from word of mouth to the web: effective marketing strategies for your school, ssatb 2012 workshop

Rick Newberry, Ph.D.

Rick.Newberry@EnrollmentCatalyst.com www.EnrollmentCatalyst.com

During this session, we will focus our discussion on word of mouth and web-based marketing strategies for enrollment success at your school.

Michigan State

Starbucks

Family

Coaching

Enrollment Catalyst partners with schools to provide coaching for school leaders in their

school’s enrollment management and marketing strategies needed to reach their goals.

The marketing landscape has shifted from outbound to inbound strategies.

School Growth

Leadership

Quality

School

Experience

Vision

Faculty and

Parent

Satisfaction

Reputation

Location

Competition

Enrollment &

Marketing

“Traditional outbound marketing is where businesses push their messages at consumers.”

• HubSpot, The 2012 State of Inbound Marketing

“Inbound Marketing is a set of marketing strategies and techniques focused on pulling relevant prospects and customers towards a

business and its products.”

• HubSpot, The 2012 State of Inbound Marketing

“For the last 50 years, companies such as Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Coca-Cola used

huge amounts of money to efficiently interrupt their way into businesses and consumer’s

wallets using outbound marketing techniques. The outbound marketing era is over. The next 50 years will be the era of inbound marketing.”

• Halligan and Shah, Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using

Google, Social Media and Blogs

Excellent resource on how to get found by using Google, Social Media and Blogs Also see: www.hubspot.com for many online resources including webinars and presentations

Inbound Marketing Outbound Marketing

New media

Web-based

Listen

Engage

Authentic

Content

Stories

Old media

Traditional

Interrupt

Broadcast

Megaphone

Slogans

The places we advertise

The world wide web

The desire for authenticity

The power of referral in an online world

The world of social media

The need to be in a conversation

The importance of creating remarkable content

Why do we hang on to the traditional outbound advertising strategies?

Why are our marketing budgets comprised of these strategies?

Why do we keep spending significant resources on strategies that don’t produce ROI?

Think about the top two ways that parents find out

about your school…

1. Word-of-Mouth Consistently ranks as the number one way that families hear about your school.

2. Web The Web is the first place a parent looks when they hear about your school from a word-of-mouth referral.

Word-of-mouth is still the number one way that your

parents first find out about your school.

“If your customers won’t talk about your stuff, you have to pay newspapers and TV shows

to do it for you.

But when people trust you, they are willing to put their words on the line for you.

Please them, inspire them, and they’ll bring their friends to you.”

• Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing

Trust is Key to WOM

“It comes down to trust. And people don’t trust your company; people trust people.

People they know. People whose opinions and recommendations

they seek out and have faith in.”

• Phillips, Cordell, & Church: Brains on Fire

Trust is Key to WOM

We will apply a WOM framework to develop your school’s marketing strategy to ensure enrollment success.

Parent

Parking

Starbucks

Web Email

Church/

Face to

Social

Schools

Online

Reviews

Google

Facebook

“So what is word of mouth marketing? In this book, I define it as ‘Giving people a reason to

talk about your stuff, and making it easier for that conversation to take place’.”

What is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?

It builds credibility from satisfied customers.

It produces better results than traditional advertising.

It makes your brand stronger and more trusted.

Your parents can reach your target audience better than you can.

It’s your number one marketing strategy for your school!

Today’s marketing is about remarkable content and joining in the conversation.

Your marketing focus must be on telling the remarkable story of your school.

Your marketing strategy should facilitate and build word-of-mouth in person and online.

Your goal is to inspire a movement of passionate ambassadors for your school.

Are you giving your parents a reason to talk about your

school?

“Word of mouth marketing only works if you have good products and services. It only works if people like you and trust you.”

Are you giving your parents any stuff that they can talk

about?

“Word of mouth is natural conversation between real people. Word of mouth marketing is

working within this conversation so people are talking about you.”

How can you make it easier for the conversation to take

place?

“Word of mouth marketing isn’t about marketing at all. It’s about great customer service that

makes people want to tell their friends about you. It about fantastic products that people

can’t resist showing to everyone.”

Is word of mouth marketing part of your strategy?

“How can a business owner [Admissions Director, Head of School] know that word of mouth is so powerful and then do so little to

take advantage of it?”

• John Jantsch, The Referral Engine

We need a framework for our

WOM and WEB plan and to examine effective marketing strategies that

1. Talkers—who will tell their friends about you?

2. Topics—what will they talk about?

3. Tools—how can you help the message travel?

4. Taking Part—how should you join the conversation?

5. Tracking—what are people saying about you?

Find people who will talk about your school

Employees

Parents (Current and Former)

Students (Current and Former)

Alumni

Grandparents

Vendors

School administrators

Pastors and clergy

Anyone

A satisfied or an unsatisfied parent, grandparent, alumni, donor or friend.

A happy or an unhappy employee—your faculty, staff, and coaches.

Someone else that heard something, whether positive or negative, about your school.

“One of the great misconceptions about word of mouth marketing is that it’s all happening

online…only about 20 percent of word of mouth happens online. When it does play a role, it

usually sparks the 80 percent of word of mouth conversations that actually happen face-to-face.”

Talkers Talk Face-to-Face

Passion for your school

Credibility among their peers

Connections at your school and in the community

Opportunity to be involved

New parents can be the best resources for your school to reach out to their previous school, church, neighborhood or other group.

Recruit a team of parents to help you in your enrollment effort by: ◦ Presenting tours of campus.

◦ Hosting new family “desserts” in their homes.

◦ Mentoring a new family throughout their first school year.

◦ Calling and/or writing personal notes to parents and welcoming them to your school.’

◦ Posting online reviews.

Provide a card in your admissions package that includes the names, child grade levels, phone numbers and email addresses of your parent ambassadors.

Identify the parents that are positive about your school.

Meet with them to give them things to talk about. ◦ Individual or small group meetings. ◦ Quarterly breakfast or lunch meetings. ◦ Share stories of students, faculty, alumni and

success!

Encourage them to share stories about your school.

Share your school’s vision for the future.

“This is the foundation of buzz: in order to get people talking about your product or service,

you must provide a great experience.”

• Rosen, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited

A Great School Will Create WOM

Give people a reason to talk

Anything and everything about your school—the good and the bad!

Their own experiences.

The experiences of others.

What they’ve heard along the way.

What you’ve told them.

What you want them to talk about (that is, if you’ve told them what to talk about!)

Most school leaders haven’t considered this question as a key part of their marketing strategy. We need to begin asking the question:

What do you want them to talk about?

“When you offer great content—such as detailed how-to articles, expert interviews, case studies, and videos—that focuses on helping other people solve their problems,

you’ll experience growth.”

• Stelzner, Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition

Produce Great Content

“Produce great stuff, and your customers will come to you. Produce really great stuff, and your customers will share and disseminate

your message for you. More than ever before, content is king! Content rules!

• Handley and Chapman, Content Rules

“Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting.

It’s a Purple Cow. Boring stuff is invisible. It’s a brown cow.”

• Seth Godin, The Purple Cow

We live in a story.

We relate to stories.

We listen to stories.

We can see ourselves in a story.

“Stories are real. Slogans are made up. Stories pull you in. Slogans try to push out a message.

Stories are deep. Slogans are shallow. Stories are personal. Slogans are impersonal.

Stories are passed on by word of mouth. Slogans are forced on us by ads.

Stories are part of who we are.

After all, you don’t tell slogans about your grandfather, or how your parents met, or even how

you were treated in a restaurant.”

• Phillips, Cordell, Church: Brains on Fire

Stories about your people ◦ faculty, students, parents and alumni ◦ Your USP’s in story form

Real stats connected to real stories Your school ◦ Vision for the future ◦ How your school is remarkable ◦ How your school makes a life-changing difference

in students

Educational topics Parenting topics

Help the message spread faster and farther.

People Tools Web-Based Tools

Leadership

Faculty and Staff

Parents

Alumni

Ambassadors

Referral generation

Customer service

Personal conversations

Group meetings

Website

Email newsletter

Social media

Photos

Online reviews

The most effective way to spread word of mouth is through face-to-face conversations.

“More than 90 percent of the conversations about products, services, and brands that take place

every day in America happen offline, according to research the will be revealed in the chapters of

this book.”

• Keller and Fay, The Face-to-Face Book

Talkers Talk Face-to-Face

Every meeting and conversation is an opportunity to tell a story about your school and to spread positive word-of-mouth. ◦ Large group meetings

◦ Small group meetings

◦ Coffee chats

◦ Personal meetings

Quality/excellence in their job

Tell your school’s story

Turn negative moments into positive moments

Channel concerns to the administration

Communication with parents

Relationships with parents

Create memorable moments

Positive ambassadors for the school

Since your parents are the best marketers for your school, it is important to give them tools to share.

Card sent to parents at Wheaton Christian Grammar School

Postcard and car magnet sent to parents at Saint Stephen’s

Give away items that have your school’s brand on them: ◦ T-shirts

◦ Coffee mugs

◦ Car magnets

◦ Grocery bags

◦ Gym towels

Donna Cutting uses High Point University in The Celebrity Experience as a premier example of customer service. What do they do? ◦ Director of WOW!

◦ Wowing campus visitors

◦ Delivering birthday cards

◦ The President and his gumball machine

◦ Valentine’s Day

◦ Free valet parking

◦ Construction dust and car washes

High Point University provides “WOW” moments for prospective and campus students

When you serve your parents or students in an exceptional way or do something that is memorable, this creates a moment that will be shared by word of mouth.

“Companies create buzz with great follow-up, T-shirts and other promotional merchandise,

free events, outrageous acts of kindness—anything that contributes to an overall

culture of buzz.”

• Jantsch, The Referral Engine

It is better for parents to visit your school in a one-on-one environment than to attend an open house in the evening or on the weekend when the school is not in session.

Every day should be an open house for prospective families at your school.

Once you get a family to your campus, make sure you have an outstanding visit program set up for them.

An effective campus visit program should include: ◦ Tour of campus

◦ Meeting with admissions director and administrator

◦ Review of the application process

◦ Introductions to key staff

◦ Connections with Parent Ambassadors

Clear signage and great first impression Welcome sign with your name on it Friendly welcome from receptionist Entry area tells the story of your school Personalized tour with parent, student and

faculty connections Review of application process Photo of student by welcome sign Personal note sent immediately (email and

handwritten)

Host a special “friend’s” day for current students to invite their friends to spend the day with them at your school.

The goal is to encourage and motivate current students to focus on inviting their friends they want to encourage enrolling in your school, especially when students are key to the decision!

Refer a student form

Place a “tell-a-friend” link on every page of your website.

Link should provide you with fields to enter your friend’s name, email address, a short message and your information.

Friend should receive an automated email referencing your referral and the website link.

Programs ◦ Academics, Athletics, Arts, Service, Technology,

Faith, Character

People ◦ Students, Parents, Leadership, Faculty, Staff,

Coaches, Alumni

Results

Each “Dot” Represents an Alumni Story

Life After Chandler showcases the schools that their 8th grade graduates attend

Four “unbound” short books that tell the Dana Hall story in four different ways

Throwback Thursday Posts

Website features a story of the person of the week

Admissions “Drop-In Wednesday’s”

“I am CDS” allows you to click on a child’s face to read their story

“Student Voices” share their perspectives on the school

Homepage features several quotes from students, faculty and alumni. The user can click on the image to read and view more of the story.

Homepage features a rotating student story that can be clicked on to find out what CA means to the student.

In the Spotlight highlights key stories on the homepage

1. Opportunity to share dynamic content on your website.

2. Increase traffic to your website.

3. Provide significant search engine optimization (SEO) value for your website.

4. Provide a platform to share content.

5. It’s fun!

1. Publish your blog once a week.

2. Don’t bury your blog on your website.

3. Make sure your blog is attached to your website domain.

4. Use a team to strategize and write your blog posts.

5. Don’t use your blog to sell your school.

6. Include a RSS feed, subscription option and share/like buttons.

7. Use keywords in your posts.

Calvert has nearly 50 blogs from faculty and staff on their website.

Head of School Blog

Student bloggers tell the Crystal Springs story

Cushing Students and faculty write blog posts to share their trip to Bhutan

Student Ambassador Blog

Facebook can be used to connect to alumni, parents and friends of your school.

Provide regular updates on your fan page

Tell stories of your alumni and faculty

Encourage interaction among your fans

Enter into conversations with your fans

Pictures with captions and stories

Blog posts

Video vignettes

Ask for likes

Ask questions

Summer vacation pictures

Ask admitted parents to post the following on their FB page: “My children were just admitted to XYZ School and will be attending this Fall!”

Provide a timeline photo header with a school photo and logo in it to your parents.

This post features 27 photos from around campus in March

Photos tell the story at Miami Country Day

Produce short video vignettes to provide real-life testimonials and stories about your school.

Post videos to YouTube, Vimeo or another service.

Feed them back into your website or send them out through an email.

Ask Current Parents – “What do you like best about your school?”

Ask New Parents – “Why did you select this school for your child?”

Ask Alumni – “How did your school prepare you for success in college and in life?”

Ask Faculty – “What do you like best about teaching at your school?”

Ask Seniors – “What college do you plan to attend next year?”

Traditions

A Day in the Life

Lower School Students Say it Best

College Reps

Key Brand Messages

One Topic, Four Perspectives (Student, Parent, Faculty, Alumnus)

Affordability

Use video to share messages from the head of school

State of the School message

Video newsletter

Student produced news

Student contest—produce a one-minute video to “sell” your school; winners are posted on website and reward given

Student lip dub

Assumption “Firework” Lip Dub now has over 44,000 views on YouTube!

Homepage provides access to three videos to highlight the uniqueness of the school.

Video testimonials in the admissions section

Video tells the story from a student’s perspective of the 10 things they love about Deerfield

Video vignettes showcase why students and parents chose DVFS

Walkabout interactive tour moves students through campus and lets you experience the school.

• Homepage provides dropdown menus and special features

• The Current Online Magazine is in the format of a mini website.

Online magazine format for the school

Brookwood’s BTube page contains a variety of videos showcasing the life of the school.

Brookwood’s BPod page contains a picture and caption of the day.

Social Media Mash-Up Page

We can find online reviews about our school on a variety of sites including: ◦ Private School Review

◦ School Digger

◦ Google

◦ Yelp

◦ Great Schools

Join the conversation.

The conversation is taking place all around you. The most important thing for you to do is to join in the conversation.

Take part in the conversation that is taking place: ◦ Web (blogs, school reviews, Facebook, etc.)

◦ Groups

◦ Individuals

◦ Events

Get out of your office and meet your parents in the parking lot

Take a “one-family-at-a-time” approach

Small group coffee meetings

Meetings or luncheons with the “talkers”

Actively engage your community online through Facebook and other social media sites

Write a blog and engage in conversation online

Measure and understand.

It is important to regularly review what people are saying about you: ◦ In the parking lot

◦ On the web

◦ www.greatschools.com

◦ Facebook

◦ Surveys

◦ Focus Groups

◦ Google alert

Survey your parents annually by conducting an overall parent satisfaction and perception survey. ◦ Look for areas of dissatisfaction to improve the

quality of the school.

◦ Report findings from the survey back to parents.

◦ Best time to survey parents is October and February/March.

Actually, this is the beginning for you to go and implement effective word of mouth and web-based marketing strategies at your school.

For More Information:

Enrollment Catalyst

Rick Newberry, Ph.D.

9770 Indian Key Trail

Seminole, FL 33776

727.647.0378

Rick.Newberry@enrollmentcatalyst.com

www.EnrollmentCatalyst.com

from word of mouth to the web: effective marketing strategies for your school, ssatb 2012 workshop

enrollment catalyst

wordofmouth marketing

marketing focus

marketing landscape

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