Schools find themselves in an increasingly competitive environment and it is often the responsibility of staff who are non-marketers to promote schools to prospective families.
Schools are extremely busy places and marketing can get pushed to the bottom of the pile, only to be considered when a key story emerges or when there’s a spare second. Consequently, all too often school marketing is ad hoc, reactive or sporadic and results in wasted time, energy and money – the very things that schools need to maximise more than anything!
Mapping out your school’s marketing activities is essential if your efforts are to be effective as it will help to keep everything on track and to ‘glue’ it all together.
This should be done by way of a Marketing Plan.
But What Is a Marketing Plan?
In simple terms, a Marketing Plan is a spreadsheet listing your marketing activities and any associated costs against a timeline.
Plan term by term or across an academic year, taking into account key dates: term dates, admissions deadlines, open evenings, inset days and more.
Key Considerations when Creating a Marketing Plan
- Goals – confirm your school’s overall goals and determine from the outset how marketing can support these
- Less is more – it’s far better to execute fewer marketing activities (say two or three) and to do so in a well-constructed, meaningful fashion, rather than trying to do a multitude of marketing activities and spreading everything too thinly
- Be realistic – bear in mind your resources: time, staffing and budget. A Marketing Plan must be a map of achievable activity, not a wish list that is unlikely ever to be actioned.
Get in Touch for a FREE Marketing Plan Template
Kickstart your marketing with a FREE Marketing Plan Template from Stickman. Simply get in touch to request our template and you’ll be well on your way to creating an effective marketing plan for your school.
Do YOU Need Help with Your School Marketing and Communications?
For help with your school’s marketing strategy or if you’d like to know more about any aspect of our market research, marketing and admissions services, simply get in touch. We’re always happy to explain how our work helps schools to get results.
Karen
School Marketing & Research Consultant and Chief Cheerleader
The Stickman Consultancy.
P.S. Download our FREE marketing health check for Prep Schools!
