Building your schools brand: Prioritising marketing activities to achieve objectives

Building your schools brand:Prioritising marketing activitiesto achieve objectivesJustin Barlow25 June 20131OverviewIntroductionStrategic marketingAllocating budgetsAllocating responsibilitiesMarketing thoughts and tipsMarketing myths2Bit about meBA (Hons) Business Studies and CIM Diploma in Marketing 20 years commercial marketing experience at ICI plc, Alto, Sage Plc and Muckle LLP2008 2012: governor at an independent school for 3-18 year olds. Ran marketing committeeActively involved in Muckle LLPs Education Team3Strategic marketingSet the longer term direction, align activities and prioritise your focus on the key areasHow will the marketing strategy contribute towards the schools vision and targets?Is it addressing aspects of the Risk Register?Concentrate on what needs to be done but plan how it will be done too?How will you reach all stakeholder groups?What are your core messages to different stakeholders?4OverviewBrand Strategy: defining a brandDefinitionskey elements of a brandbrand reviewBrand Strategy: developing a brandthings to consider5Interactive as possible. Interrupt & raise questions & comments! Because Ill be asking you all things anyway! Brand Strategy:Defining a Brand

6Brand strategyYou cant have a brand strategy until you understand your brandSo what is a brand?7Stop & ask!A range of definitions A brand is a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan and design schemeThe sum of all the characteristics, tangible and intangible, that make the offer uniqueBoth a physical and emotional trigger to create a relationship between consumers and the product/serviceA name or symbol used to identify goods or services, and to differentiate them from those of others. Branding protects a seller's products against those marketed by competitors and helps consumers identify the quality, consistency and imagery of a preferred source8Key elements of brandsA mutually valuable relationshipA strategically selected group of customersA compelling propositionDeliver consistently over time9This way of looking at brands gets you away from the product/logo, etc and focuses you on your market the purpose of marketing!

You should be considering brands when you are looking for employers to work for! Discuss careers and companies they are thinking aboutKey elements of brands

Worry if more than 12% customers fall outside their chosen market segments.Evidence that their brand is being diluted10You are in charge of your brands strategy; not your customers. Why is BMW worrying if they are selling 12% more cars?

Segment: Pick orgs in room that are mass market & ask who their markets are.Excluding sectors: if excluded sectors still buy on mass rethink strategy!A brand has one strategic purpose and that is to differentiate itself from competitors

11Why?Why not just copy the market leader? What about when there isnt a clear market leader? (less differentiation in those markets, but does that need to be the case?)Brand Strategy:Developing a Brand

12Brand strategyThe strategy should be rooted in the brand's vision and driven by the principles of differentiation and sustained consumer appeal The brand strategy should influence the total operation of a business to ensure consistent brand behaviours and brand experiences 13Developing a brandDelivering service brands (via humans) compared with products brands (produced from a manufacturers specification)Issues are consistency of quality and delivery14In an interview situation you can decide whether you are going to give someone the job in the first minute!! So how do you make 100 staff at a company have the consistent impact of that one winning candidate???Developing a brandMarketing Services:branding people: diverse individuals working in a consistent manner to portray the brandmarketing the relationship:not an impulse decisionneed to like the way you workneed confidence in your peopleneed to network with Board decision makerslong influencing cycle: needs consistency15REVIEW AS A LAW FIRM:Product: - each person is different. Need a strong culture to putt them together to act in similar ways.Price: Does each person have the same price? Eg each Partner / newly qualified solicitor? Are we just paying for their knowledge?Promotion: everyone is different but can they be marketed like that as a firm-wide message? No

Allocating budgetsThe 3% rule...Short term and longer term prioritiesThe use of marketing agenciesHaving realistic expectationsrecruitment of new students / parents takes timeneed to keep filling up the funnelMany activities cost nothing other than peoples time16Allocating responsibilitiesStaff can be a great resource for certain areasRight people, right rolesCommunication and staff involvementKeep momentum17Thoughts and tips for marketing the school Marketing agencies:when to consider using a marketing agency?how are you selecting yours?VFM pay on output! Its a buyers market18Thoughts and tips for marketing the school Website: your 24/7 prospectus:why you? Can visitors see why they should choose your school?search engine optimisation is keyyour homepage is so importanttake control with your CMSuse Google Analytics:number of visitors / most popular pages visitedaverage number of pages read per visitaverage time on websitesearch engine terms used to find you19

20

21

Where is Greenfield Community College?22Social media get involved or get lost:Twitter:20% posting means 80% responding!that means a lot of replies and retweetsyou are all on Twitter even if you are not influencing what is said.if you decide to do things, do them wellwww.bit.ly to minimise the number of characters alink takesmeasure your exposure with www.tweetreach.com compared to your competitors

23

24Thoughts and tips for marketing the school PR:you have stories everywhere!great way to reinforce your strengths and differentiation every story should address thesegood use of a marketing agencyset target for stories published in the pressonline coverage is easier so no need for targetsphotos increase the likelihood of publicationadvertising influences PR coverage25Thoughts and tips for marketing the school Enquiry management:youve done the hard work and prospective parents are calling to visit the school now what?maximise conversions from initial contact to students joining your school:analyse! Record and measure drop off points and improvewhat are the points of contact? who manages such a critical area? consider your welcome cycle26Thoughts and tips for marketing the school Marketing is measureableTargets influence behaviourThe more output focused your marketing is, the better your return on investment will be for money and time27Marketing mythsBranding is marketingBranding goes far beyond marketingThe brand is everything:marketingculturevision and valuesteaching standardsstudents, etc, etc.28Marketing mythsMarketing is too expensive and we cant afford itdecide what to do and do it wellcreativity is memorable, rather than how much you spendDoing any marketing at all, is better than doing nothingwhat a waste of money and time29Marketing mythsSchools dont need marketing staffeducation is getting increasingly competitivemake marketing part of someones jobTeachers arent part of the marketing processnonsense they are your best / worst promotersso are the office staff who answer the phonesome may need guidance and motivation30Marketing mythsThis years marketing budget is for this years resultsI wish! It can be a slow process with steady improvements over timeFocusing on key times such as open days will help, but only if everything else is in placeIts about sustained contact with your target audiences so they know what you stand forIts a multi-media world and building positive perceptions and understanding takes time31Marketing mythsMarketing cant be measuredmost can be measured if you focus on the outputhow do you know if adverts are working? Ask people who attend e.g. open dayswhat are your key objectives? Measure these32Marketing mythsThe best schools will do betterWhat is best?Best for my child is not the best school. It goes far beyond league tablesHow are you different or what makes you stand out? Focus and reinforce marketing messages to own this space so the perception is that you are the best at that and will deliver it in ways that are the best for my childMarketing is about creating a better perception33Marketing mythsEmail marketing is no longer effective because of spamEnewsletters to parents are important because their children are preciousSchool emails are never spam. Its relevant communicationKeeping parents informed reinforces your brand Do it regularly (weekly? monthly?) and include both parents as a minimum34Marketing mythsPartnerships & alliances are for businessesNever been as important as it is now and this will only increaseEffective partnerships will make schools betterBusinesses are willing but few schools askAre alliances with feeder schools strong enough?Play to other parties strengths to increase your offering

35

We are pleased to helpMuckle LLPs Education Team works with schools, academies, trusts and federations, colleges and universities across the North EastHeart of the Community Award winner 2013

We will always provide initial legal advice to schools for free36We are pleased to helpJustin BarlowDirector of Business Development

justin.barlow@muckle-llp.comTel: 0191 211 7907

3738