I am not responsible for this. We have an in house marketing media manager-not sure what process she uses to select advertising partners--I am going to aak her!
We, too, are a smaller school with significant word-of-mouth
referrals from past graduates. However, we do not have any
formal program of soliciting these referrals from our graduates.
Are there any suggestions of how to best get referrals, e.g.
is a monetary incentive to graduates effective?
Would like to hear other schools' successful ideas.
I agree with your decision to focus on the areas that give you most of your leads, in-school referrals. We are a smaller school with two locations and really work with a mix of advertising. We find that although the mix of marketing works for us, the referrals are what really helps us reach our start goals. Our staff, like yours, really do care about what we're doing and try to continuously reach out to our current poplulation and replenish graduates with an equally wonderful population.
Although we do not advertise with agencies on a regular basis, most campaigns in the past have emerged with high promises and minimal results. We looked for industry-specific agencies that provided solid leads. Did we generate a few quality leads? Yes. Was it worth the money? No. That is a huge reason we are now involved in social media interaction, not advertising. We have had a stronger response from existing students and referrals from them. Also, it's a great way to keep in touch and maintain the reputation of employing a caring staff.
Great feedback Kathryn! Reputation is important when aligning yourself with a partner. There needs to be a solid foundation of the little things, timely responses, doing what they say they are going to do when they said they would do it, etc. There also needs to be buy in to the big things, vision, strategy and then the ability to execute.
Relationships are much more successful when they are structured as a partnership. Where there is mutual trust, respect and alignment toward a common goal.
When looking for a potential advertising partner, there are many things that our school looks for. In my opinion, the most important element in choosing an agency is there reputation. Reputation is key. It is a good indicator on whether or not customers had a good experience with them or not. It answers questions like:
Were they reliable?
Did they keep there commitment/promise to you?
Did they respond to your email and phone communications in a timely manner?
Did they have the same vision as the customer?
The advertising partner must have a good understanding of the vision of the school. They have to be able to relay a message through a creative touch. Expertise is another key element to look for when choosing a advertising partner.
It is very critical in choosing a right partner because of the objectives you are trying to reach.
I would like to see what they have done for their other clients and how successful they
were. I am a small pet grooming school, so I haven't yet hired an agency. I'm not sure if I could afford them. I guess I should check on this as I would like to gain more students.
I agree. Creative-focused projects have proven to be more successful than big-budget campaigns. Some of the most simple email campaigns have been the most successful while commercials have "fallen through the cracks." Our most effective material is in-house creative too. We know our demographic better than any advertising agency and we should be marketing to them in any/whatever way possible - without unnecessary expenditures.
We are a very small school and focused on healthcare programs only. We currently do not use an advertising agency, but do have an external printing company that creates a lot of our things. It is very important to me to create a personal relationship with the people we are working closely with to help advertise our school. By scheduling an in-person meeting, exchanging personal phone numbers and emails to guarantee effective communication, and knowing that they are reliable, makes it easy for us to continue working with this company for as long as we have. We are not opposed to agencies that might be new, as the "age" of the company doesn't determine how good they are. There are many start-up companies in our area with young, bright minds that could produce effective work just as a company that's been around for 15 years could. It all depends on the personal choice and what is going to be the best for your current and future needs.
This has not been my responsibility. However, I am trying to find something that will help me to get connected with a partner. I have been looking into this area with different vendors but have not found one that will fit into my budget. Our school is in the midst of seeking more students and we have used different instruments but not "partners" that have produced. My goal at this time is to find a marketing person and maybe we can come up with the qualities and competencies that would help us with not just immediate but long range goals to a more successful school.
We are a very small school with a limited advertising budget so we have not hired an agency but use the local media (tv, radio, newspaper).
