When I first started in PreK-12 enrollment management, dealing with competition felt like an endless, daunting battle. Over the years, I discovered that a little bit of military strategy could be my best friend in this war. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel; classic battle tactics can be perfectly adapted to the school-versus-school showdown.
A Shift in Perspective: From Customer-Centric to Competitor-Oriented
I adhered to the marketing concept: our goal was to identify and profitably satisfy customer needs, of course, with the mission as the lighthouse. However, the landscape of school enrollment is a battleground. Competing against the uncontested top branded school seemed to make no sense and a futile effort. Then I stumbled upon the idea introduced by Al Ries and Jack Trout in Marketing Warfare: marketing is war. I learned that I need to shift my focus to understanding and outmaneuvering our competition. This shift was a game-changer for me.
Defensive Strategy: Protecting Your Turf
If your school is the big fish in the pond—the one with the largest customer base, the most resources, and the strongest brand—you need to go on the defensive. Among this group, when one rival school builds a new track, the other responds with an indoor track because we already had the outdoor facility. Yes, this is all part of the master plan. Now, students could train all year round. This strategy was about ensuring others couldn’t take what was the top defender by outbuilding or outservicing them, sometimes even at a lower cost.
Attacker Strategy: Taking the Fight to Them
Then there were times when a school was almost as strong as the leader but just not quite there. That’s when they use the attacker strategy. You build a state-of-the-art football and lacrosse turf field with a computerized scoreboard. The competitor is in no position to respond, smaller brand and resources.
Flanking Strategy: Finding the Unattended Areas
When you are not a Defender or an Attacker, you need the Flanking move. Start small with something like educating children with dyscalculia and dysgraphia. Competitors aren’t interested in being specialists in those areas at the moment. You set up a separate facility for these students, creating a niche market without diluting your academic reputation. By the time your competitors notice, you have already established a strong foothold in this new market. that weren’t being served as well as what you are offering.
Guerrilla Strategy: Small, Smart Moves
Guerrilla tactics select an area that other schools are interested in doing, but not at the quality level that you are going to offer. For example, your college counseling process is so robust that families come into the junior year in droves just to be a part of this process. The individualized attention and evaluation is outstanding.
The Thin Line Between Flanking and Guerrilla
One thing I learned is that the difference between flanking and guerrilla tactics lies in the attention of your competitors. Flankers pick niches that aren’t on the competitors’ radar, while guerrillas target areas the competitors are interested in but can’t or don’t want to execute at your level. Both strategies required nimbleness and the ability to adapt quickly before the defenders could regroup and counter-attack.
Embrace the Battle
Here’s what I learned: don’t try to compete with the Defenders unless you have the strength to be an Attacker. Defenders will attract students more often than you will. It’s crucial to convey this concept to the senior leadership team and the board of trustees. I made it clear to my previous board that we would not compete against certain schools unless we had a half-billion-dollar endowment. This distinction helped them understand the difference between us and the Defenders and Attackers. (Read this article about Walmart and you will understand why you don’t need to bother with the Defenders or Attackers.)
In the ever-competitive world of K-12 enrollment management, these strategies have provided me with a clear, actionable framework for not just surviving but thriving. By picking our battles wisely and using these tried-and-true tactics, we carved out our school’s success story. Al Ries and Jack Trout’s Marketing Warfare allowed us to understand our weight class, enabling us to focus our efforts effectively. These lessons have shaped my journey and continue to guide my strategies in this dynamic field.
