School Marketing Blog

The professional school marketing manager needs to be up-to-date with the latest school marketing resources and strategies to successfully implement his / her school marketing plan. This school marketing blog site enables school marketing professionals to engage in blog discussions relating to the school marketing issues of today. The School Marketing e-Handbook by Bryan Foster forms the basis for many of these blogs.

School Marketing Manager

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The School Marketing Manager (SMM) is responsible for a successful School Marketing Plan - a critically important role within any successful school. The school needs to be seen its best light in order to build a solid reputation and student and staff body.

Overview

The School Principal will often delegate this School Marketing Manager role to a school staff member.
Full-time, Part-time or shared? The Principal’s decision…
However, it is best not to lose sight of employing the best person for this position.
The SMM will be responsible for the School Marketing Plan and responsible to the School Principal.
Full / Part-Time or Shared Role

Most SMMs would be part time in this position these days. Budgetary restraints would basically necessitate this. These people would combine this role with their other primary role, usually that of Assistant / Deputy Principal or School Manager.
To share the role, I believe, could be detrimental to it. Having someone knowing everything there is to know about was has occurred, is being planned for and involved with the future implementation of the School Marketing Plan is a definite advantage.
I feel that the time is coming when an individual school or at least a combination of schools within a certain region / religious order / system will employ a full-time SMM.

School Marketing Manager Skills Needed

The person who takes on this role will need to:
• be interested in the area of marketing and preferably passionate about it
• be a person of integrity
• be able to base the SMP on the School’s Vision and Mission statement
• be aware of the marketing needs of a particular School
• have good interpersonal skills
• be able to build professional relationships with key stakeholders, members of the media and various local business personnel
• have a creative flare and appreciation of what ‘catches the eye’ of the targeted audiences
• have good literary skills
• have good computer skills, particularly with creative AV software packages and internet usage, or at least an appreciation of these along with other staff members or parents who would implement the software packages under your direction
• have a good appreciation of the internet and be able to implement all that this means of communication offers your particular school
• be capable of developing and implementing a viable budget
• be keen to learn and develop more successful forms of marketing and marketing skills.
The School Response to the SMM is discussed in in detail in the school marketing manual ebook.
The 'School Marketing Manager' blog post was written by Bryan Foster author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010.


Advertising in the Traditional Media - School Marketing

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Advertising in the Traditional Media, as part of the School Marketing Plan, is a form of advertising for a broad reach within society.

It goes well beyond the school community.

Common forms include: newspaper, radio, television and magazines.
Purpose and Overview

This form of advertising is mainly used to:

• Reach a broad audience beyond the school community • Build a reputation within the broader community • Have the reputation created support those within the school community • Advise the broader community of the advantages of your school to society • Encourage parents and their child/ren to consider enrolling in your school.

Success rates will vary depending on each individual publication and geographical location.
Advertising costs will also vary according to each individual publication and location.
Thorough cost analysis needs to be done by the SMM prior to developing a School Marketing Plan (SMP).
Often the smaller more localized publications are the best value as they often cost less and usually reach the targeted audience more effectively.
However, you need to be satisfied about:

• outlet’s philosophy • usual content • style of presentation • advertisement placement positions • distribution method.

Advertisement Creation Options
Two options are usually available:

• The school creates and produces its own advertisement or • The media outlet creates it for you
Each media outlet would normally create the advertisement for you, if you so wish. You should provide as much information and as many resources as possible, particularly the branding style needed (see ‘Branding’).
Don’t expect this method to be thoroughly to your liking though. You may need to go back and forth with the outlet until satisfied.
Other Topics in this Chapter

The other topics in this chapter from the ebook by Bryan Foster include: Background Preparation Be Prepared Proofs Signing Off Specific Details and Examples for: Newspaper and Magazine Advertising Creating the Newspaper and Magazine Advertisement - Instructions Radio Advertising Creating a Radio Advertisement - Instructions and Sample Television Advertising Creating a Television Advertisement - Instructions





Digital and Traditional School Marketing - Instruction Manual

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The newly published digital and traditional instructional manual, 'School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed)' 2010 by Bryan Foster, has over 80% more content than the previous 2009 edition.

369 A4 pages of easy to read summarized instructions and samples compared to the 201 A4 pages of the 'School Marketing e-Handbook: Easy to Use Guide to Market Your School (2nd ed)' 2009.
The increase is primarily due to the 100+ pages devoted to Internet Applications for marketing schools, as well as the enhancement of the other forms. Within this section there are over 130 live weblinks and 80+ pages of internet screenshots to assist the school marketing professional.
The other successful contemporary and traditional forms of marketing have also been updated to reflect the needs of today.

Over 160 more pages allow for considerably more detail. The easy to read and implement instructions are written in summarized point format. Key points are also highlighted even further.
Numerous samples and examples help to lead the personnel responsible for this enjoyable task in the right direction.
These instructions are offered for both the new contemporary church marketing methods, as well as the more traditional methods.

Both the relevant contemporary and tradition methods are required for a successful church marketing plan.
This new ebook contains detailed Contents and Index pages, along with a live, detailed Bibliography.
The other newly published ebook this year by Bryan Foster is the 329 A4 page easy to use summarized format of the 'Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed)' 2010.


Social Networking Website Use for Schools and School Marketing

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Schools, and their school marketing plan, can benefit from appropriate, and sometimes creative, use of social networking sites.

Increasingly, this form of communication is becoming more obvious for schools.
Be aware of all the privacy and legal issues!
The Challenge
Once again we are challenged to meet our parents, staff, students and other interested community members where they are at, or might be, in the near future.
The social networking tentacles are reaching further into the various demographics affecting our school communities, often way beyond the awareness of school leaders.
No longer is it just the teens and '20 something', it is now common for people in their 50s and 60s to have one or more social networking accounts.
Misconception?
With respect, and only to make a point shout out loudly, the misconception is that this form of communication is just used for inane chat amongst ‘dizzy lightweights’!
Yes, this may be so for a number of users, however there is a considerably large and ever growing group of people who use this for much more than chat, even though legitimate chat does play an important part in many forms of communication.
These people are not only building and strengthening relationships amongst friends and newly formed acquaintances / friends through their engagement online with each other and often doing so simultaneously, they may also be adding depth to key aspects of their lives.
Underlying Assumptions
There are a number of interesting assumptions an ever expanding group of people, with representatives in most age groups, of the 21st century make:

• People like to build trusting relationships with others before doing ‘business’ (Schools need to be open to appreciating this belief and then adapting the way they communicate with such people.) • The busyness of life often limits face-to-face opportunities • The relationship does not need to be a face-to-face encounter, even though this is often preferred • ‘anonymity’ allows for a less inhibited sharing of ideas and thoughts. (Easier for some people to make a comment when the contact person isn’t actually in front of them. Similar for some people when using telephones or email.) • The internet often provides the answers people are seeking (How often do you hear more and more, “Google it!”) • Digital communication is the easiest and quickest means of communication • Digital communication allows for multiple conversations simultaneously • People using these forms of communication eventually trust in the results due to their experiences.

Why Consider Social Networking Websites?
To reach this ever growing group of people in our communities we must meet them where they are at!
In many circumstances, this may not be your ‘cup of tea’.
But you do have control over who sees and comments on your school ‘Facebook’ pages if you follow the security directions.

You may limit membership to only parents and former students (and students?) and hence only these people will see what you say and show.
Staff should not have students as ‘friends’ on their social networking pages due to the inappropriateness of this.
Other topics discussed in the school marketing manual e-Book:
Examples
Which Social Networking Sites to Use?
Approaches to Use
School Group Membership
School Leader Membership
Facebook - chapter
Twitter - chapter
Linked In - chapter
Caution Needed When Using Social Networking Sites