Private schools are on their own when it comes to attracting students. They need their students, not the other way around.
That’s why their enrollment rates depend entirely on their marketing strategy.
What hinders most private schools is their approach. They rely on a traditional type of marketing like word of mouth, paper newsletters and outdated websites.
However, to rise above the competition, your private school needs to invest in digital marketing.
In this article, you’ll learn why marketing is essential for private schools and how to create the perfect private school marketing strategy.
What is Private School Marketing?
Private school marketing is a series of actions a private school takes to improve attendance and visibility on the market. It’s not enough to have a good program and teachers. You have to show it to the world. So initial awareness is what captures the attention.
To achieve awareness among the community with families, you need marketing. To properly market your private school, focus on the final product, which is your services and campus. Allow the potential students insight into campus life.
You’ll find out about the techniques to do that soon enough. Let’s now focus on why marketing is so important for private schools.
Why is Marketing Important for Private Schools?
The main and the most apparent reason why marketing is important for private schools is because it’s the only way to attract students. The competition is fierce, especially when you add good public schools.
Marketing is the one thing that shapes your brand, increases awareness, and grows attendance. With a good marketing strategy, your school can constantly progress and be relevant among the community, while maintaining its values.
Have a look at all the benefits marketing can provide for your private school.
10 Benefits of Marketing Plans For Private Schools
- Increases enrollment rates
- Creates more revenue
- Reaches more target audience
- Makes your school stand out in competition
- Boosts event attendance
- Enhances parent’s and student’s engagement
- Improves programs and activities
- Benefits all staff
- Makes idea achievable
- Creates a better environment for students and staff
How To Create Marketing Plan Strategies For Private Schools
Step 1: Determine Your Goals
Before jumpstarting your marketing plan, you first need to determine what are your goals. We recommend using SMART goals. Some goals can be overwhelming in the beginning, and SMART goals help you make them more realistic and achievable.
Say your goal is to attract a different type of audience. The first step towards it is to find the platforms this type of audience typically uses and then utilize social media strategies to reach them.
Step 2: Evaluate Your Situation
So, now that you’ve determined your goals it’s time to realistically evaluate the situation you’re in. You know what your school is great in, and what segments need improving. Tweak your goals accordingly.
Step 3: Distinguish Private School’s Value
School value is what school stands for. That means that all students and staff act accordingly and represent the school in a certain way. You marketing strategy should do the same. If you emphasize school’s value in your plan, it will attract prospective students and parents of similar values.
Step 4: Examine Key Strategies
There are two key strategies you should examine, and later expand:
- Website – Private school is like a business. And like every business, you should have a respectable website. The website must be nicely designed and have all the info about your school.
- Social media – an important part of your digital marketing journey. Consider the audience you want to attract. Then, choose the social media they frequent. This will most likely be Instagram, TikTok or Twitter, but don’t underestimate the power of other social media.
Step 5: Launch Strategy
Now that you’ve gotten these important steps figured out, it’s time to launch your marketing strategy. Sure, there will be some mistakes and miscalculations in the beginning, but marketing plans are flexible and adapt to your situation.
Step 6: Reassess and Reflect
After a certain period of time, it’s time to see the results. Have you achieved some of your goals? Are the numbers up? If you notice the current strategy isn’t working, feel free to change it up.
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Bonus Tip: Private School Marketing Ideas
Enhance your website experience
When creating a website, the user experience must always be on your mind. To make it as pleasant as possible make sure your website is responsive, fast, engaging, and easy to navigate. Check for any bugs on your current website and enhance is if necessary.
Boost your organic search visibility with SEO
SEO can be a powerful tool for boosting your organic search visibility. As a matter of fact, it can be the only really effective tool to do that. You can use Google Keywords or a similar page to find out what keywords you need to implement on your website for improved visibility.
Gather a community on Facebook
Having a private school page or group with all the parents and children is very common. It’s a fun and efficient way to publish all the events, post videos, and communicate in general.
Keep in touch with your students and alums on LinkedIn
Find successful students and alumni on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the best choice for this because it’s a platform-oriented toward professional networking. Showing of the success of your alumni can do a great deal for a private school’s reputation.
Email newsletters are still a fun and easy way to communicate with your audience. Not to mention they are cheap and easy. You can send, monthly, weekly or weekly newsletters to all students or their parents. How frequently you want to do it depends on you and your audience.
Start making online video
Videos have now definitely become a preferred way of communication. It’s a great way to promote your values and connect with the audience. You can hire a professional to make a few promotional videos about your school.
Having your own Youtube channel is also a plus. Otherwise, you can ask some of the staff to film events or classes and publish them on social media.
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Private School Marketing FAQ
How do you market a private school?
There are a few steps to take to properly market a private school:
- Determine Your Goals
- Evaluate Your Situation
- Distinguish Private School’s Value
- Examine Key Strategies
- Launch Strategy
- Reassess and Reflect
Who is the target market of the private school?
That depends on the private school. What is common to all target audience is that usually have higher incomes.
