Many enrollment and admission directors are feeling tremendous pressure to deliver on lofty enrollment goals in an increasingly competitive independent school landscape. As a former director of admission, I know this pressure almost too well. At the same time, marketing and communications directors are facing similar demands as it relates to attracting the number of mission-aligned students and families admission teams need, while also fostering a sense of joy and community that assists in retaining those families for the long haul. So, I was quite surprised to learn that some schools continue to lack alignment between these two departments!
Enrollment and marketing directors must focus on creating a strong, aligned foundation within the school to ensure that enrollment and marketing strategies are sustainable, well-coordinated, and effective. Here are five ways your school can achieve this:
1. Meet Regularly as an Admission and MarCom Team
“I hate to add another meeting to your calendar...” Sound familiar? And sure, on certain occasions, such a sentiment is warranted. But as an admission director, scheduling time with your marcom director should be a priority (and vice versa)! A successful enrollment strategy consists of shared goals, consistent messaging, and cohesive tactics, which can only be accomplished if you actually talk to one another.
In the quieter summer months, tackle key objectives for the upcoming admission season. What marketing materials will you need for the year ahead? What strategies will you collectively focus on? What will the consistent brand message and value proposition be? What are the admission goals? (Be specific! Quantify lead and application counts based on historical data, if possible.) Aligning on these key questions provides both departments with a clear path forward and a consistent experience for students and parents.
As the season ramps up, admission directors should be transparent about upcoming events and deadlines and provide insights into the funnel often. Marcom directors should be sharing key takeaways from the performance of marketing initiatives that go beyond leads landing in a customer relationship management platform. Is site traffic up? What are the top performing school web pages? How does this compare year-over-year? Sharing data is critical! (See section 3, below.)
As application deadlines approach, the last thing an admission director should be doing is shooting an email off to their marcom colleague alerting them to needing more inquiries ASAP. Meeting regularly renders an email like this completely unnecessary because both departments will already have an awareness of what grades have spaces to fill. Hopefully, your collective teams will actively be in the process of implementing strategies agreed upon during your last chat.
2. Learn to Speak Each Other’s Admission & Marketing Languages
Prior to transitioning to the independent school world, I worked in digital media and advertising client services. Let me tell you what a value add this became as I partnered more closely with my school’s marcom team and external marketing agency! Understanding jargon like “impressions,” “CPC” (cost-per-click), “CPM” (cost-per-mille or 1,000 impressions), “UTM codes,” and “pixels” provided me with a seat at the table, and a lens through which to ask questions related to the school’s admission goals.
At the same time, the marcom director should understand how your admission funnel works and what your yield strategies are. They should be accustomed with your admission software platform, and whether or not it plays nicely with your digital marketing initiatives.
I’m not suggesting admission directors become an expert in all things marketing, or vice versa; however, it doesn’t hurt to know just enough to be dangerous. To start, simply share blog posts, articles, and podcasts with one another. If it’s in the budget, attend industry conferences like EMA’s Annual Conference or AISAP’s Annual Institute together!
3. Make Data-Driven Decisions a Reality for Your School
Independent School Admission and marcom directors are blessed (and cursed) with having access to tons of data. From statistics about the funnel and demographic data about target audiences, to advertising metrics and satisfaction surveys, the numbers are plentiful! The key is ensuring that this information is accessible and understood across departments.
In my previous role, we used to joke that admission was more of an art than a science. I’d argue now that the tides have turned. From drilling down on the number of school-aged children in target geographies, to comparing inquiry and application statistic trends year-over-year, admission teams should ensure that their marcom colleagues have access to and understand all of the same trends. Not only will this inform strategic priorities for the admission season ahead, but the mutual understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead should strengthen your teamwork, too.
In order for marcom directors to continue investing in marketing strategies that prove fruitful, admission directors need to share results. Are you tracking where leads are coming from? Make sure the MarCom team understands who those leads are, when they came in, etc. While the admission team may be concerned with overall statistics, the marketing department is being mindful of ROI metrics, like cost-per-lead. The last thing you want to do is invest the amount of a full tuition into an initiative that doesn’t garner a single applicant.
4. Harness Mutual Respect and Understanding Among Teams
Although “other duties as assigned” is language included in almost every independent school contract, we often lack a true understanding of what this phrase means for our colleagues.
Frustrated that your marketing colleague didn’t provide you with a revised draft of your viewbook? It’s likely because they spent their evening chasing students for photographs at the pep rally, or on the phone with the head of school and a PR agency navigating a challenging situation, or received a last-minute request from a faculty member about writing an article highlighting an upcoming class assignment.
Waiting on feedback from the admission team regarding their latest event turnout, or the final approval to get a deliverable over to the printer? Well, priorities shifted when their advisee burst into their office, tour guides didn’t show up for afternoon tours, and they’ve been on the phone with families confused by the financial aid application process.
It sounds simple, but having empathy for one another and all they’re tasked with will go a long way and build trust.
5. Admission and Marketing Directors Should Go To Bat for One Another
While most of the tactics in this article focus on the partnership between the admission and marcom directors, I would argue that pulling your head of school and/or chief financial officer into the fold is just as critical. If that feels like a lofty goal at this point in time, then at the very least, make sure you are aligned prior to meetings with these key stakeholders.
As a director of admission, my most productive meetings with my head of school and CFO occurred after a brief planning session with my marcom director prior. Together, we were able to be two steps ahead. If my marcom counterpart needed additional funds for an advertising initiative, I could provide the NAIS Market View Data to support the ask. And on more than one occasion, I advocated for an additional full time employee on the marketing team, because managing external marketing and internal communications as a one- or even two-person team is not for the weak.
At the end of the day, admission and marketing directors share the same goal: to fill the school with fantastic, mission-aligned students. While the tense, day-to-day responsibilities each department is focused on will vary, coming back to the five areas of focus outlined above will pave the path toward an effective enrollment strategy.
At Enroll Media Group, we're committed to helping schools deliver effective digital marketing solutions that drive enrollment, which requires a deep collaboration among marketing and admissions. To learn more about how we can help, reach out to us today.