Macro v. Micro Marketing
Macro Marketing
Private school heads I have spoken with over the summer are scrambling to plan for uncertainty. Their marketing and enrollment administrators are adapting to this fast-changing and challenging environment by deploying more social media and a virtual shotgun of marketing tactics, such as advertising, segmented marketing blogs, word of mouth, Instagram hacks, videos, online admission interviews and tours, and remote events to name several. A shotgun approach for sure, but when times are uncertain, doesn’t doing everything and targeting a wide swath make sense? Is this all-out assault, no tactical stone left unturned, the best place to start?
Well, not necessarily!
First, it’s a dizzying race. This is especially true for smaller schools who may not have the bandwidth or budget to effectively manage so many communication channels.
Second, unless your school’s brand identity is rock-solid and all those channels are aligned and reinforce each other, you may be diluting your message and confusing the market.
Time to get strategic.
Micro Marketing
Might it be better — before launching into a hurricane of tactics — to first step back and prioritize your time and your marketing budget to nurture those families whose attitudes, values, interests, and resources have been proven to align with your mission?
Identifying the right-fit families prior to any marketing effort is key. Everything needs to build on that. It may seem counter-intuitive in a time of perceived scarcity, but let’s just say it:
Now may be the time to narrow down the top of your admission funnel. So what if you get attention from a lot of people? As you well know, the key is getting attention from the right ones.
One of our former clients, Andy Deyell, outgoing Head at Elmwood Franklin School in Buffalo, NY, thought this approach was a game changer.
Your research and data changed our marketing to a microtargeting view. That was a game changer, because like most marketing teams, we have finite marketing dollars to spend. We learned what the messages were that we needed to share and where the people were who needed to know those messages. This gave us comfort and confidence with our marketing dollars.
Front-loading your admission funnel with data-inspired leads that mirror the best qualities of your current and recent mission-appropriate families—the ones you’d love to clone—is a wise investment in the face of what looks like might be our most challenging enrollment year yet.
Let’s Focus!
The process, which Connor Associates pioneered, is Enrollment Feasibility and Forecasting , and it has earned praise for the outcomes of our four-tiered approach that combines direct mail, word-of mouth, lead nurturing email acquisition, and your Facebook ads to those qualified prospects on your list.
Elmwood-Franklin School “matched back” from our list those prospects who entered their 2019-20 admission funnel and reported that:
“24 applied and over 50% enrolled. The hit rate from your mail list compared to the national average was astounding for us.”
What about the future?
It’s one thing to identify prospects in real time for the next admission season. It’s a bonus to know where they will be in five years so you can “skate to wear the puck is heading.” A five-year forecast is an attractive feature of our research, particularly for board members charged with the sustainability of your school or organization.
Work smarter!
If narrowing your reach and getting better conversions and yields sounds prudent in these uncertain times, let’s get to work!
Connor Associates Strategic Services, LLC is based in Northern California and has served the market research, planning, and branding needs of hundreds of private, charter, and independent boarding and day schools and colleges in 26 states, Europe, Africa, and Asia over the past 20 years. For information on how we can support you, please visit https://www.connor-associates.com/
