An example School Marketing Plan is best considered primarily through an OVERVIEW and secondly through an ANALYSIS - each being a foundation for success in marketing your school. When each of these aspects is considered in detail, the effective planning may begin.


School Marketing Plan Overview

1. Define what you have to offer
2. Define your target group
3. Budget
4. Personnel and Talents available - including School Marketing Manager
5. Develop School Marketing Aims and Objectives – from previous information
6. Select Marketing Strategies
7. Evaluation

Analysis of the School Marketing Plan

•   The School Principal is ultimately responsible for the Plan.

The Plan:

1. is based on the School’s Vision and Mission Statement.
2. is used to market the school to the community. The community includes all people who know, or those who you want to know, about the school. These include the general public in your catchment region, parents, potential families, school staff, parish  staff, other schools’ staff especially from feeder schools, present and past students, parents, etc.
3. includes the strategies used within a defined budget.
4. is used to inform all stakeholders, and other targeted groups, of the benefits and successes of the school.
5. informs about aspects which may be of interest.
6. needs to plan for issues which may arise of a controversial nature.
7. should inform and emphasize the real nature of the school and the direction the school is planning or presently implementing.
8. should include a realistic budget.
9. can benefit from the combination of views of staff and others associated with the school community.

•   Marketing is relatively inexpensive when viewed in the terms of the potential gains made – reputation, new parents, supportive present parents, enrolments, etc.

•   In the initial stages of developing the school’s first real plan it is often best to include a variety of interest groups for gaining ideas and suggestions about how best to market your school. These thoughts may then be used as felt necessary.

•   The School Principal needs input and has the overall responsibility to implement the plan.

Other sections covered in the 'School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010, by Bryan Foster are:

• SMP Evaluation
• SMP is Not ...
• Be Ethical
• Who Needs a SMP?

The 'How to Write a School Marketing Plan - Overview and Analysis' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), (2011) - the paperback and ebook manual for school communications and marketing personnel - 340 pages of easy to read and implement summarized points - allowing for a considerably large number of quality strategies and examples to be detailed - with copyright remaining GDPL. Book available from Amazon.com and Createspace.com

The school and church marketing e-books available from the ‘SCM: School Church Marketing’ website are available in easy to download and read pdf files.

Pdf files are easily opened on both PC computers and Apple Mac computers. When these are opened in this format, you get to read the e-book in the layout in which it is written. Each page appears as it was designed, with text and images sequenced and positioned as per the original writing.

You have two main options once downloaded from the website. Many people download from the website and then print it off to make a hardcopy so as to read it as an actual book. Others like to leave it as an electronic copy on their computer and read it from their computer screen. While a significant number of people choose to both download it, print it and make a hardcopy, and then have the option to either read it from the computer screen or from the hardcopy newly printed book.

Google Books

Google Books by Bryan Foster has 20% of a number of these books uploaded and available for viewing. Google believes that this is similar to what you might do when looking / flicking through a book available as a hardcopy book in a bookstore or library. The School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3^rd ed), 2010, is yet to be uploaded to Google Books, though.

Amazon.com and other e-book stores

The normal format you get when you download Bryan Foser e-books from Amazon.com or other e-book stores, when these books are available for various e-book reader versions, is often different in appearance from the original. The white space is often deleted and everything just rolls on line by line. The Amazon.com site does also have downloads for PCs and Macs.

ISBN Numbers

Each of these e-books has an official ISBN number. These numbers are necessary for cataloguing the e-books in various libraries around the world. These numbers are needed to sell through most bookstores or e-book stores.

Each of these e-books is held within a variety of libraries: state, governmental and university.

e-Books available as pdfs

The e-books available as pdf files through this website are:

    * School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2010
    * Church Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (2nd ed), 2010
    * Church Parish Marketing e-Handbook: Easy to Use Guide to Market Your Church Parish Deanery, 2009
    * School Marketing e-Handbook: Easy to Use Guide to Market Your School (2nd ed), 2009

The school marketing manual e-book is a detailed work amalgamating 20 years of experience marketing in both Catholic education schools, along with the church and the Great Developments Pty Ltd private company by Bryan Foster. It is written in a format allowing thousands of specific marketing points, strategies, step-by-step processes, and examples, to help all those associated with marketing their school. This is a great read for any marketing professional.

The 'Pdf e-Books from School Church Marketing website are Easily Read on PCs and Apple Macs for any School Marketing Plan' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), (2011) - the paperback and ebook manual for school communications and marketing personnel - 340 pages of easy to read and implement summarized points - allowing for a considerably large number of quality strategies and examples to be detailed - with copyright remaining GDPL. Book available from Amazon.com and Createspace.com

Schools can benefit from the use of social networking sites being an integral part of their school marketing plan and its associated strategies.

It is best for this to be appropriate, and most times creative. Increasingly, this form of communication is becoming more obvious for schools. A special note is to be aware of all the privacy and legal issues!

The Challenge

We are challenged to meet our school community, and potential parents and students, where they are at, or might be, in the near future. The social networking tentacles are reaching further into the various demographics affecting our communities, often way beyond the awareness of school and systemic leaders. No longer is it just the teens and '20 something', it is now common for people in their 50s and 60s to have one or more social networking accounts.

The Misconception

The misconception is that this form of communication is just used for inane chat amongst 'dizzy lightweights'!

There is a considerably large and ever growing group of people who use this for much more than chat, even though legitimate chat does play an important part in many forms of communication.

These people are not only building and strengthening relationships amongst friends and newly formed acquaintances / friends through their engagement online with each other and often doing so simultaneously, they may also be adding depth to key aspects of their lives.

Assumptions Underlying Social Networking Websites?

There are a number of interesting assumptions an ever expanding group of people of the 21st century make, with representatives being in most age groups, :

• People like to build trusting relationships with others before doing 'business' (Schools need to be open to appreciating this belief and then adapting the way they communicate with such people.)
• The busyness of life often limits face-to-face opportunities
• The relationship does not need to be a face-to-face encounter, even though this is often preferred
• 'anonymity' allows for a less inhibited sharing of ideas and thoughts. (Easier for some people to make a comment when the contact person isn't actually in front of them. Similar for some people when using telephones or email.)
• The internet often provides the answers people are seeking (How often do you hear more and more, "Google / Yahoo / Bing / MSN it!")
• Digital communication is the easiest and quickest means of communication
• Digital communication allows for multiple conversations simultaneously
• People using these forms of communication eventually trust in the results due to their experiences of it.

Why Consider Social Networking Websites?

To reach this ever growing group of people in our communities we must meet them where they are at!

In many circumstances, this may not be your chosen form of communication. But you do have control over who sees and comments on your school / alumni social networking pages if you follow the security directions. You may limit membership to only the direct school community or past students and hence only these people will see what you say and show.

It is, however, a successful method of informing an ever growing group of your community of whatever it is you would like to inform them about.

Topics which could be included on a school social networking site:

• School and Contact Details
• News from the Principal, Parish Priest (if a religious school) and Responses from the school community
• News about and Responses
• Upcoming School Events
• School Photos telling of the recent events / successes / happenings, etc.
• Principal Recommended Websites for the school community

Social networking sites can be used effectively by schools. Once a number of challenges, misconceptions and assumptions underlying social networking sites are initially explored, each school will be able to make the decision whether to proceed with a social networking webpage.

The 'Schools Need Social Networking Websites' blog post was written by Bryan Foster, author of School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), (2011) - the paperback and ebook manual for school communications and marketing personnel - 340 pages of easy to read and implement summarized points - allowing for a considerably large number of quality strategies and examples to be detailed - with copyright remaining GDPL. Book available from Amazon.com and Createspace.com

The major school marketing topics are covered using various highly successful digital, contemporary and traditional methods.

The easy to read 8"x10" pages are in a step-by-step, how-to, summarized point format, which allows for considerable detail. The new 340 page paperback and e-book are available at the secure CreateSpace by Amazon.com website or directly from Amazon.com. It is written in a unique, summarized, point format.

Below are the Chapter Headings which explain the chapter key headings. Click for full detailed list of Chapter Contents.

Contents                                     
SMA Website                                                         
School Marketing Plan Overview Sample               
School Marketing Plan and School Marketing Manager                                         
School Marketing - Internet Applications with Samples and Instructions   (including screenshots and live weblinks)  
School Marketing and the Traditional Media + Instructions                                  
School Marketing - Advertising in the Media + Instructions               
School Marketing Relationships      
School Marketing Resources + Instructions   
Conclusion                                       
Glossary 
Bibliography                                  
Index

Through detailed Contents and Index pages, you will be able to arrive at the specific marketing method you need in your particular marketing niche – school or church.

Once there, you will find the necessary points for that marketing method, quickly seen – in all the detail you should need. These points will include: 

• an explanation of what the method is
• various implementation strategies
• step-by-step development processes.

Bryan Foster - Author

The author has been marketing for 20 years within the Catholic Church in both school and Church spheres - along with marketing his own company, Great Developments Pty Ltd. The educational experience is in elementary / primary and secondary levels, in city and country, in both large and small schools.

'School Marketing Manual for the Digital Age (3rd ed), 2011, by Bryan Foster - see CreateSpace and Amazon.com', 2011, was written by Bryan Foster.