In the wake of the recession, with long-term concerns about the falling affordability in the independent education sector and repeated assertions about the value of effective school marketing and the importance of your school carrying out sound parental research, the need to assess the suitability and effectiveness of your independent school’s marketing provision has never been greater, writes Joe Faulkner, Senior Schools Consultant at mtm.
Anyone who has read mtm’s 2009 Schools Marketing Survey (2009, follow the link for a free download) will have noticed the dramatic variation in provision for marketing across different schools. The survey found, for example, that one school in ten does not have a member of staff with responsibility for marketing, and that one in five does not have any formal school strategy for marketing.
Perhaps triggered by the challenges to maintain pupil numbers over the coming years, in recent months mtm has seen increasing numbers of schools requesting a comprehensive audit of their marketing function.
A marketing audit is an excellent way of understanding how suitable your staffing, planning and budgeting are; the areas for immediate focus for enhancing school marketing; how parents are likely to respond to your admissions processes; and to talk to mtm’s school business experts to understand the wider context for schools.
Usually carried out through considerable planning, a whole day spent at the school and a full written debrief, areas covered during mtm’s audits include:
- Review of school websites
- Review of mystery shopper type requests for information
- Quality of printed school prospectus and any accompanying information
- Ease of finding the school
- A tour of the school as would be given to a parent
- Interviews with the head and any staff with responsibility for marketing in schools
- Review of school admissions records
- Review of school communications with parents, PR and press cuttings
- Assessment of school marketing strategy and budgets
In the report all of our observations are included along with recommendations for actions.
For more details or to request a call back please contact mtm.
