I’ve often come across reactional marketing departments with strategies designed for the here-and-now rather than the bigger picture. Future-Proof Marketing takes a long-term proactive view of your school’s marketing needs. It is, however, not achieved in isolation and must be guided by the overall long-term strategic plan of the school. I’ll write about strategic plans and their importance in future posts.
Future-Proof Marketing is about developing systems, strategies, policies, and procedures that work just as well in a school of one hundred students as they would in a school of three thousand students. It’s about doing the initial job correctly and making adjustments as needed.
Some examples of what elements you should be putting in place to start the process of Future-Proof Marketing for your school are:
- A comprehensive Brand Bible
- A flexible website that can grow with the school
- Marketing systems and procedures – requests, approvals, changes, timelines, etc.
- Communications guidelines – internal and external
- Crisis management documents and procedures
- Regularly updated and correct marketing tools – cameras, software, computers, etc.
- Regular marketing team professional development
Quite simply, think like a big international school from the beginning and then grow – as the age-old adage goes ‘dress for the job you want, not the job you have.’ Perhaps you don’t want to be a big international school – that’s wonderful. You still, however, need to future-proof your school’s marketing to avoid the pitfalls of complacency and redundancy. International school marketing is an ever-evolving animal that requires constant monitoring and attention. Schools that don’t evolve will, inevitably, be left behind by those that have.
What are you doing to future-proof your international school?
Originally Published at https://www.darrenbrewsmarketing.com/post/does-your-school-think-future-proof-marketing on February 18, 2021.
Darren Brews 