In the education sector the various functions of communication often get blurred, especially when it comes to branding and marketing. While related and interdependent, these are entirely different stages of communication that require different approaches. This episode, we discuss an article by Deroy Peraza that we came across, and we approached him to investigate how his article, Branding is expecting. Marketing is parenting applied to school marketing.

There is a lot happening in the modern school marketing landscape. It seems that every time you open a new browser tab there is a new tool or app that is going to ‘make your life easier’ and solve your enrolment problems. Of course, it’s not real. School communications and marketing are getting more complex, not easier. This episode, Brad and Scully provide a four-pillar framework on how to unlock your school’s value to prospective parents.

It has long been known that video is a powerful way to connect with your audience. But, as production becomes cheaper and tools get easier to use, how can schools cut through the clutter? This episode we are joined by filmmaker, speaker and educator Ryan Koral. Ryan specialises in documentary creation and we delve into why this visual medium gives viewers an emotional experience and leads them to take action. Most importantly, we learn how you, as a school Head, can leverage the format to yield great results for your school.

How does your school’s newsletter compare to the benchmarks of the industry, and do they really make a difference to what you are trying to do? Recently, imageseven’s Digital Marketing Specialist, Harrison Shearn undertook a comprehensive project to analyse the performance of over a quarter of a million school email newsletters. For the first time in Australia, Harrison’s findings have revealed some benchmarks for school email newsletters, which we discuss in depth to learn all there is to know. 

Is it possible for your school to stand out in a sea of sameness? This episode, Brad and Scully discuss the idea that to be effective with any content marketing strategy, you have to develop a distinctive – as opposed to distinct – point of view for the story you’re telling or the value you are delivering at your school. We investigate how being only distinct limits our ability to stand out and how by being distinctive, your school can be the ‘purple duck in a room of brown mallards’.

This episode Brad and Scully discuss the case for school magazines and why it is important not to dismiss the idea of print publications. We discuss how the long form content of Prospectus’ and other school publications work differently from the ‘bite-sized’ content that is so often associated with digital communications, and how school Heads can use these hand-in-hand to get the best communications results for their schools.

In the final part of this four-part series with Maria Kadison, President and CEO of EdwardsCo, we discuss how to execute and align all the brand initiatives to form your school’s public presence and form one strong, cohesive brand strategy. We investigate how to streamline your messaging and narrow down your marketing to your key messages to reduce confusion amongst your potential customers.

In this episode we pick up where we left off from Episode 164, as we discuss navigating issue management. We walk you through a flowchart about issue management and the types of decisions you will be faced with. As we explore a number of fictitious case studies, we assess the four key questions that every school Head needs to ask themselves before communicating with the community when an issue arises, and then follow our flow chart to give you practical advice on how to respond respectfully, efficiently and effectively.

In this episode we pick up where we left off from Episode 164, as we discuss navigating issue management. We walk you through a flowchart about issue management and the types of decisions you will be faced with. As we explore a number of fictitious case studies, we assess the four key questions that every school Head needs to ask themselves before communicating with the community when an issue arises, and then follow our flow chart to give you practical advice on how to respond respectfully, efficiently and effectively.

In the third part of this four-part series with Maria Kadison, President and CEO of EdwardsCo, we discuss the idea of EDGE; Expressing Differentiation and Generating Engagement. Discover how EDGE can distinguish your message and intrigue prospective families about your offering. We’ll cover how you can use message architecture tactics, including key messaging, brand stories, archetypes, and personality, to set your school apart from competitors. Finally we delve into practical ways to discover themes that can define your differentiation and subsequently generate interest from prospective parents.

The way that a school Head responds to issues can have a significant impact on the school’s reputation, trust and most importantly, the wellbeing of their students and staff. This episode, Brad and Scully discuss how the key lies not just in appropriately reacting to issues, but proactively managing situations with a strategic approach to communication. We share our framework which details on how to assess the impact, develop a clear response plan and how to decide what to say, when to say it and to whom.

In the second part of this four-part series with Maria Kadison, President and CEO of EdwardsCo, we discuss some of the things successful schools are doing to uncover valuable data and how to identify the sources of this data. We analyse the different groups relevant to schools and dive into how each demographic can be useful in gaining information to improve the enrolments process and retention. Maria then gives us seven questions that schools can ask prospective families in order to gain a clearer picture about their school.