Understanding the decision making process your customers go through is fundamental in developing an effective communications strategy that delivers results. A typical five-stage model implies customers go through most, if not all of the following steps:

This model should be considered as whole when devising a marketing strategy. Customers’ perceptions and attitudes are gradually shaped in the stages leading to purchase, while the post-purchase evaluation step determines the likelihood of recommending the purchase to others.

At the very beginning of the decision-making process the customer identifies the need to buy. In the context of education, that could be triggered by child nearing nursery age, a mother returning to work, or the continuing tendency of parents outsourcing their responsibilities, among others.

For many families, the enrolment of their children for school is a simple decision. They would enrol them in their local school. Other families, however, go to extraordinary lengths to find what they consider to be the best school for the child and/or their family. And one thing is for sure; parents will carry extensive research, putting schools under scrutiny before trusting them with their children and money.

Many schools depend heavily on advertising, media releases and open days to recruit, but the truth is that prospective parents would use far more complex framework to build their perception about a school. Research shows that word-of-mouth is still the leading influence factor when selecting a school and that more than ever parents rely on the Internet to access information.

Customer-touch-points have increased significantly with the advancement of technology and schools play catch up with most of the now well used by parents mediums like social media sites, blogs and forums. Schools with strong digital marketing presence are most likely to create a positive impression of a modern day organisation that is fully capable of preparing pupils to take their place in a fast moving world.

Communication strategies should therefore take in account the need of establishing a proactive two-way communication with parents, monitoring effectively and responding promptly to conversations in the digital space. Being part of the conversation means that schools are given the opportunity to engage in dialog and understand better what customers really think about the school, what their needs and expectations are, helping the school to more closely match  their offerings to market demands.

Parents have more choices in schools now than ever. Perceptions of continuous improvement in state schools, increased competition within the independent sector and the establishment of academies and free schools creates a dynamic market where securing market share becomes ever more difficult.

And with the market environment rapidly changing presenting new opportunities and threats, the survival of any business is linked to the awareness and adaptability to the new environment.  Understanding the full spectrum of the socio-economic factors that may be influencing school recruitment rates is therefore vital in achieving competitive advantage.

Identifying target markets, understanding the desirable characteristics parents would like to associate with a school, and developing communications that are responsive to their specific needs takes the school a step closer to being a school-of-choice.
mtmconsulting is one of the first consultancies to focus on the education sector in the UK. Established in 1984 to be the leading educational business consultancy specialising in strategies for schools and colleges, mtm has since worked with over 500 education groups, large and small, independent and maintained.

Our areas of expertise include strategy, research, marketing and development for:

Independent Schools
Academies and Free Schools
State Schools
FE & HE Colleges and Universities
Investors in Education
Suppliers to Education

mtm consultants are based across the UK and work worldwide.

Call our UK office on +44 (0) 843 308 7548 or email office@mtmconsulting.co.uk  for more information.

Related posts:

1. Is your school really delivering a quality service? Are you sure?
2. Blog post – As parents get smarter, school research becomes more crucial

Somebody once told me that certain ‘knock-off’ goods – the allegedly Prada and Louis Vuitton bags you can buy from street traders on the Ponte Sant’ Angelo in Rome, for example – were not actually cheap imitations, but genuine goods stolen from the production line and sold through the black market. Probably not true, and certainly not true of the ‘Rolex’ watches with cheap quartz motions which a few dollars could purchase in the back streets of Taipei.

But musings on the real value of prestige consumer brands came to mind recently when I was approached by a third-party fixer to brief a very well-known international consulting firm on trends within the UK boarding market. It transpired, during the course of a very long telephone call (from Mumbai, where the consultant was based) that the well-known consulting firm’s ultimate client was a UK institution, interested in investment opportunities within the British independent education sector.

So the client was paying a colossal fee – in all probability, six figures – for advice, collated and analysed in India, with the assistance of the third-party fixer, also charging a fee, but which came, in all essentials from a specialist UK company which could have provided the expertise for a fraction of the price. What’s in a name indeed?

Perhaps surprisingly, it’s an increasingly common phenomenon in independent education. And often, the grander the educational brand, the more likely it is that its advisers will be the fashionable legal firms, the blue chip PR companies and the international management consultants. It’s perhaps unfair to suggest that prestige demands prestige: the fear that a high-end brand might be devalued by association with a less well-known one. Probably it’s more to do with comfort: governors who, in their business or professional lives, are familiar with the likes of PWC or Ernst & Young feel reassured that their school is in good hands if they recognise the name of the adviser.

Which may be a good – if expensive – thing if, for example, it’s investment advice you’re looking for. What a school needs to know about managing its invested capital is not very different from what any small or medium business needs.

But if what is needed, as is often the case, is a detailed knowledge of the UK independent sector, and the structural, social, financial and regional trends shaping its future, it surely makes more sense to go to the specialist expert. You might be surprised at how much of the big name consultants’ knowledge of sector trends comes from the mtmconsulting Independent Sector Reports , published at two-year intervals since 2007.

No knock-off goods here: it’s the real thing.

Related posts:

1. Sector Report 2012 trend 2: recession and the flight to quality
2. mtm/vwv Autumn Conference Report 2011 – Practical Strategies for a New Education Market
3. What will high inflation and threat of rising interest rates mean for independent schools?

The rather intimate Proprietorial Schools Autumn Forum 2012, which took place on 15th November 2012 in the prestigious Cavalry and Guards Club, Piccadilly, London, once again proved itself to be the only place for proprietors to meet, discuss and receive industry specific knowledge.

Dick Davison, Head of Strategic and Research Services, speaks on school fees and how parents pay them.

The focus of this year’s Autumn Forum was on two topics of high interest: how parents pay school fees, and, hottest of all, digital marketing and social media, all in the context of the independent sector. Dick Davison, Head of Strategic and Research Services at mtmconsulting, lifted the curtain on a subject close to the heart, but rarely spoken of: “How do parents pay school fees?” The impact of the unstable economic climate, parents’ worries and concerns, and shifts in the distribution of available disposable income were all put in perspective and presented in line with mtm’s latest market research findings. It was interesting to note that some of the earliest market shifts recorded in the 2010 study continued in 2012. The leading reasons for parents choosing fee-paying schools remained being a genuinely all-round education and the best available academic education. Not surprisingly, families continue to reduce their expenditure to afford fees, but appear to be more confident in their ability to pay fees to the end of their child(ren)’s education. While the 2012 research confirmed the majority of earlier results, there was visible surprise when Dick unveiled brand-new findings that showed that a much wider spread of family income than the media stereotype made up the current and prospective client base.

Simon Hay (left) engaging in interesting discussions following his presentation on digital marketing.

The second presentation for the day by Simon Hay, a co-founder of Firefly Solutions, drew on the importance of schools being digitally and social media active. Simon emphasized the difference a well-presented and maintained website could make to school reputation and current parents’ satisfaction, and how it can be used as marketing tool to attract prospective
parents. And as the latest statistics by Ipsos Mori suggest that half of the UK adult population actively use the Internet, with Facebook being the most visited social media channel, schools can no longer avoid or delay taking part in the digital conversation. Nothing more than a modern word-of-moth, conversations in social media channels have the potential to reach millions of people around the globe in a matter of minutes. Ignore this at your own peril.

To find out more about market conditions in the fee-paying and state-funded independent sector and how to help your school plan for the future, please contact us on 0843 308 7548.

Related posts:

1. What will high inflation and threat of rising interest rates mean for independent schools?
2. mtm School Matters – April 2012 edition
3. “The parents of your next Reception intake are now following you on Twitter”

Following the 7th annual Practical Strategies conference held at the IoD in London on 18 September, 2012, we are pleased to release the conference report which summarises the sessions.

We are already looking ahead to next year’s conference, which will be held on 17 September 2013 at the same venue. If you have not already done so, please let us have your feedback so we can make the next Practical Strategies conference even better.

Practical Strategies Conference Report

Related posts:

1. mtm/vwv Autumn Conference Report 2011 – Practical Strategies for a New Education Market
2. 2013 mtm/VWV Annual Autumn Conference – Practical Strategies
3. UK Sector Report 2012. Trend 3. Opportunities to Boost UK Boarding

Article by Dick Davison, Head of Strategic Services

The biggest survey of independent school parents yet undertaken has shown an encouraging rise in their confidence about being able to continue to afford school fees for their children’s full school careers.

The survey records responses from nearly 6,200 parents whose children were in independent schools during summer term 2012. Undertaken by mtmconsulting, using its secure online survey technology, the survey was carried out with the full support and co-operation of the Independent Schools Council (ISC).

It supplements the results of the first ever such surveys, undertaken by mtmconsulting in 2010 and, on a much smaller scale, in 2007.

Many of the new survey’s findings confirm those of the 2010 survey, especially in the wide range of incomes amongst independent school parents, and the extent of the financial sacrifices that most make in order to pay for their children’s education.

Do you think you will be able to continue paying fees until your children leave school?

But the most encouraging finding for schools, after four years of economic crisis, is that, compared with 2010, there has been a perceptible shift UPWARDS in parents’ general confidence that they will be able to pay school fees for the remainder of their children’s education.

The few who seem sure that they will not be able to continue remains unchanged at 3%, but the doubtful categories – ‘possibly not’ (down from 12% to 10%) and ‘possibly’ (down from 33% to 31%) – have both decreased and there has been a commensurate rise in the proportion of parents expressing full confidence, from 52% to 56%.

Parents do continue to be concerned about job insecurity and falling incomes, both rated by more than half the respondents as the main threat to their continued ability to pay school fees. But the rise in university tuition fees, widely expected to damage parents’ thinking about the affordability of school fees, looms no larger now than before the changes were announced in 2010. 22% of parents regard university costs as a threat, compared with 23% in 2010.

Parents in 65 schools took part in the survey, and answered a wide range of questions about their family incomes, their financial commitment to independent education and the means by which they afford school fees.

What is your GROSS household income per year?

The responses reveal a wide range of family financial circumstances. More than half the responding parents have gross annual incomes of under £100,000, while nearly a quarter have incomes under £60,000. These findings correlate closely with the 2010 survey, in which some 2,500 parents took part.

The importance of second incomes is also confirmed, with 75% of second parents (i.e. not the principal in-come earner) either employed or self-employed.

Nearly two-thirds of the families (62%) paid more than £15,000 in school fees during 2011/12, with 30% paying more than £25,000. More than half (57%) had already been paying fees for six years or more and almost as many (51%) were expecting to be paying for at least a further six years.

And, as in the 2010 survey, three-quarters of the families (74%) claimed to be making financial sacrifices to be able to afford the fees, with holidays, general household expenditure and home improvements the commonest casualties of the economy drive al-though a quarter of families were also reducing their pension contributions and one in six their mortgage repayments.

Areas of reduced expenditure to afford fees

Three families in ten (29%) were receiving some form of third-party assistance with fee payment, a slight in-crease from the 2010 results. The most frequent source of this help was from relatives, for 16% of the parents, although 19% were receiving some form of assistance from their child’s school, mostly in the form of scholar-ships or bursaries, as well as staff and sibling discounts.

Commenting on the survey, ISC’s Deputy General Secretary and Head of Research, Rudolf Eliott Lockhart, said: “This survey helps to highlight the diverse nature of families sending their children to independent schools by identifying the broad range of parents’ financial circumstances. It is all the more encouraging, therefore, to see that parents’ confidence in their ability to afford school fees for the remainder of their children’s education has grown despite the recent economic downturn.”

Melanie Tucker, mtmconsulting principal, commented: “This is a very significant piece of research and one which complements and confirms our groundbreaking research amongst parents of recent years. It underlines our capacity to undertake large-scale surveys of this kind, adding to the general state of knowledge about the health of development of the independent sector.

“We are also enormously grateful to the ISC and to the officers of the constituent associations for their imaginative support of this project and, especially, to Rudi and his colleagues at ISC both for encouraging schools to participate and for their creative input at every stage of the survey.”

Each of the participating schools will receive a copy of the full survey report, together with an analysis of the responses from their own parents.

To receive a copy of the full 2012 report, School Fees and How Parents Pay Them, contact office@mtmconsulting.co.uk , telephone 01502 722787 or download the Fees Survey 2012 Order Form The price is £50 (incl. P&P).

Related posts:

1. mtm announces survey of how parents pay independent school fees
2. The mtmconsulting/HTC School Fees Payment Survey 2007
3. School Fees and How Parents Pay Them

We all know how useful a strategy awayday can be. An opportunity for governors or the leader-ship team to get right away from daily duties and cares and focus on the big picture, the strategic development of the school.
At least that’s how it’s supposed to be. Too often we hear that strategy days haven’t gone according to plan, that discussions lacked focus, that priorities weren’t established or considered, that decisions were fudged and the vision dissipated.

The key is in the preparation. A strategy day is not just another governors’ meeting,translated for the occasion to a five-star hotel or conference centre. Careful thought needs to be given in advance to the agenda, the evidence to be considered and the clear—and, probably, limited—objectives to be achieved.
It is vital to have a facilitator—an authoritative third party voice to keep the day on track and to ensure that it’s not hijacked by subsidiary issues or personal agendas. One rarely hears of a successful awayday which
has not been nurtured by a well-prepared and knowledgeable facilitator.

Make sure too that you put your discussions into con-text. Plan for an introductory session at which you re-view the national and local environment and the factors (PESTLE—political, economic, socio-demographic, technological, legal, environmental) which are likely to change it in the future.
Consider too the current and recent performance of your competitors. How are they dealing with the changing demands of the market place? Do they represent an increasing threat or are there opportunities to be seized? Don’t get trapped into thinking about your school in isolation.
And what outcomes do you want from the day? How are they going to be implemented?

If you need help planning your strategic away-day, or need an authoritative scene-setting session, contact us on office@mtmconsulting.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Blog post – Governors: the dreaded phone call and the big picture
2. Blog post – contingency planning – are you ready? Are you sure you are ready…?
3. Overcoming barriers in pupil recruitment

As discussed in the last article, much like subliminal messaging in the 1950s, cookies do have a dark side. The data sent to a website’s database may include anything you type on that website, from simple search terms, such as “Car” or “Laptop”, to bank details. Some sites will use search activity to inform search optimisation, to give you bespoke results, but there is the potential that more nefarious websites might feed-back sensitive information.