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How to Market Your Private School: Top 16 Ways to Do It Right

Recent years have brought immense change to education landscapes nationwide. Between decreasing public funding, growing charter and private school options, and families relocating more fluidly, private schools face more competition than ever in attracting the right students. However, with this challenge comes an opportunity for mission-driven schools to thrive.

Obviously, attracting and retaining students is critical for private school administrators. While your school likely offers tremendous value, parents won't know about you and your school if the right marketing strategies aren’t in place. This guide will help walk you through some ideas and help you develop an integrated marketing plan that separates your school from the competition.

 

How to Market a Private School: A Guide to the Top 16 Ways

1. Define Your School's Brand Identity

Before effectively promoting your private school, clarify differentiators in your programs, culture, and outcomes that families value most. Identify 2-3 words that encapsulate your personality and values. This brand identity will drive branding and messaging across channels.

Equip all staff interactions with prospects to convey what makes you distinct. Ensure administrators, faculty, and teachers align messaging with core identity and differentiators.

2. Create a Visually Compelling and Mobile-Optimized Website

Your website is often the first impression parents have of your school. Here are a few things to consider with your private school website:

  • Ensure it communicates your brand identity and critical information families need when evaluating options. 
  • Use photos and videos from within your school and of your students, faculty, and staff to highlight experiences. 
  • Organize information with clear navigation menus and ample white space for easy scanning. 
  • Optimize the site to be mobile-responsive so it displays properly on any device.  

3. Set Clear Enrollment Goals 

Define target enrollment numbers and demographic factors like gender ratio and socioeconomic makeup. This gives your team clarity on marketing objectives and helps measure success. Revisit and adjust goals annually.  

4. Leverage Digital Marketing for Lead Generation   

Well-designed digital tactics attract qualified families to your school's website for deeper discovery. This includes:

Ensure you provide conversion opportunities like requesting more info, scheduling a tour, or applying throughout your private school digital marketing efforts.  

5. Encourage Student and Family Testimonials  

Word-of-mouth marketing is invaluable for schools. Enable advocates by asking current families and students to provide detailed reviews on sites like Google, Facebook, and popular education review platforms. Prompt them to speak to academics, extracurriculars, community, facilities, and more. When they do leave a review, be sure to respond promptly, thank them for the endorsements, and address any issues raised. 

6. Create Parent Ambassador and Alumni Programs

Your students’ families and alumni network can be influential school ambassadors. Formally recruit them to represent your private school within their personal networks, sharing school updates and inviting others to open houses or community events. Make it easy for them to stay engaged post-graduation by creating an alumni section on your website with an event calendar, mentorship initiatives, or volunteer opportunities.

7. Stay Visible on Niche School Listing Sites

Ensure your school appears on primary school research sites like Private School Review, Great Schools, and Niche. These platforms influence families’ perception of your programs, values, and outcomes. Claim and update key listing profiles regularly with photos, videos, and content reinforcing your unique differentiators.  

8. Track What Resonates

Implement tracking mechanisms across channels to identify what marketing efforts drive inquiries and applications. This may include UTM campaign parameters for websites and ads, custom landing pages, or unique phone numbers on different collateral. Tie response mechanisms to individual strategies.

9. Conduct Surveys and Interviews 

Regularly connect with both prospective and current families via surveys and phone interviews to gain qualitative insights. Inquire about information gaps they experienced, what ultimately convinced them to enroll or look elsewhere, and where communications could improve. Use feedback to optimize your outreach and messaging constantly.  

10. Highlight Safety

Safety is likely top of mind for parents considering private school due to campus tragedies. Be transparent about security infrastructure, staff training, accessibility policies, reporting procedures, and vigilance-tracking threats. Feature safety info prominently across the web and printed collateral and host information sessions.  

11. Get Social

An active presence on social media platforms expands your school’s visibility and engagement. Post updates showcasing student experiences, achievements, and events that authentically reflect school culture. Monitor comments closely for opportunities to assist prospective families. Promote hashtags unique to your community for families to coalesce around.  

12. Stay True to Your Mission

While private schools certainly compete for students, don’t compromise core values or program quality solely for wider appeal. Schools that stray from founding principles tend to lose community support and referral volume. Marketing enables a wider audience to discover the amazing institution that’s true to the mission that you have already built. Finding those ideal fits will serve students best in the long run.

13. Evolve Your Marketing Mix

The marketing landscape changes rapidly, especially in the digital space. Re-evaluate channel allocation and reallocate portions of your budget to newer platforms gaining adoption. This ensures you reach families where they actively engage.

14. Incentivize Referrals

Referrals from current families often convert at the highest rates for private schools. Formalize the process with a well-promoted referral program that tracks and rewards successful student recommendations. Offer perks like tuition discounts, priority registration, or prime event seating. Publish success stories.

15. Hold Open Houses and Tours

While digital marketing establishes awareness, in-person school events seal the deal for most enrolling families. Host frequent open houses and organize specialized campus tours for key demographics. Train parent ambassadors to lead tours highlighting amenities important to their families. 

16. Keep Following Up

The average family considers three schools before deciding. Use CRM tools to track outreach across months or years, following up with new information that may change their decision criteria. Integrate email, direct mail, phone calls, and text messages to nurture relationships with promising leads until they enroll or commit elsewhere. 

Applying Private School Marketing Best Practices

The competitive landscape places new demands on private schools to strategically promote their mission and programs to attract more families. While this creates pressure, schools willing to embrace savvy marketing are poised for sustainable growth.   

By showcasing your school's genuine value – from personalized academics to character development – you can capture the interest of families seeking the right educational fit. Modernize branding and outreach to meet parents’ evolving expectations and behaviors. Communicate what makes your learning community a caring, supportive environment for students to thrive.  

Want help implementing these 16 enrollment-boosting tactics at your school? Click here to schedule a free consultation call with me today.

With creative enrollment marketing and relentless care for stakeholder experiences, more qualifying students will discover your exceptional school year after year. Use this comprehensive guide to cutting-edge recruitment tactics to help the families most appreciative of your school find you.

To further discuss tailored enrollment growth strategies for your private school or get assistance launching impactful initiatives outlined here, contact me and the team at Cube Creative Design today. Let us craft resonating messaging and launch campaigns generating highly qualified leads – so you can focus on what matters most: delivering transformative learning experiences.

Image of the author - Adam Bennett

Written By: Adam Bennett |  Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Adam is the president and founder of Cube Creative Design and specializes in private school marketing. Since starting the business in 2005, he has created individual relationships with clients in Western North Carolina and across the United States. He places great value on the needs, expectations, and goals of the client.