Blog by Gavin Humphries, mtm’s Head of Research
Over the last few years the marketing press has contained lots of articles about how consumers are getting savvier. The Internet has increased the dissemination of information -– be it prices, product reviews or examples of shocking customer service. And we now live in a consumer society where people are wise to marketing messages.
Independent schools have to contend with this trend more than most sectors. Read more
taken from the mtm Independent Education Sector Report 2010
Households in Great Britain can be classified into different types – one such classification is the Acorn system (developed by CACI Ltd) that is used in mtm’s Mandarin (market and area intelligence) catchment area analysis service. The Acorn system divides individual postcodes into one of 17 different groups. What’s particularly striking in looking at independent school buyers is that typical buyers make up just one third of households but four fifths of independent school pupils. Read more
The Institute of Fiscal Studies last week released a new report, Private Schooling in the UK and Australia, which explores experiences of private schooling in the two countries and draws similarities and lessons “from each country’s individual experience”.
A number of the report’s core findings relating to the UK independent schools market place are relatively well documented elsewhere, not least by mtm. These include tracking of “long-run decline” in the pupil-teacher ratio in the independent sector, and the growth of academies and free schools.
However, the report also flags up two trends relating to target markets that independent school educational strategies should take notice of.
mtmconsulting, the UK’s leading experts on strategy, marketing and research for schools and colleges, is currently offering a free initial consultancy session to all new clients.
This consultancy takes the form of an initial face-to-face meeting at your offices, with a full and frank discussion about our services and how we may be able to support you in the following areas:
Following this initial meeting mtm will produce a full and detailed proposal for a programme of work, at no fee, and with no obligation to you.
With over 25 years of supporting in excess of 500 UK schools and colleges, mtm’s expertise is unrivalled.
Contact mtm here to arrange your free initial consultancy.
It has never been more important to know what parents think of your school or college. Pressure on family budgets, exacerbated by the recession, is making parents much more pragmatic in their educational choices. And the prospect of heightened competition from a radically reformed state sector will further emphasise the need for schools to have regular and accurate intelligence from buyers and potential buyers. Read more
Today’s news has covered – in considerable detail – Education Secretary Michael Gove’s letter to all state schools offering them the chance to opt-out of Local Authority control and adopt academy status, essentially offering greater freedom of control to Heads and school leaders over budget, spending and curriculum.
What impact might this have on the way state schools communicate and position their brands, ethos and values to prospective parents and pupils? mtm’s Schools Marketing Consultant Joe Faulkner explores the issue. Read more
from mailonline, 15th May 2010
The Daily Mail has reported that since 1997, under the labour government – a government opposed to academic selection – the number of children attending grammar schools has increased by 25%. The article reports that in this period “while no new grammars have been built, the country’s 164 selective schools have taken on new classrooms to accommodate extra pupils”.
mtmconsulting has announced that it will repeat and extend research undertaken in 2007 into how parents afford and pay for their children’s independent education. Read more
from The Times, 13th April 2010
The Times has reported that independent school fees look set to rise again this year, ahead of inflation rates. The article writes that several schools contacted who have “already announced fees for September have increased them by between 3 and 4.5 per cent.” In the article the paper lists a number of schools that it had contacted, and references the Chief Executive of AGBIS (Association of Governing Bodies at Independent Schools), who said that while schools will aim to keep increases low, it would be difficult for them to come in under inflation.
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