5 People Every School Marketing Team Needs
This article is inspired by a phone conversation I had with a high school principal this week. He contacted me because his school wants to reach more people with its Gospel mission.
One part of the conversation really stuck out to me. While he was excited about many wonderful things happening at his school, he was thrilled with a big step their ministry had taken in the past few months…and I was absolutely thrilled to hear about this step, too.
If you read my August article “10 Must-Haves for School Marketing” (or if you click over to it HERE right now), you’ll see the number one on the list is “a leader and a team.”
A Leader & Team - Marketing your school is not a one-person job; it’s a team effort, especially if your school has big growth goals or needs. This marketing committee or outreach team will also need a leader to make decisions, report to your board, and ensure the team moves forward together.
As I’ve worked with schools over the years, I find that it’s one of the biggest marketing needs in schools who are trying to reach more families in their community. As they try to reach OUTSIDE their walls, they are missing something big INSIDE their walls. Outreach and marketing is NOT a solo effort. It’s a TEAM effort. Here are a few reasons why:
A team makes a bigger impact than one person. When schools seek to reach more families in their communities, it often requires a culture change. This culture change is from an inward-focus of serving internal families to a balanced-focus of serving both internal families and community families. When undergoing culture change, the more people on board, the better! A marketing team can help this culture change move forward by the simple fact that you have a number of people seeking to reach out vs. only one person seeking this change.
Marketing requires consistency. When schools begin marketing there is usually a lot of excitement and energy around the effort. The school rockets out of the gate in full sprint…but after a couple months the enthusiasm–and the energy–wane. Successful school marketing requires consistent, year-round effort. It’s not just an enrollment season activity. To continue the running metaphor, marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. With this in mind, teammates can help keep momentum going by holding each other accountable for continuing the work and by cheering one another along throughout the year.
Outreach demands a variety of gifts and abilities. One of the reasons many people give up on marketing is because the task requires a WIDE-RANGING variety of gifts and abilities. This wide-ranging list includes: strategic thinking and planning, social media coordination, graphic design, photography, website development and upkeep, online marketing, event planning, volunteer coordination, networking, video editing, admissions tracking, retention, program development, prospect nurturing, writing, community research, brand development….and the list goes on. To expect one person to accomplish this all in-house is not just unfair, it’s unrealistic, too. A teammate charged with all the marketing duties in a school is very likely to struggle, get overwhelmed, and may even quit.
I’ve not met anyone that had all the gifts needed to marketing a school well - not anywhere. Rather, I’ve seen schools experience success because they have a well-rounded marketing TEAMS executing all the needs of a marketing strategy and plan.
The conversation I had this week stuck out to me because of this principal’s excitement over his new marketing TEAM, a group of four people with complementary gifts. This team couldn’t wait to work TOGETHER to reach their goals of sharing their Gospel mission with more students and their families.
So who do you need on your school marketing team? Read on below the picture for the FIVE people every school marketing team needs…
The 5 People Every School Marketing Team Needs:
A Principal - it is critical that your school leader serves on your marketing team. While the principal might not be involved in the execution of the day-to-day marketing activities, it’s necessary to have the principal’s presence at meetings and his/her input while planning. The principal is the critical connection between the team’s efforts and the school’s strategic efforts. The principal serves as a representative, provides accountability, and advocates to the school’s Board of Education for the team’s efforts, progress, and needs.
A People-Person - another must-have role is someone who loves to connect with people. PEOPLE and RELATIONSHIPS are at the heart of ministry work at a school. Your team needs a people-person to serve as your face to the community, a networker internally and externally, and a nurturer of your prospects (giving tours, following up, etc). This person is most often called an “admissions coordinator” or “director of admissions.” And it’s a person who should LOVE being with people because he/she will spend more time OUTSIDE their office with people than behind their desk.
A Performer - Your team needs a person knows how to GET THINGS DONE and someone who knows how to PLAN AHEAD to make sure they are done expediently. This person is the driver of the execution of your school’s marketing plan. This position is often called a “marketing coordinator” or “director of marketing.” Their work will involved planning, advertising, producing collateral, writing copy, coordinating efforts of the team, tracking marketing data, and communicating, communicating, communicating.
A Professional Planner - Finally, it’s critical to have someone with a school marketing background on your team. This person may not serve as a full-time part of the team. It could be a marketing consultant that provides your school with a marketing strategy, annual marketing plan, and the training your team needs to move forward confidently. This professional can work your school to kick-off your efforts and then be on retainer as you move forward.
Other Part-time Pros - I’m a big fan of doing as much as you can in-house to save money and ensure your marketing accurately represents your ministry, however, there are some tasks where it’s better to have a pro. Some examples of this work are:
Photographers/videographers who come in once a year to shoot professional-level photos/videos that your team can then use all-year round.
A website developer who builds an excellent, visitor-friendly website once every few years that your team can then maintain.
Online advertisers who stay up-to-date on the ever-changing world of Google and social media advertising…and who can help you read the data you receive and make productive adjustments to your online strategies.
Blueprint Schools loves helping schools reach more families in their communities. If you feel stuck or need advice about building a marketing team, we’ll listen to your unique situation, answer your questions, and share how we can help your school thrive.
Take the first step by scheduling a Zoom consultation with us.
