Out of 16 large companies evaluated by Forrester Research, four criteria were consistently graded as a fail. These were:
- Web site text readability
- Customer confirmation of phone conversations through another channel
- Customer completion of goals through all required channels
- Customer interaction with the company
There seems to be two categories companies and organizations are falling into as new marketing channels continue to be opened. They have either become comfortable with their marketing mix because it has been successful in the past and are hesitant to try new forms, or they are in a mad dash to keep up with current trends and have lost focus, adding more confusion to their mission.
You should never be too scared to try new marketing platforms. If you feel as though you're not in touch with electronic delivery of newsletters to your parents, or with free Web-based networking sites, take a few days this summer to familiarize yourself with a few. (We'll mention these in a moment.)
Even if you're not responsible for your school's marketing, these are still key points you should be in-the-know about. You want your newsletter to parents, campus tours, luncheons, and other materials for which you are responsible for, to contain the same messages parents are seeing and hearing through other mediums.
Ideally, all marketing for your school should be controlled from one central point. You don't want to send home a flier with students offering one special when a radio spot is currently offering another. This is confusing. But, you do want to reach your parents and prospective parents in as many ways as you can with an impactful message. If there are free online social resources your school isn't utilizing, it might be a good idea to develop a small list to explore and suggest for the future. We repeat—you want to reach your target audience in as many different ways as possible. You want to be where they are—both online and off.
As you explore new possible channels, keep your parents' best experiences in mind—put yourself in their shoes. It shouldn't be a challenge for them to change their e-mail address on your Web site so that they can keep receiving your school's great newsletter, or to link from your school's Facebook page to your school's events page. Spend a few hours this summer going through these steps. Then, when it comes time to orientate both new and existing parents, you can quickly walk them through these steps, helping to eliminate confusion. Of course if you find some snags in the process, or messages that don't seem consistent, let your school's marketing director or agency know what you've discovered. You don't need to explain how you think it should work, only that you found it confusing.
Once you're clear on what your school is trying to convey to your audience (and hopefully you're clear on who your audience is!), then look at a few of these other resources while the summer sun keeps our days longer and your project checklist a tad lighter.
YouTube. Schools can do some rather interesting things through this social networking vehicle. There are features for non-profits that allow for drive sign-ups, donations, and Web site traffic reports. Simple videos, even those created with smart phones, can drive a lot of awareness to your school's Web site. (Both positive and negative.) This summer, browse through some of the available videos other schools have posted on YouTube. See what values they're expressing through this channel, and then see if anything has been posted for your school. (We will publish a detailed YouTube For Your School article in September—stay tuned!)
Facebook. More schools are creating a Facebook presence every day. We have written a good amount of material this year about Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, so we won't go into lengths now about the pros and cons. (You can search our site for all the recently published articles. Keyword, "social media.") We will encourage you, however, this summer to explore Facebook in detail. If you have a personal page already, start networking with others on suggested pages of associations you're affiliated with. And, if you don't already have a page, what are you waiting for? Get connected to the thousands of private-independent school professionals already sharing information!
LinkedIn. This is a site more for you than your school or its marketing purposes. But since we're assigning some summer research, we thought this would be a good resource to look into as well. LinkedIn is a great way to connect to other private-independent school professionals just as listserv resources, Facebook, and of course retreats and seminars are. It's not as overwhelming as some of the other social media sites available (and the privacy controls won't have you up at night fretting about the worst). If you're not currently involved, we recommend taking a few hours this summer and learning the ins and outs.
Other hot social media sites worth exploring:
Flickr.com. A good resource for sharing, organizing, and creating photo libraries.
Digg.com. Great for sharing articles of interest. You can link your Digg account to your other social networking sites, too!
Blogcatalog.com. If you're searching for independent blog writers, this is the perfect resource to find them! Also, if you're thinking about starting your own online journal or blog page, there are more than enough examples here to get your creative juices flowing.
Kaboodle.com. This one is for all those virtual shoppers out there—and more for fun. Sometimes we just work too much to make it to the store in time, let alone keep up with the hottest sales. Well, this site will keep you in-the-know of all the hottest deals without requiring too much effort. (Hey, shopping is hard work!)
Extra credit: For a complete list of the top social media sites to date click here.
