time to better understand the parent’s needs and sell the parent on your school.

Send hand-written note immediately after call is made.

Step 4 – Send postcard to remind the parent of your school (15 days after inquiry date).

Step 5 – Personal contact from a current parent (25 days after inquiry). ◦ Use a parent ambassador from a similar grade level

to contact the inquiry.

Step 6 – Send personal letter with another application (30 days after inquiry). ◦ This is the final letter in the regular inquiry

sequence. This letter should create some urgency to enrolling at your school.

What should you do with your inquiries after your 30 day follow-up? ◦ Monthly contact with inquiries.

◦ Send your school’s email newsletter.


The strategy and process for recruiting your current families to continue enrollment in your school for the next year.

Re-recruitment is the activity that leads to retention.


Parent Satisfaction Vision and leadership Retention statistics and reports Responsibility of re-recruitment Connections to community Customer service Identify at-risk students and families The re-enrollment process Focus on the transition grades Parent communication Internal marketing Parent feedback

When your parents are very satisfied with their experience at your school, they will be your greatest asset to reaching your community. Do everything you can to market your school internally to your parents.


Be proactive in working with current families to keep them enrolled at your school ◦ Grade all of your families on their likelihood to

return next year.

◦ Meet with all families personally that are “on the fence” regarding their decision to re-enroll.

◦ Host small group coffees and events for parents.

◦ Implement “Next Year and Beyond” meetings for families to understand the next level.


Launch an internal marketing campaign that coincides with re-enrollment (Jan. and ongoing): ◦ Re-enrollment package that communicates the value for

the continued investment at your school.

◦ Design banners that communicate the brand and tagline.

◦ Personal phone calls to all families encouraging them to re-enroll.

◦ Communicate key messages that reflect features and benefits of continuing at your school.

◦ Develop bragging points and boast about the remarkability of your school.


Survey your parents annually by conducting an overall parent satisfaction and perception survey. ◦ Look for areas of dissatisfaction to improve the

quality of the school.

◦ Report findings from the survey back to parents.

◦ Best time to survey parents is October/November and February.

Conduct exit interviews when parents choose not to re-enroll at your school.


“This is the foundation of buzz: in order to get people talking about your product or service,

you must provide a great experience.”

• Rosen, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited


A Great School Will Create WOM

Strong

Retention

Parent

Satisfaction

Positive

Word of

Mouth

1. Talkers—who will tell their friends about you?

2. Topics—what will they talk about?

3. Tools—how can you help the message travel?

4. Taking Part—how should you join the conversation?

5. Tracking—what are people saying about you?


Your school’s website should be the hub of news, activity, information and stories about your school.

It is the most important marketing and communication’s tool for today’s school.


Brand—It is important to convey a strong brand for your school—including your logo, colors, and tagline.

Photos—Large, professional photos on the home page will draw the visitor to your school.

Content—Dynamic content and a compelling message is important to keep users returning to your school’s website.




How can you use a blog in your strategy? ◦ Share student, faculty and alumni stories. ◦ Share how your school is achieving its mission, ◦ Provide educational expertise on important and

timely issues.

Benefits of blog: ◦ Provides an additional website full of content on

your school. ◦ Regularly feeds into blog subscriber in-boxes ◦ Increases SEO for your school. ◦ Can feed back into your website and provide

dynamic content.


Hire a web company to guide in the search engine optimization process for your website (Andy Lynch at North Star Marketing).

Launch a campaign on Google AdWords. Launch a Facebook ad campaign using

multiple ads to target several key messages (Everyday is an open house, Tagline, etc.).

Parents, faculty and staff should write positive reviews on GreatSchools.com and Google.

Launch a blog integrated on your website.


SEO is the process of adjusting websites and pages to gain higher placement in search engine results. ◦ Where does your school come up on a web search?

Organic versus Paid ◦ Organic – page titles and keywords in your website

◦ Google’s AdWords – pay-per-click advertising for keywords.


It is critical for you to focus on search engine optimization as part of your marketing strategy. ◦ Keyword research

◦ Page titles

◦ Page descriptions

◦ Keyword-rich content

◦ Dynamic content

School administrators most often focus on website design when launching a new site but fail to focus on the most important elements – SEO and content development.

It is critical to focus on developing content that is: ◦ Relevant

◦ Keyword-rich

◦ Dynamic

◦ Compelling

Pay-Per-Click Ads ◦ Google AdWords

◦ Facebook Ads

Online Reviews and Directory Sites ◦ GreatSchools.com

◦ PrivateSchoolReview.com

◦ Yelp.com

◦ Google+

Programs ◦ Academics, Athletics, Arts, Service, Technology,

Faith, Character

People ◦ Students, Parents, Leadership, Faculty, Staff,

Coaches, Alumni

Results

Tell the story of your school through students, alumni, parents, faculty and staff: ◦ Motivate every faculty and staff member to share

one story to the leadership

◦ Focus on linking stories to the USP’s

◦ Develop video vignettes that can be posted on the website, Vimeo/YouTube and Facebook

◦ Lead story in every issue of your email newsletter

◦ Stories on Facebook, website and blog

◦ Create positive buzz about your school


Grads at other schools looking back on their experience at your school

Faculty expressing their unique passion for teaching at your school.

Students conveying what they like best about your school.

Students answering the question, “What makes your school special to you?”

Parent sharing why they chose your school for their child and the difference this decision has made.


Facebook can be used to connect to alumni, parents and friends of your school. ◦ Set up an alumni group for your school

Connect with alumni to keep in touch with them

◦ Set up a fan page for your school

Provide regular updates on your fan page

Tell stories of your alumni and faculty

Encourage interaction among your fans

Enter into conversations with your fans


When something happens in your classroom, on the field, or on stage that is communicates your school, you need to capture the moment.


The Power of One Post • 2,846 Likes • 139 Comments • 175 Shares • 22,139 People saw

this post

Photos tell the story at Miami Country Day

1. Develop and communicate your brand

2. Set goals and analyze enrollment results

3. Devote resources to staff and the team

4. Launch a parent ambassadors program

5. Consistently follow-up with inquiries

6. Re-recruit your current families

7. Implement a word of mouth campaign

8. Focus your resources on your website

9. Generate leads through online marketing strategies

10. Tell your school’s story through social media

For More Information:

Enrollment Catalyst

Rick Newberry, Ph.D.

9770 Indian Key Trail

Seminole, FL 33776

727.647.0378

[email protected]

Blog: www.EnrollmentCatalyst.com/Blog

www.EnrollmentCatalyst.com

Facebook.com/EnrollmentCatalyst


http://www.enrollmentcatalyst.com/

Documents

Growing your school in troubled times, sbacs webinar