Principal

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168: The power of print magazines

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.

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167: How to pivot your school from mission, to brand, to growth – part 4

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.

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167: How to pivot your school from mission, to brand, to growth – part 4

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.

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166: When to say what to whom

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.

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165: How to pivot your school from mission to brand to growth – part 3

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.

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164: Navigating issue management – a guide for school Heads

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.

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163: How to pivot your school from mission, to brand, to growth – part 2

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. 

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162: Preparing for a deepfake crisis

Deepfakes are where Artificial Intelligence is used to create or alter video and audio recordings with remarkable realism. In this episode, Brad and Scully discuss the rise of deepfakes and how, for schools, the advent of deepfake technology brings a host of communication, reputation and safety concerns with a range of opportunities for misuse. We present a multifaceted approach for schools to mitigate the risks associated with deepfakes, including key actions for school Heads to prepare for deepfake challenges.

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161: How to pivot your school from mission to brand to growth – part 1

This episode, Brad is joined by Maria Kadison, President and CEO of EdwardsCo, a branding, marketing, strategy and design agency for independent schools across the United States. In the first episode of a special four-part series, they discuss how school marketers can deeply understand their school’s mission and how to turn that into the school’s brand. They explore how creating a meaningful brand creates trust for the community and prospective parents and eventually leads to school growth.

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160: Managing your team’s marketing technology appetite

Looking into the future, Brad and Scully discuss the ‘Martec Revolution’ and the implications and challenges that schools will face adapting to rapid technological changes. They provide an action plan for school Heads to implement to ensure their schools are embracing change, aligning technology with their overall strategies and adapting to the dynamic marketing environment. To conclude, they discuss the role of the school Head in all of this and how to balance expectations and practices within your team.

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