It's that time of year again...faculty and staff in-services are happening! I've been to countless in-services either as a school employee or as a presenter. So I've witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to what works well and what should be avoided during these pivotal days before school starts. Today's tip is about connecting and building community.

Let's just say that as an employee I groaned when in-service rolled around. I would go to the minimal amounts of meetings...

I meet with lots of Heads of School and administrators and I'm sometimes very surprised by their view of marketing.

Some schools think marketing is about digital ads, email sequences, brand awareness, communications, SEO, and social media.

Yes, marketing is all of those things. But it's also so much more.

Marketing is woven into the fabric of your school. It's part of every communication, conversation, and connection.

Internal marketing has the power to increase retention and keep the...

"Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner claims that it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for ONE unresolved negative experience.

Now, you may be thinking, "well, I'll just make sure there are no negative experiences for my school families." But let's be realistic. Your school is going to make a mistake.

Even if you try to deliver excellent customer service, someone will make a mistake.
It could be that one day carpool takes too long and a parent misses an important...

Hi there,

Schools are really starting to dive into their strategic planning this year With the ease of COVID, now's the time to play catch up, but there are 8 common strategic planning mistakes I oftentimes see schools make. Today I'm sharing with you what these mistakes are to prevent you from doing the same! Let's dive in...

1.) Not collecting data before heading into strategic planning I see schools scheduling meetups to chat about their 1-3 year plan, but...

Hi there,

Small schools everywhere are being faced with the challenge of having minimal support and staffing for their marketing teams so here are my top tips on how to make sure your marketing team stills wins

1.) Determine the ROI on all of your marketing initiatives Ask yourself, are they actually worth the time and energy you're investing? I highly recommend going through and doing an audit to figure out which things are working and which things aren't. This will be unique for...

Hi there,

You're probably wondering, why are we talking about retention? It's summer! Turns out, summer is an opportune time for retention efforts because parents are more receptive to what you have to say So let's dive into 4 summer retention strategies you need to implement this summer!

1.) Communicate with parents throughout the entire summer I see too many schools stop their communication once school ends and begin again just a couple of weeks before school begins. The goal here...

Hi there,

Planning on keeping up with your summer communications? I hope you are! Maybe you've hit a wall on what to post on social media - I'm here to help! Today I'm sharing with you my top 5 content ideas for your social media this summer

1. Meet the Staff Incorporate features of your staff throughout the summer alongside a photo, short bio, their position, and a few fun questions. This is a great way for parents to get to know and connect with the staff over the summer, and everyone...

Hi there,

This summer, I hope you're keeping up with your communications!  What many don't realize is that this is a great opportunity to connect, inform, inspire, and engage your new and current parents  

So let's dive into my top 6 content ideas for your summer communications!

1.) Who does what?  Our school communities are constantly changing. Every year we get new people in, others leaving, etc. Including this info in your summer communications helps puts a face...

Hi there,

We're going to talk about: Did it work? How to determine the return on investment of an event or initiative that you did last year and now you're thinking about doing it again this year So here are my top 4 tips to help assess whether or not they should continue into the following year!

1.) How much time and energy went into producing these events?  Think back on all the community-building events, fundraisers, etc. you hosted and the time put into them. 

2.)...

 Hi there,

Communication is really important, especially NOW  You want to make sure you're communicating with your new and current families this summer - so let's chat about how you can do this effectively  

1.) Continue Your Weekly Emails  If you were always sending out an email on Fridays, why would you stop over the summer? If your reasoning is because school isn't in session, know that these things can be batched and scheduled ahead of time. Sending...