Education-PR-Marketing
19 January 2016
Education PR Marketing & Strategic Communications
Overview
My work is about reputation management, promoting and raising awareness of your school, locally and in the UK. The aim is for the school to control the narrative and positively tell its story.
The focus is on developing and delivering a successful online PR marketing strategy for the school’s corporate identity with positive communications, supporting online content and a strong social media presence. It involves the school’s press, public relations and corporate events.
Support is provided with new technologies and approaches for communicating to your local and national community with photography, videos, audio, a digital prospectus and powerful social media visual content – your positive narrative.
My Track Record
PR success has evolved from significant education experience of working at the senior level in a marketing and communications leadership role. Outcomes impacted upon a diverse range of successful enterprises.
The secret is in developing and leading high-performance teams to nurture the organization’s ethos.
The Key Issues
Academies and schools operate in a highly competitive market and an education environment, which is undergoing considerable changes – some evolutionary, others more immediate. Schools are facing a number of key challenges in the coming years, and these must be addressed if you are to sustain and further develop your market leadership for education in your specialist area.
Reputation management involves safeguarding your heritage, credibility and ensuring your reputation is projected as being highly successful.
The immediate priority for most schools is to increase the number of students and parents choosing a successful school from both existing and new geographies.
Education PR marketing is about building on the positive profile the school enjoys in the community.
The focus involves developing compelling messaging around positive key aspects that underpin the school’s success
- The quality of education provision
- ii) Highlighting staff and pupil success
- iii) Leveraging the school’s power, expertise, support and network.
The Challenge
To take the lead in creating, developing, implementing and producing the school’s marketing and communications strategies in order to support the achievement of the school’s strategic objectives.
This will include pupil recruitment and retention and communications and content management strategies. The work may involve rebranding the school in line with the Headteacher’s and senior team’s vision for the school in the coming years.
The Delivery of Education PR Marketing
- Devising and successfully implementing cost effective strategies ensuring the school’s success in reaching, communicating with and influencing key audiences.
- Define and research audiences and key influencers and identify and execute the strategies to reach them.
- Develop strategic messaging, writing content, print content, blogs and working collaborating with digital, social and traditional media to support the school’s proposition.
- Manage the construction of a strong, positive online reputation.
- Support the development, delivery and evaluation of an integrated digital PR and media, digital communications, and marketing and brand strategy.
- Lead and evolve the capability of the school’s marketing communications to ensure the effective delivery of proactive and effective marketing services for the school.
- Act as primary point of contact for marketing and communications Team.
- Provide key school spokespeople (ambassadors/advocates) with media strategies, coaching and materials, including social media, to be able to share a consistent message.
Strategic Direction
- Advise the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) on the development of a compelling and impactful marketing plan in support of the school’s strategic plan, and based on statistical analysis and clear evidence. Evaluate and revise the plan annually.
- Lead on the school’s communication strategy, encompassing students, parents, teaching and support staff, governors, alumnae and local business and industry.
- Agree and implement a development strategy with the Headteacher (and with advice from stakeholders) in order to meet the short, medium and long term aims of the school.
- Advise and support Marketing and Communications meetings.
- Develop a positive and proactive whole-school marketing culture amongst teaching and support staff.
- Develop a powerful and sustainable content management strategy across web and social media sites to agreed KPIs.
- Work with the Headteacher and SLT to ensure clear and appropriate communication to all audiences.
- Manage and protect the corporate image, logo and house style.
- Support links to the local community and stakeholders.
Pupil recruitment
- Through the marketing and communications strategy maximise pupil numbers and pupil retention across the whole school.
- Contribute with social media to the development of feeder school engagement programmes (particularly local juniors, prep schools, nurseries and childcare providers), and help to develop engagement with schools in the community.
- Work with SLT and school Bursar to identify and develop new opportunities to attract and recruit new pupils.
- Gain an understanding of the unique offering of the School through working with the Head, recording media and regular support at the school.
- Develop with stakeholders the robust retention / transition programme of local primary pupils to school.
- Develop and track external marketing lead system.
- Review admissions, working with the Head and Bursar. Look for continual improvements.
- Support engagement programme with the local community and promotion of events, building on the school’s reputation and the education sector generally.
Marketing
- Contribute and support all online communications and development with support from other members of SLT.
- Plan advertising and promotional campaigns, online advertising for targeted audiences, and take the creative lead on the development strategic digital PR communications content.
- Undertake market research and interpret results. Make recommendations to the Headteacher on future actions and build results into marketing strategy.
- Measure and report on marketing plan results on a quarterly basis, and monitor marketing budgets monthly.
- Develop opportunities to promote the profile of the Headteacher's vision for the school.
Communications
- Ensure that all communications maintain a professional approach with parents, pupils and feeder schools, and staff.
- Measure and report on communications plan results on a quarterly basis, and monitor marketing budgets monthly.
- Support the Web Manager, by producing develop fresh content and using a broad range of social and digital media interactions to ensure that they represent effective e-communication tools and fit with the wider marketing and PR strategy and positively engage with all audience profiles.
- Arrange regular website review meetings with the Web Team and ensure that action and decisions move forward, ensuring content remains engaging and fresh. Respond to the needs and preferences of the school, for example with dynamic, innovative content and to undertake additional training as and when this is necessary.
- Create a strong parent engagement programme.
- Develop and help to implement an engagement programme with the local community in conjunction with the SLT and key stakeholders.
Public Relations and Public Events
- Lead on media liaison and press relations in conjunction with the Head and other nominated spokespeople.
- Help to organise, produce collateral and take an active part in PR and school events, such as Open Days, theatrical productions and Parents’ Evenings.
- Develop effective media relations, with the local press and targeted media nationally.
- Be aware of the school’s schedule of activities and events and capitalise on the PR opportunities they offer.
- Produce appropriate digital media for stands at external events and exhibitions.
- Collate news and write press releases.
- Preparation of weekly Highlights for the school and ensure that this is produced in the most appropriate format for the intended recipients at all times.
General management and administration
- Member of the Emergency Control Group.
- Liaise with the Bursar and SLT regarding monthly reports on enquiries and applications to help promote an adaptable and agile approach for pupil admissions.
If you have any queries on education PR marketing or want to tell your story, please call me 0780 9233 688.
Eddy Jackson | Shreditor | 54° North Video