We are fortunate in the Mid-Atlantic to have an abundance of outstanding independent schools that focus on educating today’s students to become vibrant participants in a 21st century economy. In today’s highly competitive educational marketplace, families and students have many choices when it comes to selecting an independent school.
Opportunities & Challenges That Need to Be Explored
In order to create an innovative, forward thinking admission marketing strategy your school must first explore the opportunities and challenges it faces. The following key questions must be examined as you begin your marketing review.
- How is the school perceived in the market today?
- What is your greatest challenge when it comes to admissions marketing?
- Have you defined your strategic marketing goals?
- Have you clearly articulated your value proposition to prospective families?
- What level of investment will best serve your needs?
- Is the school’s vision in line with your current enrollment plan?
- What do current families have to say about your school? Is it positive or negative?
- Why have families whose children were accepted to your school opted not to enroll?
Some answers to your questions might be painful to fully explore, but only through a process of honest evaluations will you be able to create a strong foundation on which to build your marketing plan.
As your school seeks to answer these critical questions we have found that market research is the best path forward to find concrete answers. We recommend a series of in-person focus groups be conducted by our professional research partner to help discover and evaluate your school’s standing. We have found that in today’s hyper-sensitive consumer market, external marketing research expertise brings value by being grounded in objectivity.
In our next Independent School blog post we will more fully explore the value and importance of market research.
Jonathan Oleisky is President of Kalix Communications
