Small Business
I think that this course is geared to large academic schools. I'm having a hard time trying to visualize my school with this big of a program and because of this I think this course might be the wrong one for me.
Shan,
No school large or small can do without marketing. If you do go without, you will be invisible and being invisible means that you will slowly go out of business or not do business - at least at the level you are hoping for. You may not have the money that the larger schools do but that does not mean that you can not be remarkable and create something that your competition is not. Find several grass-root niches to marketing your aspiring institution. Research. Think. Create. Create something remarkable. Yes this is a brand development post; however, this will help you create for the school and at the same time help you dive in and work some numbers. You will see that any school large or small can benefit from this program.
I will use this program to reevaluate my goal of creating remarkableness for my school. After the holiday of course.
I appreciate your sentiment that this course is geared toward larger schools. Coming from a very small faith based school, I often have to operate without a defined budget. The times we have utilized mass marketing media i.e. radio, billboards, newspaper, we have met with very limited success. Our most effective advertising by far has been word of mouth and personal referrals from current and past students. We will continue to test various marketing avenues, but the effectiveness of word of mouth referrals remains our best friend.
You are right! Nothing is more effective than word of mouth advertising. Are you able to leverage student and graduate testimonials across your advertising channels?
Yes. Currently we are using student and graduate testimonials on our website, print, and radio channels as a very effective method of advertising. New applicants frequently mention they heard or read one of these testimonials prior to visiting our campus.
I definitely agree that the larger budgets are something that our small school does not have available. Word of mouth and referrals are our #1 lead source each month, and in a small town like ours, that seems to be working for us. Despite the personal referrals, we do utilize billboard space to visually have our logo and name out there. I think each advertising/marketing plan will be extremely specific to your local community and depend greatly on the history of your school and the relationships. We hope to initiate a referral rewards program to thank the people who are talking highly of our school and are sending us new leads.
