Evolution of School Marketing

Over the past 20 years, the role of school marketing has significantly evolved, becoming increasingly essential and multifaceted. As the expectations of students and families have grown, so too has the importance of effective marketing in ensuring the continued success of schools.

The evolution of school marketing highlights the growing need for a collaborative approach, where the entire community works together to foster success.

“The Evolution of School Marketing: What We’ve Learned and Where We’re Headed”.

Join Penny Abrahams, Senior Consultant at Independent School Management (ISM), and Rob Kodama, a seasoned expert with over 20 years in School Admissions and Marketing, as they share valuable insights and expertise. If you want to watch here is the full webinar. Otherwise, continue reading below.

Penny and Rob share observations and practical strategies to build effective school marketing programs. Learn how to boost your school’s visibility and drive long-term success. Refine your current marketing approach or create a new strategy from scratch. Their combined expertise provides valuable guidance for navigating the evolving landscape of school marketing.

Historical Importance in School Marketing

Historical Emergence of Marketing Professionals in Schools: The marketization of education has led to the development of specialized school marketing roles, contrasting traditional practices where principals or lead teachers handled marketing tasks. (McDonald et al., 2019).

Contemporary Research and Trends

Digital Marketing Strategies have become essential for educational institutions to communicate effectively with parents and students, particularly in leveraging social media and online platforms (Harini et al., 2023).

What is the current landscape in regard to School Marketing?

As Penny Abrahams explains, the parent landscape is evolving, and families expect thoughtful communication from schools. She highlights the importance of storytelling about students and reflecting on the school experience from a parent’s perspective.

At Independent School Management (ISM), the mission is to advance school leadership and enrich the student experience. School marketing has evolved:

Parents evaluate their experiences with schools and the investments they make in their children’s education.
Schools must develop practical marketing strategies that connect with parents and students at every stage of the school journey.
Schools need to collaborate across departments to involve others in marketing efforts.
Many school marketers are a team of one—or even less than one—juggling marketing responsibilities as part of a part-time role.

These individuals juggle numerous responsibilities to ensure all essential tasks are completed. Bringing others into the process not only eases the workload but also enhances the quality of marketing efforts. This collaboration ultimately helps schools better serve their missions and strengthen their communications.

Life of School Marketers

Watch the video below for a fun look at the experience of being a one-person marketing team.

Play Video about Evolution Life of a School Marketer video. Marketing Team of One. School Marketing.

If you’ve been in the industry for over 10, 20 or 30 years, you’ve likely witnessed a school environment that looks very different from what we see today.

Take a look at this chart.

On the left, we see the traditional 20th-century approach, focused on inquiry and application as primary metrics. Schools prioritized bringing in new families.

Today, the focus has shifted, with re-enrollment emerging as a critical metric for successful schools and marketing strategies. Retention is the key to a full school. Keeping current families is far easier and more cost-effective than attracting and enrolling new ones.

Along with re-enrollment, internal marketing has become essential in supporting this retention-focused approach.

Penny Abrahams explains that in the past, schools primarily focused on attracting new families. Today, the conversation has shifted to what people within the school community—parents, students, and staff—are saying about the school. This internal feedback directly impacts re-enrollment rates and influences the ability to recruit new families.

Word of mouth remains a powerful driver of a school’s reputation. While this hasn’t changed, internal word of mouth plays a critical role in shaping external perceptions. Current families and faculty often act as brand ambassadors, sharing their pride and positive experiences with others.

Schools must foster a sense of pride within their communities and effectively tell their story.

To enable those within the school community to authentically and enthusiastically promote the school, leaders must equip them with the tools, language, visuals, and resources needed to share the school story.

Most faculty often resent and misunderstand the idea that “everyone is responsible for marketing.” The head of school must clearly explain the importance of “everyone marketing” and provide the understanding and tools needed to ensure they can do this successfully.

The reality – is that one person alone cannot tell the entire story or reach every audience. Instead, schools must create tools and resources, that empower everyone to contribute to the school’s narrative. By helping the community understand that marketing supports full enrollment—and, in turn, a healthy school—schools can foster collective buy-in and shared responsibility for success.

We should remember that every day is an open house. Whether or not there’s an actual event, every interaction matters. Everyone in the school community—from faculty to admissions staff to the business office—plays a role in shaping a family’s experience.

Even on challenging days, it’s important to approach each interaction with care. A single conversation or encounter can leave a lasting impression, either building trust and excitement or causing doubt. Schools thrive when everyone embraces the mindset that every moment is an opportunity to showcase the best of what they have to offer.

The Student is the Hero.

It’s all about the student and their daily experiences inside and outside the classroom. Instead of focusing on the school as a product, the priority should be showcasing that product through the lived experiences of students. Highlighting their stories and elevating their voices allows schools to authentically demonstrate their value and impact.

This is exactly why influencer marketing and social media are so effective. They allow the message to come directly from the satisfied customer or the individual impacted, rather than from the brand itself. This approach feels more authentic and resonates more deeply with audiences.

Students are increasingly taking the lead in deciding where to attend school or whether to remain at their current school, particularly during transitions like elementary to middle school or middle to high school. This shift highlights the importance of viewing the student as both the brand and the focus of the school experience. Ultimately, these factors tie back to re-enrollment as a critical metric for success.

Focusing on the Experience

It is important to highlight the experience when marketing a school, rather than simply promoting the school as a product, as this approach resonates more deeply with prospective students and families.

Colleges and universities excel at this, showcasing what life is like for students once they are on campus. Schools can take a similar approach by telling authentic stories about the student experience.
Research and focus groups reveal that parents and students do not want to see staged, overused images, such as a small group of students looking through a microscope.

Instead, they want to see and hear what it’s really like to be part of the school community.

What will their daily life look like?
What’s the social atmosphere like?
What’s it like to attend games, participate in fine arts, join clubs, or lead initiatives?

Parents assume the academics will be strong—that’s a given. What they truly care about is how their child will fit into the school community and what their life will be like as a student. Marketing should focus on answering that question through genuine words, pictures, and videos that bring the school experience to life.

A Comprehensive Retention Strategy

Creating a full school and maintaining healthy enrollment depends heavily on a strong retention strategy. However, a survey from Inspired School Marketers revealed that 45% of schools lack any formal retention plan.

Some schools may rely on step-up events or retention tracking sheets, but these efforts often fall short of a holistic approach. A comprehensive retention strategy should consider elements like storytelling, student experiences, and effective communication.

Retention and recruitment strategies should focus on key areas such as enhancing student experiences, leveraging word of mouth, and strengthening market engagement. Together, these elements form a cohesive foundation for achieving long-term enrollment success.

The first image represents a traditional admission funnel. It starts when someone inquires about your school—either through your website or, in the past, by calling or visiting your campus. The funnel then leads all the way through to matriculation.

However, there are key elements missing from this traditional model. If you think about the funnel chart, it reflects an outdated approach: the assumption that once students enroll, they will stay, and retention isn’t a concern. This overlooks the critical aspects of enrollment, retention, and the student experience that occur after the admission funnel is complete.

Many schools have already shifted toward a circular enrollment management model. This change is evident in titles, where ‘admissions’ is being replaced or complemented by ‘enrollment.’ The goal is to foster a stronger connection to your school’s mission, culture, and values year after year. The most effective way to achieve this is by telling your school’s story—through words, pictures, videos, and personal communication—creating a seamless experience that engages everyone.

What is Enrollment Management?

… a continuous set of strategies that enables your school to deepen the relationships it has with its constituents, bonding them ever more deeply and bringing them successively closer to your school’s mission, culture, and values. ISM

A Parent's Perspective

They experience the school not only as parents but also through their child’s journey. They continually assess whether they want to remain at your school, weighing their decision year after year. Ideally, they will renew their contract and re-enroll annually.

At the same time, the student is forming their own experience—whether in classrooms, on sports fields, or in creative studios. The goal is for students to take pride in their activities, spread positive word-of-mouth, and grow more connected to the school. This connection transforms them into proud alumni who carry that pride and commitment forward.

Enrollment Management

Enrollment management is about more than just what you say or the mission you promise—it’s about what you do.

Everyone Plays a role

More importantly, it’s about what everyone at the school does. From faculty and administrators to student ambassadors and parent volunteers, everyone plays a role in marketing the school and shaping the overall experience.

Cohesive Framework

This collective effort emphasizes action. It’s not just about individual contributions but about creating a cohesive framework. The challenge lies in asking, ‘How do we build an exceptional experience that reflects our mission and values?’ This question drives the work of enrollment management.

If I’m a parent investing thousands of dollars per year, year after year, until my student graduates, I’m going to ask: What can I expect? What skills and characteristics will my child develop by graduating from XYZ School that set them apart from graduates of another school up the street?

It’s not just about putting these promises into words. The real challenge is demonstrating them throughout the student’s journey. How do you capture and showcase those outcomes to build trust and confidence in your school?

Equally important are the characteristics of professional excellence among your faculty. This is the ‘how.’

How do your teachers deliver on the mission and promises you make? These are statements that define the unique attributes of your faculty—attributes connected to your core values and are essential to what makes your school distinctive.”

Portrait of a Graduate

How do you take a portrait of the graduate beyond simply displaying it on your website or posting up in the school? The real value lies in putting it into practice. Faculty can use it as a meaningful tool—for instance, during parent-teacher conferences. Imagine a teacher sharing, ‘Johnny has shown remarkable growth in responsibility this semester. I’m proud to see how he’s embraced this value and made it his own.’ Students can be guided to identify and share what they are learning.

Now picture that story paired with a photo of Johnny backpacking up a mountain on a school trip. Moments like these connect parents deeply to the mission, culture, and values of your school. They demonstrate the tangible return on investment families are making in their child’s education.

Ultimately, what happens inside and outside the classroom every day—the collaboration between students and faculty—is the delivery of your mission in action. But parents often see this only from the outside, asking their child, ‘How was your day?’ and getting a vague reply. Your challenge is to open a window into your school’s culture, showing families the extraordinary experiences their children are having. When parents clearly see the alignment between your mission, the graduate portrait, and their child’s growth, they feel that connection and understand the true value of their investment: This is what Vidigami helps you do to.

This article was created based on insights from the webinar titled The Evolution of School Marketing: What We’ve Learned and Where We’re Headed. ChatGPT was used to enhance clarity and cohesiveness.