The Adventist Advantage

What works in marketing Christian schools, and why?

Concept #1: Word of Mouth – Why is great word of mouth essential for Christian schools?

Concept #2: Three Benchmarks – What must come before increasing enrollment?

Concept #3: Five Steps — What specific steps should you take to effectively market your school?

Handle leads effectively (Ensuring parents enroll)

Handle leads effectively: Process overview

An overview of the best practices for staff to use in talking with prospective parents, scheduling a visit with the principal and ensuring your school stays in touch until the family chooses a school. (The following tips are more detailed information for various steps outlined here.)

1. 1. Handle leads effectively: Get ready
   2. Handle leads effectively: Why scheduling a parent-principal consultation should be your first goal
   3. Handle leads effectively: Set aside weekly time for parent-principal consultations
   4. Handle leads effectively: Use a method for tracking leads
      • • Sample form: Inquiry checklist and tracking (pdf)
        • Sample form: Inquiry checklist and tracking (Word) A editable script for phone answerers and tracking each step between first contact and enrollment.
   5. Handle leads effectively: Use the inquiry form for same day follow up
   6. Handle leads effectively: Encourage school visits
   7. Handle leads effectively: Talk to prospective parents when they visit
      • Tip: Don’t recruit. Connect and follow up.
   8. Handle leads effectively: Emphasize your mission during a school tour.
      • Tip:Create a welcoming school culture
   9. Handle leads effectively:Invite prospective students to spend time in the classroom
      • Tip: Offer a “Scholar Day”
   10. Handle leads effectively: Give parents a welcome packet
       • Tip: Organize your welcome packet in a folder 
       • Tip: Give parents everything they need to apply –– Information for the left-hand pocket of the welcome packet
       • Sample: Welcome letter verbiage (MS Word)
       • Tip: Help families understand the full cost to educate their child — — Even full tuition covers only a portion of the cost to educate a child.
       • Template: Tuition worksheet (pdf)
       • Template: Editable tuition worksheet (MS Word)
       • Tip: Reinforce your school’s benefits –– Information for the right-hand pocket of the welcome packet
   11. Handle leads effectively:Call parents after their visits.
       • Tip: Accept only excited families
       • Sample form: Ten questions for interviewing students about their enthusiasm for coming to your school.

1. Handle leads effectively: Summary
2. Handle leads effectively: Summary adapted for Covid
3. Handle leads effectively: Learn what works for other schools

Teachers’ role in marketing

This series clarifies that teachers have only two responsibilities in marketing:Terrific teaching and primo parent communication. These messages focus on what research tells us will be most effective.

1. Teachers’ role: Research says the quality bar is set high — Focusing on what parents find most important
2. Teachers’ role: Research says character development is more important than academics — Understanding that parents evaluate character development based on how your students behave
3. Teachers’ role: Research says academics are still vital, even if second to character development — Understanding how parent concerns impact your school
4. Teachers’ role: Research says parents evaluate your teaching based on your communication with them — Prioritizing communication and designing it for parent convenience
5. Teachers’ role: Learning from research means communication needs to be designed around what the customer needs — Making your communication essential but also efficient for parents
6. Teachers’ role: Research says parents want to know how their child is progressing — Realizing what makes student progress communication easy for parents
7. Teachers’ role: Learning from research means sharing student progress and upcoming assignments conveniently — Using FACTS or Jupiter and newsletters for progress and assignments
8. Teachers’ role: Learning from research means listening actively to parents — Making your primo parent communication two-way

Thank someone — Process for principals (and others) to systematically create positive contacts between the school and your supporters

Improve SEO with something you already do – Adding your weekly principal’s message to the school website

Referral incentives

What to do and not do to encourage referrals

1. Referral incentives: Three reasons why offering large tuition discounts for recruiting can backfire
2. Referral incentives: How to thank referrers effectively

Exit Interviews

1. Exit interviews — Explains exit interviews for teachers, principal, and board members, with a suggested outline for the conversation
   • Form: Exit interviews for teachers and staff — One page to give to teachers and staff members who are doing exit interviews
   • Form: Exit interviews for board members — One page (front and back) to give to board members who are doing exit interviews

Take compelling photos with your phone —  Tips for taking photos for social media or your website’s photo gallery

Newsletters

Using effective communication to parents as a way to increase parent satisfaction (Research has demonstrated that parents evaluate teaching quality based on the school’s communication to them. You are right! This is not fair to you, but it is the reality not just for schools but for other professions.)

1. Newsletters: Send a weekly parent newsletter — Outlines why newsletters are important and how to structure yours
2. Newsletters: Make your weekly newsletter essential —  Ideas for consolidating communication so everyone uses the newsletter consistently
   • Sample: Who, what, where, when, why form — A sign to post over the computer of everyone writing information for your newsletter
3. Newsletters: Make your newsletter essential (continued) –– Common questions from principals
4. Newsletters: Proofread & use a template — Features of an effective newsletter and why being word perfect is important
   • Sample form: Weekly school newsletter template — (link for the Google Doc) An editable version which can be copied to your Google Drive for editing by your staff
   • Sample: Weekly classroom update — A sample classroom update (Sacramento Adventist Academy)
   • Sample: Weekly school email newsletter — (MailChimp) A whole school newsletter (Sacramento Adventist Academy)
5. Newsletters: Train your parents and teachers — Ideas on how to increase readership
6. Newsletters: Share good news — Using newsletters to regularly share good news and remind parents of the eternal value of their tuition investment.

Model good communication — Improving communication with parents

Encouraging a positive school culture — Our research is documenting that developing Christian character traits is the primary reasons parents seek and choose a Christian school for their child(ren). Seeing positive behavior in students during their interview process and experiencing it once they enroll is a critical factor in recruiting and retaining students. And besides, training the heart of each child is part of why we are an Adventist school. The following are samples you can adapt and adopt to reinforce positive behavior.

• Sample form: Positive behavior form — Sample pdf form for teachers to report students doing something praise-worthy (Lodi Academy)
• Sample form: Positive behavior report home to parents — Sample pdf form for sending a copy of the positive behavior form to parents when students are recognized (Lodi Academy)

Give school gift certificates at baby dedications — Increasing your school’s visibility in constituent churches

Show school photos weekly at church — Using the time children walk up for children’s story to highlight your school

Make your website effective –– Focusing on the four website features that will actually make a difference in the effectiveness of your website, rather than worrying about how pretty it is.

You are missionaries — There is nothing to do in this message––just a reminder of the amazing importance of what you do

May your school be blessed so it can be a blessing — There is nothing to do in this message––just a reminder that we are a conduit for God’s blessings

Plan your back to school event — Starting the year with positive expectations and enthusiasm

Mail a “good news” letter to all families, church members, community members –– Getting your community to feel proud of their school

• Sample letter: Summer letter from Napa Christian

Mail a friendly welcome letter to all families — Send a personalized letter to all school families and also invite them to refer a friend.

Making Facebook effective for schools

Using Facebook to spread the good news about your school

• Set clear guidelines and goals — Setting a framework so you can delegate to a Facebook master
• Know your audience –– Knowing who you’re talking to and what they want to learn about
• Pick the right content –– Engaging your audience by posting social content, not nagging
• Photos aren’t optional –– Using photo to make your posts visible and shareable

Customer service

The next several messages address questions you can discuss with your team as you work to improve customer service at your school

1. Raving Fans: Decide what you want in customer service — Envisioning perfect customer service and discussing it with your team
2. Raving Fans: Decide what the customer wants in customer service — Asking your customers what they want and listening effectively to their input
3. Raving Fans: Deliver the vision plus one percent in customer service — Choosing incremental improvements you can deliver consistently while learning from parents what you can address next
4. The Starbucks Experience: Discuss customer service with your team — Reviewing the book you assigned for summer reading
5. The Starbucks Experience: Outline customer service details to improve this year — Making tangible changes to increase parent satisfaction
6. The Starbucks Experience: Impress parents even when things go wrong — Helping your staff pre-think how to transform grumpy into loyal
7. The Starbucks Experience: Embrace resistance — Learning from people who are not supportive
8. Customer service: 29 ideas to make your customers (parents and kids) smile — Ideas from Mark Witas, presented at Pacific Union Conference Spring Education Council 2017

Be welcoming — Set the attitude, then ask a volunteer to look at your school from a visitor’s point of view

Creating loyalty

The next several messages share ideas other schools are using to help new families feel they are part of your school family.  Research in both schools and churches demonstrates that people who do not feel they are part of the group are unlikely to stay.

1. Create “school maven” families — Connecting new families with enthusiastic ones at your back-to-school event.
2. Create a personalized contact information page — Giving new families a list of helpful contact information including their “school maven” family
3. Define school lingo — Reducing the chance that a new parent feels awkward from not knowing what everyone else is talking about.
4. Connect on the first day of school –– Hosting a boohoo/yahoo informal gathering after morning drop off on the first day of school.

Cast your school’s vision — Writing a mission statement to set your course and inspire your community

Share state of the school information — Reminding parents about your success indicators as well as plans for further improvement

Share your improvement plan — Telling parents about your school’s plan for improvement at your back to school event

Check your outgoing phone message — Ensuring your message is up-to-date and conveys professionalism

Call parents monthly — Actively listening to parents

Start positive buzz in your community — Improving your school’s visibility and image through board members and yourself

Create a “year in review” folder — Have a place (digital or physical) to gather good news and significant events from throughout the school year.

Delegate exit interviews — Ensure both staff and school board members do different types of exit interviews––then act on what you learn.

• Form: Exit interview form for board members
• Form: Exit interview form for teachers and staff

Retention

Overcoming toughest retention points

• Retention: Retain preschoolers into kindergarten — Connecting with preschool parents personally and through your kindergarten teacher
• Retention: Retain preschoolers into kindergarten — Connecting through preschool teachers
• Retention: Retain eighth graders into high school — Connecting with eighth graders and their parents
• Retention: Retain students in small schools — Connecting with students and parents to create loyalty

Explain the importance of standardized tests with advice for parents — Sample messages for helping parents help their students do well on the IAs.  Please note: This is a Word file which will download to your computer so you can copy and paste the content if you choose to use one of these messages to your school parents.

Retention

Retention: Calculate retention from last fall to this fall –– Tracking the percentage of students who still live in your area and choose to return is a vital first step toward increasing enrollment.

Retention: Help new students connect with classmates –– Keeping new students over the long term starts with integrating them at the beginning

Teachers’ Role in Marketing

How teachers should focus only on terrific teaching and primo parent communication

1. Teachers’ Role in Marketing: Part 1 Focusing on what parents find most important
2. Teachers’ Role in Marketing: Part 2 Character development is your highest priority
3. Teachers’ Role in Marketing: Part 3 Academics are still vital
4. Teachers’ Role in Marketing: Part 4 Prioritize communication as essential
5. Teachers’ Role in Marketing: Part 5 Communicate in a way that is convenient for parents
6. Teachers’ Role in Marketing: Part 6 Commit to primo student progress communication
7. Teachers’ Role in Marketing: Part 7 Communicate progress conveniently for parents
8. Teachers’ Role in Marketing: Part 8 Listen, listen, listen

Education Expo

Whether you call this event an open house or an education expo, you need an event where you can highlight the great learning that happens at your school. This can both energize your current parents and be an opportunity to invite potential parents. The following messages focus on prepping in the fall for an event in January or early February.

1. Education Expo: Plan an open house — The first steps in planning an open house to demonstrate and celebrate great learning to current & prospective parents
2. Education Expo: Start open house planning — Reminder and overview of open house planning
3. Education Expo: Open house attendance — Outlines ideas for getting people to come to your open house
4. Education Expo: Open house activities — A list of possible activities for demonstrating the quality of your academic program
5. Education Expo: A theme idea for your open house — Take visitors and students “Around the World”

Developing Church Referral Sources

Parents who are already committed Adventists and other Christians are your primary target audiences.  And where do you find groups of those parents?  In church.  So this series gives some ideas for building relationships and credibility with churches, both Adventist and others.

1. List connected churches — Learning where current students attend church
2. Developing church referral sources: Gathering the names of those churches’ pastors
3. Developing church referral sources: Get someone to introduce you
4. x

School Success Seminar

This event combines providing a valuable service to your community and creating an excuse to publicize your school. Thank you, Larry Unterseher, for the idea.

1. 1. School Success Seminar: Plan a “Helping Your Child Succeed in School” seminar — Offering a seminar for school and community parents to learn how to help their child succeed in school
   2. School Success Seminar: Promote your seminar internally — Ideas for encouraging school and church parents to attend your “Helping Your Child Succeed in School” seminar
   3. School Success Seminar: Ready or not? — Determine readiness to promote your school success seminar to your community
   4. School Success Seminar: Promote your seminar externally — A template and steps for customizing and using it to promote your seminar to your community

Family visitation

You can pick one of the following two options, but don’t try to do both. Your parents are likely to feel a little overwhelmed if teachers and board members both visit them.

1. Family visitation: Schedule in-home visits with students’ families — Building positive relationships with parents
2. Family visitation: Ask school board members to combine a satisfaction survey with in-home visits — Building relationships between parents and board members while learning how parents view the school

Research potential feeder schools — Learning which schools you will want to try to promote through

Build relationships with feeder schools — Connect with the educators at potential feeder schools

Start telling your parents now — Outlining deadlines and fees that will be expected next year

Schedule recruiting performances at local schools — Promoting your school and it’s music program through tailored concerts for elementary schools (For high schools)

Train classroom ambassadors — Train students in each classroom to help when visitors come to their class.

Avoid creating angry parents — Telling parents soon and often what the deadlines and fees will be for re-enrolling next year.

Ask FACTS to set up online application and enrollment — Delighting parents with a quicker way to register their students for next year

Enrollment materials — Ensuring that all the materials a parent sees when applying and registering are attractive and consistent. Note: this message used to include samples of print materials. However, since you can now all use Renweb for online applications and enrollment I strongly recommend you do so. It will save your parents significant time if they have more than one child and for re-enrollment––and it saves you time in data entry.

Find the good news in your MAP testing results — Creating positive talking points for your community

Find the bad news in your MAP results — Creating credibility by evaluating and addressing areas to improve

Ask parents to write online reviews — Increasing online visibility and credibility

Thank You Sabbaths — Refocusing Education Sabbaths to thank your constituent church(es)

Education Expo

Steps to take in October for a successful education expo or open house

1. Education Expo: Create the materials for promoting your open house — Templates available for you to customize in Canva
2. Education Expo: Offer options for visiting your school — In promotional materials list more than one way for parents to see your school
   • Chico Oaks postcard front (pdf)
     Chico Oaks postcard back (pdf)
   • Foothills postcard front (pdf)
     Foothills postcard back (pdf)

Ask your board chair to call new families — Delighting and creating ties to new families

Apply for the Marketing Mentoring program — Preparing your application if you want marketing help

Thank families and supporters — Sending thank you cards during the month of November as part of your school’s giving thanks

Know where you can promote events locally, for free — Researching organizations where families gather information and hang out

Make your Christmas program count for community building — Planning events that help families and staff create and strengthen community bonds

Education Expo

Steps to take in November for a successful education expo or open house

1. Prepare open house packets #1 — Ordering supplies for packets to give open house visitors
2. Prepare open house packets #2 — Gathering the items to go in your open house packets
   • Sample: Schedule/checklist/program for open house packets — The checklist Napa Christian includes in their open house packet
3. Start promoting your winter Education Expo — Inviting parents and church members to come and bring their friends
   • Sample: Postcard for open house promotion — The postcard Chico Oaks gave to parents and church members for promoting the open house
4. Updating the media release — Adding five words to expand your media release and allow social media use for images and videos

Thanksgiving — There is nothing to do in this message, just a reminder to be thankful for your personal blessings

Thanksgiving (again) — There still isn’t anything to do for marketing, except being thankful

Make your Christmas program welcoming — Creating a comfortable environment for your students’ guests

Host school-wide events — Why school-wide events are important for recruiting and you should be planning one now for winter.

Google Adwords

Adwords is a tool for advertising on Google search results pages. The next series of messages provide basic information for advertising with Adwords.

1. Create a Google account for your school — Setting up an account to use with Google Adwords
2. Check your website for three critical items — Ensuring your Adwords investment will be worth it
3. Set up Google My Business — Ensuring Google’s search displays are accurate, and this is free
4. Train current parents so you don’t waste money — Understanding what determines your advertising cost
5. Set up your first Adwords ad — Walking through the initial set up of your first ad
6. Set important Adwords refinements — Using more detailed settings than are available in the initial set-up
7. Check on Adwords performance — Evaluating the effectiveness of Adwords for your school

The Christmas Story — There is nothing to do in this message, just a reminder to keep the Christmas story real

Find satisfaction in your toil — There is also nothing to do in this message since this is the second week of Christmas vacation

Re-enrollment

The re-enrollment process can contribute to retaining students. The following ideas explain the importance of this process and help you streamline it.

1. Re-enrollment: Focus on re-enrollment in January and February –– An overview of the advantages for starting re-enrollment now.
2. Re-enrollment: Make it simple and pleasant –– Ideas for making re-enrollment as simple and pleasant as possible for your current parents
3. Re-enrollment: Give students and parents an incentive to re-enroll — Motivating both students and parents
4. Re-enrollment: Motivate parents to commit for next school year — Using both a carrot and stick to motivate enrollment/re-enrollment
5. Re-enrollment: Get your school board on board — Starting the process for next year, even if you can’t implement tiered re-enrollment this year
6. Re-enrollment: Start telling your parents now — Outlining the deadlines and fees that will be expected in January of next year

Education Expo checklist — Finalizing plans for an impressive open house

Constituency meeting — Spreading enthusiasm among potential referrers

Add this call to action to your website — Invite website visitors to schedule an “Education Success Consult”

Delighting potential families

These messages are repeats from the “Ongoing Tasks” section since they are particularly pertinent in January when enrollment season heats up.

1. Don’t recruit, Connect and follow up — Ideas from successful schools for meeting with potential parents
2. Accept only excited families — Why accepting only parents and students who are excited about your school is important
   • Sample form: New student/principal interview — A list of questions for talking with applicant students to ensure they are excited to attend (Lodi Academy)

Apply for the Marketing Mentoring program — Broad summary of the NCC-sponsored marketing resource program.  Note: the deadline is different now but the program overview is still pertinent

Ensure your website helps new families — In the era of Covid your website is critical. Apply for this Marketing Bite.

Retention

Help parents focus on the advantages of Christian education in preparing students for an uncertain world.

1. Retention: Help parents see the ongoing value of your school –– Reminding parents of your highest priorities
2. Retention: Use non-exit interviews to improve retention –– Talking with parents about next year’s plans

Schedule and plan an “advancement” ceremony — For schools with multi-grade classrooms, consider shifting your graduation event to an advancement ceremony for the whole school

Don’t offer discounts for first-year students — Why offering discounts for first-time families is not a good idea

Satisfaction surveys

1. Satisfaction surveys: Survey parents now — Options for parent surveys  Note:  you need to prep now so you can send the survey by the end of the month and have it back by spring break.
2. Satisfaction surveys: The ultimate question — Using one question to learn how your parents view your school
3. Survey resource:  GraceWorks Ministries survey — This is the best survey option for your stakeholders.  It has norming to 850+ Christian schools with 140,000+ respondents, it has very useful statistical analysis, and provides actionable data for you, your teachers and board.
4. Satisfaction surveys: Walk on the (not so) wild side –– My commitments to making your survey constructive rather than critical.
5. Non-survey ways of measuring satisfaction: Gather constituent input –– Getting qualitative input from parents and constituents

List local VBS programs — Suggestions for the most efficient way to create a list of local VBS programs

Participate in VBS programs — Ideas for ways to help local VBS programs while making connections in your community

Spring break — There is nothing to do in this message––just a reminder that rest is also good

Skip up day — Outlines helping current students preview the next year and giving prospective students the chance to try your school for a day

Schedule the three annual marketing events — While you are setting next year’s calendar, remember to include the annual marketing events

Schedule a school uniform swap meet (for schools with school uniforms) — Make parents happy by holding a  uniform exchange as school is starting each year and adding to your annual school calendar

Create an expenses worksheet for parents — Helping parents plan for expenses by outlining all costs in your registration paperwork.

Offer “Bring a Friend Day” during public schools’ spring break — Encouraging students to invite a friend to school during spring break for your local public school district

Open house timing — Timing your open house to get re-enrollment commitments for next year

Schedule a “back to school” event — Create an event to inform and integrate families into your school

Use non-exit interviews to improve retention — In the spring, talking with non-returning parents without assuming they are leaving

Combine your constituency meeting with a spring concert — Scheduling a single event that showcases student achievements and provides your constituency report to a larger audience

Two events for the work of one — A reminder and small addition for combining constituency meeting and spring concert.

Recruit a cheerleader — Finding someone to make presentations about your school’s successes without bragging

Christian character development

Building an intentional plan for developing Christian character traits and making that visible for teachers, students and parents

1. Christian character development, part 1: Plan for intentional character development that is visible
2. Christian character development, part 2: Choose your school’s core values
3. Christian character development, part 3: Define each of your core values memorably
4. Christian character development, part 4: Make your core values visible to parents, visitors and students
5. Christian character development, part 5: Make it happen
6. Christian character development, part 6: Share with your parents weekly
7. Christian character development, part 7: Reinforce good behavior
8. Christian character development, part 8: Use positive discipline to teach good behavior choices
   • Sample form: Form acknowledging students displaying core values — Loma Linda Academy Elementary’s “You’re Grounded” form
   • Sample form: Form acknowledging staff displaying core values — Loma Linda Academy Elementary’s “You’re Grounded” form for staff
   • Sample form: Letter to parents sharing positive behavior — Lodi Academy’s form letter to parents of boys (you can edit for girls)

Customer service

Inspire your staff (and yourself) for customer service: Recommendations of books for summer reading on customer service. Some of the August “Marketing Corner” messages include discussion questions for talking with your staff about how you can apply the principles to customer service in schools.

• • • Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles
    • The Starbucks Experience by Joseph Michelli
    • Disney U by Doug Lipp

Research and write your school’s talking points — Creating a consistent message for you and  your volunteers to communicate

Rethink your student handbook — Ideas for rewriting your handbook to be family-friendly and promote your school

View your school from the outside — Looking at your facilities from an external perspective

Websites that work for recruiting

Important components that will make your website effective for recruiting

1. Websites for recruiting, part 1: An overview on making your website effective for recruiting
2. Websites for recruiting, part 2: Add a “call to action” to every page on the website
3. Websites for recruiting, part 3: Add a testimonial to every page on the website
4. Websites for recruiting, part 4: Focus on the mission on your home page
5. Websites for recruiting, part 5: Take tuition off your website
6. Websites for recruiting, part 6: Choose your words carefully
7. Websites for recruiting, part 7: Maximize search results
8. Update your website: Keeping your website current annually and monthly

Sharing tables for encouraging word of mouth referring

Tangible ways to increase word of mouth referring

1. Sharing tables, part 1 –– An overview 
2. Sharing tables, part 2 –– Buy a portable table and tablecloth
3. Sharing tables, part 3 –– Create a sign

What is on your gym walls — Using your most public space to communicate what is most important to your school

Graduate photos show success — Showing all visitors that your graduates go on to lead productive lives of service

Update your outgoing phone message –– Ensuring the phone message matches how the school phone is answered over the summer