Money Left Over In The Budget? Here Are Smart Ways To Spend It On Marketing

It’s the beginning of June and maybe, just maybe, you have some money left in your private school marketing budget.

I contacted our Senior Partners and many of them responded with brilliant ideas to "use it or lose it" by June 30. (They are listed at the end of the post.) Their advice will help set you up for a supercharged 2023-24 marketing year and make your job easier as well.

Prepay for Services

Pay a provider now for a service you’ll use later. They won’t say no ;-)

Engage in Augmented Reality

• Create an immersive tour of campus with a provider

• Be different: hire a consultant to create gamified marketing materials

Collaborate with An Influencer

Partner with a well-known/respected influencer for a social campaign, guest speaker, or webinar

Flip the Staff Lounge

• Engage a local interior designer

• Flip the lounge for a fall return full of smiles 

Prepay for Surveys

• Start making data-based marketing decisions by using regular surveys to guide your work

• Prepay for next year's subscription to a good survey tool like Survey Monkey or Typeform 

Perform a Competitive Audit

• Work with a research team to evaluate your school's market position and unique value proposition in relation to other independent schools in the market

• Take advantage of the market conditions that can be revealed, presenting opportunities and threats for the upcoming school year

Retreat!

• Plan for an all-team office retreat away from campus and distractions to plan for the year ahead

• Hire a facilitator to customize a workshop for your team and complete a marketing plan outline

Develop personalized email campaigns

• Invest in email marketing tools or services that allow you to create personalized email campaigns tailored to different segments of your audience

• Increase engagement and conversion rates by delivering relevant content and unique value features to prospective families

Maximize your online presence

Invest in professional graphic design, website design, or user experience enhancement 

Create A Website Campaign Page

• Arrange with your website provider to prepay for a dedicated campaign page for one of your larger campaigns next year 

• Direct any social media, email, or QR code to this landing page

• Works for a large fundraising effort, Open House, event, or another community campaign 

• Takes visitors straight to the right information rather than losing them as they search your website for details.

Explore content marketing strategies

• Hire a content strategist or copywriter to help you develop an engaging content marketing strategy

• Position your school as a thought leader and build trust with prospective and existing student families by creating valuable and informative content

Get an App

• Pre- or part-pay for a custom-branded school app for your community

• Streamline communication (watch parents actually engage with your content!) while also building a sense of community 

• Get love from your parents

Implement a customer relationship management (CRM) system

• Invest in a CRM platform to streamline your admissions and communications processes

• Track and manage interactions with prospective families, automate email campaigns, and analyze data to make informed decisions

Fix Tired Signage

• Walk around campus looking for broken, beaten, and bad signage

• Replace those with crisp new ones that will make it look like you care and not detract from your brand

Refresh Your Athletic Brand

• Ensure athletic wear and swag (which is usually a mess and gets NO help from the school store and rogue booster parents) are consistent and adhere to graphic identity standards

• Rethink your politically incorrect mascot

Create One Case For Support

• Stop cobbling together a bunch of brochures that talk about all the ways to give

• Instead, create one piece that lays it all out in one brochure

Prepare For A Video Shoot

• Pay part of the cost now

• Use the summer for pre-production, scouting, and perhaps drone footage of campus

• Be ready in the fall for filming the majority of the video with the new budget used for the same project

Get Even Brighter Than You Already Are

Take part in summertime professional development offerings, either in-person or online

Learn About AI

Take a course on how AI can be used for efficiency in digital marketing

Dive Into Demographics

Invest in that market demographic research or software you've been wanting but keep putting off

Educate Staff About Customer Service

• Book a 90-minute session to show your entire school staff that they have a role to play in marketing and customer service

• Ask an outside consultant to be there to back you up, add credibility, and offer industry insight.

Conduct A Website Audit

Engage a professional to do a marketing assessment of your website to deliver easy value-adds

Engage A Secret Shopper

Engage trusted friends or professionals to do an underground secret shopper experience (make an inquiry, join a tour at the school, and provide coordinated feedback)

Conduct A Net Promoter Score Survey

• Work with a professional, to conduct your first-ever NPS survey

• Collate the results

• Set a new benchmark for improvement

Expand Your Admissions & Marketing Software

• Work with a provider to see if they will negotiate a reduced fee for your needs

• Pay upfront

---

With Thanks To Our Brilliant Contributors

They make your job easier.

Penny Abrahams, IAP-L, Incoming Executive Director of Advisory Services & Senior Consultant, ISM

Michael Branscom, PHOTO+FILM

Greg Campitelli, Director and Founder, Enquiry Tracker

Deborah Janz, CEO & Consultant, IMPACT Marketing International, Inc

Nancy McDonald, Principal, Creative Director, Leapfrog Group

Tim Nieuwoudt, Head of Global Marketing, Digistorm

Austin Rhodes, President, Rhodes Branding

---

Get more brilliant ideas and brain food. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

Related Blog Posts