marketing school
What is school marketing?
To some, marketing will seem like a corporate term that doesn’t apply to a school. While we can all recognize how a school is very different from a large consumer brand, most marketing principles can and have been successfully applied to schools. We have tried in as few words as possible to explain what marketing is for schools and how they should approach it.
Every school provides a service (education), has clients (students and their parents), has competitors (similar schools) and operates within a market (student).
While it may seem a bit crude to view education as a product and the student as a customer, marketing would probably help most schools better understand the environment in which they operate and more clearly define their identity (or ‘brand’). ). The benefit of marketing for schools, as it is for all businesses, is recognizing the factors that influence them, understanding those factors, and using this information to plan for future success. School Marketing Plan A marketing plan is generally created in three stages: objectives, strategies, and tactics. Goals have the longest time frame (typically 1-5 years) and are the company’s key market ambitions. Strategies have a medium time frame and contribute to achieving a particular objective, while tactics have a shorter time frame, are the most adaptable and facilitate strategy. Marketing objectives must be agreed upon in accordance with admissions, fundraising and development plans.
Who at school does marketing?
We find that the job roles of people within schools vary, much depending on the size of the school, whether it is state-owned or private, and also on the need to expand or prevent number decline. Marketing is most commonly done, as one might expect, by the marketing director, but it also falls under the remit of principals, assistant principals, administrators, and classroom teachers; roughly in that order.
School Marketing Levels
We propose that there are three different levels:
1. Research level marketing: environmental analysis, competitor research, customer research
2. Marketing at the brand level: vision, mission statement, brand identity, logo elements
3. Communication level marketing: logo design, uniform style/colors, school website, school brochure, signage, livery (such as vehicles), stationery, etc.
One item that is not included is the name of the school, as this is typically not decided in the same way as other school identity/marketing decisions. Those responsible for creating a new school or rebranding/marketing an existing school will need to make decisions regarding all of the separate elements listed above and are likely to work chronologically through categories one, two, and three (as noted in the bullet point). ).