24/7 Marketing Mindset

I am seeing a shift that needs to take place in schools.

Gone are the days when we could rely upon word-of-mouth alone to grow our school.

Gone are the days when we didn’t have to think about marketing.

Gone are the days when faculty and staff think of marketing and enrollment as someone else’s job.

Gone are the days when we didn’t drop everything to take care of the prospective parent in our office, on the phone, or an applicant on campus ready to do an interview that isn’t scheduled.

Gone are the days when we didn’t allocate resources and full-time personnel to this most important area.

Instead, we must shift our mindset. Everyone at your school must think of their job as a brand marketer, an admissions director and a retention specialist. We need a 24/7 marketing mindset and for many schools, this is a cultural shift.

This shift will take time, energy and resources. It won’t happen overnight. It will be a gradual process that should be led by the Head of School and the Director of Enrollment. This intentional effort will take meetings, explanations, energy, new processes and directives. You may even need to step outside of your comfort zone.

It may also mean that you move some faculty and staff off of your bus (in the words of Jim Collins in Good to Great) if they fail to make this shift. With less students enrolled, your school’s impact is diminished and jobs are eliminated. With more students, your opportunity for impact is much greater and jobs are secure.

The new normal for schools is here in a 24/7 marketing mindset.

In the words of one school administrator I talked to this week, “I wish I would have done this five or six years ago.” The key is that he is working on this now.

Trust me, the cultural shift will be worth the effort.