Marketing isn’t a luxury — it’s a lifeline. Yet when enrollment drops, too many private schools cut the very function that drives it. Here's why that thinking is backwards.
Penny Abrahams, IAP-L, ISM Senior Consultant
Within the last week alone, I’ve had three conversations with private-independent school leaders grappling with enrollment declines. And in every one of those conversations, I’ve heard some version of the same story: a plan to trim marketing communications staff, budgets, or both.
Perplexed.
Dismayed.
Frustrated.
Exasperated.
These are just a few of the words that come to mind every time I hear that marketing communications resources are among the first on the chopping block. And while I’m never one to suggest that enrollment challenges can be solved simply by throwing money at them, I am, proudly, a vocal advocate for the vital and strategic role marketing communications professionals play in private-independent schools.
Yes, I understand the budget realities many of our schools are facing.
Yes, sometimes cuts must be made.
But no, they shouldn’t first come from the departments most directly tied to revenue generation: enrollment, development, and the marketing communications teams that guide and support them.
It’s short-sighted.
ROI You’re Overlooking
Marketing communications is one of the few budget lines that, when leveraged correctly, can pay for itself … and then some. The return on investment in a high-functioning marcom office is measurable in the form of inquiries, applications, yield, retention, and donor engagement. Why would you cut the very function that fuels these pipelines?
It’s also worth noting that the role of marketing communications in private-independent schools is still relatively new. This function didn’t gain real traction until after the 2008 recession, when schools could no longer simply open their applications and fill seats with mission-appropriate, full-pay families.
Before that shift, marketing communications was largely tactical: a school photographer here, a magazine designer there, someone who could issue the occasional press release or update a brochure. Don’t get me wrong. All of that work was — and still is — important, but it's no longer enough.
MarCom: Connecting Mission to Message
Today, strategic marketing communications is critical to a school’s overall sustainability. It’s what connects mission to message, programs to people, and schools to the students and families they hope to serve. But in order to do that effectively, these professionals need both human and financial resources. You can’t expect a one-person marcom "team" to carry the weight of institutional goals without the infrastructure to support them.
Trimming your marketing communications budget in a time of enrollment decline is like refusing to water your garden because the plants aren’t growing fast enough. It’s not just counterintuitive — it’s counterproductive.
About the Author
Penny Abrahams joined Independent School Management in 2010 as a member of the Advancement Academy’s founding faculty. She has consulted more than 100 schools in her time at ISM.
Penny began her career in schools at Ravenscroft School in in North Carolina, where she first served as Annual Fund Director. Later, as Director of Communications, she built the school’s communications program from the ground up. Penny was also Director of Admissions & Marketing at Academy at the Lakes in Florida, where she helped the school reach record application and enrollment numbers.
