In Gertrude the Governess, Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock recounts how Lord Ronald, one of the story’s characters, “flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.” It’s the perfect metaphor for tactics without strategy. Strategy is, or ought to...
At the turn of this century, Jack Trout wrote a book titled Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition. A generation later, I can’t think of a better description for the situation independent schools find themselves in. With increased competition,...
There’s no shortage of speculation about AI in school marketing—but how many people are actually using it to generate meaningful results? Like many others, I had my share of adoption jitters. But having pushed past them, I now see the real value AI brings to school...
If you want to make your messaging more impactful, use numbers. Numerous studies confirm that using numbers makes messaging more believable, compelling and memorable. An article from the Wharton School refers to this phenomenon as “Quantification Fixation.” The author...
Here’s a bitter pill for school marketers to swallow. What you see as the high academic quality of your school’s educational program is meaningless unless parents agree with your assessment. Likewise, your belief in the outstanding calibre of your faculty doesn’t...
The “Mad Men” notion of people coming up with marketing and messaging ideas while drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes is great TV fare but definitely not reality. No school marketing and communication professionals I know have ever developed a campaign that way –...
