How to Build a Stronger Marketing Strategy for Your School

When is the right time to refine and refresh your school’s marketing strategy? 

Alright, let’s talk about school marketing. When’s the right time to refine and refresh your strategy? Answer: always—but especially now.

Whether you’re aiming to fill seats, build buzz, or level up your brand game, a solid strategy keeps you intentional, impactful, and not just throwing content into the void. Plus, having a game plan means you can actually measure success instead of just hoping for the best. A year-on-year marketing strategy = trackable growth, smarter decisions, and way fewer “what went wrong?” moments.

So, where do you even start? If you’re new to the strategy game (or just need a little refresh), we’ve got you. Here’s your step-by-step guide to getting it right. Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Review Last Year’s Performance

Before making any changes, assess what worked and what didn’t. 

A few suggested questions to ask yourself: 

• Which marketing channels drove the most inquiries and enrollments?

• How effective were your open houses, digital campaigns, and social media efforts?

• What feedback did you receive from parents, students, and staff?

• What content was most engaging? 

• Were there any budget inefficiencies?

Gather data from your CRM, Google Analytics, and social media insights to build a comprehensive performance report.

Step 2: Set Your Sights for the Year Ahead

Time to get serious about what you want to achieve next year. Your goals should be measurable, realistic, and in sync with your school’s big-picture vision. Before diving in, schedule a meeting with your Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to ensure your marketing objectives are in sync with the school’s strategic goals - especially admissions.

Here are a few solid examples and areas to consider to get you started: 

• Increase new student enrollment by X%
  Track inquiry-to-enrollment conversion rates to measure effectiveness.

• Boost retention rates
  Monitor year-over-year re-enrollment trends and student satisfaction scores.

• Expand & enhance digital engagement
  Set benchmarks for social media growth, email open rates, and website conversions.

• Strengthen brand awareness
  Assess reach and engagement in key target markets using *sentiment analysis and brand recall surveys.

*Work with your tech teams to see if they can support your sentiment analysis using GenAI tools. 

Already have your marketing strategies in place? Instead of starting from scratch, refine last year’s targets and push yourself—set bigger, bolder goals to drive continued growth. Lock in key performance indicators (KPIs) so you can track progress, optimize your approach, and celebrate the wins along the way! 

Step 3: Refine Your Audience Targeting 

If you’re not crystal clear on who you’re talking to, your message is just noise. Segmenting your audience is non-negotiable. Think about who you’re trying to reach and what makes them tick. 

Take it a step further: Build personas. What are their pain points? What influences their decisions? How do they prefer to communicate? The better you understand them, the stronger your messaging, and the more impact your marketing will have.

Step 4: Optimize Messaging and Positioning

Your school’s value proposition should be clear and compelling. Key messaging should address:

• What makes your school unique? 

• Why should parents choose your school over competitors?

• How does your school’s brand align with prospective families’ priorities?

Ensure your messaging remains consistent across all marketing channels.

Step 5: It’s time, building your integrated marketing plan! 

You need a full-on, multi-channel, no-rock-left-unturned strategy that keeps your school in the conversation all year long. It’s time to get CREATIVE. We thought we would give you a few tips to consider when looking at different areas:

Digital Marketing: 

1. Make your website the MVP
   Smooth UX, fast loading, and SEO friendly 

2. Run smart paid ads 

3. Email marketing that is personalized and speak to your segmented audiences

Community Engagement: 

1. Elevate your brand experience by rewiring how people interact with your brand. What does your Open House look like? How do you interact with the community at events? 

2. How to elevate your online brand experience? How can you integrate tech into tours, into campaigns? 

Social Media Strategy: 

1. Less stock photos, more real life stories - authenticity wins every time and people are looking for more stakeholder-led content. 

2. Video is your best friend

3. Engage with your audience, speak to them - polls, q&a’s comments! 

Traditional Marketing: 

• Don’t sleep on print, there is still a space for it if done right! 

• Billboards, event sponsorships and school signage can win to!

Step 6: Allocate Your Budget Wisely

The almighty B word which we try to avoid every year and who is our biggest enemy! Review past spending and allocate funds based on what yielded the best ROI. 

Prioritize:

• Digital ads that drive measurable inquiries.

• Content creation (videos, testimonials, photography).

• Community-building events that enhance engagement.

Step 7: Implement Tracking and Continuous Improvement

Set up a system for monitoring campaign performance, including:

• Monthly KPI reviews

• A/B testing for advertising and messaging

• Stakeholder feedback surveys

Use this data to make agile adjustments throughout the year.

If you like what you’re reading and need more information, please contact us directly. We can support you through this process!