This presentation teaches educators how to create marketing content for your school blog to attract more visitors to your website and enroll more students. Marketing the way prospective students search, you can drive more traffic to your website and engage that traffic in the kind of conversations that matter to them.

1. BOOST ENROLLMENT
How to
With Your School Blog

2. Schools implementing
inbound marketing techniques
have experienced wild success.

3. The inbound marketing
toolkit
includes...

4. SMART goals,
specific measurable
attainable relevant
timely

5. Buyer Personas,
job title
education
demographics
needs
pain points

6. Content Plan,
calendar
platform
strategy
network

7. Website,
email
connection
information
research
impression

8. Social Media,
networking
reach
engagement
real time
promotiona

9. and a
Blog.

10. Your blog is the
most versatile
tool in your toolkit.

11. but...
but...

12. Most schools have developed
bad habits
around blogging.

13. Wasting tons of
energy
on a blog no one wants to read.

14. By spending their time
talking about
themselves
they fail to give readers
what they need:

15. Solutions
to their
problems.

16. But you can do
better.

17. By
segmenting
your blog based on your
readers' needs.

18. Like this...

19. Admissions Blog

20. Your admissions blog should be
dedicated to
answering general and specific questions
about the admissions process.

21. This is where you help prospective students
learn more about
what they want and how to achieve it.

22. Test prep
Required documentation
Applying
Student life
Attendance prep
Some topics you might include

23. Be sure to
Anticipate questions throughout the research,
consideration, and application processes.
Start with broad topics and then zoom in on specifics.
Nurture and empower your audience to make a
decision.

24. These schools are doing it right .
Check out these top school blogs for some inspiration.
MIT Admissions Blog (University)
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs
Lakeside School Student Counseling Blog (Private 5-12)
https://www.lakesideschool.org/academics/college-counseling

25. Student Life Blog

26. Your student life blog should highlight
your students' experiences
from their perspective
not your administration's.

27. This is where you help prospective students
start to envision themselves
as members of your educational community.

28. Do not
Talk incessantly about how great you are.
Your audience will be the judge of that.
Limit your content to school news and updates.
That's great information for current students, all but useless to prospective
students.
Ignore the importance of influencer opinions.
Testimony from your students, faculty, and family will go much
further with prospective students than anything else.

29. Do
Involve your students in the development,
upkeep, and promotion of your blog.
Your students' perspective is your most valuable asset when it comes
to recruiting new students.
Share unique and authentic observations.
Readers can tell when they're reading something heartfelt and
authentic, and when they're reading a forced English assignment.
Guess which one get applicants.

30. These schools are doing it right .
Check out these top school blogs for some inspiration.
Horace Mann School ( Private PK-11)
http://www.horacemann.org/page.cfm?p=2449
Indiana University (Public University)
https://weareiu.com/

31. Alumni Blog

32. Your alumni blog should showcase
the value of your program
by celebrating alumi success.

33. This is where your prospective students
develop confidence in you ability to help
them become successful.

34. When you're planning out your
alumni blog, try to keep a few
things in mind.

35. Editorial Guidelines
Each entry should be authentic, but editorial guidelines
help keep the blog professional and consistent.

36. Alumni Outreach
Making sure alumni know you want them to
share their successes...and failures.

37. Promotion
Create a plan for promoting your blog. This is
important for any content you create. However,
the content on your alumni blog will be
interesting to a broad audience. That means you
can promote it in more places.

38. These schools have got it down.
Gather intel from these excellent alumni blogs
Arizona State University (Public University)
https://alumni.asu.edu/news/blog
Stanford University (Public University)
https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/blogs/blog/?ciid=32075

39. A blog that offers relevant content is
an invaluable asset
to your inbound marketing plan.

40. But it's only
part
of the whole equation.

41. Learn how to put all the pieces
together at
whatsthewordinc.com

42. See you there!