Sending children to a private school is a significant investment for any parent. As parents are parting with thousands of dollars per year for their child's education, they will scrutinize every school they consider.
With the market being intensely competitive, one way to set yourself apart is by implementing creative branding strategies.
A consistent and well-defined brand is critical in increasing enrolment and student uptake.
This blog explores 12 actionable strategies private schools can use to stand out, connect with families, and create lasting relationships.
Define your school’s unique identity
No branding initiative will bear fruit without internal clarity. Your school's identity is what sets it apart from others. It's what makes your school unique and memorable.
Start the journey to internal clarity by identifying what your institution values the most. Are you:
- Committed to academic excellence?
- Keen on supporting underserved communities?
- Passionate about language, ICT, or engineering?
- Vocal on supporting students through non-traditional learning paths, such as vocational education?
Then, identify your unique selling point (USP). What makes you different from others? How are you delivering an education unique to other institutions competing for the same enrolments?
Could it be:
- You guarantee a certain level of success per student?
- Your class sizes are smaller than average, allowing students to receive personalized attention?
- Your sense of inclusivity?
Whatever it may be, this identity forms the foundation of your brand and should be consistently communicated when marketing your school.
Create a strong brand identity
With internal clarity, you can then begin to piece together the key elements of your brand:
- Clear mission statement and values. These define what your school stands for. These principles should guide your visual identity and the way you communicate.
- A solid visual identity comprising a consistent color palette, logo, and typography that represents your values and differentiates you from other schools.
- A memorable tagline or slogan to further reinforce your message.
To maintain consistency, write a detailed brand guidelines document. These guidelines (created by your marketing and design team) serve as a blueprint for how your brand's visual and verbal elements should be used.
Brand guidelines stipulate:
- How your logo should be used on print and digital material
- Your font type and size
- Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors
- Video and imagery guidelines
Brand guidelines support internal efforts and are helpful when sharing with external partner organizations who want to create joint branding collateral. They can use the brand guidelines to ensure your school is appropriately represented on any material.
Share impactful stories
Stories humanize your brand and make it relatable.
Highlight student success stories that illustrate the tangible benefits of attending your school.
For example, share a story of a student who improved academic performance through your supportive programs or achieved a milestone with the guidance of dedicated teachers.
Impactful stories leave a mark on parents and build a narrative that potential students can see themselves fitting into.
When families see real-life examples of how your school supports student achievement, it builds confidence in your institution.
Create authentic community engagement
Branding is no longer a one-way communication channel. To be seen as a welcoming and friendly school, you must reach out to your local community.
This can be done in several ways, such as:
- Allowing the school to be used for community functions and fairs.
- Launching educational programs that address your local community's challenges. For example, you could launch an educational initiative addressing a specific local labor shortage.
- Partner up with a local charity. Either let them use your space to host events or collaborate on fundraisers.
- Get involved in relevant awareness day campaigns like World Mental Health Day.
Groton School's Instagram post for The Fall Day of Service is a classic example of getting students involved with local and relevant initiatives. (Image source.)
Such formal and informal community partnerships increase brand awareness and humanize your brand to the local population.
Build strong visual branding
Your visual brand includes your color scheme and logo, which needs to be consistent throughout all touchpoints:
- Digital (social media, newsletters and website)
- Traditional (print material like brochures, flyers, and posters)
Inconsistent visuals across touchpoints can blur your identity, confuse your audience, and convey a lack of professionalism. To avoid this, consistently use your core colors and ensure your logo is prominently displayed on all materials.
All of Choate Rosemary Hall's branded content follows a set format. (Image source.)
Your branding should also align with your school’s mission and values. For instance, a technology-focused institution might adopt modern, futuristic aesthetics to reflect its vision.
A strong and cohesive brand enhances recognition and, on a psychological level, reassures people that your school is professional, well-organized, and credible.
Use testimonials to build trust
Reading other parent's or children's testimonials describing their positive experience at the school can sway the decisions in your school's favor.
Not many things build credibility as someone speaking positively about your school when they have no ulterior motive to do so.
Testimonials provide much-needed reassurance.
Statistics detailing your school's pass rate and your student's higher education acceptance rates are a good start. But if you want to leave a longer-lasting impression, get parents or students on a camera describing their experiences in detail.
Use digital storytelling
Social media platforms like Instagram are great for digital storytelling. Consider mixing up your social media strategy with the following types of content:
- A day in the life of a student or teacher
- Behind-the-scenes look at classroom activities
- Extra-curricular activities
The above is taken from Trinity School, a private K-12 school in New York. They implemented a program where children were required to recall one thing they were grateful for. Such exercises are great for your brand image because they show parents you teach students good values.
Strengthen communication with families
A big part of community engagement is opening up and maintaining a line of communication with families. The last thing you want to do is give families much attention during their decision-making process and cut communications once you have secured their child's enrollment.
The best and easiest way to stay in touch is through email newsletters and SMS updates. You already have their contact details at hand–so as long as they are happy to hear from you, use these channels to keep them informed about school news, events, activities, etc.
Besides regular updates, your communication could include specific themes like diversity and inclusivity. These are essential school admission considerations for people with protected characteristics. Make sure your content makes them feel included. Such inclusions demonstrate astute awareness of people's backgrounds and experiences and create a welcoming environment.
Focus on real-world learning experiences
Real-world learning experiences prepare students for future success while showcasing your school’s unique approach to education.
The Brearly School held a before-school bonding session. This unique program got kids into the outdoors, competing in various activities. The idea is for the children to bond before the academic year begins. (Image source.)
Highlight programs like internships, collaborative real-world learning projects, or experiential learning activities that go beyond traditional classroom teaching.
Sharing visuals and stories of students participating in these activities emphasizes your school’s focus on practical, hands-on learning.
Celebrate achievements publicly
Publicly celebrating student and teacher achievements builds morale and showcases your school’s success.
Share award announcements, academic achievements, or extracurricular milestones through newsletters, social media, and local media outlets.
This recognition highlights the value your school places on student success and creates a sense of pride within the school community.
Celebrating achievements is also a powerful marketing tool, attracting prospective families who want their children to be part of a successful institution.
Use alumni and school ambassadors
School ambassadors and alumni can provide testimonials, mentorship for current students, or support for school events and fundraising campaigns.
Create spotlights to share their achievements and highlight how your school contributed to their success. These stories testify to the quality of education and opportunities provided.
Analyze and refine your approach
Branding is never a one-off exercise. You need to analyze your initiatives and respond to the data.
KPIs you can measure include:
- Enrollment numbers. Increased enrollment numbers are the biggest indicator of success.
- Website traffic. Apart from views and hits, you can specifically look at the number of inquiries in your inbox, school brochure downloads, or requests to tour the school.
- Social media engagements. Follower and engagement growth indicates strong community engagement.
- General community feedback from surveys or focus groups.
- The number of relationships created through community partnerships, sponsorships and similar initiatives.
Final thoughts
Creating branding is not a 'marketing activity.' It is your school's way to connect with families and students.
When done correctly and consistently, it builds a positive school image, strengthens family relationships, and creates trust.
For several years, Cube Creative has helped K-12 schools increase their enrollments by up to 40%. Learn more about our work and get in touch.
