Posted: March 9th, 2023
Developing a School Marketing Plan
Introduction:
As a leader in the field of education, you are the chief marketing officer of your school, department, program or team. You are responsible for telling the story, creating the narrative and showcasing a positive image. You may also be responsible for selling what sets your institution or program apart from others. Finally, there will be times when you will need to market your institution or program to external stakeholders including potential community business partners, college/ university partners or even potential employees.
In this assignment, you will build your own marketing plan. Remember the ultimate goal of the marketing plan should be to showcase the unique opportunities your institution or program can provide. In addition to your required readings for the week, pages 20-36 of Warner (2009) will serve as a valuable resource as they contain several examples of the various components of marketing plans.
Instructions:
1. Develop a 5-7 page written plan for marketing a new program or school under your leadership, which addresses the following:
○ What is the program or institution? ○ Who is the targeted audience for your program or institution? ○ What is your selling point? Why should stakeholders consider you
as an option? ○ What unique opportunities does your school provide (i.e. academic,
extracurricular, community partners)? ○ What form/ forms of communication would be most impactful? ○ What is your timeline? ○ How will you know your efforts are successful? ○ As a part of your draft you can include any mock brochures, web
page mock up, or other resources that will be shared during your presentation.
2. As appropriate, cite evidence from course readings or other scholarly sources. Be sure to cite and reference your sources in APA format.
Online Lecture – Marketing Your School
As a school leader, you will be responsible for marketing your school. This can have different meanings, depending on the type of school you lead. In a comprehensive public school, marketing may mean sharing your story with the community in hopes of securing additional tax dollars for the district, forming partnerships with local colleges/ universities, businesses or agencies, promoting your school to district leadership or creating a positive image of your school with local community stakeholders. However, as a charter or private school leader, marketing your school contains additional meanings. In these contexts, marketing means attracting students and families to enroll in your school, securing the necessary funding to operate your school, recruiting faculty/ staff and essentially ensuring the sustainability of your school for years to come.
In lieu of a lecture, this week you are required to watch the following videos (see below) on school marketing in a private school setting. One video is done from an instructional perspective, while the other is from a testimonial perspective. Many of the strategies shared in these videos, are transferable to both charter and public school settings alike and should aid you in developing your marketing plan and presentation for the next two modules.
School Promotional Video | Private School Marketing
Epic Productions LLC (2018). School Promotional Video- Private School Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z_36dNaiqE
Marketing Ideas For Private Schools
Six Degrees Digital Media. (2014). Marketing Ideas for Private Schools. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuKFgtyZn54
Required Reading Materials
Kowalski, Theodore (2011). Public Relations for Schools (5th Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 6: Public Relations Programs
Chapter 7: Planning, Implementing & Evaluating Programs
Warner, Carolyn (2009). Promoting Your School: Going Beyond PR. (3rd Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.5
Chapter 2: Making Your Schools Stand Out
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