Remember: your school community is dynamic. People are doing wonderful things in the classroom, on the athletic fields, and in the band rooms. Parents intrinsically want their children to be part of an active, diverse learning community. Perhaps they feel that they can't get that anymore in their local public school. Maybe they have a child who would be the happiest kid on earth to be part of your choral arts program. Perhaps they are busy professionals who need the peace of mind which comes from sending their child to a caring, nurturing environment like a boarding school. To a school just like yours.
I am not for a minute suggesting some cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to marketing your school and making the outside community aware of happens on your campus. Discover what makes your school exceptional. Then charge somebody with the task of spreading the word consistently and efficiently.
- Your school's graduates matriculate to colleges with easily recognizable names.
- Your hockey team has won championship games for several years running. Several team members have gone on to play professionally.
- A group of students has been going to a Latin-American country over spring break since 1995 to rebuild homes for disadvantaged citizens.
- Your board of trustees has made it a policy that no family making less than $75,000 per year will have to pay to send its children to your school.
The list goes on and on. But look at what that list says about your school:
- The academic program is excellent.
- The hockey program is first-rate.
- Your community has global awareness and willingly shares with the less fortunate in other parts of the world.
- Your school is affordable to all who qualify.
Any professional marketing person would have a field day with material such as these hypothetical bullets. But the important thing to understand is that there is nothing fictional about any of it, is there? Of course, the details may vary from school to school. But you can see your community in so many of the bullets above, can't you?
Parents will respond to a distinct, clearly presented brand like yours. That is a win-win for both you and the parents.
Questions? Contact us on Facebook. @boardingschoolreview