The Last Step

Two whole comments: my last post on where to put the communications/marketing office took off!  Actually, I had several calls, a few emails, and it was picked up in the weekly newsletter from AISAP, The Funnel.  I’m actually quite honored—and have since subscribed to their newsletter.  But all this has had me engaged in some interesting conversations and thinking more on this topic.  (And ducking my advancement colleagues—someone ratted me out to them!)

Once upon a time and early in my career, there was no internet.  GASP—imagine that my younger readers!  There was, therefore, no Facebook or Google or Kayak.com.  Our marketing consisted of print advertising, paying for a listing in printed publications such as Peterson’s (yes, it was a book before it was a website!), and a lot of direct mail and postcards.  Word of mouth was still key, if not more so, because families had such fewer other resources for information.

So, what did a prospective family do for more thorough information?  They called us!

The admissions office was close to the first step in the school inquiry process and our friendly office receptionists performed magic on the phone and we followed up with our mailings and newsletters.  We had a communications strategy, beautiful printed materials, a calendar of contact points throughout the process, and calling campaigns with coaches, faculty, and student and parent volunteers.  We had Avery labels and bulk mail by zipcode, and banks of phones staffed by student callers stuffed with pizza and soda.  Ah, the good old days…

Today the admissions office is the last step in the process.  If a family wants information about your school, they will turn to friends, your website, and depositories of information such as Rate My Teacher and Boarding School Review.  They will Google you long before they ever call or email you.  Your communication strategies and viewbooks are the last step in the process and you only actually get to engage with a prospective student once they’ve completed all the other steps and still found you desirable.

So, you better have strong communications and marketing.  You better have an awesome website (fully coded for SEO), updated and current social media, and accurate data on the various school search engines.  You better be advertising in all the appropriate spots, sponsoring the right events, attending all the fairs, and building the best network possible.  Your marketing and communications and recruitment efforts are of paramount importance to families actually and finally contacting your admissions office for information.

Accordingly, you better have all the necessary communications and marketing resources you need from your school and your head.  After all, the admissions office is now actually the last step in the process.