SchoolAdvancement (TM) Helping Schools Advance Toward Their Vision

MARKETING

Click here for this week's free marketing tip, Marketing Matters ^(SM)!

ENROLLMENT

Click here to find out more about BASICS - a FREE TOOL to help bring more students into your school! Enrollment Estimators (TM) are now available for the 12-13 school year!!

DEVELOPMENT

Development Development

A monthly article to help you form a development mindset from a fundraising one. Click here for this month's artilcle!. If you're already developed in Development, and want to advance toward an Advancement mindset, check out Advancementality:. Every week, a new post is made to advance your ability to attain an attitude necessary for Advancement.

PRESENTATIONS

Access to presentations given throughout the year can be found here!

* "Miracle Marketing" - For those in the Diocese of Harrisburg, click here to view or download the presentation. For those in the Diocese of Buffalo, click here to view or download the presentation.

* "Retention: The First Step To Growing Your Enrollment"

For those in the Diocese of Harrisburg, click here to download handouts from the presentation.

For those that attendend the NYSCIRS Conference in Albany, click here to download handouts from the presentation.

For those that attended the Alliance of Catholic Schools of Lancaster County, click here to download handouts from the presentation.

For those that attended the West Virginia Christian Education Association Conference, click here to download handouts from the presentation.

Smiling & Engaged Children, or Buildings & Empty Classrooms

The song "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from "Les Miserables" has one of the most powerful lyrics of hopelessness ever penned, complete with a haunting melody. The show capitalizes on the piece's impact by having the ghosts of those that have been killed in battle fade in to appear for several lines of the song before fading away.

With that in mind, let's consider your school's marketing materials. I'm sure your school has a brochure or packet of information...maybe even a publication that serves as an annual report to your parents and donors. And if you haven't realized your needs a well-designed, inviting and interactive Web site (and not just a Web page), then let this be just another reminder that your school is not going to thrive until it gets one.

This summer is a good time to seriously revaluate your marketing collateral, perhaps from the bottom up. Consider your school's position, its brand, its remarkable differences, its experience for your parents, and its results as demonstrated in your students. Descriptions of those elements then must be crafted in such as way that it gets parents of prospective students to have an emotional "tug" to get them into your school for a tour or some type of event that will "blow them away," making them want to enroll their children in your school.

So, which of these two photos do you think is more emotionally compelling?

I hope you picked the first one. Even the little blond in the back of the room seems to be smiling while reading his text. The photo on the right looks like it should be on the front of a "for sale" brochure rather than on one meant to attract new parents. Notice I did not say attract new students. You are not marketing your school to students. You are marketing your school to today's parents...and if they're going to pay significant dollars for an education, they're going to want to make sure their children are smiling. After all, if they're not, there are other educational options (public, charter, cyber-charter, home) that they can choose.

Please realize that for important shots like this, it's paramount to get professional help. The days of just taking a picutre are over (unless a parent or volunteer in your school is a professional photographer or is one of those "over-the-top" hobbyists), much in the same way that home-grown Web pages just can't compete against what's available today.