MARKETING
Creating Authentic Marketing Messages and a Value Proposition to Build School Enrolment By Dr. Stephen Holmes B Ed, MBA, MEd Admin, PhD Founder and Principal of The 5Rs Partnership
For so many international schools, the economic reverberations of the health crisis have rapidly translated to enrolment and marketing challenge for Boards, owners and leadership. This global event has propelled to centre stage something that was already a building problem for so many schools – weaknesses in the authenticity and impact of their marketing and marketing messages. While there has been increased recognition of the potential importance of marketing in schools, they still find it difficult to define and communicate points of difference in compelling and cogent ways to various audiences. A precondition to building enrolment is an authentic, cogent and compelling identity driven by marketing messaging that impacts and shapes the way people perceive the school. A quick search of international school websites continues to suggest that creating authentic, differentiated marketing messages is beyond most schools. Straplines and slogans on websites (i.e., integrated into brand schemes), have become commonplace approaches to try to convey a distinctive school identity. In general, despite improvements in the public ‘look and feel’ of schools, real changes in identity are rare, illusionary--and in almost cases expensive! So, a continued weakness in schools is the lack of influence and impact of marketing messages on parent choice and the authenticity (originality) of marketing messages. It is why so many schools have weak value or woolly propositions (USPs). We live in a world of fake news, rejection of logic, illusion and instantaneous sharing. Marketing messaging in reputable institutions like schools surely has to take all of that into account and do better! And it’s not just problems with the actual marketing messages. Schools typically have far too many messages – they tend to be too inclusive and say something about almost everything in the hope that something will connect. A narrow and deep set of messages explained in terms of actual benefit to the student/parent, why they are valuable and matter both in the short and long term, and proof that they are a reality across the student/ parent journey is a far more compelling narrative approach for school audiences. In this regard, we can learn one lesson from the corporate world – top brands are usually associated with a very small set of at8 EARCOS Triannual Journal
tributes (not more than 2 or 3) that achieve penetrative, attractive and enduring identities. To impact on public perception and enrolment, school marketing must be more than ‘lots of activity’ pushing out similar messages that aim to connect with increasingly diverse audience preferences and expectations. Marketing Messaging: Pitfalls to Avoid and the ‘To Do’ List For the foreseeable future, we think that the quality of marketing messaging in schools will be a tipping point and catalyst for market success or failure. How can schools effectively address the challenge they face in the search for the ‘right’ marketing messaging, especially in a time of serous enrolment pressure? Our work with schools on marketing over three decades manifests in six crucial guidelines for action to review and enhance marketing messaging.
Messaging Pitfalls
Messaging To do List/Metrics
1. Schools struggle to distinguish or differentiate themselves, nor do they explain compelling and cogent reasons to choose them (enrol) over other alternate schools.
Clear points of difference in messages, and or messages that may be common but are known to be highly valued by parents/ students (prospective, current and past).
2. A sameness (generic) in the way schools project themselves that does little to create a sustainable identity, or connect and resonate well with diverse audiences/expectations.
Marketing messages that are not generic (e.g., a current or possible future innovation or theme) to build a clear trajectory. Parents/students being able to consistently offer one or two words they would assign to the image of the school, words that are that are aligned with the actual espoused school identity.
