School Marketing Trends to Own in 2017 [2]

With the first semester coming to a close, it is time to start thinking about what strategy we will have in place for 2017.  

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. 

 

Part 1 Can Be Found Here

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.

How to Create an Interactive Tweet that will Drive Engagement for Your Company

 

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:

4 Tools to Create Interactive Content in Minutes

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:

Students Hate Your Marketing… Here are 4 Ideas to Gain Their Trust

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.

In 20 Years… A School District Will Buy a Local Newspaper

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:

12 Examples of Native Ads (And Why They Work)

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:

16 of the Best Landing Page Design Examples You Need to See

Leadpages.net

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.