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PROLOGUE
300 Issues of School Marketing. Here's What Actually Changed.
You've probably cleaned out an office at some point and found an old admissions viewbook. Heavy paper. Beautiful photography. A pocket folder in the back.
At the time, that viewbook was the marketing plan.
This is issue 300 of School Marketing Insider. Since the first issue, I've written to you almost every week about how families actually find and choose schools. Milestones are a good excuse to look backward, so here's the honest accounting: what I got wrong, what changed, and what never will.
What aged badly
"Get on every platform." Early on, the advice was presence. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, all of it. Being active is not the same as being effective, and most schools burned their one marketer's time proving it.
Chasing the algorithm. Every time a platform changed the rules, we changed the playbook. The schools that won ignored the rule changes and kept answering parents' real questions.
The website as a brochure. We treated the site like a digital viewbook: something to admire. Families treat it like a tool: something to use. Tools get judged on speed and answers, not beauty.
What never changed
Parents trust parents. In issue 1, it was the carpool line. Today, it's a Facebook group and your Niche reviews. Same behavior, new location.
Speed is the message. The school that answers an inquiry the same day communicates something no brochure can. That was true 300 issues ago. It will be true at issue 600.
Enrollment is the metric. Not followers, not impressions, not awards for the viewbook. Inquiries, tours, applications, families. Everything else is a proxy, and proxies lie.
The tools changed completely. The families changed generations. The job never changed: be findable, be fast, be honest, and make it easy to say yes.
One quick win (a personal ask)
For 300 issues, this newsletter has grown one way: a school marketer tells another school marketer about it. If an issue has ever saved you time or an argument with your Head of School, forward this one to a colleague who sits in a chair like yours. That's it. That's the whole ask.
New here because someone forwarded this? You can subscribe by clicking here.
Here's to the next 300. What's the one piece of school marketing advice you believed five years ago that you'd never give today?
Hit reply, I read every one.
Thanks,
Brendan
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UPCOMING EVENT
For MarCom Society Members Only
The Millennial Mindset: Engaging and Recruiting Families
Discover what truly moves Millennial parents to choose - and stay - in a school. This session explores the generational experiences shaping Millennial parents' expectations and how schools can respond.
Bio: Felicia DePriest Holcomb has expertise in marketing, enrollment management, and fundraising. She currently serves the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, partnering with its 42 schools to develop mission-driven strategies that increase enrollment and strengthen community engagement. A teacher by trade, Felicia holds education degrees from Avila University and Emporia State University, as well as a certificate in Catholic School Management from Villanova University and a graduate certificate in grant proposal development from Fort Hays State University. Felicia is passionate about creating authentic connections that help Catholic schools - and the students they serve - thrive.
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