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PROLOGUE
Don't Let Graduation Just Happen
It's the last Friday of the school year. The bell rings at 11:30. By 12:15, the parking lot is empty.
Somewhere in that ninety minutes, a graduating senior tells her advisor that the school changed her life. A dad gets choked up taking a picture of his son in front of the building one last time. The drama teacher hands a card to a kid who finally felt seen. A grandparent who flew in from across the country says something out loud that you'd put on a billboard if you'd heard it.
You didn't hear it. Nobody did. And by Monday, those stories are scattered across four states.
Most schools wait until they need a story to go looking for one. By then, the moment is months old, the family is harder to reach, and the line that would have made the page is fuzzy in everyone's memory.
Here's what I learned the hard way. The stories you'll need next October, the proof points your admissions team will be hunting in November, the line you'll want for the magazine in February, they're all happening this week.
So before everyone scatters:
Send a photographer to graduation. Not for the diplomas. For the hugs and the tears.
Ask three seniors what they'll miss most. Write down the actual words.
Find one retiring or departing faculty member and ask what they want students to remember.
Capture one signing day, one award, one last-day ritual you've never documented before.
Then, before you head into summer, do the harder thing. Sketch a system. Who owns story capture during the year. What gets logged. Where it lives. So next May, you're not chasing a moment that's already in someone's rearview mirror.
The stories are walking out the door this week. Hold one before it goes.
Thanks,
Brendan
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SPONSOR
School Marketing The Right Way is out. Here's why you should grab it.
Fall 2008. Conference room. Enrollment numbers staring back at us from the spreadsheet.
What were we going to do?
That question changed my career. We stopped pressuring families to choose us. We started helping them choose us.
School Marketing The Right Way is the playbook I built from that moment forward. 28 years inside schools. 15 years running an agency. Every framework, every mistake, every lesson I wish someone had handed me back in that conference room.
If you're a school marketer who's ever wished you had a mentor who'd walked the path before you, this book is for you.
188 pages. No fluff. No theory. Just what works.
UPCOMING EVENT
For MarCom Society Members Only
Authentic School Marketing: Ideas You Can Use Tomorrow
What you’ll get from this webinar:
A clearer understanding of what authenticity really means in school marketing
Why authenticity matters more than ever to today’s parents
Where schools accidentally lose authenticity
Practical, easy-to-implement ideas you can use immediately
Bio: Simon Jones is the founder of The Bonjour Agency, helping schools create authentic marketing content that builds trust with prospective families. A former school marketing manager, he has worked with schools worldwide since 2012 on podcasts, video testimonials, and storytelling strategies that showcase the real voice of a school.
RECOMMENDED READING
Whenever You're Ready, There Are 5 Ways I Can Help You
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School Marketing The Right Way: Purchase my new book about school marketing. It was the book that I wished existed when I started my journey with marketing a school. Purchase.
SchoolMarketingCRM: My new marketing software for schools. This is the software I wish I had when I worked in schools. It handles all of your marketing functions, including landing pages, email automation, reputation management, appointment scheduling, and much more. Learn more.
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