"Marketing" Your School

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How do you spread the word about how great your school is? Marketing your school to parents with lots of other options -- private, public and charter -- can be a challenge. So can "selling" your school to business and community leaders who might contribute their time and money to build your school's programs. What strategies have worked for you? What advice do you need?

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Parent Replies to ""Marketing" Your School"

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Browse around on school websites and you'll quickly discover that very, very few schools ever talk convincingly about the three issues that parents are most concerned about:
1) Will my child be safe?
2) Is there a sense of order, discipline and moral guidance in the school? Are there immediate consequences for infractions (skipping homework, etc.)?
3) Is the school's academic program substantive and challenging? Or does the school's entire commitment real education consist of SAYING that the "school's academic program is substantive and challenging"?

If you want to attract parents, promote your answers to those questions.

I'll bring this topic back to the top, because in order to save teachers that might be let go, we've been given the unenviable task of recruiting 4 kindergarten classes where we normally only have 3--so we're looking for an additional 20+ students.

Does anyone have any experience with a "Future Parents" group? Such a group allows parents of preschoolers to start contributing/volunteering at a school to help create the school that they want by the time their child arrives for kindergarten.

Parent information meetings can be very useful. Not just the school sponsored ones, but just a gathering of concerned neighbors.

Our PTA used to sponsor evenings to discuss issues openly. We would send out leaflets to all of the local pre-schools and try to spread the word among neighbors. The meetings would be held in private homes. Parents of current and graduated students would attend to answer questions about how things are done, respond to rumors, and give advice about particular situations.

That's a great point. Small businesses are not only great potential contributors in a school community, but when they put a poster in the window advertising a particular school event, patrons start asking about the school. A local restaurant owner I know prided himself on the number of families he recruited to his kids' elementary school because of that kind of visible support.

Important allies in the school process are the local realtors that specialize in the area. They know about our test scores, and use it as a selling point to future families. Whether encouraging them to advertise in the newsletter or sponsor a booth at the carnival or casino night, they are definitely interested in our community.

Also never forget the families with small businesses. They can contribute in a variety of ways: the restaurant owner can sponsor a food booth at the carnival (providing food at cost), or a spa owner can donate a gift certificate to be raffled off at a PTA meeting to encourage attendance.

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