Parents Talk With Parents, Kids Talk With Kids

One of, if not THE, most powerful marketing strategies is “Word of Mouth” Marketing. Recent research shows that the two main sources of information someone turns to before making a big-ticket purchase are the Internet and current customers. In that light, positive word of mouth is the most effective non-technological way of getting information to prospective customers. Brochures, radio, newspaper ads, billboards, etc., may be an important component of your overall marketing strategy, but, as the saying goes, “The best advertisement is a satisfied customer.”

We also know that worth of mouth (or “buzz”) is effective whether it’s positive or negative. While another saying says that “any publicity is good publicity,” publicity isn’t “word of mouth.” Publicity builds awareness. It’s what makes community members, parishioners, parents, and other constituencies aware that something exists. Once someone is aware of the presence of a product that has the potential to be beneficial to them or their family, then the information investigation begins. This is the point where your Internet presence and Word of Mouth become key tools.

Let’s consider this situation: two parents who have their children enrolled in the local Catholic school are walking out of church after Mass, and speaking negatively about something that’s been happening at the school. Does the 19-year-old walking next to them really care that someone is speaking in this manner? Or the young single female adult with no children who’s just moved into the parish? Or the widowed grandparent, who might hear the “buzz,” and think that she’s glad that her children are grown and live out of town? It may not matter to them personally – but such conversation may matter a great deal to other people they connect with during the week, and these individuals might share what they heard with others during the 19-year-old’s visit with his parents, the single female adult’s interaction with her co-workers on Monday morning, or the grandparent’s senior citizen meeting with her friends who do have grandchildren in the school? I think we all know what happens when stories get passed from one person to another.

So if a person with a Kindergarten-age child hears the story, second or third hand, they might ask a parent in the school for more information about what they heard because parents talk to parents. In this situation, it’s important that word of mouth publicity be the best it can be because parents want the best for their children. Parents are the customers schools are marketing to.

But what about the children? Aren’t the children of the school its customers too? No. Customers are people who pay for the service. Children enrolled in the school are the “product” of a faith-based education. Brochures for replacement windows feature pictures of the windows; ads for vacation destinations feature palm trees at sunset on a calm beach. Brochures for schools feature pictures of smiling, happy and studious kids.

While children are products of our schools, it’s important to remember that they may also become customers. As they grow to become alumni, they will have the ability to impact the school financially, and, with respect to enrollment, as a member of the community and a parent of a prospective student.

Further, in this day and age of hearing parents say, “We’re thinking about going to the public school next year because Billy said his friends are going there and he wants to be with them,” it becomes painfully clear that parents today are not the absolute authority on important life decisions impacting their children. If parents are and have stated something like what was quoted, it’s clear they’re not taking the total responsibility for those decisions. In the spirit of taking lemons and turning them into lemonade, take advantage of the mindset and develop a “Bring a Friend to School” Day. Just as parents talk with parents, kids talk to kids. If your school’s students love being there, this could take off like wildfire, especially if students ask, “When’s the next day we can do this?” In our Covidian reality, some faith-based schools have seen enrollments boom, and chalk it up to a resurgence in the need for a faith-based education. I really hate to burst this bubble, but the three main drivers are a dissatisfaction with the way public schools have handled the pandemic reality, disagreement for what may be happening in the public school space, and friend talking with friends who want their friends to be with them. If their faith can be developed there, then that’s the benefit of the interaction of those three drivers.

On the other hand, if parents are not enthused about inviting their friends to their school, such a reaction can point to a much deeper problem.

Share this: