Creating a Marketing Plan - Part 9 of 12

      This is the ninth of a 12-step program to create a marketing plan specifically for your school.  You may choose to use this material in a variety of different ways, such as:

• Assigning each week to a staff member over the summer so that everyone will have something to work on;
• Waiting for all 12 parts to be posted, then downloading them all into one document so you can have a complete set before starting work, or
• Joining the SchoolAdvancement eCommunity so that you can receive an email each week when the next part is posted.

     These 12 parts are designed to be short "thought-starters" which get you to think about how they relate to your school, with an assignment relative to what you need to do in the ensuing week to prepare for the next part (sounds just like a class, doesn't it?).  The "Objective" of this 12-week course is to begin to think about AND DO what you need to do to begin to effectively market your school in order to increase enrollment.

     Let's review!  Last week, we discovered that marketing IS education.  The same steps that are necessary to create a good lesson plan are the same steps that are necessary to create a good marketing plan.  There must be a goal, and there must be objectives so that criteria can be developed to determine if the goal has been achieved.  And, just as there are tools that used in the classroom to facilitate learning (such as a whiteboard, pencils or puppets), there must be tools that need to be created to ensure the success of the marketing plan.  The goal of the plan needs to be linked to something purposeful and measurable - perhaps increasing enrollment by 25 students for the coming year.  To say that we're marketing the school just to let people know we exist could be viewed as wasting funds in today's economic environment.  While it is important to let the community know your school is still a vital asset to the community, remember that marketing is education, and education must have a purpose.  Just to say that someone is well-education, yet fails to put that education into action for the betterment of himself, his parish, his community, and his world, is an education that has no effect.

     This week's main objective: Assign Responsibilities

     Once you have the objective, there are three things that must be done:  1) Create the materials that will be used in the marketing plan; 2) Get the materials out into the community where they will have the most benefit; and 3) Be prepared to capture information resulting from the marketing materials.  You may wish to do these things all yourself, but most schools have a marketing committee.  This is where you use them.

     Note that the marketing committee was not brought in earlier in the point.  That is because YOU are to create the marketing plan; the marketing committee is an action committee, to put a plan into action.  If you leave the plan design to the marketing committee, they may come up with a plan for your school that you cannot possibly put into action.  At that point, the committee believes they have done their work, and the rest is up to you.  If you find, then, that the plan is too difficult to put into action, you will take the fall for not being able to successfully implement the plan.  Committees are working committees.  You can ask them for ideas, but as the person charged with the responsibility for marketing the school, this is your plan.  For instance, you might have a committee that thinks the best way to market the school is to have billboards in several locations.  The committee agrees, and expects you to get that task done.  You might find out that it will cost $3,000 a board for a month, and 6 boards over 3 months will cost $54,000.   Is that realistic?  Will you enroll enough children to earn a positive return on investment?  Do you even have the ability to spend that kind of money?  If your tuition is $3000 a year, and you see an enrollment increase of 18 students at full tuition, then the plan has paid for itself.  Is an increase of 18 students realistic?  Do you have an enrollment tracking program in place so that no inquiries fall through the cracks so you can attain this goal?  You know the resources you have.  If you don't know them, get to know them before convening the committee.

     Get your marketing committee to create the materials you need - a brochure, a door hanger, and a yard sign.  Make sure all of them are consistent with your branding and your positioning statement that you created earlier, and ensure that the brochure focuses on your remarkability and your strengths.  Maybe they will want to donate the cost of materials.  Make sure the materials all have your phone number and Web site for your school.  Address has now become 3rd priority behind these two (since parents go to the Web first and can then call you on their cell phone).  While the brochure should have pictures of happy kids (NOT a school building with an empty parking lot!), yard signs and door hangers should be simple - name, phone number, and simple message (Apply now; Space is limited(creates urgency); etc.) for the yard sign and the name of the school, Web address and a simple message (Come see us, Your kids will love it here, etc.) for the door hangers.

     When the materials are prepared, move on to step two and mobilize to get the information to where it needs to be - brochures in doctors offices, supermarkets, gyms and nail/hair salons (places where young moms "wait") and real estate agencies; yard signs to every parent in the school; door hangers to every house that has a small child, ages 0 to 4.  Remember that Word of Mouth plays a key role in effective marketing.  Therefore, if anyone has complaints or concerns, from teachers to parents to the people that just moved next to the school, they must be brought to school administration and not discussed in the doctors offices, supermarkets, gyms and nail/hair salons.

     Be prepared to capture the information that comes from your marketing plan.  Perhaps use SchoolAdvancement's BASICS program, or other enrollment management programs, such as the one available from FACTS that puts your entire enrollment management system online.   Once a parent contacts the school, the marketing process has ended, and the enrollment process has begun.

     There are three types of materials that are used in the marketing plan - and relate to the types of learners...visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.  Printed materials appeal to the kinesthetic learner.  They can touch them, they can move them from one place to another in the house, etc.  The auditory learner will benefit from word of mouth.  Today's visual learner will benefit from your Web site.  You MUST have an excellent and interactive Web site today, since your printed marketing materials will refer your prospective parents to it.  More about your Web site next week.

     This week's assignment - assign responsibilities for creating marketing materials and their distribution to your marketing committee...and let's be careful out there.

© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement, 2009 (Original Publication Date: 20090727)