Communications

What’s Weakening Your School’s Brand?

Blog, Brand, Communications, Enrollment Manaagement, Full-pay Families, Marketing, Recruitment / Claude

Years ago, I found myself in a fascinating conversation with a colleague. We were discussing Peter Pan, and the topic of Tinker Bell came up. Do you remember that part where Tinker Bell starts to disappear because people stopped believing in her? It struck me that something similar happens in our schools—our brand begins to fade when the people within our community stop believing in it. The Internal Struggle During my years in enrollment management, I’ve seen firsthand how schools can inadvertently weaken their own brand. One day, I was chatting with a teacher who confessed that even if she had the means, she wouldn’t pay full tuition for her own child to attend the school. Even if she had the money? This teacher worked within the school, their children were enrolled, yet they didn’t see the value that justified the cost. They’d accept the education at a discount. When this person speaks with our prospective family, what level of passion about the educational experience are they conveying to them? High Expectations from Full-Pay Families Full-pay families have high expectations. Many come from communities with excellent public schools. I recall a meeting with a family who compared our school’s college placement list with that of their local public schools. They saw similar outcomes and so they were questioning the necessity of a private school education. Yes, at least they were giving us a shot at convincing them. This scenario isn’t unique; I’ve encountered it multiple times, and it always underscores the importance of a strong, believable brand. Building Belief For our schools to thrive, we need a brand that every faculty and staff member can rally behind. It can’t just be marketing fluff—it has to be a lived experience. I’ve found that the most successful schools are those where the brand is not just a tagline on a website but a shared belief echoed by everyone in the community, at least almost everyone in the community. Here’s how I’ve seen it done: Develop Brand Differentiators: It’s crucial to identify and develop what makes your school unique. This isn’t just about claiming you’re different—the value of these differentiators must be apparent to everyone. Create Disciples: Share the greatness of your brand with your entire school community. You want to create enthusiastic advocates. I remember the time we held a series of workshops just for our staff to immerse them in our school’s story and successes. The shift in energy and belief was palpable. They wanted the language to speak about the program and it secured their beliefs. Consistent Messaging: Use the right words and make sure they are heard and used consistently. I’ve seen schools transform when everyone, from the head of school to the janitor, speaks the same language about their brand. Reinforce Everywhere: Beyond verbal communication, make sure your brand is prominently featured in all materials—online, in admissions packets, and development brochures. I’ve personally worked on campaigns where a unified message across all platforms led to a noticeable increase in community engagement and enrollment. Why It Matters Reflecting on these experiences, it’s clear that if we don’t actively highlight and strengthen our brand, we risk seeing it fade like Tinker Bell. With rising tuition costs, maintaining a strong brand position is more crucial than ever. Otherwise, full-pay families will start to question the value of your school, and that’s a tough position to recover from. And who can afford to discount their tuition any further than we already do just to get someone to come like that one teacher. In essence, believe in your brand, share that belief passionately, and make it a part of every interaction. That’s how you keep your brand strong and your school thriving. This journey of building and nurturing belief isn’t just about enrollment numbers—it’s about creating a community that genuinely values and champions what your school stands for. And that’s a journey worth every step.

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Are You Optimizing Monologue, Digitalogue, and Dialogue Formats for Effective School Outreach?

Advertising, Blog, Communications, Marketing, Social Media / Claude

When I look back on my journey in enrollment management at private schools, one of the key lessons I’ve learned is the importance of effective communication styles to address an audience’s needs. Whether it was reaching out to prospective families or engaging with current ones, the way we communicated made all the difference. I’ve often found that categorizing communication styles helps schools understand their strengths and where they might need to improve. Here, I’ll share my insights into three primary communication styles—Monologue, Digitalogue, and Dialogue—each with its unique advantages and challenges. Monologue Communications Monologue communication is about broadcasting information without expecting an immediate response. It’s great for broad, non-interactive messaging. I recall using this method extensively during my early years in the field, where the goal was to get the word out widely. Traditional Monologue: Examples: Newspaper ads, telephone book ads, billboards, direct mail brochures, TV commercials. Pros: Wide reach, strong visual impact, ideal for brand awareness. Cons: Limited engagement, expensive, hard to measure effectiveness, declining influence in the digital age. Digital Monologue: Examples: Static website content, YouTube promotional videos, online ads, digital brochures, e-books. Pros: Cost-effective, scalable, measurable through analytics, accessible to a global audience. Cons: Still largely non-interactive, can be easily ignored or blocked by ad blockers, requires constant updates to stay relevant. Digitalogue Communications Digitalogue communication allows for interactive engagement on digital platforms, creating a virtual dialogue. It’s a method that I’ve seen evolve and become indispensable in recent years. Social Digitalogue: Examples: Facebook posts, Tweets, Instagram stories, LinkedIn updates, blog posts with comment sections. Pros: High engagement potential, fosters community building, real-time feedback, viral potential. Cons: Time-consuming, requires continuous content creation, can be subject to negative comments and public scrutiny. Automated Digitalogue: Examples: Email marketing campaigns, SMS marketing, online chatbots, interactive surveys, automated webinar invites. Pros: Efficient, personalized at scale, trackable metrics, automated follow-ups. Cons: Risk of being perceived as impersonal, seem to have a high unsubscribe rate, requires robust data management. Dialogue Communications Dialogue communication involves real-time, two-way interaction, allowing for immediate responses and personalized engagement. This method, although resource-intensive, has proven to be the most effective in building strong relationships. Direct Dialogue: Examples: Phone calls, in-person interviews, instant messaging chats, personalized video calls, face-to-face meetings. Pros: Deep personalization, immediate feedback, builds strong relationships, high trust factor. Cons: Resource-intensive, not scalable, requires skilled personnel, time-consuming. Group Dialogue: Examples: School fair presentations, virtual tours with live Q&A, parent-teacher conferences, group discussions in online forums, direct consultations during open house events. Pros: Engages multiple stakeholders simultaneously, fosters a sense of community, efficient for addressing common queries. Cons: Less personalized, can be challenging to manage group dynamics, requires effective facilitation skills. Reflecting on these experiences, I’ve come to appreciate the balance needed between these communication styles. Monologue communications work well for initial outreach and brand awareness. Digitalogue communications strike a balance between reach and interaction, with social platforms fostering community and automated systems ensuring efficiency. Dialogue communications, while demanding, offer the highest level of personalization and trust-building, crucial for converting prospects into enrolled students. By understanding and strategically applying these communication methods, schools can optimize their marketing efforts, build stronger relationships with prospective families, move students through the admission funnel, and ultimately enhance enrollment and reputation.

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Part I: Navigating the CRM Jungle – A Roadmap for Enrollment Management Directors

Blog, Communications, CRM_Database / Claude

Switching to a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can feel like trekking through an untamed jungle. I’ve been there, and I know the challenges all too well. But with the right guide and tools, you can turn this daunting journey into a successful expedition. Here’s the first part of your roadmap, designed specifically for enrollment management directors, to ensure a smooth transition and optimal use of a new CRM system. Define Your Objectives Clearly Before diving into the sea of CRM options, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your goals. What do you want to achieve with this new system? For enrollment management, the objectives often include: Acquiring a higher number of students in both quality and quantity. Evaluating and selecting students who best match your school’s program. Efficiently managing the evaluation and allocation process for financial aid applicants. Assess Your Current System Take a close look at your existing CRM or database. Identify the gaps and pain points. What functionalities are you missing? This assessment will help you pinpoint what you need from the new system. I remember when we first evaluated our system; it was eye-opening to see the inefficiencies that had crept in over the years. Essential Features to Look For When evaluating new CRM systems, consider these essential features tailored for enrollment management: Customer Portals: These allow prospective students and parents to access information, track application status, and complete necessary forms online. Our implementation of customer portals significantly reduced our inquiry response time and improved parent satisfaction. Partner Portals: Faculty, coaches, and other stakeholders can interact with prospects and record communications within the CRM. This feature was a game-changer for us, as it centralized all communications and reduced information silos. Lead Forms Integration: Ensure your lead forms (inquiry, pre-application, event registration) can be synced with the CRM to capture and track interest efficiently. Multiple form integrations helped us streamline our data collection process, making it easier to follow up with leads. Database Records Setup: Your CRM should be able to replicate your current database fields, create user hierarchies, and establish relationships between students, parents, and referral organizations. Proper setup allowed us to maintain continuity and avoid data loss during the transition. Digital Folder Reading: With the rise of digital documents, your CRM should support digital folder reading, allowing for easy access, sharing, and updating of student files. This feature has made document management a breeze for our admissions team. Seamless Integration Your new CRM must integrate seamlessly with existing systems like your email platform (Outlook, Google), social media (Facebook, Twitter), and event management tools (Eventbrite). This ensures all data is centralized, reducing the chances of missing out on critical information. I cannot stress enough how much seamless integration has simplified our workflow. Data Migration and Management Moving data from your old system to the new one is a critical step. Ensure the new CRM can handle bulk data imports and maintains relationships among records. Look for features like duplication detection and multi-field search systems to keep your database clean and efficient. We learned the hard way that improper data migration can lead to significant headaches. User-Friendly Interface A CRM with a user-friendly interface is essential. It should be intuitive and easy for your team to navigate, reducing the learning curve and increasing productivity. Investing in training sessions for our team ensured a smooth transition and quick adaptation to the new system. Tracking Full-Pay Families Given the significance of full-pay families to your revenue objectives, the CRM should have functionalities to track these families separately and ensure they receive special consideration throughout the admission process. This feature helped us tailor our approach and improve our full-pay enrollment numbers. Conclusion of Part 1 Transitioning to a new CRM system is a significant move that requires careful planning and consideration. By clearly defining your objectives, assessing your current system, and knowing what features to look for, you can ensure a smoother transition. In the next part, we will delve deeper into implementing the CRM system and maximizing its benefits for your enrollment management processes.

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What’s Weakening Your School’s Brand?

Part I: Navigating the CRM Jungle – A Roadmap for Enrollment Management Directors

EM:for Schools

ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT FOR SCHOOLS