Last year saw quite a few changes in the why and the how school districts are
marketing to their parents, students, employees and community. Marketing is an
investment all of education will have to adopt going into the new year.
This is part two of two focusing on the first five trending areas.
Here are my next five thoughts of where school districts should
concentrate their marketing in 2017:
6. Customer Service
is Marketing
In the era of chatbots and automated marketing techniques,
personal interaction may be the last thing on your mind for your 2017 marketing
strategy. However, as 2017 quickly
approaches, customer service will be extremely important.
Use your social media platforms to answer your parent’s
concerns. Train your frontline staff the importance of making a good impression
every time they greet visitors or answer the phone.
Advertising great David Ogilvy’s famous
quote is very relevant, “The consumer is not a moron, she’s your wife” Or
better yet… your parents, students, and voters.
7. Interactive
Content is Cool
People don’t want to be sold too. They want to be entertained. They want to be
engaged. Your content needs to be
engaging.
Storytelling is always key in engaging your audience. People are captivated by an emotional story
that relates to their life, but that does not mean you have to tell a story all
the time. Sometimes you can just have
fun.
Build polls in Twitter, create quizzes that relate to
programs in your district, or have contests with User Generated Content. The key is to have fun with your audience and
make them part of the experience. The
more they interact with your content, the longer they are going to stay on your
site.
Here is an article that might help with interactive
content:
8. Don’t Forget the
Millennials and Gen Z
Can you believe it? Millennials are now your parents. And
they can not be treated the same way you treat your normal audience.
According to AdWeek’s article entitled “Marketing
toMillennials and the Necessity of Social Brand Advocacy” Millenials don’t
trust advertising. In fact, the only
people they do trust are the people they know.
Here is an
article I wrote to help gain trust from your younger audience:
9. Focus on Native
Advertising
Print is almost dead. Unless you are trying to build brand
awareness, putting an ad in your local newspaper is going to be a bust. There
is little return on your investment. However, there might be a way to squeeze a
little life out of newspapers… especially online.
Native advertising might be your best bet when it comes to
newspapers. Native advertising according
to sharethrough.com is a form of paid media
where the ad experience follows
the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed.
Meaning you could write a story about your district and pay for it to be in a
newspaper.
There are several other opportunities
with native advertising.
Here are some examples from Copy Blogger:
10. The Rebirth of
Email
You read any marketing book or blog and you are going to
read about the importance of building your email list. The problem with
education is that we think asking for parent email addresses and sending a
blanket email to the entire district is best practice. It is not. Niche lists
are key.
Building niche lists from a specific audience is easier than
you think. We know our students have thousands of different interests, and we
know their parents want to know how their children can pursue these interests.
This is how you capture their email for specific lists.
Landing pages will play an important role in building your
lists. And with landing pages, you will need some form of a lead magnet to
entice them to sign-up for your list.
You can learn more about landing pages and lead magnets
here:
Once you have their emails you can target them with specific
messages and engaging content. It is a great way to sell your programs and
target specific interests.
Have a safe and relaxing winter break.
Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
