How do I know which recruitment tactics will work best for my school?
The beginning of each school year is a whirlwind. Registering and onboarding students, ensuring the campus is in order, and readjusting to the day to day of school operations is exhausting. Open enrollment for next year sneaks up on us quickly. Rather than taking time to reflect and grow, many teams fall back on what they did last year, regardless of the results.
But for those looking to improve, you are eager to discover which recruitment tactics may work best for your organization. Here are three questions to help guide your work.
1) How did your current families hear about you?
The best way to attract new families is to learn what worked to attract your current families. Most organizations have a source question set up in their Schoolmint, Powerschool, or Google application forms. Download your application report and analyze which sources provided you the most students. Filter out applicants who did not matriculate because certain efforts may have resulted in applications but not actual students. If you didn’t have a source question set up, an alternative is to survey your families.
Next, take your top three sources (ex. referral, community events, digital ads) and divide the amount of money you spent on each method by the number of students they produced.
You now have your top sources and attribution cost. Which source got you the most students? Which source was the most cost-effective?
2) How can you better leverage your top recruitment sources?
For organizations reviewing this data for the first time, the results can be shocking. You may be thinking, “I can’t believe how many students we get through word of mouth!” Or “Why are we spending so much money on tv ads?!”
Our goal is to double down on tactics that work and that can scale while reducing time-consuming or expensive methods with low results.
An example I see most often is around referrals or word of mouth. Your school may get a large portion of your students through referrals without lifting a finger. What would happen if you gave your families collateral (cards, t-shirts, shopping bags), tracked referrals, and personally thanked (or rewarded) families who share the word. Your enrollment numbers would increase.
Another example may be Facebook and Instagram Advertising. Digital Ads may not rake in the majority of your students. However, if the attribution cost is low, you can easily scale this effort without increasing staff overhead.
Make a list of your top and most inexpensive recruitment tactics and brainstorm with the team ways that you can enhance those efforts.
3) How are my tactics working together?
Great marketers and recruitment teams understand that a single marketing tactic doesn’t bring you success, but rather multiple tactics working together. If your school is already maximizing your top sources and your cost per student is under $50, then it’s time to better coordinate your tactics.
Your job is to take families from clueless to committed. To do that, you need to build trust over time. A practical marketing exercise is to plot your personal experience with one of your favorite brands.
I fell in love with Ministry of Supply, a clothing company that engineers performance dress wear. I first heard them mentioned in some random entrepreneur’s blog. I clicked on the website link and browsed their shop. Next, they served me digital ads which shared their customers’ experiences. They offered me a coupon for 20% off by signing up for their newsletter. Finally, when it was time for me to purchase a new pair of dress pants, I went to my inbox (where they sent me weekly emails), clicked on a link, and made my first purchase.
It's a goofy example (I hope you have a better one), but we can dissect their marketing process and borrow some ideas.
Ministry of Supply:
Is featured in blogs
Has a great website
Retargets website visitors with digital ads
Gives items away for contact info
Sends emails until you’re ready to buy
Your families may not read blogs. That's okay. Translate the role the tactic plays in the marketing process to work for your families.
Take time to build upon what works.
So even though this time of year is hectic, I encourage you to review last year’s recruitment data with your team. Build upon what worked well, and integrate your tactics to build trust with families over time.
Sawyer Schafbuch is a StoryBrand Certified Guide and founder of Everydesk, helping quality schools recruit students. He lives in Des Moines, IA with his wife and two daughters.