Approximate reading time: 2.5 minutes
Something amazing is happening as private school teachers move coursework online.
The abrupt migration to online learning has created, in our view, a massive content marketing opportunity for Admissions and Marketing directors at private schools to recruit new students and retain current ones.
Before, parents may have been paying for brick buildings, grassy pathways, and newly constructed dorms. Now, instead of admiring the hardware, online coursework is enabling them to see the software that makes a school run – at a time when parents are rethinking education costs. And content marketing can help show why the cost of the education is worth it.
Here are some thoughts from an agency with deep service to private schools and educational institutions.
3 ways to leverage online instruction into student retention
Creating branded content for a private school is seldom easy, we know. But here are some ideas.
- Record and edit key lessons across multiple subjects. Synopsize a collection of content from a recorded online lesson that profiles how the teacher conveys the subject. It’s possible to do this with Zoom. Bookend the content with a simple logo and title graphic of the teacher but leave it raw. No narration. Then link it to emails sent to parents of students with a subject line like: “Here’s what your student experiences in our classrooms.”
- Do Q&A articles with teachers. Ask them what the secret is to triggering understanding for topics that are notoriously tough to tackle. Format the articles as 1-page pdfs, and invest in strong design and photography.
- Teacher video postcards. After in-class education reconvenes, imagine a parent (or prospect) getting a personalized video of a teacher saying, “I just wanted to share something that happened with your son/daughter in class today….” It could be a powerful tool for 1. K-8 schools with highly engaged parents or 2. Competitive prep schools and high schools that want to make their curriculum an open book.
The key to change: Pressure over time.
We know what’s involved in what we’re suggesting; change is hard. That’s why it’s important to pick one or two elements of content marketing and execute them well. Then learn, revise, and move forward.
Some schools will continue to wait for the return of the traditional in-class experience and ways of marketing. But we’re interested in schools that want to step forward into what’s next.
