Refining your Marketing Message: Points to Ponder
Refining your Marketing Message: Points to Ponder was published in the June 2006 issue of Montessori Leadership
By Jake Mortensen
Marketing your school can seem like an immense undertaking, but it does not have to be. Even a little marketing can go a long way if you approach it correctly, with a good strategy being as simple as knowing what to say and how to say it.
But determining what makes your school special and what prospective parents want to hear may not be as easy as it seems. Try considering a few key aspects of planning for your marketing efforts before you get started; they can help you make the connections you need to make your school really stand out.
Know Your Competition, Know Your Audience
In terms of marketing, knowing what makes your school special and unique is determined by two groups: your competitors and your parents. Your competitors are the yardstick by which you can measure your school, while parents determine what points are critical to include in your marketing message.
Your competition likely comes in two forms: public schools and other private schools, including other Montessori schools. By familiarizing yourself with what they offer, their advantages and deficiencies, you can concentrate your message on areas where your school shines. Lower student-to-teacher ratios, broader or more in-depth curriculum, or lower tuition are all examples of subjects on which you can focus when marketing your school. Even very basic online searches of the schools in your area can result in important information on how they operate, what they lack, and where they excel. This information will help you begin to shape an efficient and effective marketing message; parent input will help you refine that message.
Parents who are considering a Montessori school have already determined that something is lacking in the public school system, they just may not be sure what it is. Your marketing efforts should help parents define that “X-factor” and show them how your school can provide it. Parents, like all consumers, are motivated by fear, desire, wants, and needs. They fear that their child cannot get a good education elsewhere, they desire lower student-to-teacher ratios, they want a safe school environment, or they need the flexibility of after-school programs; be sure to speak to these types of motivators in your marketing message.
To help focus your marketing messages on what is important to parents and what separates your school from others, survey your current parents about why they chose your school. Listen carefully to their answers, and incorporate their responses into your marketing message. Their input can help you determine exactly what topics your message should include.
Points of Parity vs. Points of Difference
Points of parity are the generally accepted set of standards for schools that are expected by parents. In other words, these are the characteristics of your school that make it a school: competent teachers, adequate books, inviting classrooms, appropriate learning materials. These are the things that every school must have to be a school.
Unfortunately, highlighting such points is rarely useful in marketing your school because every school can offer them. Too often, schools will include vague mentions of “quality teachers” or “state-of-the-art classrooms” in their marketing campaigns; these are points of parity that are generally ineffective in marketing. Parents, especially those paying to send their child to a Montessori school, at the very minimum expect quality teachers and up-to-date materials, and using these terms really does nothing to make one school distinguishable from another.
Points of difference, however, are the positive aspects of your school that set it above your competition and make it a unique alternative for parents. Foreign language programs for elementary students, after-school classes and daycare, monthly field trips, or even the Montessori Method of teaching itself are the points of difference that should be included in your marketing message.
A critical aspect of a point of difference is that it should be difficult for your competition to reproduce or institute. Points of difference would not include anything that competition does not provide, but could with very little effort such as access to the Internet, a classroom aquarium, or parent classroom participation. After all, if your competition institutes your point of difference, it just becomes a point of parity.
Be specific with your points of difference. When possible illustrate your points with factual numbers or data. It is not enough to say that you have “a lower student-to-teacher ratio” than your competition. Instead say, “Other area schools average a 15 to 1 student to teacher ratio; our ratio is 5 to 1.” Drive home these positive differences in minds of parents.
Your Marketing Team
Marketing takes place every time you or a representative of your school interacts with a parent or potential parent. Remember that your parents and potential parents will not separate the head of the school from a teaching assistant when assessing the message your school sends. Every interaction from every staff member matters and one negative interaction can undermine months of hard work. Be sure that your staff understands the importance of keeping marketing in mind at all times.
Resistance to being labeled a “marketer” is not unheard of among educators. There is the sense that education should be above such gauche acts as marketing and selling. But make no mistake; running a Montessori school is a business and securing paying customers does matter.
By creating a cohesive team of marketers from your staff, understanding what message is best to communicate given your competition and parents’ desires, and determining what your positive points of difference are, you can begin to distinguish your school from the alternatives and establish a well-defined and thought out marketing message!
Jake Mortensen is the head writer/editor of Go Montessori, a company specializing in developing marketing and public relations programs and materials for Montessori schools. For more information about the author or Go Montessori, please visit www.GoMontessori.com.
