Marketing
Marketing strategies are important to have in place and I agree with the need for constant evaluation. Marketing can be very expensive and the evaluation allows to better distribute the funds allocated for this.
HI Syndia
There are many marketing strategies that can be put in place. The goal is to target market to reach the best qualified leads. Also to keep your school name and offerings out there in the community. So planning a comprehensive public relations plan is essential. Good luck, Susan
I agree that marketing efforts need constant evaluation.
A few years ago we were spending a lot of our advertising budget on classified newspaper ads and we did not have a system in place to evaluate the return on our investment. When we finally did put a system in place to track the business we generated, we realized that we were spending a lot of money for very little return. Since then we have switched to web-based advertising for a small fraction of what we used to pay the newspaper and we're getting excellent results.
HI Guy
Many schools are discovering the same things. There is a lot of leakage and waste in marketing. It's vital to measure and evaluate "anything that moves." Also you can reduce your marketing $$ by focusing on getting and working leads from your website and also from referrals. It takes time to put effective internet and referral programs in place. But once done the results are fabulous. Good luck, Susan
I would say that at our school we get the majority of our leads from people searching for our specific type of school and word of mouth so we don't advertise.
That's great Sarah. You've discovered that referrals, getting known in the community, and word of mouth are the best ways to get qualified leads. Can you share with us some of the techniques you have used to be so sucessful? Thanks, Susan
Well Susan, As I mentioned most of our students find us through searches online, but We also attend trade shows, and college and career fairs. We also contact schools in the area who offer training in a similar field to us where our courses can act as advanced/specialised learning.
Great Sarah. All strategies that every other school can put in place too. It's about getting out into the community. Great idea to ally with other schools and become their advanced training arm. Thanks for sharing the ideas. Susan
There are four P's in marketing they are Product Price Promote Provide. The main purpose of marketing is to help you identify the needs and wants of your target market so that you can develop promotional strategies that will allow you to provide your customers with the "right" product at the best price.
Hi Carmen
That's good and great textbook information. As a school owner or director it's important to look beyond the tried and true. You may have several markets. And there may be markets you haven't even thought of. Or ways to deliver your programs to reach a new market. Of course delivering a quality program with customer service centered services helps to exceed what you promise. Best wishes, Susan
I agree that constant evaluation of outcomes is a very important tool to decide where to spend the advertising budget. In our school I find it interesting, that some people give magazines as referral sources that we don't even advertise in. Even that information, I think, is valuable, since it tells me that people in our target demographic are reading that magazine. A very big portion of our leads comes from search engines esp. Google. I have been offered different solutions to improve the Google ranking of specific search strings. Is anyone using a specific tool with success?
Hi Udo
Thanks for showing what interesting information comes from evaluations. The data is very useful when making decisions and being creative in marketing. It also helps to identify the market and define the lead. As to Google and search engine rankings, we will look forward to comments from others. What we do know is that many schools are discovering that effective use of their own website can reduce marketing expenses significantly. Best wishes, Susan
Our Institution has the practice to participate in a fair in the 3 county around and make activities for the community in the school every week. Also use the ad, TV and newspaper.
Hi Jorge
Sounds like your school has some PR plans in place that are working. When you participate in fairs how do you publicize them? What do you do with the press that you get? How do your students know about them and what do they do to participate? Can you share with us the kinds of weekly activities you organize? What kinds of results do you get in terms of attracting new students, and developing student and staff pride, etc. Thanks, Susan
I agree. Finding the target market, qualified student and keeping your name relevant is key. At our school we evaluate each marketing component quarterly to see which ones are most effective. As a result, our strategies change.
Sandra,
Changing strategies is what marketing is all about. We think each marketing strategy needs to be measured as soon as implemented. How many inquiries are you getting and how many turn into enrollments? What can you learn from the demographics of those you attract? Are there clues to doing things differently, offering new programs, getting rid of some? All the information contains data for doing things effectively. It's important to know how often to review it. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
