Marketing

2012 – Olympic or Titanic year?

Blog by Dick Davison, Head of Strategic Services

There’s sometimes an odd symmetry in historical coincidences. 2012 will mark the centenary of the most celebrated nautical disaster of modern times, the loss of the Titanic. The Titanic had a sister ship, named the Olympic. And this year will also bring, of course, the Olympic Games to London.

So – Titanic or Olympic – which will prove to be a more apt epithet for the year? A year of celebration and renewed confidence in the future? Or a year when all our confident assumptions about progress and growth hit an iceberg?

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Get ahead for the Open Day season

Blog by Nicky Adams, Schools’ Marketing Consultant

It’s a new year and schools’ marketers’ thoughts turn to the Open Day season, and how to encourage potential students through your doors and onto your roll for the coming September.

This is your chance to really sell your school – the pay-off for the past year’s promotional activity (and budget) that has made sure your school’s name is familiar to those families you are most keen to attract. Now is the time to convert that raised awareness into full classrooms, and the open day is a vital step that warrants careful planning.

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The 2012 Education Sector Report

The third edition of mtmconsulting’s groundbreaking Sector Report is available to order now.

mtmconsulting’s UK Education Sector; Forecasts, Challenges & Opportunities 2012 – 2020 is the authoritative independent commentary for the charitable, for profit and state-funded independent education markets.

Produced by mtmconsulting biannually, this is an objective review of these fast-changing sectors. It includes statistics, trends, forecasts and scenarios, providing a valuable information source for decision makers or those wishing to enter the sectors.

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School Wars – Melanie Tucker attends the All-Party Group for Education debate

Blog by Melanie Tucker, Principal and Head of Marketing Services

Last week I was invited to take part in the All-Party Group for Education debate – ‘The changing schools landscape: what can maintained schools, free schools and academies learn from one another?’ It looked like a great opportunity to identify ways in which educationalists could co-operate and exchange expertise, but sadly it turned into an argument between those who want to give comprehensive education more time to succeed and those who run free schools.

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An Oscar for Andrew – Dick Davison attends the Independent School Awards

Blog by Dick Davison,  Head of Strategic Services

With the UK heading inexorably, it seems, for another recession and the economic news unremittingly gloomy, we all need a bit of good news.

So full marks to Andrew Maiden, publisher of Funding for Independent Schools (http://www.fismagazine.co.uk), who had the good idea a couple of years ago of launching the sector’s own awards event to give some recognition to enterprise, imagination, energy and leadership in independent schools.

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Making the most of your market research

Blog by James Leggett, Research Manager

It’s vital to assess the status quo before your school can even think about moving forward, and at mtmconsulting we believe so passionately in the value of incisive market research that we spend much of our time and energy carrying out bespoke survey projects on behalf of schools that are serious about unlocking their future business potential.
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mtm/vwv Autumn Conference Report 2011 – Practical Strategies for a New Education Market

Following on from another successful conference at the IOD, we have produced a full report of the day. This year’s conference was entitled ‘Practical Strategies for a New Education Market’.

You can read a summary of Sir Ewan Harper’s remarkable account of how the United Learning Trust was transformed from a small and struggling independent school group into a thriving organisation, with more than double the pupil numbers, and went on to become the nation’s biggest sponsor of Academies.

Other topics covered include the opportunities and pitfalls of extending your school age range, a summary of the mtmconsulting UK Education Sector Report 2012 – 2020: Forecasts, Challenges and Opportunities and Tom Packer’s account of his white knuckle ride through the process of opening the West London Free School.

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Spread the word – what are your parents saying?

Blog by Nicky Adams, Schools’ Marketing Consultant

It’s easy to dismiss it as schoolgate tittle-tattle, but word-of-mouth is a very powerful marketing tool among parents – and schools ignore it at their peril.

All the glossy prospectuses and snappy websites in the world might not make up for the fact that Auntie Pat’s hairdresser’s niece had a terrible time at St Griselda’s, or nice little Freddie down the road left Newtown College with a crack habit and no GCSEs.

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Practical Research and Marketing: Latest Intelligence

1st March 2012, The Cavalry and Guards Club, 127 Piccadilly, London W1

With the economic climate still far from perfect and increased competition emerging from the state sector’s Acadamies and Free Schools, it is more important than ever for you to up-skill your research and marketing strategy to support development of your school.

mtmconsulting’s Practical Research and Marketing Intelligence Seminar will provide you with the latest sector intelligence and examples of the best marketing strategies and campaigns to help enable you maximise your budget and stand out from the crowd.

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UK Sector Report 2012. Trend 3. Opportunities to Boost UK Boarding

mtmconsulting’s Gavin Humphries, Head of Research takes a look at the latest trends in boarding and how to boost your numbers.

The number of boarders in independent schools has fallen dramatically over the last 30 years, from 120,000 in 1981 to just under 72,000 in 2011. As a proportion of all independent school pupils this represents a fall from 22% to 12%. One of the causes of this long-term decline was the fact that robust boarding regimes (especially for boys) came to be regarded with both distaste and suspicion by many mothers. Negative media comment, particularly during the 1980s, did not help and this has continued, on and off, since (such as the references to ‘Boarding School Syndrome’ during the summer of 2011).

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