Enrollment Marketing 101

Copyright © 2018 Charter School Capital, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Enrollment
Marketing 101
Learn How to Attract and
Engage Potential Students
and their Families

2
OUR
SPEAKERS
Janet Johnson
Chief Growth Officer
Charter School Capital
Ben Scandlen
Consultant
Mosaic Marketing Solutions

3
AGENDA
§ What is Enrollment Marketing?
o Establishing Your Vision
o Know Your Audience
o Set Goals and Objectives
§ Strategy & Tactics
o Web
o Search
o Paid
o Email
o Social
o Events
o Optimization
§ Additional Resources to Follow

4
WHAT IS
ENROLLMENT
MARKETING?
§ Talking with just the right person at
just the right time, via mobile, online,
or in person, in a meaningful way
§ Enrollment marketing can help your
charter school raise community
awareness, increase fundraising, and
grow your enrollment numbers
§ A vehicle for gaining and nurturing
support from your community
Enrollment marketing defined

5
LEVERAGE
YOUR VISION
AND MISSION
§ Define: your school’s unique position
§ How is your school different from other options?
§ What is the essence of who you are?
§ How will you and your staff, volunteers and
teachers consistently deliver on your school’s
promise?
Use your school’s purpose to create
powerful marketing messages

6
KNOW YOUR
AUDIENCE
§ Millennial Moms and Dads
§ Grandparents /other caregivers
§ Press and influencers in your area
§ Your Board of Directors
§ Your students!
They are all different
and unique!
Who are you trying to reach?

7
SET GOALS
AND
OBJECTIVES
Discover:whatareyoutryingtoaccomplish?
§ Whatisareasonablegoalforyourcharterschool?
§ Pickonegoalforeachcampaign:Increasing
enrollment,buildingcommunityawareness,more
socialengagement,etc.?
Deliver:communicatestrategicallyandwith
intention
§ Whatchannelswillyouusetoconnectwithyour
audience?
§ What’smosteffectiveandefficientforyourbudget,
goals
§ Howwillyoumeasureresults?
Define your goals strategy

8
BUILD A PLAN
Translateyourgoalsandobjectivesintoanactionableplan
§ Whattacticswillyouneedtoachieveyourgoalandhowmuchwilleachcontribute?
§ Whatisthecostofeachtacticandhowconfidentareyouinthattactic?
§ Howcanmovefromuncertaintytopredictabilitythroughtestingandoptimizationinyourefforts?

Strategies and Tactics

10
STRATEGY AND TACTICS
Awareness
Engagement
Conversion
Loyalty
search paidweb

11
Awareness
Engagement
Conversion
Loyalty
search paidweb
email social

12
Awareness
Engagement
Conversion
Loyalty
search paidweb
email social
events

13
WEBSITE
§ It should give your visitors an idea of what your
school is all about
o Make sure to answer the basic questions
clearly
• Who is this school for and why should
they choose your school?
§ Most web visitors are looking for information:
o What is your school’s focus?
o What grades do you serve?
o When do you start enrolling?
o How can they arrange a visit?
§ Look at your site with “new parent eyes” … how
do you measure up?
§ Give them multiple (clear!) options to engage
with you
oOpen houses and tours
oChat with parents
oRequest more information
Your website is the foundation of
your online presence

14
WEBSITE: YOUR ”HOME BASE”

15
WEBSITE: CHECKLIST
Additional Resources
qEstablishyourdesign
qDevelopyourcontent
qMapthevisitorexperience
qPickyourtechnology
qBuildit(withmobileinmind)
qTest,andtest,andtest

16
SEARCH (SEO)
§ SEO stands for “search engine
optimization.” It is the process of
getting website visitors from the “free,”
“organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search
results on search engines
§ While “free,” SEO is dependent on
good content (web pages, videos, local
listings) that the search engines
consider most relevant for visitors
Grow your online visibility and get
found by potential students/families!

17
SEARCH (SEO) Typical search
Google My Business
result
Organic result
“Charter school
near me?”

18
SEARCH (SEO) Typical search
Google My Business
result
Organic result
“Best charter
school near me?”
[in city]
Paid ad

19
SEARCH (SEO)
Get listed!
Encourage
parents to
review your
school.

20
SEARCH CHECKLIST
§ Best user experience
o Easy site navigation
o Fast site load time
o Relevant content
o Mobile/responsive website
§ Keyword Optimization
o Identify the keywords being used by your target audience
o Use this information to create relevant content
§ Set your school up in Google My Business
§ Get your parents, staff and students to endorse your school
§ Get on lists – niche.com, greatschools.net, others…
“Organic” listings are free (but not easy to get) and based
on supporting the search term & best user experience.

21
PAID MEDIA
§ Paid media includes Google advertising,
branded content, and display ads on
community sites as well as newspaper
advertisements
§ Paid media is an essential component of
enrollment and awareness strategies if you
have the budget
Paid media refers to online and advertising
efforts that involve a paid placement

22
PAID SEARCH
§ Organizations bid in on search terms
(keywords) users are likely to use to find
their school.
§ Keyword examples:
o “STEM charter school”
o “Phoenix charter schools”
§ Search engines use a “Pay-Per-Click” (PPC)
system where the advertiser pays for each
click on the their ad.
This tactic is best for giving a website
maximum visibility to those who are
searching for your school on search
engines.

23
DISPLAY “BANNER” ADS
§ Display ads appear next to content on
various websites in text, image, or video
format.
§ Best for increasing brand awareness.
§ Display campaigns can be set up to target
audiences in a variety of ways: specific
websites, time of day, geography, etc.
Use visually engaging display ads to
increase brand awareness and target
potential customers.

24
RETARGETING ADS
§ Retargeting reminds visitors of your
school while they’re out doing other
things online
§ Most visitors don’t take actions on the
first visit to your website
§ Keeps your school top of mind when
they are ready to attend an open house,
enroll, etc.
Use image advertisements to target
users who have previously visited
your website.

25
SOCIAL ADS
§ Social ads can appear just like regular
content in your stream
§ Or they can appear alongside content –
depending on the social channel
§ Social ads are extremely targeted, e.g.
moms, age 28-34, within 20 miles of zip
97209…
Use visually engaging ads in social media
to target your audience in various ways

26
ALTERNATE PAID MEDIA
§ Direct mailers
§ Mover packets
§ Newsletter sponsorships
§ Sponsored articles
§ Nextdoor
Use visually engaging ads in social media
to target your audience in various ways

27
PAID MEDIA CHECKLIST
§ Identify your budget
§ Based on your audience/ goals, select the
paid outlets you think will get the most
attention
§ Build relevant content to engage the
audience, with thought to the outlet you’re
using
§ Test and optimize

28
EMAIL
§ Best for keeping your school top of mind of
folks who opt-in for your updates
§ Create personalized messages and
newsletters for your students, parents and
potential parents
§ Implement one-off emails and email workflows
(if possible)
§ Email marketing is cost effective and relatively
easy to implement
§ Email is easy for readers to share and schools
to track
An efficient way to connect with your
target audience

29
EMAIL
§ Almost everyone reads email on their phones these days; keep
emails mobile friendly
§ When you can, let images do the talking (and at unsplash.com,
images are free)
§ Copy/text should be minimum 15pt font
§ Follow SPAM compliance
oTechnically you can email email address one time, but
focus on opt-in contacts only
oMake sure you include your school’s name, address, and
phone number
oMake sure you give your readers the ability to unsubscribe
in every email

30
EMAIL LISTS
§ Find an easy to use (cost efficient) email service provider
§ Build your list organically by providing helpful, engaging
content
§ Keep your list clean. If a person hasn’t opened or clicked
an email in the last 12 months, remove them from your list
§ Provide a preferences page for people to select how often
they want to hear from you

31
EMAIL CHECKLIST
§ Map your content – audience, objective, cadence
§ Pick an email service provider
§ Establish/ segment your list
§ Build your emails
§ Keep your data clean
§ Test and optimize

32
SOCIAL
MEDIA
§ Parents get much – if not most – of
their information from social media
§ Done well, social media will improve
your enrollment odds – especially
when parents and student from your
school share photos and stories
regularly

33
SOCIAL MEDIA
§ Where do your prospective parents hang
out? Which social media platform gets the
most engagement for your school?
§ Share engaging photos everywhere to
generate the most engagement – “a picture
is worth a thousand words”
§ When you post, your goal should be to
make parents think, “I want my child to be a
part of that!”

34
SOCIAL MEDIA CHECKLIST
§ Find where your best audience hangs out –
Instagram? Twitter? Facebook?
§ Pick one or two and post every day if you
can – use a sharing tool
§ Don’t forget – you’re making your school
appeal to both parents and students
§ Post lots of photos - but get parental
permission to use kids photos before you
post
§ When in doubt, don’t

35
EVENTS
§ Event marketing is one of the best ways to
start that personal relationship with your
parents and prospective students
§ Especially during enrollment seasons, it’s
important to have plenty of face-to-face
opportunities for parents, students and
staff
§ Real-life experiences shape our thoughts
and memories much more profoundly than
anything we read or see in the media
Build stronger relationships via
in-person interactions and activities

36
EVENTS
§ Hold regular Open House hours at your
school all year long
o Open up plays, workshops, concerts
that showcase students to
prospective parents
§ During Jan àMarch hold enrollment
events at school and community spaces
o Capture the interest of “planner
parents”
§ During summer months, hold enrollment
events both at the school and in
community spaces

37
EVENT CHECKLIST
§ Pick great community venues with easy parking
§ Gather volunteer parents to talk to prospective
parents
§ Test weekends and evenings
§ Post your event on your website
§ Publish your event in Facebook
§ Set up a geofilter in SnapChat!

38
CONTACT
Janet Johnson
Chief Growth Officer
Charter School Capital
jjohnson@CharterSchoolCapital.org
Ben Scandlen
Consultant
Mosaic Marketing Solutions
bscandlen@thewayco.com

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING!

Enrollment Marketing 101

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