You Have 30 Days to Learn Why They Chose You [307]

Your new families are three weeks in. Somewhere on that list is a parent who almost said no back in February, and right now they can still tell you what nearly stopped them. By spring, the answer will have faded into "the community felt right," which is a lovely thing to hear and useless for marketing.

The problem is that most schools only have one signal on why a family chose them: the family enrolled. So when October comes, and the open house copy is due, you write from what you believe about the school. Small classes, caring teachers, a community that feels like family. Every school in your market believes the same things, and issue 303 was about how that sounds to a parent comparing four websites.

Nobody has asked the families who just got here.

So ask ten of them this month

A short email from you or the admissions director, not a survey tool. Three questions, answered by hitting reply:

What almost stopped you from enrolling?

What has surprised you since school started?

Where else did you look, and what made the difference?

Tell them it takes two minutes and that you read every reply. Then read every reply.

What comes back will be specific in a way your website is not. A teacher's name. The moment on the tour when their kid stopped being nervous. A sentence in an email that made them feel someone was paying attention. Very few will say "small class sizes." Those replies belong in the open house talk, the inquiry follow-up, and the testimonial you have been meaning to collect since May, and you did not have to write a word of them.

Thanks,
Brendan

It's the perfect time of year to set your school up for the enrollment season to come. Instead of guessing what marketing will resonate, ask two critical questions across three of your key audiences. Their answers will shape and sharpen your marketing strategy for years ahead.

Because it's not marketing if you're not gleaning insights from your market. And that's work AI can't do. But you can. Get your message right, and everything else follows.

In our time together, we'll share these two questions, discuss how to customize them, and cover what to do with the answers. You'll leave with the most valuable anchor tool for an effective marketing strategy.

Bio

With over three decades of experience across large agencies and boutique firms, Barbara has collaborated with clients spanning a wide range of industries. For the last twelve years, she has focused on education, partnering with school leaders to increase community engagement, apply effective market research, and train communities in storytelling strategies — work that drives enrollment, strengthens strategic plans, and deepens trust. That focus reflects something personal: as a proud Loomis Chaffee and Rumsey Hall alumna, Barbara's career has come full circle, branding over 60 independent schools (including higher ed institutions) from coast to coast with expertise forged in the very institutions that shaped her.

RSVP today: https://community.marcomsociety.org/c/guest-experts-e2f31b/shape-and-sharpen-your-marketing-2-questions-to-ask-your-3-audiences

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