More than ever, we need to find mature and convincing ways to promote our schools. Yet our challenge is so much more complicated than marketing a product. We are selling people, values, attitudes, care and inspiration. It’s highly nuanced. It’s about finding a consistent, credible voice, not one strapline.
As a consultancy that offers both development and marketing expertise, we have honed the ability to find the aspects of a school that really resonate with your market. And, just as important, we can help you develop your clear and consistent voice.
“James understands how to develop original communications that chime and engage with parents and the school market.”
A quick preface. We are used to working with school teams to complement and bring extra value to what is already being achieved. We collaborate rather than impose. And we are not keen on wordy reports that may be right, but are short on practical help. We can improve a message quickly and affordably.
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We will assess your marketing assets and comms and provide a report on your strengths and weaknesses. Our report will also identify the measures you can take to be more effective.
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Among the measures we will recommend on the basis of our audit, there will be areas where minor investment will make your message clearer and stronger. For instance, you may be able to postpone or even forget root and branch change to your website, if you can make a few important changes. We will list and price these easy wins separately.
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Our approach to video begins with story. It is not enough to film a load of sequences, however stunning these may be, and then attempt to make sense out of these at the edit stage. Attention to the treatment and an outline script beforehand always results in a much stronger production.
Additionally, we believe there are great opportunities to strengthen marketing by using video beyond the set piece productions. Short, update style videos create warmth and loyalty – not least because they are easier to engage with than dense text. We have seen this work very effectively for appeals. The trick is to handle prep and production in a cost effective way. We have developed a successful approach to this.
Having produced numerous school videos, as well as award-winning short films, we can help you.
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Open Days, Speech Days, New Parent receptions… over the year you will have key moments when you have the opportunity to put your message across. Like a politician’s party conference speech, these moments warrant investment of time and craft. Having successfully collaborated with Heads and school leaders on pivotal speeches and presentations to win over donors, we believe there is great scope to apply this skill and experience more widely.
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Choosing the right person or people you will field to interview key stakeholders is critically important. Not only will well conducted interviews give you a better understanding of your market and your place in it, but the whole process can either reflect well on your school, or not so well. In short, the person handling the interviews matters. I have 30 years of experience in this area. As one head recently put it: ‘Interestingly, many of our benefactors pointed out his strength and credibility.’
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Too much school copy that I see is worthy but boring. It’s flabby when people want brevity. Moreover, it is rare to find a ‘voice’ in it: a sense of the school’s identity. Of course, quality of copy is subjective to a degree, but I believe people know it when they see it. With over 30 years of copywriting experience, I can quickly strengthen your copy.
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Prime marketing assets and tentpole moments aside, we can help you develop a comms plan with creative and original content that will resonate more effectively with your audience.
Next steps
Our audit will list the measures we believe you should take to strengthen your marketing. You may choose to handle some of this work in-house. We can provide prices for the rest.