Content

After your website, content is your school’s most important marketing tool. All the tactics we discuss from here on out are far more effective if they are based on content that will solve a problem or build trust for any parent or student—even if they don’t choose your charter school.

This workbook is a good example of what we consider valuable marketing content. It provides effective, real-world marketing advice that any school could use, whether or not they choose to partner with Charter School Capital. This workbook doesn’t try to sell Charter School Capital’s services—its only purpose is to educate charter school teams on digital marketing. We are committed to providing trustworthy advice, and we hope this guide will help you to view us as a trustworthy charter school partner. EXPERT TIP

Providing topical, high-quality information that solves a problem is one of the best ways to build trust among your target audience.

It also serves as the cornerstone of social media and targeted ads that we’ll discuss later.

So what does valuable content look like for your charter school? Go back to the work you’ve done above and think about what sets you apart. What valuable information can you provide to parents or students?

If you’re a language immersion elementary school, maybe it’s a downloadable eBook on letters and numbers, or a video tutorial on conjugating verbs.

If you’re a high school, ma ybe it’s a checklist for activities and classes a student should master before applying for college.

If you have a strong music curriculum, maybe you can provide video tutorials on music arranging or ear training.

If many of y our students are on the autism spectrum or have sensory issues, consider providing downloadable social stories or video tutorials on circumventing overwhelming situations. Creating blog posts on a regular basis can provide excellent content that keeps parents, students, and the community aware of neighborhood/school event promotion and recaps, relevant legislation, ways to get involved, handy parenting tips, student activities and achievements, etc.

Make sure your content provides useful information—even if it’s to somebody in a different state. Content is not about selling, it’s about highlighting your school’s expertise and building trust.

Once you have a video or downloadable guide ready to publish to your website, use your website software or email marketing platform to set up a lead capture form (see image to the right) on a “landing page,” which is a web page set up specifically for downloading content. In exchange for their name and email address, people will be able to download your content and opt in to receiving future emails from you. This is one of the best ways to build a solid email list quickly.

We’ve talked about how important content is in building trust, but good content serves another purpose too: It makes for effective online ads and social media messages that engage your audience. People are savvy, and we’ve all been trained to ignore ads that seem like they’re “selling” us something. But good content may turn eyes toward you and your school. We’ll discuss online ads and social media later in this workbook.