Marketing For A New School

My apologies for not connecting with you sooner, but we've been extremely busy with new projects and developing our new eNewsletter format. As you can see, HEG has a new look for our Inner Circle eNewsletter and we hope that you enjoy it.

 
Our recent private school development projects have our team of associates travelling to all four corners of the globe with projects in: Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, China, Panama, Ontario, Alabama, Texas, Manhattan, and Malaysia.
 
In the past three weeks I've joined our team of HEG Associates to work with clients in Ulaanbaatar, Beijing, Panama City, and Washington, DC. Our projects vary from feasibility studies/business plans for new private K-12 international schools, to strategic plans, Head of School Searches, school formation, and major research projects for a Ministry of Education. In the month of June we'll be working in Mobile, Alabama, and Manhattan. If you're based there and want to arrange a meeting, please email me to set up a date to meet.
 
Today I want to share with you a number marketing initiatives you should consider when preparing to open a new private school. They say you never a get a second chance to make a first impression, so making sure that your marketing and admissions strategies are 'ramped up' is critical to maximizing enrollment for day one of operation. Please read on to find out more.

Marketing Strategies For Your New School

The right time to connect with parents and their kids starts long before the official opening of your school. In order to ensure greatest coverage and impact, a mixture of target marketing activities should be used during all stages of the formation. The list below provides a sampling of potential marketing tools, initiatives, and channels you can use. The best results are likely driven by a continuous utilization of a combination of the marketing tools and channels (as outlined below).

1. Open Campus: Regularly staged events provide a "touch and feel" experience for parents and prospective students at your new campus. If you don't have one, then set up a mock-up of your ideal classroom.
2. Coffee Sessions & Informal Meetings: Regular sessions provide prospective students and parents an opportunity to learn more about the school, curriculum and facilities; events with your Director of Admissions and Head of School.
3. Website: A website has to be informative, structured, interactive, and foremost credible. A website is typically the first point of contact or prospects; search engine optimization is critical; curriculum, fees, and school brochure should be downloadable. Ensure that you create an opt-in tool to capture visitors to your site and then follow up with an auto-responder system and email-based weekly newsletter to keep your prospective parents engaged and aware.
4. Social Media Sites: Web sites, such as Face book and Twitter, have become powerful marketing tools and need to be incorporated into holistic campaigns.
5. Brochures: Similar to the website, a brochure has to be informative, structured, transparent, and appealing, and provide all relevant contact details. This in turn needs to available on your website.
6. Press Releases & Newsletters: Cost sensitive tool ensures constant exposure of school in the media and keeps public informed about news and / or changes. This is also online so there are links back to the school's website to support SEO efforts and viral marketing.
7. Direct Mail & Flyers: Direct mailing promotes the school and is known to have a reasonable success rate. In particular, in the pre-opening phase direct mails can be utilized to increase the awareness of the local community and your open hours.
8. Radio Advertising: Effective image tool to increase the general awareness of the school, which might however not necessarily address the envisioned target group.
9. Billboards: Effective image tool within the defined catchment area of the school.
10. Newspaper Advertising: Useful tool for opening phase and special events held at the school.

To find out more about how we can help provide you solutions, please email HEG at to discuss your needs in more detail.

To your success,

Doug Halladay

President

Halladay Education Group

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