Marketing IS Education

As the school year begins to wind down, activities begin to “wind up” – graduations, awards presentations, concerts, and don’t forget the field trips! Activities are also in full swing for next year…financial aid consultations, registrations, and budget planning. With all this activity, it can be difficult to make use of a “marketing matter,” or, for that matter, even look at one right now. So, today’s article gives a synopsis of one of SchoolAdvancement.com’s articles about marketing.

If you’ve looked for information regarding marketing, you may have discovered that marketing is a major course of study housed in an institution of higher learning’s school of business. Marketing (and its concepts like positioning, branding and market share) are of major significance to corporations and businesses. Even schools bring in consultants specializing in marketing to help them with this task…which is why many schools don’t “do” marketing. They think they can’t afford the expertise…even though marketing, in a nutshell, is everything and anything a school does to make its presence known to its target audiences. Today, however, more and more schools are turning not only to social media to market their schools, but have created a new business segment called “Marcom” – short for Marketing Communication. This is to distinguish it from other types of marketing that a business must participate in as part of our technology-rich world. While there is a difference between publicity and advertising, these usually fall under the umbrella of a “communications” champion. However, there are many different kinds of communication within an educational environment, especially as it pertains to a private or faith-based school. As you hopefully read in last week’s article, marketing communication with donors is different from the communication with parents. Further, there are current donors and prospective donors, just as there are current parents and prospective parents. There’s also that alumni parent group which may or may not be part of the one of the donor corhorts, and then there are those businesses and community organizations which may not be donors nor parents but have a business relationship with your school – which is where advertising and publicity come into play.

But then there’s the communication that takes place within your school on a daily basis. Teachers communicate with students. Remember that the goal of marketing is to initiate a change in one’s mindset. And that’s precisely what education does!

While a consultant may be very necessary to help market your school, realize the educators in your school possess the background that marketing requires…educators just work with a different audience. Teachers in Catholic, Christian and other faith-based and private schools educate children, whose minds are open to new ideas and absorb information like sponges when they are interested in the material that’s being taught. Marketers have to do the same thing with adults…whose minds may not be as open to new ideas and concepts. Both jobs have their challenges – but both teachers and marketers are trying to reach the same goal.

The full article is located in the “Articles” section of the SchoolAdvancement.com site, which you can access by visiting this link.

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