🤔 If I could come up with a catchy way to smush Retention + October together (Retentober? Octention?) I would. 😜 But nothing magical came to me. 🤷 ‍

Although retention should be a year-round effort, I feel like the official hard-core kick-off should be in October. 🎃 If school started in late Augus...

“Too often we substitute internal industry and product knowledge for customer input.” - Cindy Alvarez

🤔 Without feedback, you’re not going to know the issues parents have on their minds or what support they need. Communication is a two-way process. 🔀 Without having a consistent means of giving fee...

🤓 “The process of exceeding a customer's expectations to create a positive customer experience with your product or brand to improve loyalty.” - Hubspot

🎉 “Surprise and Delight” is actually a psychological principle. It’s human nature to want to reciprocate when someone does something nice and une...

I love this quote because it's so true. We live so much of our lives in fear. 🤔

😨 Fear of disappointing.

😨 Fear of failing.

😨 Fear of hoping.

😨 Fear of succeeding.

And when we listen to these fears, we end up not trying. 🥺

This can look like not trying a different marketing strategy or c...

In schools, we often have this false belief/hope that there are actually lulls and "down time" in our roles.

After almost 20 years in the field, I can tell you that is rarely the case. Yes, there might be a dip here and there. And perhaps a little bit of a break over the summer. But mostly what hap...

At our last Small School Leaders meetup, part of the discussion was about surveys, so I figured this might be a good topic to share. If our Small School Leaders are thinking about it, I bet others are as well. These common school survey mistakes are easily avoidable and make all the difference! 

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🌷 During this time of year, there's a lot that's unfolding — fundraising, annual funds, admissions events, open houses, and everything in between. We often forget that when we're planning out these seasons, we also have to plan out strategic connections 👥

Because of the chaos of invites, donations,...

At our Small School Leaders meet-up, two important topics came...we chatted about why families enroll (see below!) and print vs. digital. 

I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest. Do you know why families enroll at your school? 🤔

🤨 No, I'm not talking about a conversation you ...

↔️ While working with schools, we've noticed there is often a disconnect between what parents think the school and teachers are delivering and what is actually being delivered. Now, there are many reasons for this but I'm going to tackle one common one today.

🏋️‍♂️ Schools put a ton of effort into th...

😬 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 befo...

I meet with lots of Heads of School and administrators and I'm sometimes very surprised by their view of marketing. 🤔
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Some schools think marketing is about digital ads, email sequences, brand awareness, communications, SEO, and social media. 📩 📨 📥 ⌨️ 🖥️
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Yes, marketing is all of those things. But it'...