Claude Anderson (@fullpayfamilies)
Dean of Enrollment
Northfield Mount Hermon
MarketingtoFullPay.com
Helping your faculty to understand what they need to do in the
recruitment process is an obvious winner for matriculating full-pay
families. You may find yourself spending varying levels of time bringing
the faculty along. In this article, I offer ideas to help you with
building faculty support to assist you in your marketing efforts.
Although this type of effort can include various groups, the target
below is on faculty- one of the most important allies in your marketing
machine. There are five accompanying goals in developing the faculty’s
skills.
Develop their understanding and commitment to:
• Providing an exceptional educational program
• Believing in the educational program’s excellence and uniqueness
• Demonstrating that the program is worth the cost
• Creating a superior recruitment strategy
• Targeting the quality and quantity of students needed to achieve the mission
The
achievement of these goals should provide schools with allies and
disciples in the marketing process and should increase the schools’
chances to achieve its mission and an increase in full-pay family
matriculations.
When questioned about the quality of the education
provided, faculty usually say that the education is “good”. If you ask
them what makes a good education, some will hesitate, and many won’t
give the most compelling response for the ears of the full-pay family.
The faculty has not been trained to position their programs and they
need support around this issue.
Here are some ideas to consider:
1.
Take a look at your primary messages. If you are the chief person to
develop your brand messages, you have to be secure in what they are and
how they are positioned. Don’t make
an assumption that because teachers educate students every day that
they will be able to articulate the excellence of their programs. With
the support of your thinking and language developed by talking with them
and others, you will package the key messages and provide it to them.
2.
Once you are clear on your brand messages, you need to determine how to
package them visually. You might want to package those messages in some
digital format to share with the faculty and get any feedback or
concerns before it is rolled out completely. You should receive an
enthusiastic response unless your messages are off. Faculties are
notorious for underestimating how good they are. After you have nailed
down what is the best language, you can offer it in print through
various physical publications or advertisements. Done well, they will be
proud to see it.
3.
Once the faculty is equipped with the right marketing messages, and
they feel empowered and can articulate more passionately about what they
offer, you need to determine the kinds of engagement they will have
with your prospects- on campus events, webinars, email correspondences,
etc.
4.
Remember you aren’t just having an event to showcase what you like
about your school. The event has a focus that addresses the needs of the
customer and your solutions that will solve their educational problems.
If your messages don’t address the consumers’ needs, from their
perspective, not the school’s perspective, your success will be limited.
Teach the faculty to be customer centric in their presentation, not
school centric. This means that everyone needs to first find out what
the families’ needs are, then apply the relevant solutions offered by
the school. The faculty will need training to do this well.
5.
This connection with your marketing effort doesn’t just happen
overnight. You are giving the faculty language on how to best describe
what they do. They have to connect with it, before they are comfortable
enough to use it. If the head of school has laid out the importance of
this work, then the adoption of the messaging in words and action will
happen more readily.
When you combine your marketing and
communications methodology with the faculty’s understanding of what they
do, you will have an effective tool for marketing to full-pay families.
You will also create disciples and further understanding among the
faculty for your work, their work, and for the school’s mission.