Marketing for schools is growing increasingly popular, and yet I often find that so many people still don’t really know what it involves. Even after working in education marketing for 20 years, there is one question I still get asked all the time: ‘what is marketing?’ which is always followed by, ‘what do you actually do?’
Marketing is one of those terms that can be hard to define, leading to misconceptions about what it’s actually about. Often when people hear marketing they think fluffy words and nice pictures, presented in glossy brochures, posters and TV adverts. Or they might come across marketing jargon like Brand Identity, SEO and User Experience and immediately switch off. Another common phrase I regularly hear is we can’t afford to ‘do marketing.’
It’s not about huge budgets. A big misconception is that marketing is expensive, something big brands throw lots of money at. Just think about John Lewis and their annual Christmas advert – months in the making and an estimated cost of £1 million to produce in 2024 (with the previous year costing a whopping £7 million)…but that is not what good marketing is about.
Marketing is communication. It’s about telling your story and making sure the right people hear it. So, marketing for schools means telling prospective parents and pupils what makes your school special; making sure current parents feel involved and part of your school community; and showcasing why your school should be the first choice for parents and pupils.
So, what do we actually do? Marketing for schools involves so many different things, it can be hard to narrow down. For example, school branding and key messaging (yes, you do have a brand!), delivering websites that leave a positive first impression, photography and video that capture the life and spirit of your school, engaging and authentic content writing that tells your unique story, creating compelling designs that reflect the character of your school, effective open day planning and promotion, pupil recruitment campaigns and internal staff communication – there are lots of possibilities!
One of my favourite projects was working with a school that had no experience with marketing. As with many schools, they were facing falling numbers and reducing from 2 form to 1 form entry. They knew they needed help but didn’t know what that help looked like. We stepped in to show them what marketing could do.
We started by listening, really getting to know the school, its pupils, staff, local community and importantly their ethos and values. It turns out the school is amazing, the staff are passionate, the pupils thriving and parents can’t speak highly enough about the teaching and pastoral care. The only thing they weren’t doing was telling anyone!
We helped them to communicate and celebrate what makes them special. We created a new website, improved parent and community communication through engaging newsletters, and really brought the school to life through photography and video.
We have been working with the school for 5 years now, and in the words of the Head Teacher, we have become not just a service provider but a part of the school team.
Hopefully, this helps you see that marketing isn’t an intimidating mystery or a huge expense. In a nutshell, next time you think about marketing, think about it as telling your school’s story…and shouting it from the rooftops!
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